WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.000 John 13, we looked at the first part of John 13 this morning, we're going to look at verse 21-30 this evening. 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:19.000 You'd have thought, wouldn't you, that people would always respond to acts of love in a positive way. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:29.000 So if someone shows you compassion, they show you kindness, they give something to you, normally that would help you to love them back, wouldn't it? 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:34.000 You'd feel a certain sense of love for them in return. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:42.000 But the truth is that we have a very funny relationship with the love that Jesus shows. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:51.000 When he shows love, that is not always the response that he gets back from us in return. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:01:02.000 The story goes, you've probably heard it of a man walking by a river in a tropical country, and he sees a scorpion drowning on the roots of a tree. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:08.000 And the man crawls out with compassion on the scorpion and tries to reach out and rescue it. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:17.000 But every time he tries to reach out and grab it, the scorpion stings his hand. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:23.000 We meet a man today who responds to Jesus' grace with a sting. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.000 Judas, isn't he? 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Judas, one of Jesus' disciples, betrays his rescuer famously. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:38.000 He shows us a twisted response to Jesus' grace. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:45.000 We see in Judas a warning, but we see in him an encouragement as well. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:52.000 So first of all, the warning, Judas is the one who can't stand the love of Jesus. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.000 Judas can't stand the love of Jesus. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:00.000 This morning we looked at the beginning of chapter 13, didn't we? 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.000 Jesus arranges this meal with his disciples. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:10.000 And John says that having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them till the very end. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:13.000 He's referring there to the cross, I think. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.000 He loves them and he serves them, doesn't he? 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:24.000 He washes the heel, even of the man who's going to try and crush him with his heel, to betray him and stamp on him. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:26.000 And just imagine this scene. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.000 Jesus washing his disciples' feet, serving them, loving them. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.000 You can imagine the atmosphere, can't you? 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:38.000 The room is filling with light. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:44.000 Filling with the generosity and the kindness of Jesus. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:50.000 The light of the love of Jesus, even for Judas himself, fills the room. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:03:01.000 But John tells us that strangely, with the light growing, the atmosphere changes quite drastically after verse 21, isn't it? 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:06.000 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in spirit. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:10.000 And he says, truly, truly, one of you will betray me. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:24.000 Turns out that when the light gets brighter and brighter in the room, the light of Jesus, some in the room want to retreat deeper into darkness. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.000 Some people can't stand the light of Jesus. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:33.000 There's a discussion, isn't there, as to who the betrayer is. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.000 The sort of murmurs go around the room, don't they? 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.000 And again, it's as if the action slows down. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.000 I think John does this quite a bit. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:43.000 Verse 26. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:50.000 Jesus answered, it is to he to whom I'll give this morsel of bread when I've dipped it. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:51.000 And then the action slows down. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:04:00.000 So when he dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:12.000 The focus for one moment is held, isn't it, on this action of Jesus passing a morsel of bread to this man. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:18.000 This piece of bread passes from one hand to another and Judas is left holding it. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:23.000 And this moment, this action is the tragic climax. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:28.000 It's the tragic conclusion to Judas' whole attitude towards Jesus. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:35.000 It's the headline for how Judas responds to Jesus' love. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:44.000 Because it is at that very moment that John tells us that Satan's influence on Judas reaches its climax. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:49.000 He enters into Judas at that moment in verse 27. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:58.000 You see, in the moment of Jesus giving to Judas, Judas starts his betraying. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.000 Why is that? 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.000 So the ancient custom in a meal like this was to be sitting in a group for a meal 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.000 and the tables would be quite low, a bit like coffee tables. 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:15.000 And you'd probably lean on your left side so that you could eat food with your right hand. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:22.000 And the host would be in the middle of maybe a circle or a horseshoe arrangement of couches and tables. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:29.000 And the host would show honour to his guests by offering them food. 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:32.000 You know, isn't it, when you host? 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:38.000 Jesus has been the slave at the beginning of the meal in the foot washing. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:43.000 But now he takes the role of the host passing the food. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:48.000 And to pass somebody food is a sign of great honour. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.000 You can do it with your honoured guests. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:56.000 It's a bit like maybe a wedding when the groom gets a piece of cake on the court, doesn't he? 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.000 And feeds it to his bride, something like that. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:03.000 Feeding someone is a sign of love, isn't it? 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:09.000 And this is the moment, this is the way that Jesus identifies his betrayer. 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:19.000 The thing that sends Judas over the edge in resentment of Jesus is the love of Jesus. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:28.000 The whole evening Judas has had to sit there, hasn't he, and get his feet washed and be served by Jesus and honoured by Jesus. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.000 And he can't stand it. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:36.000 It is the moment that Judas follows Satan wholeheartedly. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:46.000 In these moments of light and of love from Jesus, Judas is filled with darkness and loathing. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:57.000 There is something about the love of Jesus that oddly does that to people, that some people find it infuriating, don't they? 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.000 We've had a bit of an inkling about Judas before in John's Gospel. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:06.000 This has been his quiet, secret disposition towards Judas. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.000 His hidden feelings about Jesus for a while. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:18.000 Back in chapter 6, and you can maybe look at it later, we've known that Judas was a bit different. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.000 Jesus says to his disciples, one of you is a devil. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:29.000 John adds another note, he was referring to Judas Iscariot. 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:38.000 If you flick back a page to chapter 12 of John, there's this time when Jesus was at Lazarus' house for dinner, 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:44.000 and the room is filled with the fragrance of Mary's devotion to Jesus. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:52.000 So he's just raised Lazarus from the dead, and she extravagantly anoints Jesus' feet with ointment. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:57.000 She pours a whole bottle of Chanel No. 5 over his feet. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:01.000 It's an extravagant sign of affection and thanksgiving, isn't it? 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:09.000 And then Judas pipes up in verse 5, why was this ointment not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:15.000 John adds, he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.000 And having charge of the money bank, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:24.000 And Jesus said to Judas, you leave her alone. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:35.000 You see again there, the moment Jesus' love and grace is shown in somebody else's life, he can't stand it. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:41.000 He's strangely angry, isn't he, at what's going on in that house. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:47.000 And inside his heart there is this growing bitterness towards Judas' love. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:48.000 How odd. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:50.000 He's growing hard into it. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:55.000 He hates it when it's shown to him or to others. 00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:57.000 He can't stand it. 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.000 It's a very secret thing with him, isn't it? 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:02.000 Nobody else can tell this about him. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:05.000 So back in John 13, it's odd. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:14.000 Don't you think that when Jesus singles Judas out at the meal table, the other disciples still don't understand what's going on. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:21.000 So when Judas leaves, in verse 29, they assume he's going out to get supplies for the feast 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:24.000 or that he's going to go and give money to the poor. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:30.000 No one quite knew, did they, the resentment that he was holding in his heart. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.000 No one except Jesus, of course. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:37.000 And we're told again in verse 30, you look there, 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:43.000 After receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:46.000 It's as if John wants to highlight something to us, isn't it? 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:52.000 It is that act, after receiving the morsel of bread, 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:58.000 part of the regular supper meal that they were eating. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:06.000 That is the moment that seals Judas' desire to betray. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.000 Can't stand it. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:10.000 What's going on in this man? 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:21.000 Can you imagine how someone who is wracked with guilt and shame can refuse, further still, to accept the grace of Jesus? 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:23.000 Can you imagine that? 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:30.000 How the love of Jesus itself is the thing that we retreat from and that people can't stand? 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:33.000 I wonder if you maybe know people like that. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:36.000 Maybe that's a bit like you. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:44.000 Even the mention of grace or Jesus' love for sinful people like you and me. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:48.000 Things of embarrassment and avoidance. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:53.000 The light of Jesus shines and it softens some, doesn't it? 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.000 But it hardens others. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:00.000 I was reading an article the other day and the title of the article was, 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.000 I Can't Stand Amazing Grace. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:05.000 And the writer says, 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.000 Is it just me or do you just hate the song Amazing Grace? 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:14.000 It's not just the tune or the fact that it's played at every college football game these days. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.000 I quote, 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:22.000 I'm damned if I'm going to call myself a lost and blind wretch who needs grace. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:27.000 Judas would have been like that, wouldn't he? 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:29.000 Judas would have been in church. 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:32.000 Imagine when the benediction goes out. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:40.000 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.000 And Judas would have had his fingers crossed behind his back, wouldn't he? 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:47.000 Very uncomfortable moments. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:51.000 Because there is something about the grace of Jesus that people can't stand. 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:55.000 Jesus knew Judas' dark secret. 00:11:55.000 --> 00:12:00.000 He knows your secrets. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:05.000 Judas has become well practiced at masking things. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:12.000 He thought, I feel so guilty about my thieving. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:15.000 But the last thing I'm going to do is admit that. 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:18.000 Maybe he's thought, I'll stop the thieving myself. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.000 I'll get it under control. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.000 I'll change myself. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:24.000 But it's a stalling tactic, isn't it? 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:32.000 He's thought to himself, I'd rather have the other guys think well of me than admit this. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:39.000 I'd rather refuse the grace of Jesus and be forgiven and face up to who I really am. 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:44.000 If I can compensate myself for my sins, I can deal with it. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.000 I can do better. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:47.000 I'll make up for it. 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:50.000 But there comes a point here, doesn't there? 00:12:50.000 --> 00:13:06.000 The more and more he refuses to come to Jesus for help and mercy, the more and more actually that refusal transforms into a kind of resentment of the help Jesus offers. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:08.000 He resents that mercy. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:14.000 And then the more he hates Jesus himself, this is the road. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:17.000 And the grace of Jesus that could have melted his heart. 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:20.000 Imagine, it could have been so different, couldn't it? 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:25.000 Imagine Jesus gets to Judas and he starts washing his feet. 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.000 And he has this food passed to him in the field. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:34.000 He could have at that moment gone, Lord I can't do this anymore. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:37.000 I've been living a lie. 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:39.000 I've been untrue to you. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:41.000 I've been a hypocrite. 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:44.000 Forgive me Lord, help me Lord. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:48.000 And he would have been restored, wouldn't he, right then? 00:13:48.000 --> 00:14:06.000 And yet the love that was meant for restoration and the grace that was meant for restoration is twisted in Judas' mind as an excuse for greater distancing from Jesus and greater bitterness in the end. 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.000 It's a warning, isn't it? 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.000 It's a warning to us. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.000 To us when we refuse Jesus' grace. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:17.000 It's possible in the life of church to be like this, isn't it? 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:22.000 Maybe you've seen people, maybe you've known people, maybe this has been you in the past. 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:38.000 Where there's a response to the love of Jesus or a response to the love of others that is irrationally twisted into a delusion that when love is shown it's a sign of superiority, isn't it? 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:39.000 How dare you? 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:40.000 How dare you? 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:41.000 How dare you? 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.000 What do you think you are? 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:47.000 How dare you think that I need serving? 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:53.000 It's an awful, awful thing to grow bitter towards the love of others. 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:55.000 Towards the love of Jesus. 00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:05.000 And on top of that, how we respond to Jesus Christ in other people's lives is a test for where we are with Jesus, isn't it? 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.000 Do you remember the religious leaders? 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:08.000 They were absolutely furious. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:10.000 They were like Judas. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:20.000 When they saw the grace of Jesus towards others, when he ate and sat with tax collectors and sinners, they couldn't stand it. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:23.000 We're like that with others. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:27.000 We don't really treasure his grace for ourselves, do we? 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.000 Maybe you've been on the receiving end of that. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:34.000 When your family and your friends, they balk at the idea of forgiveness for you. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.000 What makes you special? 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.000 They balk at the idea that they need it, don't they? 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:42.000 To clear about them. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:47.000 That there is anything wrong at all with them that they can't themselves fix. 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:52.000 Jesus forgives and transforms and some people, they can't stand it. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:16:02.000 Judas couldn't stand to be reminded of the truth that he was still refusing what maybe deep down he needed from Judas. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:12.000 And it went on and on and on until the possibility of receiving grace passed forever. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:21.000 This is the moment, isn't it, in his life when the line is crossed. 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:25.000 John tells us that in his bitterness he immediately went out. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.000 He says it was night when he went out. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:32.000 And John speaks there symbolically. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:37.000 It was night time, but there's something significant about that, isn't it? 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:43.000 He's going out of a room full of light and he's going into the darkness. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.000 He's going into the abyss. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:53.000 He finally and dreadfully leaves the light of Jesus and the grace that he could have received. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.000 And he plunges into the darkness of death. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:00.000 He closes the door on Jesus literally, doesn't he? 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:06.000 He leaves the light inside and he goes into the darkness outside. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:09.000 And so he is a warning to you and I. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:13.000 Judas is like the ghost of Christmas future, isn't he? 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:19.000 Because it can only go two ways, one of two ways. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:32.000 But for groups like this, groups who are with Jesus, who are close to Jesus, who have a privileged access to Jesus, it can only go one of two ways for people like that. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:49.000 They either grow in greater devotion to him and they want to be closer to him or they leave in eventual antagonism and impossible doom. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:53.000 Just as there might be two groups in this room. 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:54.000 Will you stay in the room? 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:00.000 Will you go towards the light or leave the room and go into the darkness? 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.000 That is the choice that Judas places before us, isn't it? 