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Johns Gospel, chapter 13.
John's Gospel chapter 13, beginning at verse 25.
He then, lying on Jesus breath, saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give us up when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the shop, he gave it to Judith Iscariot, the son of Simon.
And after the stop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judith had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, by those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then, having received the soft, went immediately out, and it was night.
Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said.
Now with the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him, if God be glorified in him.
God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you, ye shall seek me. And as I said unto the Jews, whither I go, ye cannot come. So now I say unto, I say to you a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, if I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
But this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.
If ye have love one to another, Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goeth thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go? Thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The **** shall not crow till thou hast denied me Thrife.
We've had much before us with regard to the love of Christ and the way to be found in the enjoyment of it. Now, in the latter half of this chapter, we're gonna have two illustrations of departure from the love of Christ.
Yeah, we see that illustrated in two of the Lord's apostles, in Judas Iscariot and in Simon Peter. You know, there are two kinds of departure from God.
Both are bad, but one is infinitely worse, and they are apostasy, as illustrated in Judas, and the other is, uh, backsliding, illustrated in Peter.
You know, and with apostasy.
There's something only a mere professor can do, or would do.
It's one who not, does not have any divine life in them, but has made some profession of the faith. And when they throw that overboard and abandoned their confession and, uh, go backwards from that, that's apostasy. And brethren, there is no recovery for apostasy.
Hebrews chapter 6 tells us that there is no recovery for apostasy, but thankfully when there is the other kind of departure as illustrated in Peter, which is a child of God can do, there is recovery. And we see that illustrated in Peter so beautifully. Notice here it says in verse 25 where we began.
He then lying on Jesus breast, said unto him, Lord, who is it?
If we turn over to, uh, Matthew's Gospel, I think it's chapter 26, we'll see something quite interesting and it's significant.
And it gives us a telltale sign where the betrayer was really at in his soul. So reading the same account in Matthew 26 and verse 21. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of Man goeth, as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. And it has been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? And he said, Thou said, Isn't this interesting? We have here a little bit more light as to what was going on at the Passover supper when this took place.
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And we find here that the, each of the disciples, the apostles, they call the Lord Jesus, Lord, Lord, is it I? But when it was, when it came to Judas, he did not say Lord, he said, Master, is it I? And that indicates that he had more of a distant relationship with the Lord. Of course, that was true. And so Judas, uh, his, uh, his guard, his facade was now about to fall off.
And he would be exposed there in what? In the presence of love, the love that was pervading in that upper room, in that divine company, would expose the facade of this man here now. And the Lord does that by giving him the SOP, which was some favored portion or morsel that was given at the meal to some favored person who in the family or whatever. And so the Lord was gave him his last gesture of.
Of divine love, and it exposed him as being the betrayer.
I supposed it it gelled it too. And uh, so it's after the swap that Satan entered into him. You look at verse 2.
And it says the supper being ended, or during the supper rather, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. And that's where.
The, uh, that it wasn't fatal at this point, but Satan put that wicked thought into, uh, poor Judas's heart. But now, after, uh, the, uh, that uh, gesture of love is rejected after the SOP, Satan has now the ability to feel that if you go to 2nd Thessalonians, you'll see it again.
2nd Thessalonians and umm.
Chapter one, verse 8.
No, that's not it.
Because they rejected the love of the truth, whereas that verse Second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse that's a ten OK and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
And so it's not necessarily the Hellfire preaching or the warnings, but it is in this context, it is the rejection of the love of the truth. And this tender, umm, application to Judas's heart was rejected and Satan has full course now to go in and take control of them. This is a very solemn thing. And this is Satan's activity on one that is hanging around, you could say the Saints. So there could be someone here today.
That has been passing as a believer, uh, some young person, maybe an older person too, maybe someone who has been able to speak about the Lord, maybe as master as we have said. But uh, this, it is a very solemn thing to reject the love of the truth.
Yes, it shows, it shows that we can expose ourselves to the working of the enemy if there is that state in US. You know, it goes along with what we have in Second Corinthians chapter 4 where it says that that the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe lest the light of the glorious gospel, which is the image of God, should shine unto him and so on. And that shows us that it's not, uh, that Satan can indiscriminately just pick one here and pick one there at, at his own, uh.
Uh, choice and blind them. That's a certain class of person. It's a certain state.
With which he can work with and notice, as I quoted to you, the God of this world have blinded the minds of them that believe not. If it's an unbelieving heart, then you are laying yourself exposed to the actions of the enemy. And that's when his delusions come in. And so all mankind, uh, you know, the devil can't just pick one here and pick there and one there and delude them so they'll never be able to believe the gospel. But if there is that willful choice of believing not.
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Then the enemy can move in.
And do his work. So it's kind of just like what you're saying there, Wayne, isn't it? Same kind of principle, isn't it?
The Lord could say to his, uh, to the, uh, unbelieving Jews in chapter 8 and verse 44 of John's gospel, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father. Ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, he believed me not.
