By Rev Charles Seet

Preached at / Published Life BPC 10.45 am Svc, 2010-02-21

Text: John 13:18-30

Few things in life are more difficult to bear than the agony of being betrayed by someone you love. The most well-known example in secular history has been immortalized in the 3 Latin words, 'Et tu, Brute?' (which means, 'You too, Brutus?') These are believed to be the very last words of Julius Caesar when he was murdered in 44 BC by a group of Roman senators. He never expected that his closest friend, Marcus Brutus who was like a son to him, would be among them. And though Caesar initially resisted the attack, when he saw Brutus he said those words, and resigned himself to be killed because he was too heartbroken by his friend's betrayal to resist any more. 

Perhaps some of us here have also felt heartbroken before - When that friend you loved and trusted so much turned against you instead of standing with you when you really needed him. How heart-breaking it is to be a widow who has been abandoned by her only son without any means of support. How sad it is to see a young child abused physically by his own father. How distressing it is for a husband to learn that his wife has been secretly cheating on him. The pain of betrayal is like having one's heart pierced by a dagger. Is there anyone who can sympathise with us and help us to get back on our feet when we struggle with the agony of betrayal? Yes, there certainly is - our Lord Jesus Christ understands it well because He was betrayed by His own disciple. This is what we shall see now in John 13:18-30.

When we celebrated Chinese New Year last week most of us probably had at least one special meal together at home or in a restaurant. It seems that every occasion for celebration is an excuse to have a good feast with good food. Well, in the passage we just read, Jesus and His disciples were together for a very special meal: The feast of the Passover, held annually in Israel in March or April. This feast commemorated how the firstborn of every Israelite family in Egypt were mercifully spared by God during the tenth plague by sacrificing a lamb for each family. The Passover lamb became the substitute victim for the ones who deserved death for their own sins. 

Now, that particular Passover feast which Jesus had with His disciples revealed that the Passover lamb is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is the Passover Lamb that was to be slain at Calvary in order to save sinners from eternal death. This is God's only provision to deal once and for all with our problem of sin. Jesus had come into this world to die on the cross as our substitute. But the way in which He went to that cross was itself a process of being victimized by the sins of men.

Although He was absolutely perfect and without any sin, Jesus became the object of intense hatred of the Pharisees and Scribes - the religious elite of Israel. They constantly opposed Him and tried to arrest Him because He boldly exposed their sins of hypocrisy and pride, and because of their selfish jealousy over the growing numbers of people who were following Him. 

The last straw came when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, as described in John chapter 11. That was the point when they decided that Jesus must be put to death by any means - even if it means making false accusations against Him during His trial. But first they needed to find the right moment to catch Him - a moment when none of the crowds who followed Him would be able to stop them. The only way to do this was to find someone who could inform them about His movements - someone very close to Him, who had intimate knowledge of all His plans; someone who could lead them to capture Him at the right time - perhaps even one of Jesus' own disciples.

We all know who that disciple turned out to be - Judas Iscariot. It was his act of betrayal that provided the key to accomplish their sinful plot against Jesus. But the real mastermind behind his betrayal was an even more deadly enemy of Jesus than those human ones. It was that invisible enemy called Satan who hates God and man with such extreme viciousness that he wants to destroy everything that God does. This is the whole background of our Scripture passage in John 3:18-30. As we study this passage we will discover the answers to 3 important questions. The first question is: 

I. Can Satan's best efforts prevent Christ from fulfilling His plans?

From the moment Christ was born, Satan had been actively opposing Him. He moved King Herod to slaughter all the boys of Bethlehem who were two years old and under in an attempt to kill Jesus (Matthew 2:16). When Jesus had grown up and was about to begin His public ministry Satan tempted Him in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, in an attempt to make Him fall the same way that he had made Adam and Eve fall in the garden of Eden (Matthew 4:1-10). 

