Sermon #94 — John’s Gospel

            Title:                           Judas and The Glory of God

            Text:                           John 13:18-31

            Subject:                     Judas’s Betrayal and God’s Glory

            Date:                          Sunday Morning — August 15, 2010

            Tape:                          John #94

            Reading:       Psalm 109:1-31

Psalm 109

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. — This psalm is about Judas Iscariot. The entire psalm is our Redeemer’s prayer for the everlasting destruction of his betrayer, Judas Iscariot.

“1 ¶ Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; 2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. 4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I [give myself unto] prayer. 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”

“6 ¶ Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. 7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. 8 Let his days be few; [and] let another take his office. 9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. 10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek [their bread] also out of their desolate places. 11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. 12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. 13 Let his posterity be cut off; [and] in the generation following let their name be blotted out. 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. 15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. 16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. 17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. 18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. 19 Let it be unto him as the garment [which] covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. 20 [Let] this [be] the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.”

“21 ¶ But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy [is] good, deliver thou me. 22 For I [am] poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. 23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust. 24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. 25 I became also a reproach unto them: [when] they looked upon me they shaked their heads. 26 Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy: 27 That they may know that this [is] thy hand; [that] thou, LORD, hast done it. 28 Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. 29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. 30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. 31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save [him] from those that condemn his soul.” (Psalms 109:1-31)

Introduction

John 13 begins with a declaration of God the Holy Spirit, by which he describes the everlasting love of the Lord Jesus Christ for his elect. — “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” Our Savior’s love for his people is here described as…

·      A Sovereign, Eternal Love — “Having loved!”

·      A Special, Distinguishing Love — “Having loved his own!”

·      And a Steadfast, Unchanging, Immutable Love — “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end!”

Do you remember what our Savior said, in Psalm 109, about this great love of his, which charms our hearts and ravishes our souls? Listen…

(Psalms 109:3-4) “They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. 4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I [give myself unto] prayer.”

The Lord Jesus declares that the reason for man’s hatred and opposition to him and his people is his love for his people. Yes, he declares that men and women everywhere hate God because God loves his people.

·      That is the reason Cain hated his brother Abel and murdered him.

·      Ishmael persecuted Isaac because God loved Isaac.

·      That is why Esau despised Jacob. God loved Jacob and hated Esau.

Men and women everywhere hate God because God loves his people. Nothing enrages the heart of man like the fact of God’s free, sovereign, saving love bestowed upon chosen sinners in Christ (Romans 9:4-23).

(Romans 9:4-23) “Who are Israelites; to whom [pertaineth] the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service [of God], and the promises; 5 Whose [are] the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ [came], who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”

“6 ¶ Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they [are] not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, [are they] all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these [are] not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 9 For this [is] the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. 10 And not only [this]; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, [even] by our father Isaac; 11 (For [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”

“14 ¶ What shall we say then? [Is there] unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then [it is] not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will [have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth. 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed [it], Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 [What] if God, willing to shew [his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.”

The fact is there are among the fallen sons of Adam only two groups of people…

·      The Elect and the Reprobate.

·      The Seed of Christ and the Seed of the Serpent.

·      Vessels of Mercy afore Prepared to Glory by Whom and in Whom God makes Known the Riches of His Glory and Vessels of Wrath Fitted to Destruction by Whom and in Whom God Makes His Power Known.

The greatest, most glaring example of those vessels of wrath fitted to destruction is the betrayer of our Lord Jesus, Judas Iscariot. The title of my message is Judas and the Glory of God. My text is John 13:18-31.

(John 13:18-31) “I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. 19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am [he]. 20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 21 When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. 22 Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. 23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. 25 He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? 26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped [it]. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave [it] to Judas Iscariot, [the son] of Simon. 27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. 28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. 29 For some [of them] thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy [those things] that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night. 31 ¶ Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”

Election and Predestination

Our text begins with our Lord Jesus assuring his disciples of their election and the certainty of God’s purpose of grace in sovereign predestination. How I thank God for electing love! How I praise him for absolute predestination! The Savior is about to tell his disciples that one of their number is a devil, a betrayer, a reprobate vessel of wrath; but first he assures them and us that God’s purpose of grace is sure (vv. 18-19).

·      “I know whom I have chosen!”

·      “The Scripture must be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me” (v. 18; Psalm 41:9). — Divine prophecy must be fulfilled. The purpose of God must and shall be accomplished.

·      Our Lord’s reason for telling his disciples exactly what God’s purpose for Judas was he made very clear (v. 19). — “Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am [he].” (John 13:19)

The Betrayer

Now, with those sweet assurances stated:

·      The Lord God our Savior knows whom he has chosen.

·      The purpose of God is sure.