And so Judas, his name is scary. It means a man of murder. And so it speaks of just the Spirit of God, just gives us this picture of Judas who was an unbeliever and he was going on in the character of the enemy of our souls, Satan himself. And so there was instead of faith, instead of belief in the word of God, there was a spirit of unbelief. There wasn't that spirit of faith. And then Wayne, that verse that you quoted in Second Thessalonians, chapter 2.
The very next verse in verse 11 Says for this, 'cause God shall send them strong delusion.
That they should believe a lie. And so there was a space given, if you could use that terminology, space given. Judas didn't need to be Judas as it were. There could have been repentance. There could have been. But we know in the sovereignty of God that were in the permitted will of God, that Judas was Judas. And so there was an A spirit of unbelief. And then his heart was hardened and he fell. He left himself open as a candidate to be the betrayer. Betrayer. He went at work through every yellow light, through every warning.
Until finally Satan took control of him and as I like the way Wayne put it, it gelled what he was going to do.
The we want to make it very clear when we talk about apostasy that a true believer will never apostasize. They may backslide to the point that we have to say, well, the Lord knoweth them that are his. For some I've grown up with and they've got away from the Lord and into things to such an extent that I have to say they made a profession at one time, but I have to leave them with the Lord. A believer may backslide to the point where they're not restored. There is a sin unto death. There is the recalling of the ambassador.
We find with, uh, an Old Testament example with Lot, we only know from the New Testament. It's confirmed to us that he was a righteous man, but we don't read of any restoration or turn around with Lot. Lot was a true believer and so a believer may not always be restored this side of glory, but I, I do want to make it clear that a true believer will never fully apostatize. I'd like to just make this comment too about the 25th verse before we go on.
Because I think there's something very precious to consider here, and that is that John who had had his hand, had his feet in the hands of love, now felt comfortable to place his head on the breast of love. It's a beautiful progression here, you know, why is it we're not always perhaps comfortable in the Lord's presence? Why is it sometimes in spirit we keep our distance?
It's perhaps because we haven't allowed him to take in his hands of love our feet and refresh us and remove those things that have hindered our fellowship and communion.
But John, who had had his feet in the hands of love, now felt comfortable to place his head on the breast of love. I want to say this too, that the other day we mentioned how that in verse 22 They looked on one another and it only raised questions and doubts. But there was one in their company that another felt comfortable to turn to. John was so close to the Lord, and it was so evident to the rest of the company and to Peter.
That Peter, who was not close to the Lord on this occasion.
He turns to John. He says, John, uh, you ask him and uh, I think that's wonderful. You know, again, if, if there was a question or a difficulty in the asce in your assembly, would you be one that's recognized as being close to the Lord, having your hand feet in his hands of love and your breast on his or your head on his breast of love? But another brother or sister, perhaps a young person would feel comfortable.
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To come to you and ask a question that they knew was going to be answered with godly discernment and wisdom. So I find it very exercising for my own soul. But I, I think it's important to see that before he places his head on the Lord's breast, he had experienced his feet in the Lord's hands.
Perhaps someone can explain umm, at the end of verse 26, sometimes Judas Iscariot is identified as one of the 12. You get that umm, uh, at the end of uh, or during, uh, Matthew Army Mark chapter 14, uh, after Mary had come in and uh.
Offered the incense to the Lord Jesus and then it says he went out and he was one of the 12.
And then later, after he kissed the Lord Jesus, or as he was coming to kiss the Lord Jesus, it says Judas Iscariot, one of the 12.
But here it doesn't identify him that way. It identifies him as the son of Simon. Why is that?
He's never exposed until this moment, is he? He's always referred to as one of the 12 because the Lord never exposed Judas as not being real until he gave him the thought. He said it's the one I'm going to give the saw. And now the time had come for the exposure of the betrayer, and it proved that there was no reality in ju, in Judas. He was not in that sense, one of the 12. He was had been outwardly during the Lord's public ministry.
But now the time had come to expose him.
Did you have a thought? I did not. I was. That was a question. The scripture never mentioned his name.
Saying that he'll be trained even way before yeah.
But to the Apostles, the other eleven, he was not exposed until this moment in the upper room.
I think it's, uh, important to, uh, just read, uh, second Timothy chapter 2. Umm, just uh, verse 12.
And I think this is very lovely because it speaks of the heart of Christ in faithfulness to us. And we mentioned those that are apostates and those that are really weak and failing and perhaps have got their eyes off Christ. And here it speaks of them in Second Timothy chapter 2 and verse 12. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.
And if, if we deny Him, he also will deny us. If we do believe not yet he abideth faithful, He cannot deny himself. And so the language of Scripture here is that if we deny him in a practical walk, in our practical display of Christ before this world and before one another in practical Christianity, why it says He also will deny us. Well, there's a reward.
There's that appreciation that the Lord will have for each one.
When we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, it says, then shall every man have praise of God. And he could say to the disciples that ye are they which have continued with me in my temptation. And he appreciated their companionship and their faithfulness in the path of faith while they walked with him in this scene. And so This is why he says in verse 12, if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. There's going to be a time of reward and recognition.
