WWUTT 932 Betraying the Son of God?

Eternal Security Does Not Eliminate the Need for Perseverance

Perhaps you believe in the doctrine of eternal security. Once saved, always saved. I believe in that too. But don't think for a moment that your belief in that doctrine means that you can't fall prey to the passions of your flesh and away from Christ.

When we understand the text. This is when we understand the text.

A daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky.

Judas, Psalm 41, and the Fulfillment of Scripture in John 13

We come back to our study of the gospel of John chapter 13. And today's section we'll be looking at verses 21 through 30. The apostle John wrote, after saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.

The disciples looked at one another uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples whom Jesus loved was reclining at table at Jesus side. So Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.

So that disciple leaning back against Jesus said to him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

Then after Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him and Jesus said to him, what you are going to do do quickly. Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him buy what we need for the feast or that he should give something to the poor.

So after receiving the morsel of bread, Judas immediately went out and it was night. So in verse 21, where it says, after saying these things, this is right after Jesus had given instructions to his disciples about washing one another's feet.

Jesus had done this gesture for his disciples and said, as I have done this for you, so you must do this for one another. And all of this was an indication of sanctification, of helping one grow in holiness and uprightness and righteousness, Christ likeness.

We come back to this again in the next section, which we'll be looking at tomorrow versus 31 through 35, where Jesus says, Jesus says to his disciples, a new command I give you that you love one another.

It's really repeating what he had just displayed for them by washing their feet and then saying to them, as I have done this for you, so you must do this for one another. So after teaching them about this, about sanctification, he says that if you know these things, blessed are you.

If you do them, if you know what I have taught you, blessed are you who does them? You don't just hear the words that I say, but you do them also. In Luke chapter 11, Jesus told this story. He said, when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and finding none.

It says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself. And they enter and dwell there.

And the last state of that person is worse than the first. As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed.

But Jesus said, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. So Jesus tells this story about a demon being cast out, an unclean spirit. And then the unclean spirit goes and gets other spirits stronger than itself.

And they attack that person. And the state of that person is worse than it was before that unclean spirit had been cast out. So the illustration that Jesus is giving here is that conversion or coming to Christ needs to be more than just hearing the gospel the first time and then making some sort of declaration of repentance.

Oh, Lord, I believe. But then you must go on believing. You must display that you believe by being obedient to what it is that the Lord has commanded. If it was merely a momentary thing where you heard the gospel and you had a feeling or an emotion or some sort of proclivity toward God in that instance, then that spirit, that evil spirit that was upon you for all of us prior to coming to Christ, we are under the influence of Satan.

So so with that evil spirit being cast out after the hearing of the gospel, there's going to be a season in which that person, you know, probably feels pretty good about themselves. They might even say with their words, they're passionate about God and they're a Christian and they want to follow Jesus.

But if they are not obedient to the word, if they are not growing in sanctification, in holiness, in maturity and understanding the mind of God, as has been given to us in the scriptures through the prophets and the apostles who revealed to us what it is that God has said, if they're not obedient to these things, then that evil spirit that they were once under will come back and attack them again.

And the state of them will be worse than it was before they had heard the gospel, because now their heart is even more hardened to it than it was before they heard it. And this is said in other places as well.

Hebrews chapter six, for example, verse four, for it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit and tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come and then have fallen away to restore them again to repentance since they are crucifying once again, the son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Peter says second Peter to 24, if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome. The last date has become worse for them than the first.

How much more difficult is it for a person to repent again after they have tasted the goodness of the Lord and left it? They heard the gospel the first time they claim to have repented and follow Jesus, but then they turn away from it.

How much more difficult is it for that person to hear that message again and yet come to repentance? The last date has become worse than worse for them than the first. So Jesus says this in this story of the unclean spirit in Luke chapter 11, that a person has a moment of time in which they've heard the gospel and they rejoice in God, but they don't remain in it.

They go right back to the same sort of debauchery that they were living in before they had heard the gospel. It would have been better for them to have not heard the gospel at all. The last day to that person is worse than the first.

And as he was saying these things, there's a woman who raises up her voice and says, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast at which you nursed. But Jesus said, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

These are the ones who will not fall. Pray to that evil spirit when it comes back again with these other spirits to come upon that person. It will not be able to for that place is occupied with the Holy Spirit of God.

And so Jesus making sure that his disciples understand the words that he has said to them, he says that you are blessed if you do what I have taught to you. This is not just higher knowledge. It's not just filling up your brain with facts and statistics and information, but it is revealing the will of our father in heaven.

That's what Jesus is showing to his disciples, the will of the father. And so blessed are you to not just hear these words, but do them. You display that the condition of your heart and your mind have actually been changed.

They have been transformed by God. When your life, your lifestyle is reflective of that heart change, you are showing on the outside the change that has happened to you on the inside and you are blessed, you are happy, you are delighted.

You delight in the things of God and he delights in the things that you do. Blessed are you if you do them. But then Jesus goes on in verse 18 to say, I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled.

There's 11 disciples there whom Jesus has chosen for himself that he will use to build his church. But there's another disciple among them who has been chosen so that the scripture would be fulfilled.

