Truth For Life Daily Program - Betrayal

Our we always responsible when we sin is it possible that God something

sometimes programs us to do things we otherwise wouldn't do in order to fulfill his

overarching purposes. We'll think that through together today on Truth for Life

Weekend, Alistair Begg is teaching from Luke chapter 22.

Now as the readers of the Gospel of Luke, we've known for some time what the people

around the table do not know, at least the majority of them do not know. Namely,

that Judas Iscariot is going to betray Jesus. Back in chapter 6 which was a long

time ago, we read these words when morning came Jesus called his disciples to him

and chose twelve of them whom he also designated apostles and then looked

gave to us the list. There was Simon, whom he named Peter, his brother Andrew,

James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphius, Simon

who was known as the zealot, Judas the son of James and Judas Iscariot and then

here it comes who became a traitor. So way back in chapter 6 we are led into an

advanced part of this unfolding drama. We are made aware of the fact that

somewhere along the line of this story, Judas is going to step up and betray the

Lord Jesus. In fact, in chapter 22 we have already seen in verse 4 and following

that the ball has been advanced considerably up the field. Judas has gone to the

chief priest, the officers of the temple. He's discussed with him how he might betray

Jesus. They've agreed upon a fixed fee for the betrayal and he is now in the position

of watching for an opportunity when he might hand Jesus over to the religious authorities

but at a time when there isn't a big crowd around. What a treachery this is, isn't it?

I mean if someone had come from the outside to do this, it would have been bad enough.

Somebody who perhaps was disappointed with the fact that Jesus when he'd done his miracles

left them out. Maybe one of the fellows who was at the pool when the water stirred and

the man got in and he was healed and this chap didn't get healed and had annoyed him

ever since and he said to himself, you know, if I get a chance, I'll betray that Christ,

I'll hand him in. It would have been bad but not treacherous like this. The Samist

in an almost prophetic way says, even my close friend whom I trusted, he who shared

my bread has lifted up his heal against me. This is somebody who has been in the company

of the Lord Jesus routinely, not on a monthly basis but on a daily basis, has enjoyed

the privilege of his care, has listened to his instruction, has seen the wonderful, powerful

deeds that he has performed and the betrayer is about to come out of this company. But

the first thing that we ought to note is simply this. When Jesus says what he says in verse

22, the Son of Man, that's of 21, I should say, the hand of him who is going to be

traminy is with mine on the table. Notice the response in verse 23, it doesn't say and

all eyes turned to Judas. They had a clue. What happened was that they began to bicker

with each other or they began to question among themselves which of them it might be who

would do this. Apparently Judas was adept at disguising what was going on in sight.

Judas had been able to move around in the company of these men and for whatever length

of time, however limited, since it had occurred to him in his mind, since he had made the shift

to give up on Christ, he had managed to disguise it from those who were nearest and dearest

to him. There's a warning in that incidentally. Now along with that, isn't it quite striking

that Jesus was prepared to have Judas at this table at all? If we had known what Jesus

knew, I wonder if we'd been as gracious. The fact that Judas was in the place of friendship,

the fact that he was apparently involved in the fellowship is also a solemn reminder to

each one of us, each of us apparently, the friends of Jesus, each of us involved in the

activities of Jesus. Now we like the sermons, we attend the talks, we go there, we're part

of this, whatever it is. The real issue is in the heart of all of that, is there a genuine

living personal encounter between you and the living God with the Lord Jesus? Or does Jesus

look upon us and say, I'm sorry, I don't know who you are, and frankly, I don't know where

you're from. So here we have it. Jesus says, the hand of the one who's going to betray me is

on the table with me, and there is no apparent evidence that's pointing to the suspect. So the

question that is asked is, which one of us then is the betrayer? It's troubling, isn't it?

Because if we could immediately set it aside and say, aha, then it would make most of us feel

a lot better. But apparently what's going on is this. It is suggesting to us that any one of the

people around the table is capable of breaking faith with Jesus. When they look in their own

hearts, they don't say, oh, here it is. They look in their own hearts and they say, I wonder,

is it me? Surely it isn't me. Is it possible that out of the core group will come the one

who betrays Christ? Yes. Now, how does Jesus respond? He responds in one of these puzzlingly

enigmatic little statements, verse 22, the son of man will go as it has been decreed,

but war to that man who betrays him. The son of man will go as it has been decreed. What is this?

This is the sovereign purpose of God unfolding, but war to the man who is going to betray him.

What is that about? Well, it sounds as though the man who betrays him is absolutely responsible

for the betrayal, doesn't it? And is absolutely culpable as the betrayer. But the first part of the

verse, he will go as has been decreed. Sounds as though this has been something that God has

forwarded, and it is. So now we're back at the same question that you get in every question and

answer session that you've ever done in all of your life. How do we manage the juxtaposition

between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man, especially in this most classic

instance? Was Judas responsible for what he did? Or was he able to say, I was programmed to do this?