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.000 His grace can only do neither with us. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.000 So he is a warning from the one who can't stand the love of Jesus. 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:15.000 But then there's an encouragement as well here. 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.000 Because we see in Judas the one who can't stop the love of Jesus. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:23.000 He can't stand the love of Jesus but he can't stop the love of Jesus either. 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:28.000 As the narrative goes on here, we see behind Judas the work of Satan. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:30.000 He's all over it, isn't he? 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.000 You can tell. 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:34.000 His influence is all over Judas. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:39.000 Back in verse 2, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray him. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:44.000 You can sort of translate that as the devil had already put it in his mind to do it. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:51.000 But notice how the influence grows, the satanic influence in verse 27. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:57.000 After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered into him at that moment. 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:01.000 It began with a thought planted by Satan in his head. 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:06.000 It ends with Satan himself in his heart. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:11.000 Judas willingly and consciously makes the decision here. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:15.000 He's not a robot possessed by the devil. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:21.000 Satan merely taps into Judas' own hatred of Jesus' generosity. 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:28.000 Something that has been going on for a long time in him that Satan monopolises. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:35.000 Judas willingly becomes impossibly mastered by Satan here. 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.000 And so Jesus is troubled in his spirit, isn't he? 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:45.000 Because in Judas, it's as if a bit of darkness tries to get into the room, isn't it? 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:47.000 From the outside. 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:55.000 The light of the world is in the room and the darkness is trying to snuck him out and get rid of him. 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.000 The darkness wants to enter in here and to overcome Jesus. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.000 But he can't stop Judas. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:08.000 And actually we see even in the evil intentions here that they are all bound for good ends, aren't they? 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:12.000 Jesus still commands the darkness here. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:14.000 And so he says to him in verse 27, 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:19.000 What you're going to do, do it quickly. 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.000 Notice how Judas leaves. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:25.000 He doesn't storm out in a half, does he? 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:30.000 Judas is dismissed after the evening. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:38.000 The darkness is banished with permission from the light of the world. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:45.000 Even in his disobedience, Satan here is compelled, doesn't he, to obey the Lord. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.000 And there is a note of irony in the little details here. 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:56.000 So you see how the disciples think that Jesus is telling Judas to go out and buy food for the feast. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.000 Did you notice that? 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:01.000 He's talking about the Passover feast there that they were having at this time. 00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:06.000 And Judas was in charge of the money bag, so they put two and two together. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:12.000 He's planning on going out and making a transaction, isn't he? 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:20.000 Of getting money for handing Jesus over to the authorities. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:26.000 Judas has got no intention of getting food for the feast or anything like that. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:37.000 But ironically, making preparations for the Passover feast is exactly what Judas is about to go and do, isn't it? 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:39.000 Without knowing it. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:41.000 The disciples were right. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:47.000 By making a transaction of betrayal, where money is going to change hands, 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:57.000 He betrays the lamb of God to his death, and unwittingly hands over the lamb of God to the priests. 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:01.000 He supplies the Passover lamb, doesn't he? 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:04.000 The lamb who is slain for the sins of the world. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:12.000 He supplies the whole world unwittingly here, in his betrayal, with what they need for the feast. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:20.000 The feast of the Passover, where sin is taken away, isn't it? 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:25.000 And the rich communion, He supplies the Passover lamb to the high priests. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:31.000 And so do you see that the more and more he hates Jesus and he tries to stop Him, 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:35.000 the darkness grows in him and it tries to get in. 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.000 But it just gets absorbed into the light. 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:47.000 Just gets washed out into the plans and the purposes of the God who is light. 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:50.000 Darkness cannot overcome Him. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:55.000 The one who can't stand Jesus can't stop Jesus either. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:57.000 And the desperation shows. 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:00.000 And the first thing that we know is, just ask the question together. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:01.000 I have a bit of deep thinking. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:06.000 But why would Satan want Jesus to be betrayed? 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:09.000 Satan is crafty and cunning. 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:10.000 He's vindictive. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.000 He's not stupid. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:18.000 Satan knows what will happen if the Lamb of God lays down life. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:27.000 We know that Satan actually, part of him doesn't want Jesus to die like this. 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:33.000 Before his death, Jesus tells his disciples that this must happen. 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:39.000 That he must go to the cross and be handed over to the authorities to be killed and then to rise. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:41.000 Do you remember Peter at the end? 