When Jesus preached in the synagogue of Nazareth, His own hometown, Satan moved the angry crowd to take Him up to the top of a cliff to throw Him down to His death (Luke 4:16-30). When Jesus told His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed at the hands of the authorities, Satan prompted Simon Peter to say, 'Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.' (Matthew 16:22). Finally, as v.27 of our passage says, Satan entered into Judas to urge him onward in his act of betraying Jesus. 

But in all these attempts we see consistently that Satan could never succeed in opposing Jesus. Joseph was warned by an angel to take Jesus away to Egypt before Herod's slaughter in Bethlehem. Jesus resisted every temptation the Devil tried to use against Him during the 40 days in the wilderness. When the angry mob at Nazareth tried to throw Him down from a cliff, He simply passed through the midst of them and went on His way. When Simon Peter tried to prevent Jesus from going to Jerusalem, Jesus immediately recognized the one was behind this and He said, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.' (Matthew 16:23)

And now here in our text, we see that Jesus was fully aware that Satan would use one of His disciples to betray Him. In v.21 He told His disciples that one of them will betray Him. He even told them in v.18 that this act of betrayal had been foretold a thousand years earlier in Psalm 41. And then in v.26 Jesus showed John, His closest disciple, who the betrayer was by handing the sop to Judas. All this shows that Satan can never succeed in doing anything against our Lord Jesus. The Lord is always ahead of him and is always able to foil all his plans.

But there was something different about this last instance of Satan's opposition to Jesus. Although Jesus knew everything that Satan was doing, He did not stop him this time. He could easily have exposed the betrayer publicly, and the rest of the disciples would then have kept Judas from leaving the place to carry out his act. But here we see that except for John, none of the other disciples knew why Judas left the place. According to v.29 they thought he was just going out to buy some things that were needed for the feast or to give something to the poor. Why did Jesus allow Satan to succeed this time? It is only because He had already planned to use Satan's success to gain the ultimate victory over him. When Satan had succeeded in sending Jesus to His death, that very death and the resurrection that followed became God's greatest victory over Satan. 

There is a wonderful lesson here for us: Whenever it seems that Satan is getting too strong for us and that nothing can stop his evil work from prevailing in this world, we should not be fearful at all, because we know that Christ will ultimately subdue him, and we are confident that Christ will somehow turn the devil's greatest gains into the devil's greatest losses. 

Therefore the answer to the first question is: 'No, Satan's best efforts cannot prevent Christ from fulfilling His plans.' And that includes all the plans that Christ has for His church, the plans He has for you and the plans He has for me. Dearly beloved perhaps some of you have been feeling discouraged lately because wickedness and oppression seems to have the upper hand all around you. You don't understand why there is no end to it and no retribution for it. If that is your situation, keep looking upward. Remember the words of the hymn, 'This is my Father's world, O let me never forget, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.' 

Martin Luther expressed the same thoughts in his Reformation hymn, A Mighty fortress is our God. He wrote, 'And though this world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of darkness grim - We tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.'

And as we keep looking to the Lord to overcome all opposition and fulfill all His plans, let us remember what the Lord requires of us: He requires us to be faithful to Him to the very end. It is in times of great discouragement that we must be most vigilant against temptation, for any of us can fall if we are not careful. Even those who have known Christ for many years may take matters into their own hands in one unguarded moment and sin against Him grievously. This brings now us to consider the second question:

II. Does the enjoyment of great spiritual privileges always make a person faithful to Christ?

All the 12 disciples of Jesus including Judas had enjoyed great spiritual privileges. They were specially chosen by Him. According to Luke 6:12,13 Jesus had prayed all night on a mountain before He called the 12 to be His apostles. They had the unique privilege of being with Jesus for 3 years, and of receiving God's Word directly from Him (John 17:8). And according to Luke 9, all 12 of them were specially empowered by Jesus and given authority over all devils and to cure diseases. After Jesus had sent them out 2 by 2, all 12 of them, including Judas witnessed the power of God working through them as they went through the towns of Israel, preaching the gospel, healing the sick and casting out demons (Mark 6:12,13). 