Therefore, I'm not responsible. In Ephesians 1, not only in Ephesians 1, but let me just give you

as it were a cornerstone verse from which I want to build what I'm going to say. In Ephesians chapter

1 and in verse 11, it says in him that is in Christ, we were also chosen having been predestined,

and what is this next phrase, according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity

with the purpose of his will. All right? Our very being in Christ is according to the plan of him

who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. So what it says is that God

who created the universe, this is biblical truth, God who created the universe is working out

absolutely everything according to his eternal plan and counsel. Now the theologians refer to this

as four-ordination or the pre-ordination of God if you want the terminology. And what is

saying is this, that God has four-ordained whatever in all of life ever happens.

The tree that falls on the roof, the sparrow that is landing in the gutter,

the cat that is run over by the Jeep, the putt that lips the cup and makes you the runner-up rather

than the champion, everything is according to God's four-ordination. There are absolutely no

exceptions to it. Every occurrence lies under his wise and loving control. Every free moral choice

that a man or a woman makes lies underneath the working of the will and purpose of God.

Yes, and even the sinful actions of men lie under God's four-ordination.

Now you're sensible people, you need to go back and read your Bibles and see whether I

would have just said is what the Bible says concerning everything that happens in the universe.

Yes. Given that that is the case and because it is the case, throughout the development of theology,

those who have affirmed this truth have wanted immediately to surround it with three cautionary

notes. And these cautionary notes will emerge in the mind of any thinking person, three caveats,

all right? And I'm going to go through them all. I'm going to emphasize one because it is your

main to what we're doing here. The first caveat is this, that given what we said about God four-ordaining

whatever comes to pass, the first caveat is God is not and never can be the author of sin, all right?

He is not and cannot be the author of sin. Now that's enough to keep you up all night.

That God four-ordained sin without being the author of sin, without being the one who tends to sin.

That is a black hole down which many theologians have gone never to be seen again.

But that is the first important caveat. God is not the author of sin. The second one is that God's

four-ordination does not eliminate contingency. That God's four-ordination does not eliminate contingency.

That's why a pot, if we can use golf or the throw of a dice, but a pot, we'll use a part of the

moment. A pot is contingent so far as human observation is concerned and divine four-ordination

does not eliminate that fact. And the third caveat, and it's the one that I want to highlight,

is simply this, that God's four-ordination does not eliminate, does not cancel human freedom.

I'll try and show you in a moment as I wrap this up and it'll have to be soon. I'll try and show

you why this is so important. But let me quote to you from a theologian. It happens to be Scottish,

but I know you want to hold that against him. Listen and listen carefully. God's four-ordination

does not eliminate human freedom. It does not take away our liberty or absolves of responsibility

for our personal actions. Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ and he betrayed him by God's

determinant, counsel, and foreknowledge. In other words, God forerading that Judas would betray

Jesus. But God also forerading that Judas would betray him freely, that he would choose to do it

and that he would desire to do it. God's four-ordination does not mean that his whole purpose

moved in and forced Judas to this particular act. Rather, God forerading that without compulsion

or coercion, Judas would freely, volitionally, and with all the moral force of his own personality

express himself in betraying the Lord Jesus Christ. In light of this, it is of paramount importance

to grasp the synthesis between four-ordination on the one hand and freedom and responsibility

on the other. Four-ordination, says the Westminster Confession, does not destroy liberty. In fact,

it establishes it and therefore it is worth glorying in it. I am free because God forerading my

freedom. I am not the plaything of pressure and circumstance or even of internal and endocrinological

factors. I am free. I make my own decisions. I am the cause, the ultimate answering cause,

the responsible cause of my own decisions. Now, what are the ramifications of this? There are many.

First of all, what it says is that there is a teleological element to the universe that this is

not time plus matter plus chance, that Sartre is dead and finished and many of his silly ideas with

him, that we do not authenticate our existence in the way that he suggested in some existential

moment, pursuing angst, but rather that everything is under the control of a God who created the

continental divide, who established the mountains, made the streams, had the rivers flow where they

flow and indeed this is the basis of all scientific thought, the notion of causality, the notion of

order, the notion of function, from whence comeeth it, if it is just simply an amoeba in a slimy pond.

No. In other words, you don't have to go out today and say, oh, I wonder what's going on in the

details of the universe. God has it under His control. Everything is happening according to

his eternal counsel and will. What's going on in the vastness of the universe, the nation's

warning against one another, every day we're told, oh, look at this, dear, look at that and so on,

as if somehow another, it is all tenuous. No, it is all under His sovereign control.

But it also means that I can't play the game with my sin.