And Jesus says exactly what scripture he has in mind. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. That's from Psalm 41. Let me start reading that Psalm in verse five. My enemies say of me in malice, when will he die and his name perish?

And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words while his heart gathers iniquity. When he goes out, he tells it abroad. All who hate me whisper together about me. They imagine the worst for me. They say a deadly thing is poured out on him.

He will not rise again from where he lies. Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. But you, O Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up. All of this is prophetic concerning Christ.

And we have a mention in there of Judas. Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. When Judas eventually does come to betray Christ and turn him over to the hands of his enemies, the book of Matthew records that when Judas comes and kisses Jesus on the cheek, because that was the sign, the one that I kiss is the man.

When Judas comes and kisses him on the cheek, Matthew 26, 50 says that Jesus replied to him, Friend, do what you came to do. And then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. For Jesus to respond to Judas that way, after Judas kissed him, to call him friend, showed that the scripture had been fulfilled.

Exactly what was said of Christ, of Judas and Christ in Psalm 41. Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. And so this is the sign that Jesus is going to show that Judas is the man who will betray him.

After saying these things, verse 21, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified. So he's been talking about things that are going to be fulfilled. He's becoming more and more aware in his humanity that his hour is coming, his hour to be turned over and be crucified.

And in that crucifixion to take the wrath of God upon himself, where he hung on the cross. He knows all of this is coming and his soul is being troubled by this. And so he says, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.

Summarizing the things that he just said now, just said a moment ago, the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. And one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus side.

And we tend to believe that this is John that Jesus was talking about, the disciple who is writing this gospel. But he speaks of himself so humbly that he doesn't include his own name. So he just refers to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved.

Later on, when Jesus is hanging on the cross, he looks at that same disciple once again being John and gives John the responsibility of caring for his mother. Now, Jesus had other brothers, James being one of them, Jude being another who wrote the second to last book of the Bible.

His name was actually Judas. But so not to be confused with the infamous Judas Iscariot, Jude went by that name, the shortened version of it, Jude, rather than being known as Judas. So anyway, that's all just to say that Jesus did have other brothers.

So why did he give John the responsibility of caring for Mary instead of handing that responsibility over to one of his other brothers? Well, because at that time, his brothers had all abandoned him. So he appears to his half brothers after he rises from the dead.

But in that moment that he is hanging there on the cross as the oldest son, he has the responsibility of making sure that his mother is cared for. And there are other responsibilities that are going to be turned over to James and Jude.

And John is, of course, going to have some great responsibilities as well. But the bulk of his ministry is not going to come about until after 70 A .D. when the temple is destroyed. And by that time, Jesus' mother would have died.

So there John has more responsibilities upon himself as an evangelist, and he certainly did things before that. But that's when the writing of the gospel of John came about and revelation and his epistles for second and third John.

So this would have been later in life for John, as opposed to the other disciples who died. Well, they all died and John did not. He's the only one that lived to old age. But since John was the youngest and Jesus, the oldest son, it was his responsibility to find someone who would care for his mother.

And so hanging on the cross, he gave that responsibility to John. So we tend to believe that John is the beloved disciple here. That's not absolutely stated, but that's the majority of scholarship would come to believe that that's who's being referenced.

So John, who's writing this gospel, is the one whom Jesus loved, the beloved disciple. Peter has perhaps the most responsibility of any of the disciples. And Peter is the one who kind of is considered the head of all the disciples.

Even after he denies Jesus, Jesus had said to him, I will pray for you so that when you are restored, you may also restore your brothers. And he's talking about the other disciples. So Peter, in this way, becomes a leader to them.

And he is he is going to have this responsibility that is even greater than what the rest of the disciples have. We know that about Peter. Yet Jesus affections like a brotherly affection seems to be more toward John than it was toward any disciple.

There was a certain personality that Peter had that Jesus was going to use in the building of his church. But John still had a personal brotherly affection with Christ that was different than the other disciples had with Jesus.

And the reason for that was probably because John was the youngest. He was the youngest of all the disciples. So Jesus had a a particular attention that he showed to him that the rest of the disciples didn't have.

It's kind of like that older brother mentality. It's something that I relate to because I was an oldest. I had five siblings underneath me, and I kind of saw it as my duty to make sure that, you know, my my siblings stayed in line.

And I still kind of have that older brother tendency, that type a personality and a lot of other ways as well. And when I talk to my oldest daughter, Annie, even though Zeej is my son, but he's seven years old, Annie is 11.

And so when I talk with her about her responsibilities as the oldest, I will say, you know, this is what I had to do as the oldest for my siblings. So you're more mature. There are going to be things that you are going to have to do and more responsibilities upon you to take care of your younger siblings.

And that's a responsibility that your younger siblings don't have. This is a privilege and you need to treat it like a privilege. And so Jesus, you know, likely had that kind of mentality with John as well.

You know, he's the little guy. He's the the youngest. So he's going to go out of his way for John more than he would. He would do so for the other disciples. So you see this affection even when they are at table.

