Sermon: Judas, Jesus, and God's Sovereignty

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May I reach heaven's joy, oh, bright heaven's sun.

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Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision.

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Oh. You may be seated.

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If you would, open your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 26.

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Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 26. We're going to start at verse 36, 26, 36, just to give some context.

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Matthew 26, 36, hear now the word of the living and the true God. Then Jesus went with them to a place called

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Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And taking with him

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Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death, remain here and watch with me.

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And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, my father, if it is possible, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

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Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping.

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And he said to Peter, so could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

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The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again for the second time, he went away and prayed, my father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.

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And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

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Then he came to the disciples and said to them, sleep and take your rest later on. See the hour is at hand, and the

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Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going, see my betrayer is at hand.

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While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

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Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, the one I will kiss is the man, seize him.

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And he came up to Jesus at once and said, greetings, rabbi, and he kissed him.

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Jesus said to him, friend, do what you came to do. Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

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And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the ear of the high priest and cut off his ear, of the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

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Then Jesus said to him, put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will be perished by the sword.

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Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

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But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?

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At that hour, Jesus said to the crowds, have you come out against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me?

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Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.

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Then all the disciples left him and fled. Thus far is a reading of God's holy and inspired word.

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Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would bless, Lord, the proclamation of your word today.

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We pray, Lord, for us as your church that we would grow in grace and in the knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through the hearing of your word today. We pray that, Lord, you'd allow this to humble us, to encourage us, to heal us, to transform us, to make us,

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Lord, see the world the way that you say that it is. Lord, allow this,

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Lord, to bring hope to your saints. We pray that you'd get the teacher out of the way, that people would indeed forget me and remember what they've learned from you here in Jesus' name, amen.

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But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. That's the anchor, and that's what, by the way,

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Jesus keeps going back to. It is said over and over again, Jesus actually, that's one of the main themes of his teaching, that this was prophesied beforehand about me when he's on the road to Emmaus and he's got the sad -sap disciples who thought that all was over and their hopes and dreams were crushed and they're walking with Jesus alongside of them and they're basically thinking this whole thing was essentially a fraud and they were wrong, and then

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Jesus calls them slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. In other words, gentlemen, you should have known this.

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Gentlemen, this was part of your upbringing. This was an Awanus, Jewish Awanus.

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Like this is a part of your training, you know this. The scriptures said all this was going to take place.

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It's one of the things I like to emphasize about the story of Jesus is that the story of Jesus, his person, his mission, his life, his death, his resurrection, everything that you need to know

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Jesus as Lord and Savior is long written before he even came in the

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Old Testament scriptures. And so Jesus comes not as a novelty into history and as a big surprise, but he comes in fulfillment of all that the master storyteller had already told, which raises questions.

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Because you have people here who are in the image of God, they're making real choices. God isn't making

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Judas sin. This was promised long before Judas was ever in the womb of his mother.

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This is long before Judas existed. And Judas has a long life before this, and now this is the hour.

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That's the emphasis. The hour has come. It just so happens to be at Passover, by the way.

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It just so happens to be during the perfect time. It just so happens to be this way. And Jesus says the hour has come.

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Now, of course, Peter is lopping off somebody's ear. There's more to the story, by the way, you get from John when he lops off the ear.

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I think it's probably because he was encouraged by the fact that Jesus called himself Egoemi to the crowd, and these soldiers fall down before the declaration of Jesus as Yahweh.

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That probably would get most of us amped up, right? Like let's go. It's on.

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He's God. These soldiers are falling down. Let's take some ears, right? But you see, there's a lot to this story, and Jesus stops them.

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And Jesus basically says, essentially, you know that I could call on my father to defend me from all of this, but then how would the scriptures be fulfilled?

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This is God's plan. I'm going to be taken. I was supposed to be betrayed. All of this is a part of the whole story, and they're just walking out.

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But questions arise, honestly, and that's why, by the way, we're extending this discussion on Judas, because questions arise.

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Did God make Judas sin? Could he have done otherwise? Was he sort of somebody that was sort of pushed into this?

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Like Judas was really just basically a decent guy, wouldn't want to betray Jesus, and God just had a plan, and so he says, no, you be bad.

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You betray Jesus. We need to answer those questions. I think that they're very important questions, but the emphasis today is this.

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Listen closely again. Verse 56, but all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.

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And that, by the way, is again the distinction between man -made religion, false idols, and true religion, and the true and living

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God. It's on this point right here. This is a dividing line.

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This is something that separates the kingdom of the cults from the kingdom of Christ.

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This portion here, this is taking place that the scriptures would be fulfilled.

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Don't take that for granted. I know that we often do that. If I can be honest and confess, there are times where I see things in scripture that are so grand, and so beautiful, and so lofty, and so powerful, and I just get jaded to them.