And we're he's going to be glorified in the Saints. But then it says if we believe not yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. And so the Lord knoweth them that are his. And if we walk in a course, a path that denies the fact that we really are believers in a practical way, or perhaps in our speech, as Peter did a little later on, he denied the Lord and he practically denied that he even knew Christ.
As his Lord.
Didn't know the man, but the Lord was faithful and there was restoration. And that's the difference. There is restoration for those that belong to the Lord Jesus, and perhaps we don't see that restoration in our own lifetime, but the Lord knows those that are His.
You know, as we speak of the, uh, two kinds of departure from God, apostasy and backsliding, uh, they're both falls, but uh, of Scripture reserves the expression to fall away, to define apostasy. Let me say that again. Scripture reserves the expression to fall away, to describe apostasy.
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Sometimes you'll hear about a brother that or sister that has backslidden and let's say so and so's phone away.
Well, not really. They've fallen. Perhaps they've backslidden. But falling away in Scripture, as you get it in the chapter that Wayne read to us, Second Thessalonians, chapter 2, the great falling away. And you also get it in Hebrew six. It's reserved to describe a apostasy, not backsliding. As we said, an apostate or apostasy is a sin that there is no recovery from. There's a hymn that we sing sometimes in #120.
It says, O thou, who didst thy glory leave apostate sinners to retrieve?
Now I know there's poetic license with this, but, uh, that's not accurate. You don't retrieve apostates. Perhaps, uh, the word repentant would fit there better. Oh, thou, uh, who didst thy glory leave repentant sinners to retrieve would be more scripturally accurate. But, uh, so we're talking about two kinds of, of, uh, of departure from God and, uh.
As we said, one both are bad, but one is infinitely worse.
I suppose the great overall lesson we learned from these two instances, Judas and Peter, is that the flesh in an unbeliever and the flesh in a believer is still the same. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Peter was true, he was real, and we know that he was restored. But the flesh in Peter was just as rotten as the flesh in Judah. It never changes.
There are two words. Go ahead. You know, I'm thinking in in the book of James. It's interesting. The last two verses say, brethren, if any of you do air from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converted the Sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. Now this first verse is unnecessarily afflicted some, hasn't it? It's not speaking about a lost and guilty Sinner here, is it?
Its brethren. That gives us the key, doesn't it? He's actually speaking to one who had made a profession, and apparently he takes it. They're real, but rather than if any of you do air from the truth and one convert him.
Well, conversion not only refers to the time when we're first saved, but it can refer to a person who's backslidden. And, uh, that's the, uh, expression that's used. That's used to Peter too, isn't it? When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Let him know that he which converted the Sinner from the error of his way. Now you say it wasn't that an unbeliever? No, it's not. The point is that a believer can go on the pathway that leads to a lost eternity, can he?
Now the Spirit of God will never let him get there. Thank God for that. But it's hardly distinguishable, is it? Let him know that he which converted the Sinner from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, shall hide a multitude of sins. We hardly know the difference, but in fact, we know from verse 19, the previous verse, that this was a backslider, not an apostate. So again, a a a believer can go on the pathway that leads to a lost eternity, Thank God.
The Lord will never let us get there if that's our position, but it's a dangerous place, isn't it?
To backslide. And uh, I was thinking also when we have the parable, the sower and all three of the synoptic gospels, remember the seed, the good seed was, was sown in four cases, but only one bore of fruit. And I know this isn't to the extent of apostasy, but nonetheless, I wanna make the point that only one ever bore fruit. The one, of course, fell by the wayside. That's a person who never, probably ever made a profession. He heard the gospel.
But the enemy comes along and plucks it out of his heart, and he never makes a profession. But then a second case that falls on shallow ground and it springs up. That person does make a profession. He professes to be a believer. And yet it Withers away because there's no root, there's no reality. And in the third case, uh, it, it falls among thorns again, it springs up, it has an appearance of reality. And then when the trials and the cares of life come along, it proves.
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That there is no fruit there, there is no reality. And I think it's a sad thing. It's often struck me those particularly, we think of young people and, uh, Jim, you mentioned those that you've grown up with and those of us that are middle-aged and older can say the same thing. We've known of those who, umm, seem to make a profession when they were younger. And this is a warning for our young people too, in a special way. Because I just wonder if those people who, uh, fell among thorns or fell on shallow ground, whether they thought they were saved or not.
Sometimes I hear young people or even older people make a brazen statement that says well.
It doesn't make much difference how I live now because I was saved when I was a child. Well, the Lord knows them that are his. But Harry Hale used to remind us that, uh, there's no comfort in Scripture for the careless believer. If we're acting like an unbeliever, it's assumed that we are an unbeliever. Isn't that right now? God knows them that are his. But remember, James says, show me that's faith before God, before man rather.