·      God does everything he does to make all men know that he is God, to glorify himself in Christ, and make all men know and confess that the man Christ Jesus is Jehovah God, the “I Am!”

Now, with those assurances given, in the second place, I want us to look carefully at what God the Holy Spirit here reveals to us about Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. There are three men mentioned in the New Testament who bore the name Judas.

·      Judas, whose surname was Thaddeus, the brother of James (Matthew 10:3). This was the man who said to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” (John 14:22). He is the Jude (Judas) who, under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, wrote the Epistle of Jude.

·      Then, there was a man named Judas, surnamed Barsabas (Acts 15:22), who was sent by the Apostles to the Church at Antioch.

·      But he who wears the name Judas to the everlasting torment of his soul is Judas Iscariot, (Judas the Murderer — Judas the Betrayer).

The lessons set before us in the character and conduct of that vile, base, reprobate man are many and alarming. Yet, we are specifically told that the things written here were given by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit for our consolation (Romans 15:4).

1^st. Lost people often enjoy great advantages by which their guilt is aggravated and their condemnation is increased. Certainly that was the case with Judas. Judas Iscariot was given many great advantages over other men.

·      Judas was found among the twelve original Apostles. The Lord did not choose him, but he found his way among them. He crept in with those who were chosen. He was not called; but he was found among the called.

·      He had the privilege of being in the company of the Lord Jesus Christ, almost constantly, for nearly three and a half years.

·      He had seen all the miracles performed by our Lord Jesus.

·      He heard our Savior’s sermons in public and the private instructions given just to his disciples.

·      Judas was in the daily habit of conversing with the Son of God, of conversing with that Man “who spake as never man spake.”

·      Judas healed the sick, cleansed lepers and cast out devils (Matthew 10:1-6).

Those were great advantages indeed; but Judas enjoyed even greater privileges and advantages. If we consider nothing except what is before us in this chapter, what countless tokens of our Savior’s kindness, goodness, mercy and grace Judas observed! — The Lord Jesus washed his feet!

When the betrayer again took his seat at the table, the Lamb of God spoke so gently in declaring that one of those sitting at the table with him would betray him, that the Savior’s words would have broken any man’s heart and would have stung any conscience to the quick, except the hard, obstinate heart and seared conscience of Judas Iscariot. Could any arrow of conviction have reached his heart, surely the words spoken by our Redeemer in this chapter and the deeds he performed would have pierced the steel of his soul. — But there he sat, hard and unmoved by the most tender words and actions imaginable, hardened with determined guilt!

While all the other Apostles trembled with horrid fear, at the bare thought that one of them could do such a thing, that one of them could betray the Master, Judas sat, like a volcano, with all the fire of hellish malice burning within, until the Lord Jesus finally gave him the fatal sop by which the traitor was marked. Then, only then, he withdrew.

Still, the hardness of his heart, the determination with which he pursued his hatred of the Lord Jesus is made manifest in what he did as soon as he left the table. Though it was now night, (O what night, what darkness possessed his soul!), Judas went immediately to Jerusalem, a two mile walk from Bethany. There he made his pact with the chief priests (Matthew 26:14-16).

(Matthew 26:14-16) “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, 15 And said [unto them], What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.”

Judas had no more need of those thirty pieces of silver than I do of a child’s lunch money. It was not the money he wanted, but the blood of the Son of God!

As he walked by night to perform his dastardly deed, all through that long, solitary walk, it appears that Judas did not have so much as a slight pricking of conscience, not the slightest compunction. In fact, judging by the only records we have (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), there is no indication that Judas felt or knew even the slightest measure of hesitation for the next two days and nights. There is no indication that his heart was even momentarily softened.

On the contrary, the very next thing we see him doing is taking his place with the Lord Jesus and the other Apostles at the Passover, and actually receiving the Lord’s Supper from the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he had already agreed to betray, as if a he were a faithful disciple!

·      The Savior washed his feet.

·      The Lord Jesus gave him the bread and wine.

·      Judas joined in the closing hymn!

As all tenderness was lost upon that hardened wretch, so the alarms of judgment had no effect upon him. When Judas daringly led that band of men and officers who came to arrest the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane, and they all fell to the ground when the Lord Jesus asked “whom seek ye?” and then declared himself to be Jehovah, the “I AM,” when they all fell away backward to the ground, Judas was among them (John 18:2-9).

(John 18:2-9) “And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. 3 Judas then, having received a band [of men] and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? 5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am [he]. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. 6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am [he], they went backward, and fell to the ground. 7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am [he]: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: 9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.”

But neither miracles, nor acts of kindness, nor privileges, nor acts of judgment could penetrate or even affect Judas’ hard heart. Satan completely possessed the man, because the Lord himself had given Satan the possession of him! And the last state of that man was worse than the first (Luke 11:26).

