Time Will Tell (If you know Him)

[0:00] All right, take your Bibles and go to John's Gospel. Back into John. John's Gospel, chapter 13, in that black Bible in the chair in front of you.

[0:17] You need that. It's page 84. Towards the back, the New Testament is renumbered, so find page 84, John chapter 13. John 13, starting in verse 18. John 13, 18 to 30.

[0:39] John 13, 18 to 30. That's what we're going to study this morning. See what God's Word has to say to us in John chapter 13, verses 18 to 30.

[0:55] Let me start reading. Of all I do not speak. I know the ones I've chosen, but in order that the Scripture may be fulfilled, the one who eats my bread is lifted up his heel against me.

[1:10] From now on, I am telling you before it comes, so that when it comes, you may believe that I am. Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who receives whomever I send receives me.

[1:23] And the one who receives me receives the one who sent me. Verse 21, when Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit and testified and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray me.

[1:39] The disciples looked at one another in doubt of which one he was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus' breast one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Therefore, Simon Peter nodded to him to ask to tell of whom he is speaking.

[1:56] 25, this one leading back thus on Jesus' breast said to him, Lord, who is it? Therefore, Jesus answered, that is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.

[2:06] So when he dipped the morsel, he took and gave it to Judas of Simon Iscariot. And after the morsel, then Satan entered into him.

[2:17] Therefore, Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly. And no one of those reclining knew for what purpose he'd said this to him. For some were thinking because Judas had the money box that Jesus was saying to him, buy the things we have need for the feast or else he should give something to the poor.

[2:39] And so after receiving the piece of bread, he went out immediately and it was night. If one of our kids gets sick, as you can see, time will tell if it's truly something or if it's nothing.

[3:06] So we usually wait, I don't know, two to four days. And then two, one, or two, or three, or four, or more. Get it? And then we go, okay, now we know.

[3:18] Time will tell. You'll be able to figure it out very easily. Time will tell for other things too. Medical issues.

[3:29] Physical issues. Time will tell. You tear something, you're doing something, obviously you just turn, oh, I want my back, oh, right? Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's something.

[3:40] Time will tell. A relationship, good or bad. Time will tell. Time will also tell if there's true commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[3:54] If you are his chosen one, time will tell. And as we started this in chapter 13, in these chapters, 13 to 17, is where Jesus stops and he's going to minister to his really 11 disciples.

[4:13] You see here this text is going to deal with the 12th one. And we kind of did a little bit of a change to our theme.

[4:26] I mean, it's the same. We've talked about how it's come believe into Jesus or come trust Jesus or come receive Jesus. And then we kind of changed it to focus in on come know Jesus.

[4:39] Because if you're just coming to know Jesus in salvation, you know him. But as Christians, we continue to know him and to love him. So come know Jesus.

[4:51] Time will tell if you know him. Time will tell if you truly know him.

[5:08] Come know Jesus. Time will tell. Time will tell if you know the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a statement for you.

[5:19] Time will tell if followers of Jesus are truly his chosen ones. Time will tell. It will make it known. Time will tell if followers of Jesus are truly his chosen ones.

[5:41] Here's another way to put it. Summing up this passage. Time will tell if followers of Jesus are truly his chosen ones. The ones chosen by Jesus will remain faithful to Jesus.

[5:52] Time will tell if these are his chosen ones who receive him. The ones chosen by Jesus will remain faithful to Jesus.

[6:06] Time will tell if these are his true chosen ones who have truly received him and are receiving him. Jesus' true chosen ones will not stumble into darkness.

[6:26] But will walk in the light. Staying faithful to him. And receiving him. So may this passage.

[6:38] May this passage exhort and encourage us to remain faithful to Jesus. To rest in his love and grace. Which he freely and graciously bestows.

[6:53] Freely and graciously gives to us. You probably know this. You've probably experienced this.