But as we come to John 13 we see that despite enjoying such great spiritual privileges, not all of them remained faithful to Christ. Judas Iscariot turned against Him and betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. And there is nothing to indicate that Jesus gave him less attention or less honour than the rest, knowing that he was going to betray Him one day. In fact, there is every indication that our Lord had invested much time to cultivate a close master-disciple relationship with Judas. He put Judas in charge of all the money that He and His disciples possessed collectively. As their treasurer entrusted to keep and dispense money, Judas would naturally have had many opportunities to discuss matters with Jesus, perhaps to report on their finances or to receive instructions on disbursements he should make from it.

This is why none of the other disciples suspected Judas at all when Jesus announced that one of them would betray Him. If Judas had not been treated as well as they had all been, and if he had shown any signs of discontentment, all eyes would surely have looked at him straightaway when Jesus announced in v.21 that one of them would betray Him. But v.22 says that they 'looked one on another, doubting of whom He spake.' This shows that they were no less suspicious of Judas as they were of anyone else.

However, I think that the most telling evidence that Judas had enjoyed spiritual privileges from Jesus is found in the first part of v.21. This tells us that the Lord was troubled in spirit when He revealed that one of them would betray Him. The word 'troubled' used here means 'stirred' or agitated.' It is the very same word used in John 11:33 to describe how emotionally upset Jesus was when He saw Mary and the Jews weeping over the death of His good friend, Lazarus. He 'groaned in the spirit and was troubled.'

Now consider this: Since Jesus already knew that Judas would be the one to betray him, His troubled spirit in v.21 reflects how close He must have been to Judas. In fact Psalm 41:9 which Jesus had quoted from in v.18 fully reads, 'Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.' This verse brings out the real tragedy of Christ's betrayal. It was not an enemy who betrayed Him, neither was it a mere acquaintance of Christ who betrayed Him. But it was one of His 12 carefully chosen disciples who had betrayed Him. And more than that - it was a disciple who was His familiar friend, one whom Jesus had trusted who had done such an evil deed to Him. How can it be?

This gives us the answer to the second question: The enjoyment of great spiritual privileges alone does not always make a person faithful to Christ. This answer has implications for us. Let us all reflect on this humbling thought: No matter what spiritual blessings and privileges we may have enjoyed from Christ before, this alone will not make us incapable of forsaking Him, denying Him and even betraying Him when temptation comes! Even those who have been closest to Christ are capable of failing Him and going astray. Take Simon Peter as an example. He openly confessed his loyalty to Christ and yet he denied Him 3 times when He was tried. The other disciples did not fare better than Peter. They all forsook Christ and fled when He was arrested (Matthew 26:56). 

This goes to show that we are all capable of falling, and that we all stand in need of God's grace to remain faithful to Him. Some of you here may have enjoyed the privilege of being raised in a very godly home, but you still need God's grace to remain faithful. Some of you may have been used of God mightily to build His kingdom - you brought souls to Christ, you taught and discipled many Christians, and you have gone on mission trips - but you still need God's grace to remain faithful. Some of you may have served the Lord as a deacon, elder, pastor, or missionary - but you still stand in dire need of God's grace to remain faithful to Him.

It is only by grace, fresh grace from God, that you will be able to stand the test of your faith. Please don't rely on the spiritual blessings and experiences you have enjoyed before to keep you faithful to Christ. Rely only on the Lord Jesus Christ for grace for each new day - renewed and refreshing grace to keep you aflame for Christ and committed to godliness. This is what the Lord wants you to have because He loves you. And if you have stopped relying on Him for grace, He gives you the opportunity to repent and return to relying on Him for grace. This brings us now to the third and final question:

III. Will the opportunity to repent of rebellion against Christ always bring its desired results?

The answer is that it will not always bring its desired results. There are some who will make good use of the opportunity, and some who will not. Judas is an example of one who did not make use of the opportunity given to him to repent of his rebellion against Christ. But when was this opportunity given? - You may ask.