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You just get sort of used to this amazing description of God, that he's the only God. There's none before him, none after him.

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He is the first. He is the last. Besides him, there is no God. Before me, there was no

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God. For him, neither shall there be after me. He says he doesn't even know of any other gods. And when he has a throwdown with false idols in the book of Isaiah, just read chapter 40 through 46, you see that God actually says one of the distinctives between him and the false gods of men is the fact that he can tell you the future before it happens.

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Because he's the sovereign. False gods don't smee, smee, smee? It's been a long time since I've been preaching, so bear with me.

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False gods don't see. They don't smee. They don't taste. I'm trying to keep the sermon shorter, so I'm combining words.

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They don't see. They don't smell. They don't taste. They don't hear. They don't think. They're fake.

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And that's God's challenge. Like you go to purchase the materials to make your god. You build it.

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And then you put it up there, and it doesn't move. Just sits there. And God's mocking them for their false gods.

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And he's like, here's a challenge for you. Have your fictitious god tell you the future.

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Can it do it? Doesn't talk in the first place. And here's the problem. Only the truly sovereign

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God who wields the universe and human history can tell you the future before it happens.

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Because here it is. Ready? He decrees it. He determines it.

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What will be allowed, what will not be allowed. God is the sovereign over every single detail.

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A bird doesn't fall from a branch in the forest without your father's knowledge of it.

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He causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. The king's heart is like a river in the hands of God, a stream.

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He puts it wherever he wants it. That's the sovereign God of the Bible. And he tells the false gods this kind of challenge.

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Tell me the past. Which people can do. We've got history books. And here's the thing that is the distinctive right here.

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And why? Right? Because we can all read history books and sort of say this happened,

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A, B, C, D. There was this guy. He went to this place. This was the conflict. Whatever.

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We can all say history, A, B, C. But God gets beyond the A, B, C's. He gets beyond the factual data of this guy, that place, this incident.

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He can tell you why. Why? Now watch. Only a sovereign

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God can tell you why something happened because the why is wrapped up in purpose.

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Purpose. If something happened in the world, God can say, let me tell you why

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I did that. Now watch. Here's the deal. We are all super comfortable.

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We are all very comfortable with thinking about all the glorious gifts of our lives in human history and saying, yeah,

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God did that. That's my God. Only God, baby. Right? Hashtag only

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God. All the good things. All the beautiful things. All the amazing things. But God is God and sovereign over the messes.

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Now we don't like that in evangelicalism in the 21st century. We want to protect

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God's reputation. We don't like God being responsible for betrayal that leads to bloodshed, abuse, torture, and murder.

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But the God of the Bible says, I decreed that. That was my purpose.

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Nobody thwarts me. And so when you think about this statement from Jesus, don't let it pass you.

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Like this evil is taking place in fulfillment of what the scriptures taught.

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But here's the deal. Watch. We're going to answer questions. I wanted to do this because I want to answer questions. Is God forcing

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Judas into sin? Is Judas going against his will? Or did God just simply maybe look through history to see like what might take place, see a bunch of contingencies, and he has sort of like plan

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A, plan B, plan C, let me just sort of whet your appetite. No! This is

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God's perfect plan and will. God decreed it. Judas is responsible.

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Judas is doing what he wants the whole way through. And I would argue

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God was probably withholding so much more sin all around Jesus during the life and ministry of the

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Lord Jesus. But that point there. Think about this for a second. I want you to hang on this because, again, don't let it pass you by as a

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Christian. It's the anchor. It's the anchor of your hope. That's been my heart as a pastor as I've been preparing for this for weeks.

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This is what I want to challenge you with after these messages. This is your hope.

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In the midst of all this betrayal, reviling, bloodshed, torture, evil, death,

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Jesus says all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Now you've got to admit something.

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Put yourself in their shoes. It did not look like God was in control in that moment. It didn't.

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I mean, if you were hanging out outside the trial of Jesus with all the false witnesses, it probably would have honestly angered you.

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Can you imagine hearing false testimony about Jesus and people are going, that's a fiction. Jesus, he didn't do that.

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He didn't say that. They're lying. They're misrepresenting Jesus. These people are slanderers. They're liars. This is false testimony in a court.

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It didn't feel like God was in control when Jesus is being reviled, when he's being beaten, when he's having his beard pulled from his face, when he's having people mock him with a crown of thorns smashed into his head.

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It doesn't feel like God is in control where Jesus is bleeding and suffocating on a cross publicly naked.

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And people are at the foot of the cross, so much malice, so much hatred in their heart for the Lord of glory that they're at the foot of the cross with this suffering victim and they're reviling him while he's suffering.