[7:04] But it may come as a shock to us. If someone among us. Abdicates from the faith. And betrays the gospel. But this passage.

[7:19] Teaches us otherwise. Because no one expected Judas to do this. You know the end of the story.

[7:30] It's easy for us to look at it. Oh yeah. We knew it was Judas the whole time. I mean that guy was squirrely. But if you're there. In the midst of that. You didn't know it was Judas.

[7:44] Any day. A so called follower of Jesus. May fall into darkness. So. Hold fast.

[7:56] Oh Christian. Hold fast. Oh church. Yet realize. It is the Lord Jesus himself. Who's truly holding us.

[8:06] And keeping us. Not ourselves. Hold fast. Hold fast. And yet realize. It's Jesus who's holding you fast. Stay faithful.

[8:18] Continue on in the faith. And yet realize. That Jesus will be faithful. He will cause you to stay faithful in the faith. Time will tell.

[8:31] So time will tell. And this passage is split up into. Four different aspects. Time will tell. If. Time will tell. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Four different aspects. That the text brings up for us. So time will tell.

[8:42] Number one. If we're chosen. Time will tell. If we are chosen. here's the statement that follows along with this. Jesus' followers will remain faithful to Jesus because he chooses them.

[8:57] It's just a fact. There's no getting around the text because notice that it says, Jesus says here in verse 18, and remember he's talking to his disciples. He washes their feet.

[9:09] He says, me washing my feet, it's a display of me going to the cross because I'm serving you. And then he says, okay, now the example you're supposed to serve each other and I've washed you guys are clean.

[9:25] Verse 18. Of all I do not speak. Of all I do not speak, he transitions back to the one who would betray him.

[9:40] I know the ones that I have chosen. I know the ones I have chosen. Not all of them know Jesus in the way they should know Jesus because not all of them had been chosen by Jesus.

[9:55] And those Jesus knows will be faithful to him. This is not the first time this has come up. John chapter 10. The reason why you believe, because you're my sheep.

[10:08] John chapter 6. Jesus was very clear. All that the Father gives to me will come to me. For this is the will of my Father, chapter 6 verse 40, that all the ones who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life and I myself will raise them up on the last day.

[10:27] In verse 37, Jesus says, all that the Father gives to me will come to me and the ones who come to me I will not cast out. This is the will of the one who sent me that of all he's given to me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day.

[10:40] Time will tell if we are his chosen ones. Jesus' followers will remain faithful to Jesus because he chooses them. Well, actually, Judas was chosen to betray him because the next part of the text tells us the second aspect that we need to bring up.

[11:04] Time will tell for Scripture to be fulfilled. Time will tell for Scripture to be fulfilled. Friends, it is true. God's Word tells us that those who seem to be true may really be false.

[11:21] Those who seem to be true are really false. That's what you see from Judas. Because look at what Jesus says, but in order that the Scripture may be fulfilled, so Judas was chosen so that Psalm 41.9, that's what Jesus quotes here, may be fulfilled.

[11:40] And yet, Judas was not chosen so that Psalm 41.9 may be fulfilled. You get that? And yet, notice, he quotes Psalm 41.9, the one who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me.

[12:00] It looked like he was chosen by Jesus. It looked like he was belonging to Jesus because Judas would be the one who would eat the bread.

[12:14] This is the paradox of having intimacy and fellowship with Christ, the one who eats the bread, and yet the one who would lift up his heel against me, that one has rejected Jesus.

[12:30] And by the way, when Jesus says here, eats the bread, the word eats denotes intimacy and fellowship. We're gonna talk more a little bit later about eating with someone in the first century in the ancient Near East, what was it like.

[12:44] We'll talk more about that in a moment. But the idea here from the passage here in verse 18 and then into verse 19 we'll see, eating denotes intimacy, fellowship, hospitality, so they heal against Jesus denoted shocking betrayal between such deep, intimate friends.