John is reclining with him. And so Simon Peter motioned to him and said to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. And I don't know how that would have looked. Doesn't seem like Peter actually went up to him and said, ask him who he's talking about.

That doesn't seem to say that. But Peter is motioning toward him somehow. You know, like that circle motion with the hand. Go ahead. Ask him, who's he talking about? You're right there. You're the one that's closest to him.

Maybe he'll tell you something he's not going to share with the rest of us. So that disciple leaning back against Jesus, they're right there leaning with one another at table. He says, Lord, who is it?

And Jesus answered, it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. And again, that's all in keeping with what's said in Psalm 41 that the scriptures might be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.

And so Jesus takes the morsel. He dips it in the cup and he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And it doesn't appear as if the disciples saw him do this. So that's the answer he gave to John.

But no one actually saw Jesus do that. Or maybe just John saw him do that. Therefore, that's he's writing about it. But the rest of the disciples did not see it. So after he had taken the morsel, after Judas received the morsel that Jesus was handing to him, Satan entered into him.

And Jesus said to him, what you are going to do, do quickly. Now, in the other gospels, in the synoptic gospel accounts, it says that after Judas was upset that Mary had anointed Jesus the day before Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Remember, she anointed Jesus. Judas was upset. Hey, this was an expensive ointment that she used, an expensive perfume. We could have sold it and use the proceeds to give to the poor. Jesus said, the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.

What she has done for me will be will continue to be spoken about. And indeed, so because we're reading about it in the scriptures. And so it says there that after Judas had said this to Jesus, Satan entered into him and he decided then that he was going to betray Jesus.

So if Satan entered into him, then why do we have this statement here that Satan enters into Judas? Well, it's just two different aspects of the way that Satan influenced Judas. The first Satan entering into him was that he entered into Judas to conspire.

With the Pharisees to arrest Jesus. And this entering into Judas is he's now following through with it. He's now going and saying, OK, follow me. We're going to go get the guy. The one I kiss is the man.

So it's it's not saying that that there were two different times that Satan entered into Judas, but just that it was a different aspect of Satan's influence upon Jesus in those two different occasions.

So it says that Satan entered into him and Jesus said, what you are going to do, do quickly. Now, no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him by what we need for the feast or that he should give something to the poor.

So after receiving the morsel for bread, he immediately went out and it was night. It's not the first time in John's gospel that we've heard that reference about somebody, that it was night in John chapter three.

When Nicodemus came to Jesus to ask him some questions, it says that he came to him at night and night is not just talking about the time of day. It's also a reference to the condition of a person's heart.

Nicodemus was dark of heart, though he knew the scriptures well. He did not know the one whom the father had sent. But but Nicodemus in this story, we're going to see his name come up again. Nicodemus actually grew to become a follower of Jesus.

Judas, on the other hand, went the other direction. He was a follower of Jesus. And then he betrayed Jesus and darkness entered into his heart. And so we see that being stated of Judas, not merely that it was a time of day, but that night had fallen upon him.

And this man was cursed, committed perhaps the worst sin that has ever been committed by any man in history. The betrayal of the son of God to his death. Oh, believer, you must not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.

You are susceptible to the temptations of this world, and you must cling all the more to God, cling to the Lord, cling to Christ, hold fast to him, and the devil will flee from you. As James says in James chapter four, draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

If at any point you think you can just kind of coast through this thing and and everything is good and you start losing your passion and your desire for God, you let certain responsibilities go by the wayside and you just expect that that desire for the Lord is always going to be there.

A day is going to come when you are going to wake up and you will be greatly surprised that that passion that you once had for God is no longer there. And that desire to even be obedient to the Lord and open his word and pray to him and be with the brothers and sisters and the saints and attend church.

All of that is going to be gone. I have seen it many, many times. I haven't I haven't lived a whole lot of life, but yet I have seen this happen over and over again, even within members of my own family, passionate for God one moment and then somebody completely different the next as though they had never been a Christian at all, because the fact of the matter is they never were.

Or it could be the sort of a thing where you're passionate about the things of God and you love the gospel and you're growing in holiness and sanctification. But then you find some sort of lack in your faith.

There's something about your faith that just isn't filling you up, just doesn't seem to be doing it. And so you start clinging to worldly things and worldly philosophies and ideologies, ideas which you start bringing into your faith and it corrupts your faith and then it becomes a different faith than a gospel biblical faith.

Which is why, once again, we must be obedient to the word, Jesus saying that, blessed are you if you do these things. John 13, 17, again, if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them, know the word of Christ and obey it and he will keep you.

He will comfort you and no one will snatch you out of his hand. Oh, Lord, protect us from becoming like Judas, that we would betray the son of God. But if we have a passion for Christ to follow you, keep us steadfast in it and obedient to it to the very end.

May that conviction in our hearts, the desire for you, may it never leave us, but become all the more strong, all the more passionate for you tomorrow than we were the day before. And we rejoice in the words of the psalmist in Psalm 41, though that psalm speaks of the betrayal of the son of man, it ends on this note.

This I know that you delight in me. My enemy will not shout in triumph over me, but you have upheld me because of my integrity and set me in your presence forever. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and amen.

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