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Is it not enough that he's suffering? Is it not enough that he's bleeding? He's suffocating. They're reviling him. Be honest.

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The claim that this is taking place in order to fulfill the scriptures doesn't feel like it.

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It doesn't feel like it when you're dying of cancer and your head is in the toilet, that God is totally sovereign over this.

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It doesn't feel like it when you're being attacked online or by a friend or a loved one or a brother or sister in Christ or in conflict together.

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It doesn't feel like God is in full control of this. He's causing it to work together for his good.

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But that's the confidence that our Lord has as he walks into this evil and this mess is that the

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Father is sovereign. God promised this is going to take place. This is going somewhere according to his plan.

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And there's Jesus' perfect peace. And that's his trust in the Father, is that this is taking place in order to fulfill

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God's promises. Read that. To fulfill the scriptures is to fulfill, ready, the revelation of God.

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In other words, God revealed this from his mouth. He said this will take place.

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And it will. And he's a good God and he's a just God and he's a loving God. And he has a purpose in the murder of Jesus and the betrayal of Judas.

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But questions, they do come up. Here are some things about Judas that I'm going to remind you of.

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Again, go back to the sermon we did on Judas. I tried to be as comprehensive as we could in three hours.

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But here's something. Number one, Jesus constantly talked about his knowledge of the betrayal by Judas.

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Matthew 26, 24, John 6, 70 through 71. Second point, his betrayal was promised by God ahead of time.

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John 17, 12. Do that real fast. Go there because I want you actually to see that one.

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Stay there in Matthew and John, finger on Matthew, John 17, and this is

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Jesus' high priestly prayer for his people. In John 17, 12, note what

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Jesus says. He says, while I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me.

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I have guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled.

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Jesus says earlier in terms of talking about all of his people, he says, I've come down from heaven,

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John 6, not to do my will, but the will of him who has sent me that of all that he has given to me, I should lose nothing.

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So, was Judas ever given to Jesus? No, the plan was all along that have

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I not chosen you, 12, and one of you is a devil. Jesus is saying,

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I haven't lost anyone. I've kept them all except, of course, the son of destruction.

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It was promised by God ahead of time. Third point, Judas was responsible for more sins than this one.

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In John 12, 6, it said he was a thief and used to pilfer what was put in the money box.

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So, through the ministry of Jesus, it's not as though Judas is sort of walking along Jesus as the most devoted, faithful disciple, and Judas has just really got no problems of conflict.

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Judas the whole time has clearly ulterior motives about being in ministry with Jesus. Because he's upset when things are done with the ministry's money, pretending like he cares about the poor, when all the while he wanted to make sure that the money went into the money box so he could take from it, because he was a thief, he was a thief the whole time.

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Judas didn't have just the sin of betrayal, he was stealing from Jesus. Fourth point, he made a plan with the chief priest to betray

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Jesus before Satan, quote, entered him. Matthew 26, verses 14 through 16, we did that last time we talked about it.

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Judas goes and he actually makes a plan ahead of time. Before he sits with Jesus at the supper, he's already gone to the chief priest to see, what will you give me if I hand him over to you?

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If I get him over to you? If I betray him, what are you going to give me? And they make a deal. So the whole way, even after, even before he walks into this intimate setting of this meal at Passover to sit with Jesus at the table, he's already made a plan ahead of time in his heart to betray

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Jesus. And of course we know that that's where Satan enters Judas and he gets extra help in betraying the

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Son of Man. Here's the point, ready? Judas was doing what he wanted.

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Judas was doing what he wanted. But here's the question I have for today. How does the betrayal of Judas that was planned by God give us hope in this fallen world?

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Remember that. How does the betrayal of Jesus planned, yeah, Jesus by Judas, planned by God give us hope?

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So what I wanted to do is actually bring us to a section that expands upon this question of the sovereignty of God over the sin of Judas.

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The sovereignty of God and the Scriptures promising ahead of time. So what we're going to do is move from Matthew 26 in this section where it's, so the

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Scriptures might be fulfilled, and I want to show you a bigger punch that Jesus delivers to this question and do that by going to John 13.

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So do this with me. Go to John 13 and prepare yourselves to go to Isaiah 43.

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John 13. Now this is, of course,

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John's telling of the events, same events, but I want you to really pay close attention to what the

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Word of God says and don't let these details pass you by. Let them be anchors.

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John 13. Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew, here it is, ready, that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the

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Father, having loved his own who were with, who were in the world, he loved them to the end, during the supper when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,

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Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper, he laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist and he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel that was wrapped around him.

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He came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, what

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I am doing you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet.

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Jesus answered him, if I do not wash your feet, you have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him,

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Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not every one of you, for he knew who was to betray him.