[13:05] We have hospitality and courtesy and intimacy on one hand and yet betrayal and cruelty on the other hand.

[13:16] something that was so heinous in Near East culture. And the idea here you can even say has lifted up his heel against me, you can even translate it like this, has taken cruel advantage of me.

[13:36] In verse 19, from now on I'm telling you before it comes so that when it comes you may believe that I am. So Jesus told them this so that when it happened it may be another sign to his disciples of his identity.

[13:55] And notice it's not by accident he says ego e mi, I am. He's referring to how God refers himself as Yahweh, I am who I am in the book of Exodus to Moses.

[14:08] So they may see, they may believe Jesus is, was, is, is, the I am. They would have a fuller grasp of his identity, fuller grasp of his mission.

[14:22] So even Judas' treachery serve God's redemptive plan. Time will tell if we're chosen and time will tell for scripture be fulfilled.

[14:37] The scripture warns us, friends, there will be those who will fall away. You see it throughout, even in the Old Testament, throughout the Bible in the Old Testament and especially into the New Testament, there will be those who, they seem like they're walking with Christ and they look so true and real and then they fall away.

[15:00] The scripture warns us this will happen. There will be those who will fall away. Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised.

[15:13] Time will tell. Time will tell if we're chosen. Time will tell for the scripture to be fulfilled and then number three and third aspect, time will tell if we're faithful.

[15:25] Time will tell if we're faithful. That goes into verse 20. Those chosen by Jesus will keep receiving Jesus and keep receiving the Father.

[15:38] verse 20. Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you. So again, there's a, truly, truly, he's saying, pay attention, pay attention, I'm saying something very important. The one who receives whoever I send receives me.

[15:56] This is what true intimacy between Jesus and his disciples look like. As Jesus is representative of the Father, so his disciples are representative of Jesus. So, if you're receiving his representative, Jesus' representative, you're receiving Jesus.

[16:12] You're receiving him. This is the mission of the church. Our mission, we represent Jesus to the world. That's our mission.

[16:23] We, as God's people in this church, we represent them to the world. And then notice the next part of verse 20. And the one who receives me receives the one who sent me.

[16:36] As Jesus is God's agent in the same way, we are Jesus' agents and if we receive Jesus, we're receiving the Father. We'll be faithful to keep receiving Jesus.

[16:49] We'll be faithful to keep receiving the Father. Time will tell, Jesus is saying. So, this one is chosen, receives Jesus, and thus stays in Jesus.

[17:07] That's what Jesus is saying. So, all of Jesus' true disciples are powerfully tied to Jesus and eternally tied to Jesus.

[17:20] Time will tell. Time will tell if we're chosen. Time will tell for the scripture to be fulfilled. Time will tell if we're faithful. And then the fourth aspect, the most sad aspect, time will tell for the truth to come out.

[17:39] Time will tell for the truth to come out. The truth is going to come out. Eventually, the truth will come out. The truth will be told.

[17:50] Time will tell for the truth to come out. And here's the statement that goes along with that. any day, a so-called follower of Jesus may sadly fall into the night, the darkness.

[18:07] That's 21, verse 21 to 30. That's what you see unfold before us. Verse 21, when Jesus said this, he became troubled in spirit. This is all planned, yes.

[18:20] Jesus chooses out of love his chosen one, yes, but what deep distress he faced in the midst of this betrayal. Same words used here as used in John chapter 11 with Lazarus' death.

[18:33] He's filled with deep emotion. His hour had come and yet he says, notice what John says, excuse me, troubled in spirit and he testified.

[18:47] he's testifying. His testimony was one of his intimate disciples would do a great evil act. Truly, truly, I say to you, pay attention, guys, pay attention, I'm telling you this, one of you will betray me.

[19:03] One of you will betray me, his master. Here's Jesus' prophetic word. From those who, they're sharing this deep, intimate meal with Jesus, from them one would betray him.