Show me whether you're real or not, because James wrote to those who are professing believers, and he says, OK, you're professors. I wanna see reality because that proves whether you're real or not. And I think there's a great danger, as I say, particularly among those who've grown up in Christian families, to make a profession and even think they're saved. And yet what an awful thing if they awake and find out that they've been lost. That's the need for repentance, isn't it? And sometimes we don't stress that enough in the gospel. And it's interesting, Eric, what you say about that parable because when they asked the Lord the meaning of it.
He said that that which fell on the and sprung up on the Stony ground was a non those that received the word with joy. Well, that sounded good, didn't it, that they would receive the Word with joy. But as you say, there was no inward work. There was no repentance and no root. And I think sometimes young people grow up in a Christian home and they receive the word with joy, but there's never been a real work of repentance and so.
Circumstances are brought to bear later in life to show that they weren't real. So I think it's a very solemn thing. And I believe those who preach the gospel, perhaps we need to stress like used to be stressed more the need for repentance. It's not just faith, but it's repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Both go hand in hand. They're vital. With Judas, there was remorse.
With Peter there was repentance.
And in fact, it actually says that in Matthew 26. I believe it says there.
Matthew 27 rather Matthew 27.
And uh, verse 3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, was filled with remorse.
But there's a big difference between remorse and repentance.
In Psalm 55, there's a verse. I'm just gonna read these and make sure I'm right on this, Psalm 55, verse 12 Says. For it was not an enemy that was prone to me.
Then I could afford it. Neither was it he that hated me, that did magnify himself against me. Then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou a man of mine equal, my God.
We council together and walked into the House of God and company. That's that's looking at the Lord.
Part of how we felt when Judith betrayed him a bit, isn't it?
Is that the same way the Lord feels? If we as Peter did I the Lord, did we make him feel that way when we backside? Yes, Mr. Wollstone actually said it was a look of tender hearted, broken hearted love when he turned and looked at Peter and Peter went out and wept.
So the large set of G, uh, prophetically again of Judas, it says. My own familiar friend who ate bread at my table. I've lifted up his heel against me.
And I was thinking of that, Brother David, in connection with the saw. You know, if you've never traveled in the Middle East or over to Egypt and some of those countries, I think in our the nicety of Western culture, we've lost the import of what this saw really is. And we've lost the import in the sense of understanding that this was the last act of love toward Judas. This really should have broken Judas heart down. You say why?
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Well, don't misunderstand me, but I'm thankful in our Western culture that when we sit down to a meal, we go out to have our meal. After this meeting, we're all going to have our own knife and fork and drink out of our own cup and eat our salad off our own plate. But if I'm at a conference in Egypt, which I've had opportunity to do on more than one occasion.
A sister or a brother who's sitting across from you will stick the fork that they're using into a special piece of meat or fruit or vegetable that they think is specially nice. And on the end of that fork they will say, brother, try this. This is especially good. You dare not refuse it because it is a special mark of favor. Come to my room and share. A glass of Coke means that six of us will pass a glass of Coke around and each have a drink.
That's fellowship. That's a mark of of favor. We lose the import of it in the niceties of our Western culture, which I'm thankful for in that sense. But I just stress that because, brethren, I don't think we realize what a symbol of love and favor this was. Here's the this is pressing on the soul of the Lord Jesus to think that the moment had almost the moment had come when the betrayer was going to be exposed.
And very shortly after, the betrayer was going to take up the awful work of kissing his master and betraying him to the enemy. I don't think we realized what was pressing on the soul of the Lord Jesus. And yet he takes that, saw that special mark of favor which is still understood in Eastern culture today, and he gives it to Judas. What a heart, what a heart the Lord Jesus had. Judas went out, it was night. He went to a deeper night. He went to a lost eternity, but he didn't go out unloved by the Lord Jesus.
In the Gospels, we don't get.
Uh, much of the feelings of the Lord, we, we really don't know what, uh, he was feeling at this time and so on. We have a few expressions like verse 21, he was troubled in spirit. But as Dave was saying, you have to turn to the poetic section of your Bible, which is those, you know, the Psalms and, and other of those, uh, poetry books. And then we get the feelings of Christ coming out and there are five songs that speak of Judas and his betrayal.
Psalm 35, Psalm 41, Psalm 55, which he read from Psalm 69 and then Psalm 109. And uh, you read that and you get the feelings of our Lord Jesus as He was betrayed by Judas.
In the French Derby translation in Psalm 55, he really refers to him as an intimate friend. Intimate friend.
And so there was an intimacy there that, uh, was, uh, evident even in the past with the Lord, with those 12, there wasn't any reserve reserve, but it was full intimacy. I'll just point out too, that in, uh, James, where it was read in, uh, connection with the conversion, the, uh, French, it says Ramene or ramen means to bring back, to convert, to turn around.
And to come back and Peter was headed in the wrong direction, and it was the work of the Lord to just turn him around and have him head in the right direction. So that's conversion, a turning around, turning the heart back to Christ. Conversion is not synonymous with salvation of our soul from the penalty of our sins, which Eric has already emphasized. That's important to see. Peter had a second conversion, and for all we know, he may have had more than that for as far as record is concerned.