Firstly, we see that Christ revealed that he knew all about Judas' secret plans to betray Him. In one of our earlier messages we had seen that 2 days before the Passover Judas had secretly gone to the chief priests to make a deal with them to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. This is recorded in Matthew 26. Then verse 2 of John 13 tells us, 'And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.'

And so when Jesus revealed that He knows this secret, Judas would have naturally been worried that his plan had now been discovered. He must have known that Jesus was referring to him when He said, 'One of you shall betray me.' (v.21) And any doubt that Jesus knew his plans would surely be removed by the words He said to Judas in v.27 'That thou doest, do quickly.'

At this point Judas should have reasoned within himself, 'It is clear now that my Master already knows that I am going to betray Him. And I can see how troubled He is by this. And yet He has not revealed to the rest of the disciples that I am the betrayer. Why has He kept this from them? Perhaps He is graciously giving me a way out. If I were to repent of my sin right now, and remain here with Him, then none of the other disciples will ever know what I had planned to do against my Lord. And later on I can privately confess my sin to Him and thank Him for being so gracious to me. I will never try to betray my Lord ever again.'

Judas should have understood why the Lord had deliberately chosen not to reveal him as the betrayer in public - that it was meant to provide an opportunity for him to make a U-turn and return to the Lord on his own. And to make this even more obvious the Lord did something very significant to Judas - He took a piece of bread, dipped it in a dish of sauce and gave it to Judas. Verse 26 may give the impression that Jesus did this only to answer John's question about who the betrayer was. But if that was all He intended to do, He could easily have whispered Judas' name into John's ear. 

The more important purpose of Jesus for giving the sop to Judas was to make a final appeal to his conscience not to carry out the betrayal. According to the Jewish customs of the day, when the host personally dipped a piece of bread and gave it to a guest seated at the table, this was a non-verbal way to say, 'You are a special friend to me.' If anything should have stopped Judas in his tracks this would have been it. It should have troubled his conscience and softened his heart to realise that the Lord would do this to him despite knowing that he was going to betray Him.

But instead of softening his heart, this last act of kindness resulted in the hardening of his heart. Verse 27 says that 'after the sop Satan entered into him.' This may be understood to mean that Judas himself deliberately allowed Satan to overrule his better judgment and take control of his will. And this is the most unreasonable response imaginable to the opportunity Jesus had given him to repent of his rebellion. 

And the easy access that Satan had to enter into him proves that Judas was never regenerated. He was never born again. He may have had all the outward appearances of being a follower of Jesus, and had done many works in His name, but his heart was still as dead in sin as it was before he became a disciple. Since Judas never had salvation, he never lost it. As Hebrews 6:4-6 describes, Judas was once enlightened, and had tasted of the heavenly gift, and even made a partaker of the Holy Ghost, and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. But by his sinful rebellion and his persistent rejection of God's grace he showed once and for all that he was a false disciple. 

Some may then ask the question, 'Since Judas had already been predestined to fulfill God's purposes by betraying Jesus is he then to be blamed for his sin?' The answer is this: While his act of betrayal had indeed fulfilled God's purposes, Judas did it all for his own selfish purposes and out of his own sinful rebellion against God. Therefore there is no unfairness in God.

But the more important question that we should all ask as we end this message is, 'Lord, is it I?' The Gospels of Matthew and Mark record that just after Jesus had revealed that one of them sitting with Him at the Last Supper will betray Him, each of the 12 disciples, asked Jesus the same question 'Lord, is it I?' Each of them realized that they did not know themselves very well, and hence they could not escape from the possibility of being the one who would betray Jesus.

Let us not think that we all know ourselves very well, but let us take time to examine our own hearts by asking the same question 'Lord, is it I?' Have I betrayed You by disobeying Your Word despite all Your repeated calls to me? 'Lord, Is it I?' Have I denied You by compromising with the world and its values? 'Lord, Is it I?' Have I forsaken You by refusing to deny self and carry my cross daily? 

May the Lord help each of us here to discern His answer to each of us personally as we ask the question, 'Lord, is it I?'

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