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That was why he said, not all of you are clean. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what

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I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you're right, for so I am. If I then, your

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Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you.

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Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

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And here's the key part, ready? Pay close attention to the words. I am not speaking of all of you.

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I know whom I have chosen. But the scripture will be fulfilled.

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And then he quotes from the psalm we have today in service. Psalm 41, he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.

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I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that, and the text is in the

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Greek, egoimi. So pay close attention. This is a significant moment.

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It's all about the betrayal of Judas here. In this section, Jesus is saying, I'm telling you this beforehand.

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So when it happens, you'll believe, and you'll know that egoimi.

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I am. It's a very significant promise and a challenge.

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This is going to happen. I'm telling you ahead of time. I know whom I've chosen, and God actually anchors this spotlight.

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You want to see who I truly am? You want to know who you're dealing with, who you've been walking with? So you know that I am

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Yahweh. You know that I am the true God among you, so that you know that I'm egoimi, the name of God.

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He says, I'm telling you ahead of time so that when it happens, you'll know that egoimi. This is all related to the betrayal of Jesus, I'm sorry, betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

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But it's interesting. And so no one thinks I'm plagiarizing. I learned all this from Dr. James White, so. Always note your sources.

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Okay, this is really cool. Pastor James recalled the story before about how this sort of leapt off the page to him.

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It was like 1875, he was in a small apartment in Glendale.

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You've gotten five weeks to talk about me, so. He was, it's a good story, he says that he was reading this, he was engaged in apologetic ministry and he was going through the

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I am statements in John. There's numerous I am statements where Jesus calls himself egoimi.

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You're familiar with this, we don't have time to do this all today, where Jesus says, unless you believe that egoimi, you'll die in your sins.

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Before Abraham was egoimi, I am. I mean, we have this throughout the Gospel of John.

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Clearly John, a Jew, knows what he's doing when he's telling you at the beginning of John chapter one that Jesus is

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God, he's always existed as God, he created everything in existence and God became flesh and walked among us.

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And then throughout the story, you have these moments where it's egoimi, I am, I am, it's the name of God.

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Now, of course, we know when we go all the way back to the beginning of the law of God, we know about the story about the burning bush, we know about the words used there to talk about God, I am.

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There's actually a different way that it's fully stated, egoimi haon, in the

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Old Testament, all the way back at the beginning, but egoimi becomes a euphemism, a euphemism for the name of God in the

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Old Testament, and in particular, Isaiah. What Pastor James has talked about is that experience he had where he was already engaged in apologetic ministry, he was already doing this, ministering to Mormons and all the rest, and he's reading this

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I am statement here in John 13, and he thought to himself, that sounds familiar.

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Sounds familiar. Because it's actually very clear that Jesus is quoting from a familiar section of Scripture in Isaiah about Yahweh himself.

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Now keep a finger in John 13, and go to Isaiah 43.

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Now, as you get there, when do we most often go to Isaiah 43 at Apologia Church?

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Why don't you go ahead and say it. Mormons. Why? Isaiah 43 .10.

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It's one of the most powerful verses you can do, sort of as a quick punch. Give it to the

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Mormons so they go home, you plant that seed so they can go home and go, wait a minute, this is abundantly clear.

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God says, before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. How can that be? How can there be gods before God and gods after God if God explicitly says, no gods formed before me, no gods formed after me?

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So we're familiar with Isaiah 43 .10, but that's only a part of that verse.

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If you read the rest of the verse, you'll see some familiar words.

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Now just to get you into it for later, the context here, really throughout this whole section of Isaiah, is

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God is the true God, there are no other gods, he's the first, he's the last, he doesn't know of any other gods, and he's the one that can declare the future before it takes place.

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So get this, huge part, don't lose it, Isaiah 43 here,

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God is essentially showing he's the only God, and he's the one that tells you history before it happens.

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He's the one that declares the future. He's sovereign over the future, he's the only God. So the context here is prophecy, note that.

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Now Isaiah 43 .10, notice what's said here as you read the full verse.

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You are my witnesses, declares Yahweh, and my servant whom

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I have, what's the word, chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he, before me there was no god formed, no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

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I, I am Yahweh, and besides me there is no savior.

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I declared and saved and proclaimed when there was no strange god among you, and you are my witnesses, declares the

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Lord, and I am God. And hence, also henceforth I am he, there is none who can deliver from my hand,

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I work, and who can turn it back, that's sovereignty right there. But notice something, did you notice the words there, you're my witnesses, declares

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Yahweh, my servant whom I have, what, chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he, this is

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Yahweh talking, all in the context of prophecy. He's in full control, he's the one that declares the future, he's the one who can prophesy and, you'll note the words of Jesus, in John 13

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Jesus says, I'm not speaking of all of you, I know who I have chosen.