Peter had a second conversion, and we may have ourselves had more than one conversion because conversion means to have the heart turned around to God. And that's what happens when a person initially turns to God and gets saved. But if he gets away from the Lord and allows sin to come in and to and interrupt that communion and get on a path that's going the other way, he'll need to have his heart turned around to God again and then another conversion. And so we throw these terms around loosely, and oftentimes I'm not sure if we really know what we're talking about. You know, I've heard people say, well, you're talking about a certain individual. He's a converted man.
I think the immense save man probably in the when the person was illustrating this some certain point with regard to meeting a Christian in the street, he was a converted man. Well, Peter had a second conversion.
And, uh, having the heart turned around to God is what conversion, uh, means, but repentance means to have a heart turned away from sin. It has means to have a changed mind toward, uh, a course of sin that we've had and a passing of judgment on all that we have done. And so, uh, the 2GO together, it says in, uh, is it Acts chapter 3 when Peter was preaching of all people, he said.
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Repent ye, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Now there he distinguishes there's a difference.
Repenti and be converted. We just some homogenized all these words in terms and put them all together. I was speaking to a brother about this and he did not like this idea that you're talking about a person needing another conversion. And as I was speaking to him outside the meeting room in Walla Walla, dear brother Bill Prost walked past and I think he was providentially sent and he walked past the same brother Bill.
I brought him into the conversation because I needed all the help I could get. And I said to him, uh, uh, is it true that Peter could have a, a second conversion? And that's when he said, for all we know, he could have had more than that. And that helped the brothers. He helped me to explain it. You know, these terms are distinct in scripture and we need to distinguish them, as Brother Eric has been saying, instead of just throwing them all together. New birth is not the same as salvation. We get into a lot of trouble if we don't distinguish these things. Now, I'm not trying to take us off track here, but it has been mentioned.
Peter was converted, but Judas never was.
Someone had said that in Judas we see the wickedness of the flesh, and in Peter we see the weakness of the flesh. But I'd like to tell a little anecdote that that I've really rejoiced in. There was a preacher in France preaching on a Easter Sunday and he was telling how that Judas betrayed the Lord. And then he went out and hanged himself and after the sermon went to a a young girl and he said.
If you or Judas, would you go out and hang yourself? She said yes. I'd hang myself around the neck of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, there was faith in activity with that girl. There was faith in activity with Peter, but there was no faith, no confidence in the Lord Jesus with Judas.
We also have a picture in the Old Testament of Judah Stilt Lake.
That's an Ahithophel, David's counselor. And so the time came when Ahithophel had been David's most trusted counselor. But the time came when, uh, one of David's sons, uh, Absalom, wasn't it, rebelled against them and hit the fell, went out with Abslaw. Now he might have had a pretext. Some have searched this out and they say, well, you see, a, a hits, a fella is actually the grandfather of Bathsheba. And David did not treat Bathsheba right, did he? That was a sad.
Part of David's story.
But nonetheless, even if he had a pretext, what he did was wrong. He too went out and hanged himself, didn't he? As a result of, uh, of what he did when Hushai, uh, David's friend defeated his counsel, the Lord allowed that. But Ahithophel is probably the one that's often referred to in the Psalms. We know it was the Spirit of God directly, of course, referring to Judas, But oftentimes historically, when they hit the film, David's trusted friend and counselor that turned on him, and then he went out and hanged himself.
Because the real sin of of Judas really was covetousness.
And in all likelihood, Judas thought, well, the Lord will escape and I'll get the money. Well, do we have covetousness in us? Do we have sometimes rebellion in US? All those sins are there in journey, but there be judged. And Satan having entered into Judah, sealed the whole thing, didn't it? Sealed the aft and sealed the end result of, of, of Judas.
And perhaps once Satan entered into him, Judas went blindly, perhaps even without considering the consequences, because that's what Satan does. He doesn't. He sends souls on blindly without considering the consequences. But we want to notice that with Judas, Satan entered into him. There's a couple of things to note about that. First of all, as we've said, Judas was an unregenerate man and remained so until the end, and Satan entered into him.
With Peter, we're going to notice it was quite different, and I don't believe there's a precedent in Scripture that would ever teach us that a believer whose body is the temple of the Holy Ghost can be possessed by Satan or one of his demons. He may be harassed and certainly troubled and bothered and suppressed, but not possessed by Satan or one of his demons. What is so solemn, too, is to consider that Satan didn't leave this up to one of his underlords.
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So paramount in the mind of Satan was the betrayal of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God.
That Satan came himself.
To Satan's not omnipresent, but Satan came himself. Sometimes when we're bothered, we set people. We hear people say, Well, the devil made me do it. But Satan has a vast host of underlords that are sent abroad to carry out his work. But not so with Judas. Satan came himself and entered into Judas to make sure that this awful deed was carried out. Well, how solemn. But I say again.
Once Satan entered into Judas, he went blindly on it, sealed the act, and sealed the end result in Luke 22. What you were saying there, Jim? I was thinking of this Luke 22 and 31, It says, umm. And the Lord said, uh, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. And so that's what you were talking about, that, that we can avail ourselves, uh, to.