·      The greatest of opportunities will never convert a sinner.

·      The highest privileges will never give life to a dead sinner.

·      The best of good company cannot save a soul from hell, or even from itself!

·      The best preaching in the world cannot create life and faith in the soul.

·      “Salvation is of the Lord!” — Life is the God’s gift! — Conviction is the Spirit’s work! — Faith is by God’s operation! — Repentance is God turning the soul to himself!

Distinguishing Grace

2^nd. The only difference between Judas and you, the only difference between Judas and me, the only difference between Judas Iscariot and all the hosts of God’s elect is the difference God himself has made and makes by his distinguishing grace.

Read the history of that reprobate man of whom the Lord Jesus said, “good were it for that man if he had never been born” (Mark 14:21). There is a line of everlasting distinction drawn between the precious and the vile, between the righteous and the wicked, between “him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not” (Malachi 3:18). And that line of distinction, drawn by the finger of God from everlasting, is continually drawn by the finger of God in providence and in grace (1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:9).

(1 Corinthians 4:7) “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”

(1 Thessalonians 5:9) “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Turn to the book of Jude (4-11). Though all God’s elect were ruined in the sin and fall of our father Adam, all are born with the same depraved nature, both the elect and the reprobate, the Word of God clearly distinguishes the seed of the serpent and the seed of Christ.

(Jude 1:4-11) “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

“8 ¶ Likewise also these [filthy] dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. 10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.”

God’s elect, because we are blessed of God to be in an everlasting union of grace with Christ are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. But Jude tells us that the reprobate were of old ordained to this condemnation. And, as the descendants of Cain, they have run and do run greedily after the error of Balaam and shall perish in the gainsaying of Core.

The Lord Jesus himself declares of all the Judas seed of Adam’s apostate race, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do” (John 8:44). The Apostle John makes this same distinction (1 John 3:5-12).

(1 John 3:5-12) “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

“11 ¶ For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, [who] was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.”

Judas was not merely tempted of the devil, — he was a devil; and Satan entered into him, took complete possession of him (John 6:70).

Yet, you and I are exactly like Judas. We are in every way as vile, hard, unrelenting in wickedness and determined evil as he was. Why, then, is Judas an heir of everlasting darkness and torment, while you and I to whom God has given faith in Christ are heirs of light and everlasting blessedness? Only one answer can be found. The Savior says, “I know whom I have chosen!” Oh, thank God for electing love!

(1 Thessalonians 5:9) “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

(2 Thessalonians 2:13-17) “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”

“16 ¶ Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given [us] everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.”

When you think about this wretched man, Judas Iscariot, remember…

·      Though Judas was an original member of Christ’s Church, the Church of God was greatly blessed and greatly prospered under the blessings of God. — Judas, though defiled, did not defile God’s Church. — Let the tares grow together with the wheat. — God will separate the two.

·      Though Judas was a devil, the Lord Jesus both washed his feet and served him the bread and wine of the Lord’s Table. — We are not to “fence” the ordinances of God. — Every act of worship is between you and God, not between you and me!

·      Judas did exactly what he wanted to do, exactly what he was determined to do in betraying the Lord Jesus, thereby fitting himself for destruction by his own wicked hands. — Yet, Judas did only and exactly what God before ordained must be done for his glory and for the salvation of our souls!

God’s Glory

Our text began with an assurance that God’s purpose of grace in election and predestination is firm and unalterable. — Then we see a picture of both man’s depravity and God’s distinguishing grace in Judas the betrayer. Now, look at verses 30-31, and rejoice in the fact that even Judas and his horrid betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ was ordained of God, overruled by God, and used by God our heavenly Father to accomplish our redemption and the glory of God in our redemption by Christ.

In the end, we are told in the Book of God, Judas went out and hung himself, and “falling headlong, he burst asunder, and all his bowels gushed out.”

What a spectacle! How justly he died! Oh, but think of what has followed: — To all the tremendous miseries of eternity he had to add, the special and peculiar aggravation in the everlasting and unceasing thought — that he betrayed the Son of God! This worm of conscience that never dies gnaws upon his conscience to all eternity: — “I betrayed the Lamb of God! I betrayed the Lord of life and glory!”

(John 13:30-31) “He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night. 31 ¶ Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, was glorified by the accomplishment of redemption in his death, by Judas betrayal! And the redemption of our souls by the sin-atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ was and is the glorifying of the triune God.

When Judas was gone out none remained except the Lord Jesus and his family, his children, his mystical body. In them the Triune Jehovah was glorified, and they were everlastingly blessed in him. So it will be in that great day when sin, and Satan, and all the seed of the serpent in the Judases of every generation, are gone out forever!

Amen.

Don Fortner

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