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But the scripture will be fulfilled, he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me, I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.

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It's interesting to note that the subdugent translation of the Hebrew scriptures, that's from the

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Hebrew into the Greek, it was the Bible of the apostles, it was the

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Bible of the early church, they used the Greek New Testament, they'd quote from the Greek New Testament copiously, that was their favorite translation, call it the

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King James version of the first century, I don't know. You'll note that in the subdugent translation, the word chosen in Isaiah 43 10 is ex, ex amin, same verb used by Jesus when he says chosen, and the word believe is the same word that Jesus uses in John 13.

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So Jesus is essentially taking the familiar words of Isaiah 43 about Yahweh, he's using it in the moment with his disciples, and he says to them,

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I'm telling you this now beforehand so that when it happens you'll believe that I'm God, I'm Yahweh.

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By the way, I've always wondered, I've mentioned this to you all before, I've always wondered about like, you know,

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Jesus is God, Jesus is truly God, truly man, he's walking among people like, what was that like?

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I mean you see these amazing miracles taking place in the life of Jesus, raising a little girl from the dead, walking on water, feeding 5 ,000, you see

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Jesus knowing people's thoughts ahead of time, you see Jesus forgiving people's sins, you see Jesus rising from the dead, calling into a tomb and telling someone to come out from the tomb, and they live again,

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Jesus is healing eyes and he's giving people legs again, he's healing the sick, like all of that of course had to just feel like this overwhelming sense of like, this is crazy, this is not normal, this doesn't happen, but there had to also be elements that would be like, but really?

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Like the fact that Jesus has his face punched in, how do you punch

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God's face? The fact that Jesus is bleeding, like there's something incomprehensible about the incarnation that his disciples had to sort of be feeling like they're pulled in two directions at times.

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You see him forgiving sins, you see his life, you see his righteousness, you see him rising from the dead and raising other people from the dead and healing sick people, you, you see it all, walking on water, and I can walk out there with him,

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Yahweh, that's God, only God controls the seas and only God can forgive sins and there had to be sort of this awe over that, but then other moments where you're watching

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Jesus eat because he's hungry, and you're seeing Jesus thirsty,

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I mean angels come and minister to him after the temptation in the wilderness because he's also man, fully man, and you see

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Jesus, God, the creator of the entire cosmos, who sustains everything, is being carried away in shackles and seems so entirely helpless, beaten, betrayed, and all the rest.

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You have to feel that tension, the disciples had to feel like they're going two different directions and you notice the encouragement of Jesus, Jesus is saying, this was planned ahead of time, this is no surprise, and I'm telling you this ahead of time so that when it takes place, you'll believe that I am

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Yahweh. So the betrayal of Jesus was supposed to be testimony to the fact that Jesus is

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I am. He's the I am. No surprise. If you just read through John 13, you see a couple things.

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You'll see that his hour had come, this is planned by God, verse 11, he knew who was betraying him, verse 18, he knew whom he had chosen, verse 19, he's telling them so that they'll know that he is

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Egoimi. So there's an amazing connection there that we're supposed to see in the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

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Jesus wants us to see that betrayal of being told ahead of time as evidence that he is in fact

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Yahweh because only God can tell you the future before it actually happens. Think about how many failed prophecies exist among the religions of men.

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It's actually epic. And the thing that surprises me the most, does this not surprise you, is that you'll see people, devotees of a religion or a prophet, and they'll just, they'll just accept the fact that their prophet is just giving them false prophecy after false prophecy after false prophecy.

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It's one of the things that's most astonishing about witnessing, say again to Latter -day Saints, is you'll just show them chapter and verse over and over and over where you have the apostles of Mormonism and Joseph Smith and Brigham Young giving false prophecies and it seems like it falls on deaf ears.

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Like well just give them a break, why? Because come on guys, they're only men. And that's the distinction between the true

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God and his prophets and these man -made religions. I mean what was the, in the last 20 years of our experience just in our nation, what was the guy, how, what was his name,

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Hauer, he, the billboards he had up all over he had, you wrote a book about him.

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Harold Camping, Harold Camping, like I got the date, I worked out the math, I figured out the math of when

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Jesus is actually coming and his followers bought it, couldn't believe it, stunning to see so many professing believers buy what this nutter actually was teaching.

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And people, they sold their stuff, they sold their stuff, they sold their homes, they were fully invested in Camping's delusion and he was wrong, clearly wrong.

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And there's a video online you can go see where they come knocking at the man's door like hey, like you're wrong, you got anything to say?