The influence of Satan in our lives, that he may move us in a course that's contrary to the will. But uh, you know what I was thinking of The difference between Judas is he said that, that thou doest too quickly. But with Simon, what does he say? He says, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. So there's lessons when we do, when we do fail, and we've all failed here. It was conversion for for Peter, but but he knew that through this.
He would learn lessons that would be an encouragement and a help to his brother. And, and so we, we need to be careful. And you know, of course we, we don't get the advocacy work, uh, brought out as much in this particular chapter. You get it in other places, but he is, it's another part of his advocacy work for us. We have washing of our feet and one here it's, it's much more personal, much more direct, uh, much more exposing of what's in the flesh.
But his lot never changes for us. And so later on we find out that in Peter, don't we, that he uses a similar situation in regards to the danger. First Peter, I believe it's chapter five, umm, where where you find that Peter not only used the lessons, but then he, he warns the brethren, He says, umm, in verse eight of chapter chapter 5. Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil is a roaring lion walketh about.
Seeking whom he may devour. How did he know that? Because he'd been devoured himself.
It's interesting that between the betrayer being exposed and Peter being exposed as the one who was going to deny the Lord, he says in verse 31 of our chapters. Therefore, when he was gone out, that's Judas. Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him?
You know, nothing touches or changes the glory of the Lord Jesus or His Commission. Nothing could affect that. A betrayer and a denier while it pressed on the soul of the Lord Jesus. Nothing was going to change God's purposes. Nothing was going to frustrate the purposes of God for the ultimate blessing and the glorification of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said. We have two incidences in the last half of this chapter.
With regard to departure from God and uh, between the two, we have these three statements regarding, uh, being glorified versus 31 and 32. So you had the incident of Judas in uh, verses 25 to 3130, but then we have Peter near the end of the chapter, verses 36 to 38. But right in between we have this statement. As you say, nothing alters the, the purpose of God.
Three statements here with regard to being glorified that really lay the basis for what he will bring out in the next chapter and that is the coming of the Spirit of God. First of all, that the Son of man would be glorified. This is a reference to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And you know to be glorified really is to bring into.
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Display all the qualities that would exalt a person, and in this case it was the Lord's perfect obedience unto death.
His, uh, moral glory of obedience and subjection and love and holiness and so on to his Father's will is perfectly, uh, displayed there as he went to death. It's in John's gospel particularly that they didn't exactly crucify him. He went and laid down his life there. And that's a side of things that you see coming out so beautifully in John's gospel. We see his perfection, his moral perfection of obedience.
And love and submission. Then the second expression is at the end of verse 31. It says, and God is glorified in him. Now this is something more.
God being glorified in Him, of course, is a reference to the perfection of His work that He would do on the cross, whereby God would be glorified, and brings in the side of things to do with propitiation. That there would be rendered to God a full satisfaction over the whole outbreak of sin, and God would be glorified over the whole question of sin.
And then thirdly, this third expression as to being glorified is in verse 32. And if God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify himself and shall straight away glorify him. And this the Lord Jesus was speaking about a reference to his ascension to glory, that God would raise him from the dead and see them at his right hand as a token and as a a demonstration of his satisfaction and the perfection.
Of what Christ has accomplished. So it's God's satisfaction and what Christ accomplished.
There in glorifying Him at His right hand. So the first expression is to do with the Lord's obedience unto death. The second expression is what He accomplished in death, and the third expression is to do with what happened after death, when He rose and was ascended to heaven at the right hand of God. So we have a perfect person.
Who per carries out a perfect work to the perfect satisfaction of God. And I like what you say. I know it's a quote from one of the writers that to be glorified is to bring in the full display every attribute and quality of a person. And it's interesting when you come to the 17th chapter, the Lord Jesus says two things about what had taken, what he had done on earth. He says I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
And I believe, brethren, it's important we talk about the Lord having satisfied God as to the work. And that's true.
He finished, to the satisfaction of God, the work that he was sent to do. But it was more than that.
It was to bring in to display every quality and glory of God. Every attribute of God was brought into full display in the pathway and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I sometimes illustrated it this way. When my girls were younger and at home, I would sometimes give one of my girls a task to do and I would leave them to that task and then I would come back when they had ample time to finish that task.
And I might find that they had indeed finished that task to my utmost satisfaction, but you wouldn't say I was glorified in the task. The task, the job may have been no reflection on myself, though I was perfectly satisfied with what they had done. But I say again, the Lord Jesus didn't just satisfy God. He didn't just complete the work. But, and John's gospel brings this out, we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
Full of grace and truth, every attribute of God, I say, has been brought into full display so that the Lord Jesus could say at the end of it all, I have glorified thee on the earth.
Like you're saying that God's hatred of sin was taken, that was shown. There wasn't yet the enmity of man was shown, then the love of God was shown here, the grace of God was shown there, and.
Go on, but there was there's a number of things that were shown at that valley glorified God. Every attribute like you say, where was brought out there. God could not forgive man by grace.