[19:24] And notice the reaction from the disciples. Verse 22, the disciples looked at one another. Instead of looking at Jesus, they're shockingly looking at one another. In doubts, the word can be translated.

[19:36] It's unbelievable. They're shocked of which one who would do such a thing to their master, of which one he was speaking. And notice the betrayer at this point had two choices.

[19:54] One, rush forward with his plot. Or two, come clean. Renounce his evil act and seek out forgiveness and mercy.

[20:05] because the cat's out of the bag now, man. What are you going to do? The disciples are looking at one another in doubt.

[20:19] And notice what happens here. The attention goes to this one starting in verse 23. There was one reclining on Jesus' breast, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. None other than John the disciple, John the evangelist, John the one who's writing this very gospel.

[20:35] probably he was sitting on Jesus' right hand, reclining on his breast, on his side, which denoted his special relationship and access.

[20:47] Not because he was on the right, actually, the highest place of honor was on Jesus' left. And notice it says, which you've read this before, whom Jesus loved.

[20:59] He was the one loved by Jesus not as a way to show how much better he was from the other disciples. I'm loved, not you guys. That's not why he said that. John had a profound sense of gratitude for God's grace to him.

[21:15] Profound sense of gratitude for God's love for him. And understand this too, meals in the ancient world, we're going to talk about what that meant, but how they had the meals was not like, was it Da Vinci who did the last supper, you know, they're all sitting at the table, no, that's, no offense, that's stupid, it's not accurate, sorry.

[21:41] In the ancient world, they did not have tables and chairs. Those present would recline on couches, little things on their elbows, it was usually in a U-shaped, and they congregate around a small table with their feet away from the table.

[21:58] So here's Jesus this way, it's possible Judas was on this side of Jesus, and John was on this side. So notice what happens, verse 24, therefore, Simon Peter says, gestured, actually nodded, you know, when you see somebody go, hey, hey, he's like, hmm, say something to him, which tells you the relationship that Peter had with John, they were in a close relationship.

[22:28] So nodding with his head to this disciple whom Jesus loved, Peter invoked John to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. Jesus would tell him. So, verse 25, this one, leaning back thus on Jesus' breast, so if Jesus is sitting this way, his feet this way, this one sitting this way, he comes back this way, he says, Lord, who is it?

[22:49] Now, for us Westerners, this kind of physical relationship is foreign to us. We equate this kind of closeness with homosexuality.

[23:01] We see here the intimate closeness this one had with Jesus, since he leaned completely on Jesus' breast and chest, but friends, it's not so like that in the East. As a matter of fact, even today in the Middle East, men walk down the street holding hands as a sign of friendship and commitment to each other.

[23:17] You've got to start holding my hand. not as a sign of homosexuality, but a sign of trust, friendship, closeness.

[23:32] So he, John does this and notice Jesus responds, verse 26, Jesus answered, that is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel with a piece of bread and give it to him. Now, let's talk about meals.

[23:45] We're talking about how the meals are set up. Let's actually talk about the meals in the ancient world. They were intimate affairs, as Klink says. Social gatherings to eat together denote a friendship, and even today it still does.

[23:59] If you invite someone into your house, it doesn't know it's a big deal, right? It should, that's kind of the idea. So to give attention or to give this bread to another, it was a mark of honor, of deep affection, of commitment, of closeness.

[24:18] Because they would be sharing the same dip together. So you're close with that person, and you're okay sharing the same spit with each other. You're okay with that because you're close.

[24:32] So to give this bread would show approval, equality, intimacy. So here's the paradox. Jesus, John's there, he says, who is it Lord?

[24:46] Jesus says to him, this is the one, I'm going to dip this piece of bread, this morsel, as a sign of deep affection and commitment, a sign of intimacy, but it will actually denote the opposite. This one would betray me.

[25:01] The truth will come out. This tells us something. Judas is the model for unbelief.