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And he's like I just need some time to think about this sort of a thing. It's like goes back, because you're a false prophet, you're not speaking from God.

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That's one of the glorious things about Christian faith, is that our God controls every detail of existence.

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He's the sovereign, he can say this is going to take place and nothing's thwarting it. Nothing. It's a powerful thing, don't lose it.

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So I have questions I want to answer, ask and answer. Two questions, one today, one next week.

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One, does the Bible teach that God is this kind of sovereign? The kind of sovereign that I'm suggesting to you.

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And number two, is Judas even guilty? Did God make him sin? I mean if God's the one planning this and decreeing this, do creatures have anything to do with this?

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Are they just robots sort of going along this plan, like Judas is just an innocent victim and God has this amazing plan to bring glory to himself and Judas is just being shoved into it.

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So, for the first question, we'll start by reminding you of your catechism.

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And this is where the Hendricksons are not allowed to play, quiet. We study these things at Apologia Church, we have a catechism based on the 1689

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London Baptist Confession of Faith. In question 11 of our catechism it says, you'll remember, what are the decrees of God and the answer is, the decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his will whereby he, for his own glory, he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

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We have verses that go with that, Ephesians 1 .11, Romans 11 .36, Daniel 4 .35, Isaiah 46 .10,

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Psalm 115 .3, and Amos 3 .6. Here's another one, question 12, how does

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God execute his decrees? Answer, God executes his decrees in the works of creation and providence,

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Genesis 1 .1, Revelation 4 .11, Matthew 5 .45, 6 .26, Acts 14 .17,

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Proverbs 16 .9, 33, 19 .21, 20 .24, 21 .1, and 31.

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In other words, we're not making this up. Go check those texts later. What are the works, what are

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God's works of providence? Question 15, answer, God's works of providence are the holy, wise, and powerful acts by which he preserves and governs all his creatures and all their actions.

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And all their actions. Nehemiah 9 .6, Colossians 1 .17, Hebrews 1 .3,

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Psalm 103 .19, Matthew 10 .29 -30. And finally, one more, one more, this is for our beloved

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Presbyterian brethren. I love this. It's chapter three of God's eternal decree, section one of the

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Westminster Confession of Faith says, God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass, yet so as thereby neither is

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God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away but rather established.

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So on this question, does the Bible teach that God is this kind of sovereign?

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We do this at Apologia Church in our catechism, we're asking these deep questions. How do you hold these things together of the sovereignty of God, his revelation of what was going to take place in the life of Judas, and Judas' own creaturely will doing things that he loved, that he wanted to do?

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How do you bring those things together? And let me just say to you right now, you need to be able to answer that question biblically.

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You can't start with your own philosophy and understanding of the world and how things ought to take place. You can't start answering this question by trying to defend

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God's reputation as a creature. You gotta start with the word of God and say, what does God say about these things?

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Because you will have to have an answer. You see, it's really easy to answer these questions with all kinds of like gusto and strength and confidence in a

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Facebook chat room or page, with all kinds of arrogance.

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It's much harder to answer these questions at the hospital bed. It is much harder to answer these questions at a hospital bed, or when a car gets stolen and comes flying 90 miles per hour towards a car full of children.

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Do you see? Do you see what I'm saying? This is not just stuff that has to hang out in the high and lofty area of deep spiritual theology, theological think -takes.

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Your theology here, coming from Judas' betrayal and God's plan of it, needs to be able to meet you and give you hope at the side of the road with a smashed up van.

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Do you see what I'm saying? This is the stuff of life. And we have to have answers from Scripture.

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And so I want to talk about how sovereign is

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God, according to His own Word. Because the point of Jesus here is, you want to know that I am?

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I'll tell you ahead of time so that you know that I am. Because only I am can control the world and history and the future and tell you what's going to take place, because He's the only sovereign.

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So God said it, and it's going to happen. So what does God say about His sovereignty?

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How sovereign is He? Psalm 135 .6, I'll just give you a few. This is in no way exhaustive.

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Whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

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Psalm 135 .6. Psalm 115 .3. But our God is in the heavens.

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He does whatever He pleases. Isaiah 46 .10, God's saying this, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things which

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I have not been done, saying, my purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.

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Daniel 4 .35, all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, what have you done?

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Do you know what, think about the claim being made there. The inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing to God.

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You think you're big stuff? You think you're mighty? You think you're powerful? This sovereign

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God, you are nothing. Nothing. I got attacked this last,

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I'm trying to get my energy back. Slowly, when you recover, like, it's like,

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I'm seeing people say, like, I'm six months out, and I'm still feeling exhausted and having recurring stuff.

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I'm like, oh, thanks for that encouragement. So I'm trying, some people are like, yeah, I lost my sense of taste and smell.