It had to be through righteousness. He's got to be righteousness and so show us the holiness of his person and the love of this person was all carried out there at the cross. It's a wonderful meditation. I think another another definition of of glorify too, perhaps even simpler and easier to get a hold of its excellence in display and that's what God shows worth. This is the burnt offering here, isn't it? That's what we get in John's gospel is the burnt offering. Remember there was four classes of offerings.
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But the highest of all was the burnt offering, wasn't it? Because that was not so much meeting men's need, which we have in the sin offering, for instance, and trespass offering. Not even, uh, what the Lord Jesus was in his life, which is the meat offering, uh, not even the communion offering, the peace offering, which is so important in its place. But the burnt offering was the total consecration of the Lord Jesus to do the purpose and will of God. And so it was excellence in display.
God could not go beyond that, could he? Its excellence in display. I think that's so simple, and yet it says the same thing you said, Jim. But it's God's excellence in display and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the burnt offering and the resurrection, the ascension and the glorification of Christ are God's. Amen to the work of Calvary. If we want any proof that God is satisfied and has been glorified through the work of His Son here on earth.
All we have to do is by faith look up as we have in Hebrews chapter 2, and see where he is now. He's no longer crowned with a crown of thorns. He's crowned with a crown of glory and honor. God has raised him from the dead and seated him at His own right hand. It's God's Amen to the work of Calvary. And not only that, but God will never be satisfied fully till His Son is fully vindicated here in this world. We see not yet all things put under Him.
But in this world where they treated him in such a way and cast him out and said we won't have him, God is going to make sure that the glories of his Son are fully displayed and that all are going to recognize that this was the one who hung on a cross of shame.
Well, it's beautiful to see the tenderness of verse 33, and it's beautiful to realize this is the first time he addresses them as little children. It's in the tenderness and affection of one who was going to leave them, and he knew what was in their hearts. He knew that they were troubled and afraid as we get in the next chapter, but he turns to them with great solicitude. He doesn't just call them children here, but he calls them little children.
Term of endearment.
He leaves them with this, uh, commandment, which is called a new commandment.
And, uh, this would take place among them with them if they, uh, had submitted and to the foot washing and what it represents. And that is that there would not only be enjoyment of his love, but there would be a love for one another. And so the new commandment is that, uh, they would love one another as I have loved you when you have that little word as there and that word as brings before us divine standards. You'll get four more of them in John 17 in the prayer.
And so the divine standard for how we're to love one another is how he has loved us. That's how we're to do it. And it's a new commandment because, uh, the, the, uh, the motive, or shall we say the, the reference point of this love is to, is completely different than what they'd ever known before in the, in the economy of Judaism, you see, uh, the motive is to, is for Christ's sake.
And in Judaism, you see, we they were to love their neighbor, but they were to love their neighbor as thyself.
The reference point was themselves.
But here it's to love one another as Christ has loved us, and that's much higher.
We're the love of Christ love. That's why it's called a new commandment, because they were called to love one another in the Old Testament times in that economy, But now the motive is raised to a a Christian, uh, standard.
Christ.
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What a wonderful testimony this would be before the world.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if you love one another. You know, brethren, if the church had just gone on and happy fellowship with one another as they were in the first days of the church's history on earth. You can read about it in Acts chapter 2. They were all in one place. They were all with one accord. They were all in one mind. It was beautiful unity there. But it wasn't long before the enemy came in and upset the apple cart. And, uh, there was a, a breaking of the unity of the spirit. It first showed up with Ananias and Sapphira. And then in the next chapter, they started to squabble over the tables and who was to be looking after them and they thought things weren't.
Done just right. And that had to be solved as well. The enemy was working to upset that unity. And today, as we look, uh, at things in the history of the church, we've come a long way, almost 2000 years. And the church is so divided and shattered. And, uh, there is not this demonstration of love and one happy community in this world, but a divided testimony before the world. And the world uses it as mockery and it comes back on the Lord Jesus that, uh, we have failed in this.
Simple commandment so grievously.
Could you, uh, I'm going back to that, uh, subscription and, uh, pointed it straight away, uh, a loop 22.
And in the 31St verse, I think this is helpful in what we're talking about. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have all of you.
Spoiler all of you.
That he may sift all of you.
As we but I have desired in these stink Taylor Satan is desirous to to sift all of us.
And that's the, that's the point he gets, he gets in a wedge, then he can destroy, uh, a company or individuals. So is that, uh, that's along that line. It's not just that. If, if Peter, he was desirous to sit them all and he said, oh, this, he's desirous to sift all of us. We have an effect on each other. You know, how much more effective it was that he could take a leader like Peter.
Yeah, and take him away and that's what you find. You see that illustrated a little bit in John 21. He says, I go fishing in five or six or seven or the others say, well, we'll go with you. And you know, ones who have influence over others are the ones that are most, uh, uh, in danger of dividing God's flock. Brother Dave Whitaker sitting behind me here, told me one time years ago, he said, I've never been a young person yet that has created a division amongst God's people.