[25:16] He models for us what's it like for a so-called disciple to break away from Christian fellowship and walk away from Christ, walk away from the church, and walk away from the truth of the gospel.

[25:33] He's the example. The next part of verse 26, so when he dipped the morsel, he took it and gave it to Judas of Simon Iscariot.

[25:51] He took that piece of bread, he dipped it, he gave it to Judas, and again, I said this earlier, maybe it was Judas who was on Jesus' left, who denote the place of honor. And it would make sense because if he was dipping, he could easily pass it to him this way.

[26:06] It would be easy for him because it meant it. it wasn't when he was way over there, so Judas was close. So even more so to show the heinousness of this betrayal.

[26:24] Here was Jesus' final appeal to the betrayer. Come clean. You can be given grace, but could he?

[26:38] Yes and no. Yes, God could show him mercy. No, Judas had to fulfill scripture. But you can come to Christ now.

[26:50] If you don't know Jesus, you can respond. Jesus says, come and I will forgive you. Come and I will show you mercy. Come and I will free you from guilt and free you from sin.

[27:00] Come to Jesus, he'll save you. Repent and trust in Christ who died in the place of sinners. Say, Jesus, I trust that you died for my sins in my place. I put my trust in you, he'll save you.

[27:14] You come clean, even though Judas did not. Verse 27, and after the morsel, the giving of the bread, then Satan entered into him.

[27:28] He took the morsel, but it was at that point that Satan is the only place in the gospel where Satan is named. At that point, Satan entered Judas, and instead of responding in contrition, asking for mercy, it furthered his resolve to act.

[27:51] And then Jesus therefore said to him, what you do, do quickly. Or another way to translate it, it'd be like this, what you do, do more quickly than you were planning.

[28:04] this is amazing. Because now Jesus, who has been in charge of his life the whole time, initiated Judas' acts of betrayal.

[28:22] You realize something? Do you realize something here? He gave Judas the right and authority to betray him because Jesus is in control.

[28:36] Jesus controlled the whole situation. Klink says this, I think it's a great quote, listen to this, quote, even in the betrayal Judas is technically serving Jesus.

[28:54] Even in the betrayal Judas is technically serving Jesus. That's a good quote. All of this God had determined.

[29:05] Friends, Judas and Satan and this world and the flesh, they are in reality servants of the king. even this despicable, horrible, shameful death was planned by God.

[29:25] So you might ask, is Satan at work or God? The answer is yes. Satan is at work but God is overruling it, is he not?

[29:37] God is in control of that, is he not? He is in control of even the evil one who is doing his bidding. If you don't believe me just read the book of Job, the first two chapters it will take you about ten minutes.

[29:50] Jesus is in charge. Jesus is in control. Time will tell for the truth to come out but God is in charge always.

[30:05] It might surprise you, it doesn't surprise God. God's in charge always. The truth comes out but God knows what he's doing. He knows what's happening.

[30:17] He's in charge. It's his plan. And friends, sometimes, many times, most of the time, maybe all the time, it's a plan that you don't understand.

[30:34] It's a plan that I don't understand. Look what happens in verse 28. Now, no one of those reclining knew what purpose he'd said this to him.

[30:46] They didn't know why Jesus said this to Judas. And yet, even John, who knew Judas was the betrayer, they didn't understand.

[30:57] And notice the paradox too. No one of those reclining, they're showing intimacy with Jesus, having this intimate meal with Jesus, and yet Judas was not.

[31:12] And look at what it says here, verse 29. For some thought, because Jesus had the money box, he was saying to him, buy the things we have need for the feast, or else he should give something to the poor.

[31:26] So they knew he was the funds administrator. He had the dough. So they thought he would go buy stuff for the feast of unleavened bread, which came after Passover.

[31:37] Passover. Or, maybe you give something to the poor, which was customary to do on Passover night, maybe not this time. Normally you do that in the morning, but whatever.