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I hope it comes back. I've lost mine for 12 months. Thank you. Like, it's, so I've been trying to, like, you know, exercise and get some sun and, like, try to get my body's energy back.

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And so, it was interesting, because I was out in front of my house, trying to get sun again, and I'm just kind of training and doing push -ups and everything else, just trying to get my body strong again after being laying in bed for so long.

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And I got attacked because it had just rained. And all of a sudden, I look down, and I have, like, all of these tiny little black ants, like, no fear of me.

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I am so much bigger. Now, I might be weak, but I can take on an ant, even in this condition, right?

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And these things are just streaming up to me. So at first, I'm like, I don't want to just step on ants for no reason, so I'll go train over here.

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You guys can take this side of the patio. I'll take this side, right? And everywhere I move, these things are just coming up to me, and they just keep attacking me.

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So I try to do some sit -ups, and I'm like, I'm feeling them bite me and everything. So finally, finally, I fought back.

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Finally, I fought back. I spent about five minutes, and I was just finally, it was like, if you would have seen it, it would look ridiculous.

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For five minutes, I'm, like, talking trash to ants who were coming. I'm like, yeah, well, you? Oh, you want some, too? And, like, you're trying to help your friend?

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I'm talking trash to ants for, like, five minutes until I cleared my whole patio of these things that are accounted as nothing to me, nothing.

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And I walked away from it, and I didn't feel the least bit sad. They started it. But you get the point.

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That's what God is saying about the inhabitants of the earth. He is God. All the inhabitants of the earth, they're accounted as nothing to me, nothing.

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He is God. Romans 9, 19 through 21, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault?

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For who resists his will? On the contrary, who are you, oh, man, who answers back to God?

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The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have the right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and one for common use?

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One lump of sinful humanity, rebellious, evil, hating

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God. And God's the potter who makes vessels for honorable use and then for common.

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That's how sovereign God is in Scripture. Luke 1, 37, for nothing will be impossible with God.

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Job 42, 2, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

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First Samuel 2, 10, those who contend with the Lord will be shattered. Against them he will thunder in the heavens, the

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Lord will judge the ends of the earth and he will give strength to his king and he will exalt the horn of his anointed.

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Second Chronicles 26, and he said, oh, Lord, the God of our fathers, are you not

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God in the heavens and are you not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hands so that no one can stand against you.

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Did you catch that? No one can stand against you. God was not surprised at the murder of Jesus.

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God was not surprised at the betrayal of Jesus. No one can stand against God. No one can stand against his purposes.

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He declares the end from the beginning. He does according to his will and the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can stay at his hand saying, what have you done?

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Or what are you doing? I love this one. Okay, here's, here's the big punch.

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Isaiah 43, 10, even from eternity I am he.

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And there is none who can deliver out of my hand I act and who can reverse it.

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That's your God. That's your God. You don't need to defend

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God's reputation over his sovereignty and the sinful acts of human beings.

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He says this is all a part of my plan. I control the whole story. I declare the end from the beginning. No one's thwarting me.

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By the way, that's your hope. That is your hope. In a fallen world where we are often the victims of other people's evil and sometimes the perpetrators of evil, when we are oftentimes feeling the worst this world has to offer, that is your hope and my hope that this is the true

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God. He's the sovereign. And Jesus anchors in Matthew 26, the section we're in, this evil moment taking place where you have soldiers with clubs and swords and people coming out by the hundreds of people coming out to take

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Jesus away as a victim with a betrayer who's been with Jesus the entire time, Jesus says all this is taking place to fulfill what

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Scripture says. God's revelation is supreme. God promised it.

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It's going to happen. So here's what I want you to meditate on. Meditate on these things. The betrayal of Judas, or by Judas, was foreordained by God.

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And it led, think about like the, you know, there's so many television, there's a television show called

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Breaking Bad, not telling you to watch it, but it's a good example in terms of where it goes.

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The director wanted to teach people by the end of the series, he wanted to teach people you weren't supposed to be rooting for the bad guy.

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Like if you watch that series as you go through it, again,

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I'm not recommending it, I'm telling you the plot and what takes place, so spoiler alert, I'm sorry, the director says he wanted to get you to the end of the thing and tell you that you were not supposed to be voting for the bad guy, which is kind of weird coming from an unbeliever director.

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So apparently he knows there is a standard of goodness and truth, you're not supposed to violate that. But basically the premise of the whole thing is one bad choice, one wrong move to the left ends up affecting the city of Albuquerque in ways that they can never really recover from.

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So much death, so much destruction, so many lives destroyed because of one person's sinful choice to maybe just try this.