You know, you think of all these divisions that have happened amongst the Saints gathered to the large name over the last 100 and 5000 and 75 years. Was there ever a young person that liked that? No, you listen to the names and get the history of those things. Not a happy subject nor but they're all older men that with influence LED ones away. So Satan was targeting Peter, but he wouldn't mind having them all. But he was going to do it through the instrumentality of Peter if he could.
But Peter had a resource that he could have availed himself of. I have prayed for thee that thy faith sail not. And we have one, brethren, who's praying for us every hour of every day at the right hand of God. He's interceding as our high priest that we might be preserved in the path of faith and service. When we do fail, He's there as our advocate to restore us. And brethren, in the measure in which we avail ourselves of the work of the Lord Jesus, praying for us to preserve us, we won't need his advocacy to restore us.
And if Peter had only availed himself of the resource that the Lord Jesus had for him in praying for him.
It could have saved him this bitter experience. And so how sad that the Lord told him he was praying for him and he didn't avail himself of that resource and he it ended up this bitter experience of denying his Lord three times with oaths and curses. But we don't have to fail. You know, there's always provision for failure in the believer's life, but there's no excuse for it. When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and failure is brought out, what excuse am I going to give to the Lord Jesus?
Am I going to say, well, there wasn't the ample resources. You know, when I was in business, I used to send men out on jobs and I would equip them with a tool kit and the resources that I thought they needed for the job. But sometimes at the end of the day, they'd come back and they'd say, my brother's come back from a job and he'd say, well, Jim, you didn't give me the proper tools. I didn't have everything I needed. I didn't have all the equipment. I didn't equip them to do the job. And it was pretty hard to, uh, admonish them for not having completed the job when I hadn't equipped them with everything that was needed.
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But brethren, we have all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Peter didn't have to fail. He didn't have to deny the Lord. And so we're not going to be able to stand at the judgment seat of Christ and say, well, you didn't give me all the tools. I didn't have all the resources. Now we have everything we need. And one of the wonderful resources we have is the Lord Jesus praying for us and always looking more about what you were talking about, the leaders. These are leaders and there's nothing so discouraging.
To see a leader fall and there's, there's nothing that Satan is more interested in than seeing a leader fall. If I go wrong, I just, if I watch goes wrong, I don't make an appointment. But if Big Ben goes wrong, All England goes wrong. So it's leaders and and that's I, I just, it's, it's just a warning. You know, we've been decimated as candidates, but all the mighty have fallen, David could say.
But getting back to that verse that you brought us to Vernon, so Luke 22 when he says I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail, not at that point. This was not his priesthood. He was interceding here now as an advocate, and that's interesting to see. He did not listen to what I say next here. He did not pray that Peter would not fail. He prayed that his faith would not fail when he would fail. Peter had got to the point where he was not learning the lesson.
And the Lord saw fit in his ways and wisdom that he was going to allow him to fail now, but he did pray that when he did fail and hit the tarmac, so to speak, that his faith would not break. And that's interesting to see here in Luke 22, verse 31. You know, there was I have out in the other room there this book that it's a very good addendum to the letters of Jan Darby that I suggest to anybody who has an interest to pick up sometime. This is not a plug for the book room, but.
Uh, and what it is, is that George Morris took the, uh, letters of Jan Darby and he took the, the, the person's name to whom he wrote all those letters to. And, uh, you miss a little bit because I, I realized it was propriety, but you miss a little bit because you don't know who he was writing to and you found out he was writing to Mr. Kelly. Oh, he had some strong words to that man. I didn't know it was Mr. Kelly. I thought it was just some follow and so on. But anyway, I had picked up just by matching the letters and the names of who these people were. There was one person. It was J, uh, Mr. King's coat, the man that wrote the.
Christ in the offerings beautiful book and he wrote to Jan Darby and asked him about the dilemma of the priesthood and the advocacy of Christ. Christ prays for us as a priest that we might not fail. He asked him, well, how is it that anybody fails a crisis praying for us and interceding that we wouldn't he's how do we figure this out? Could it be that Christ fails in his intercession? Oh no, that couldn't be the case. And Mr. Darby wrote to him and he said just basically what I've been trying to say in verse 31 here of chapter 22 of Luke and that is that, uh.
There comes a time when the Lord ceases to pray that we would not fail.
And we'll let us go and we have a failure because we wouldn't learn through the, uh, the listening to his word. We wouldn't learn by casting ourselves in dependence upon him. So we have to learn by having a failure. But he does pray that at least when we do, uh, he has to let us go, that, uh, our faith would not fail. It's just as Peters. And so it's a very solemn thing in the ways of God and governmentally that he would see fit that he.
Cannot get through to our hard hearts, so you have to allow us to have an experience like this to learn the lesson. Do do we get a similar thing in in Joe?
And in and in the numbering, uh, that, uh, when David numbered the people where God had a controversy and so he allowed Satan to bring out the inconsistency that was there, that need to be owned and turned their heart back to God.
We sing 110.
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110.