[31:50] But you showed their ignorance. The disciples truly did not know who would betray Jesus, and they truly did not believe it was going to be Judas. I mean, you only let those who are trustworthy to watch after the money, right?

[32:04] You don't let the guys, you're like, I don't know, that guy's kind of squirrely. You don't let him here, we'll let you take care of the money. You don't let that kind of guy do it, right? They trusted Judas.

[32:18] Not betrayers. Verse 30, and so after receiving the morsel of the piece of bread, he went out immediately, and it was night.

[32:33] Again, the paradox of receiving the piece of bread again, symbolized intimacy, and you correlate that with he went out immediately to betray Jesus.

[32:46] The contrast, the paradox had shown. He left the flock to betray Jesus, his master. And again, Jesus is in total control.

[33:00] But I want to point out to you the last part of verse 30. Notice the phrase, and it was night. And John's not just telling this because that's the design of the time that all this was happening.

[33:11] I mean, yeah, it was night. But he's trying to give us as the readers the impression that unseen realities were at work. Nights, the word night in this gospel is never in the positive.

[33:29] Never. Never. And night here symbolized evil, darkness, sin, what's opposite to God. So you see how Judas was swallowed up by the darkness.

[33:49] The darkness swallowed him. how sad Judas' heart was filled with spiritual darkness.

[34:02] He was chosen for this, and yet he chose to betray the Lord of glory. Yes, this betrayal was of the night, not of the light.

[34:16] Satan would try to destroy Jesus, and yet would also try to get him not to die on the cross, to save his people from their sins, but God was in control.

[34:30] And now, which we'll look at next week, from chapter 13, verse 31, all the way to chapter 17, end of chapter 17, now Jesus could properly address his true disciples with words of encouragement and exhortation.

[34:47] His intimate teaching now takes place. it may come as a shock to us. If someone among us abdicates from the faith and betrays the gospel, but this passage teaches us otherwise, any day a so-called follower of Jesus may fall into darkness.

[35:11] That's what happened to Judas. He got swept in, which is why we said this earlier, the chosen ones by Jesus will remain faithful to Jesus.

[35:27] Time will tell. If these are his chosen ones who receive him, who love him, who know him, who desire him, Jesus' true chosen ones will not stumble in the darkness, but will walk in the light staying faithful to him and receiving him.

[35:51] Time will tell if followers of Jesus are truly his chosen ones. Time will tell. so you look at this passage like wow, this is so heavy.

[36:05] And yet, may this exhort and encourage us to remain faithful to Jesus, to rest in his love, to rest in his grace, which he freely and graciously gives to us. And, as I put this up earlier, I'll put it up again, hold fast, oh Christian, hold fast, oh church, but realize it is the Lord Jesus himself who's truly holding us.

[36:34] It's Jesus himself who's truly keeping us, not ourselves. Hold fast, stand strong, stand firm in the Lord, and yet realize Jesus is holding you.

[36:48] Jesus is the one who's making you stand firm. Let's thank him for it. Lord Jesus, we do not take this passage lightly, it's heavy.

[37:04] It's heavy in so many ways, and for some of us, we may know of someone who has abdicated from the faith, who has denied the gospel.

[37:19] we saw their fervor for the gospel, for the truth, and it's gone.

[37:45] Baby, oh yeah, West кому can, that keiner kind Time will tell.

[38:24] So help us to remain faithful to you.

[38:39] Even as we see loved ones walk away from the faith.

[38:56] Give us your grace.

[39:10] And thank you. Jesus you keep us. Jesus. Help us to stand firm.

[39:30] Amen. I encourage you. Take this time.

[39:40] Amen. To let the gospel sink deeply within your soul. Asking the Lord to help you.

[40:02] Even those whom you love to remain faithful to the truth. Time will tell. Take a few moments and pray for that.

[40:22] Let the truth of the word. Impact your heart. Do that now please.