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And that sin just unfolds throughout the whole city, so many lives are wrecked and families are wrecked and destroyed and so much evil takes place because one person makes a decision to do this one thing and it destroys everything.

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When here's something you don't think about with the betrayal of Judas, it wasn't just that he says, okay, I'll take the money and here's

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Jesus and like walk away from it. What happened? It led to false testimony in court, it led to reviling, it led to abuse, it led to the victimization of an innocent man, it led to bloodshed, it led to torture, it led to division and death.

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Are you ready? And God planned it. Meditate on that one.

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And God planned it. We shouldn't be fearful as Christians with this revelation of God before us to say that.

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You want proof? Acts 4, 27 through 28, what was the prayer of the early church? What did they say about all the evil things that took place?

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Go read it later. They'd mention everybody involved. I don't even think they, they don't mention Judas, Herod, Pontius, Pilate, the peoples of Israel, the

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Gentiles, to do what? Whatever your hand predestined to occur. The murder of Jesus and every person involved with all their different sinful motivations, the church can easily, confidently say that all this took place, all this evil, all this sin, all this wickedness, all this took place because you predestined it.

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God planned it. Meditate on this. It's a fallen and rebellious world. People are doing what they want, however, only by divine permission.

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God is doing what He wants. Here we go. The lies and betrayal of Judas led to life for the world.

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You're here in large part because of Judas' wicked sin.

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So you can say this, you have to be able to think in categories as a Christian. On the one hand, how dare you,

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Judas, it would be better that you weren't even born. You are evil, that is wicked.

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How dare you, and praise God for your sin. You have to be able to think in categories as a

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Christian. This took place, praise God, for my redemption.

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That God allows the murder of Jesus and the betrayal of Jesus because He loves me.

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You might be thinking, why? That's a good question. Grace, because He loves you.

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That's by the way how He answers that question, because I love you. That's like what

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He says to Israel. But why would you do this? Because I love you. But why do you love me? Because I love you.

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I don't deserve this. That's right. I should be in hell with Judas. I deserve to go there, but He loves me.

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He chose me and gave me His grace. That is the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ for His saints.

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All things work together for good, Romans 8 .28, whether it's the murder of Jesus, or it's your car accident, or it's your health crisis, or it's your broken relationship, or if it's betrayal and lies or financial distress, all things work together for good for those who love

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God and are called according to His purpose. Do you believe it? Do you believe it?

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You have to anchor that into your hearts, brothers and sisters, because when the world and all of its evil comes at you, you need to know from God's promises,

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God says this. I'm not listening to my circumstances. I'm not listening to my inner monologue and my emotions.

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I know what God says about this awful, broken world that He is in the process of renewing and redeeming.

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Have you been betrayed? Have you been reviled? Have you been lied about?

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Have you been abused? Here's what you can learn from the sin of Judas, the betrayal of Judas, because Jesus says this is taking place in order to fulfill what the

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Scriptures have said. Here's what you can take away from this. No sin in God's world thwarts

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Him. No sin in God's world thwarts Him, and no evil in this world is meaningless.

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One of the coolest things about witnessing to atheists, and what time is it exactly? Tell me.

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What time is it? What's that? I'm going to finish early. Watch this.

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One of the coolest things for me to witness in witnessing to atheists, atheists, is when you see atheists who are morally indignant.

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They're morally indignant about Christians, Christian behavior, about those

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Christians' inconsistencies, or they talk about the evil in the world and all the atrocities in the world. It's one of my favorite things, and here's why.

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You're not supposed to be doing that. You're not supposed to be complaining. You are borrowing from God, acting like there's some standard of righteousness and goodness and truth out there that people aren't living up to.

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Your worldview says that all we are are cosmic accidents, and there's no meaning or purpose. There's no morality.

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This is just stuff happening. Stop complaining. Why are you complaining? Why are you saying no justice, no peace, when you're an atheist?

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It makes no sense. It makes no sense. But it's interesting, because for the

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Christian, I can look at all evil in the world and say this, there is no such thing as meaningless evil in this world, because I know the

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God who's sovereign over this world, and what He allows or disallows, God is the sovereign, and He's in full control, and there is no purposeless or meaningless evil in this life, none.

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And unbelievers don't have that benefit of that truth. We know that God is sovereign over birds.

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He's sovereign over babies, sickness, disease, betrayal, life, and death.

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Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. That's hope.

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That is hope that conquers every single Judas in this world. Let's pray.

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Father, I pray that You bless the word that went out today for Your glory and for Your kingdom. I pray,

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Lord, You continue to bless as we finish this section up, so that we can understand

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Your word, properly understand it and apply it in our lives, and I do pray that,

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Lord, this discussion about Your revelation and Your words that are true would give us an anchor in our souls and hope for the future.