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:44.000 He says, no Lord, far be it from you. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.000 And Jesus says, you get behind me, Satan. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:52.000 The devil doesn't want Jesus to go to the cross. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:55.000 He doesn't want Jesus to suffer. 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.000 He'd rather Jesus didn't fast in the wilderness. 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:04.000 He'd rather Jesus was comfortable and he avoided the cross. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:08.000 Not because he loves Jesus, but because he knows the plan. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:10.000 So why is he doing this? 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:13.000 It's because Satan knows he can't stop the love of Jesus. 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:18.000 So this is his last-ditch attempt at something evil. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:23.000 But all he can do now is make it as painful as possible, isn't it? 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:26.000 Do as much damage as he can. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:28.000 Drag others into it. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.000 Make it a death by betrayal. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:33.000 Make it as heartbreaking as it can be. 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:36.000 He can't stop the love of Jesus. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:42.000 But even the betrayal part is Jesus' own settled destiny. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:45.000 Let's see, we've got back in verse 18. 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:48.000 This is happening, but the scripture will be fulfilled. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:53.000 He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:56.000 I just think there is an encouragement here, isn't there? 00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:02.000 On the inscrutable, immovable decrees and plans of God. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:12.000 That all wickedness, that the greatest act of wickedness and wicked people, even if they have another goal in mind, 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:17.000 and they don't wish to love Jesus, they will be obliged to obey Jesus. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:28.000 That even if nothing is further from their intentions, God directs wickedness to an end that is not known to those wicked people, 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:31.000 and which is altogether good. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:35.000 We don't know why wicked things happen sometimes. 00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.000 There are devilish things going on in the world, isn't there? 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:40.000 And in your life. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.000 Things being done to you right now, even. 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:53.000 Jesus' disciples in the room with him still see who is the Lord here in those moments of wickedness. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:58.000 The one who can't stand him can't stop him. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:07.000 A minister writes in a book of the time when he went on a pastoral visit to someone in his congregation. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:14.000 And this member of the congregation had struggled for a long time with various addictions, 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.000 so alcoholism and drug use. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:20.000 And this minister went round. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.000 He hadn't been able to get through to him on the phone, so he thought, 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:26.000 I'll go round to the house. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:32.000 And this church member saw the minister walking up the drive through a window. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:38.000 And as he saw him, he immediately shut the curtains and turned off all the lights. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:44.000 That weekend he relaxed with a binge of drink. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:48.000 And he felt overwhelmed with shame. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:53.000 So, he tried to hide in the darkness. 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:56.000 What guilt can do to you, isn't it? 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.000 Force you into hiding. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:02.000 Darely face the gospel. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:05.000 Darely face grace. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:12.000 If it's too painful, he couldn't stand amazing grace. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:16.000 Guilt can pull you into further sin, can't it? 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:18.000 And further darkness. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:24.000 The devil says the only way that you can relieve this guilt is by doing more of the sin. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:28.000 It gives you a bit of a hit of pleasure for a moment. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:33.000 But it just gets worse and worse, doesn't it? 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:42.000 And embarrassment about sins and about going to Jesus for grace grows into avoidance. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.000 And avoidance grows into resentment. 00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:51.000 And resentment grows into outright bitterness towards Jesus and his grace. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:55.000 And that was the road that Jesus was on. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:02.000 But in that darkness of refusing Jesus, he discovered that there was just nothing there. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:04.000 There's nothing there. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:07.000 It's utterly empty. 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:09.000 He couldn't stand Jesus. 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:11.000 Neither could he stop Jesus. 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:15.000 There was no pleasure found in spite of Jesus. 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:22.000 Nothing to be gained whatsoever in refusing him. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:25.000 So what about you? 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:32.000 The only two outcomes in that room that night, and in this room tonight, there are only two outcomes on that. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.000 It was the grace of Jesus. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:44.000 Those who were closest to Jesus, who had privileged access to Jesus, could either grow in greater devotion. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:56.000 Or to slowly walk on this path of growing bitterness. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.000 Can you see that? 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:58.000 Can I? 00:28:58.000 --> 00:28:59.000 Can you see that? 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:08.000 Can you see yourself becoming harder and retreating into the dark more and more? 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:17.000 Can you see yourself wanting to open up the curtains and open up the doors and to let him in. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:21.000 Can you stand in this amazing grace? 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:23.000 Shall we pray?