Oh, well, the reason I slept with her was because I was supposed to. I was foreordained.

The reason I did what I did was because I was foreordained. This is God's fault. This isn't my fault.

It's your fault. It's my fault. It's your sin. It's my sin. It's the betrayal of Judas, not God operating

Judas as if he were some kind of puppet under a divine machinery. No. In the foreordination of God,

he ordained that Judas would act entirely according to his own responsibility and therefore acting

in such a way as to make him entirely culpable. The same is true, incidentally, incoming to faith

in Jesus Christ. And this is an aside, but I make it as it comes to my mind. People say, well,

you know, it's all God. Well, yes, it is all God, but it's not all God. God does not believe for you.

God does not believe for you. You must believe. How does that work? I'm not exactly sure,

but I know that both things are true. God offers faith, but does not do so in a vacuum,

nor does he believe on our behalf, but works in such a way that we exercising our free moral

choice will do what God has for our day. Now, you see, if this was some little esoteric notion,

tucked away in the corner of the Bible, it would be one thing, but it isn't. The very juxtaposition

of these things is focused in the death of Jesus, not only in his betrayal, but also in his death

himself. When Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost, he says to them that God has done this,

if I can find it, yeah, this man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and for knowledge.

This was according to God's four-ordination. And you, with the help of wicked man,

put him to death by nailing him on a cross. Why does this matter? Well, look at what we find in

the passage. God has factored Judas' activity into, if you like, the scheme of his redemptive

program, the scheme of his redemptive calculus, that in the logarithmic

explication of God's purposes, somehow or another this works. That's what the Bible says.

God has factored even human sin into this divine unfolding. Secondly, Satan is powerfully

influential in the event. Verse three, Satan had entered into Judas. Thirdly, Judas is still

responsible for his own choices. So the four-ordination of God and the activity of the devil

do not let us off the hook when it comes to our own decision-making.

Go back to the story of Joseph and read it this afternoon and think these thoughts along with it.

You do the story at home and where do you finally get? You finally get to the great denouement

when the brothers come and they reveal themselves to Joseph. Of course, they knew that it was them

before they knew it was him. And he says to the ego, why me? I am Joseph. And they cower in fear from

and remember what he says? Guys, you intended this for evil. God intended this for good.

Your free moral choices were your free moral choices, but God in his divine redemptive calculus

was planning from all of eternity to ensure that the people of God would have a supply of food

and he determined that he would do it without violating any of the freedom that was pardoned

parcel of Jacob, Joseph and all the brothers and Pharaoh and the whole Egyptian court.

And even in the very death of his son, you see the same thing.

So what do you know? You know this. The fact that God overrules the evil that bad men do

in bringing his purpose to pass does not make the men any less evil. Judas acts against his own

conscience. He does so freely and therefore he remains responsible. He is guilty. He is culpable.

And from that, there is much that we can learn, but with this I leave you. Judas is the classic

example of the man who believes that he can never send himself out of the grace of God.

Judas is the classic example of the individual who thinks that he can get to the point and decide

for himself when he's going to stop sinning, failing to recognize that sin deceives, that sin hardens,

that sin blinds us to the warnings that come our way. We can hear the story of God's amazing love

of the sacrifice of his son for sinners. We can recognize that when the Bible speaks to the issue

of sin, it speaks to us. And yet we say to ourselves, but you know, I don't need to deal with this

today. I know when I can stop this stuff. I'll stop when I'm ready, you know. At what point was it

that the shift took place so that one day Judas would not repent. And the next day Judas

could not repent. Because sin hardens, sin deceives, sin blinds. To get this? Go home.

Think about it. Think about it in relationship to how we do evangelism. Think about it in

relationship to how we try and absorb ourselves of guilt. Think about it in relationship to how

we do our counseling. Think about it in terms of how we teach science. Think about it. Just go ahead and

think. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend with Alistair Big. You know, as Easter is

approaching and you're preparing to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, I want to encourage you to

request Alistair's booklet, The Man on the Middle Cross. This brief book tells three stories

about life altering encounters with Jesus. Each individual had a need, but the greatest

need each of them had was for their sins to be forgiven and everyone who reads this book will

discover that that remains the need of every person. Jesus offers forgiveness to all who come to him.

When The Man on the Middle Cross was first published and released back in the fall, it was so

popular as a way to share the gospel that we sold out quickly faster than we expected.

And now we are excited to let you know that the book is back in inventory at Truth for Life,

available today as a three book bundle. To find out more about The Man on the Middle Cross,

visit our website at truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lapine, thanks for taking time out of your

weekend to study the Bible with us. If you've ever tried to determine your significance by

comparing yourself to others, well you're in good company. Next weekend we'll learn how Jesus

addresses the prideful inclinations of his apostles. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished

by Truth for Life, where the learning is for living.