Jesus, the Passover Lamb, Luke 22: 7-20

 Today we find ourselves looking at a passage of scripture which is the basis for a ceremony which is part of one of the most controversial doctrines in the history of the church.  It was one of the primary points of dispute in the Reformation.  Consequently, it has the distinction of being a major contributing factor in the separation of many denominations.  I’m talking, of course, about the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. 

For hundreds of years, many theologians and preachers a whole lot smarter than I am have debated this issue, and so I don’t pretend to have solved every difficulty in this passage for us today.  However, I am assured of the fact that Jesus said that they that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.  I am also convinced that the scripture says  in John 16:13, "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”  That principle is repeated elsewhere as well, which promises that we may know the essential truth of God’s word.  We may not know every mystery, but we can know the things freely given to us by God that are essential to our salvation and our sanctification, if we come to the word of God with a humble heart desiring God’s wisdom. 

That desire to know the truth has been the driving force of my ministry.  It is a commitment that I made before the Lord 30 years ago, that if He would show me the truth, I would follow it.  And it continues to be the driving impetus of my preaching and teaching today in this church.  I do not want to be guilty of blindly following tradition.  I do not want to merely regurgitate the status quo, without doing my own research and study to see if those things are so.  I believe that the truth is important, and nothing less than the truth will serve the gospel.

So to that end, that we might know the truth and worship God in truth, we will look at this important passage today first of all from a historical perspective – what happened as the context tells us, and then from a doctrinal perspective – what this passage teaches us in light of how we are to observe Christ’s instructions.

First of all, note that the text makes it clear that this was the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is also called the Passover.  All that transpires here in the upper room happens in the context of the disciples and Jesus celebrating and observing the Passover.  Christ does not institute a new ritual.  He takes an old ritual and establishes a new covenant.  He modifies the old ritual, He changes the meaning of the old ceremony, but it’s essentially the same Passover ceremony.

But before we go into the specifics of what the Passover feast entails, let’s consider the preparation that is detailed in vs. 7-13.  Much detail is given by Luke about the selection of a room and the instructions Jesus gave Peter and John concerning it.  There seems to be a certain degree of secrecy about the instructions.  Jesus could have said “just go to such and such a street, and it’s the third house on the left.”  That would be the normal way to give directions.  But Jesus gives them this almost clandestine arrangement; you will see a man with a water pot, go follow this man to his house and so forth.  And if you have a curious mind you should be asking yourself why the subterfuge?  Jesus obviously knows the place He intends to observe the Passover, why not just come out and say it?

Well, you should remember from the preceding passage that Judas went to the chief priests and agreed to betray Jesus when the crowd was not around.  He was looking for the right opportunity when Jesus was out of the public eye so that he could alert the chief priests, and they could send a mob of soldiers and arrest Him without a lot of fanfare.  So Jesus answers the disciples question about where they will hold the feast without giving away the location.  Only Peter and John will go there, and they will not know where it is until they see this man carrying a water pitcher.  By the way, that was not as common a sight as you might think.  This was typically the thing women did, carrying pitchers of water on their heads.  So to see a man do it would attract their notice. 

So the point was to avoid giving the information to Judas before the time that God had appointed Jesus to be betrayed.  Jesus knew the hour that God had appointed, and that all the events that would happen had to occur in such a time frame so that He would be crucified during the time that the Passover lambs were being slain, around 3pm on Friday.  It was now Thursday morning. 

Furthermore, Jesus wanted to observe the Passover Feast with His disciples.  It will be the last opportunity for Him to teach them and pray with them and show them things that will become foundational to the church after He is gone.  And so Jesus gives Peter and John instructions about the location and the preparation in such a way so that Judas was unaware of the essential details. 

So after everything is ready, and Peter and John have prepared everything, vs. 14 says the hour had come to eat the Passover meal.  He reclined at the table with the apostles.  I’m sure most of you are familiar with the significance of the Passover.  But it might be helpful to review it for a moment.  The Passover was a meal that was prescribed by God for the Israelites when they were about to leave Egypt for the Promised Land.  As you will recall, the Lord had brought plagues upon the Egyptians because they refused to let the children of Israel leave Egypt.  The last of 10 plagues was that the eldest son of every family in Egypt would be killed.  And so to protect His people, God gave the Israelites specific instructions to slay a lamb and put the blood of the lamb upon the doorposts of their home so that when the angel of death came through the land, he would pass over those houses where the blood was on the doorpost. 

Then the members of the house were to take the meat of the lamb and cook it in just a certain way, and they were to prepare unleavened bread, and bitter herbs and eat this meal in preparation for their journey.  In Exodus 12 all of the details of the meal are explained, and it states that this was to be a perpetual feast for the Israelites, that they would remember the deliverance by God from their enslavement in generations to come. 

So this is the meal that the apostles and Jesus are observing.  It is the Passover meal.  It was an important festival that they observed every year - for one week a year they ate unleavened bread. They were to remove all leaven from their houses during this time which symbolized a time of self examination and repentance from sin.  And then on the afternoon or evening of the Passover day, they would sacrifice a year old lamb at the temple by the hand of the priest, and bring back the body which they would roast in fire with all the entrails and head and so forth intact, and they would eat the lamb.  Everything that was not eaten had to be burned, so that nothing was left until morning.  And as time went on the Israelites  developed an intricate order, or seder it was called, of the Passover meal which was interspersed with the singing of certain Psalms and prayers and recounting  the story of the exodus. 

Now at the beginning of this Passover meal, Jesus says in vs. 15, ““I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”  First of all, it is worth noting that Jesus says He was fervently, or earnestly desiring to eat this Passover with them before He suffered.  Not only does this indicate His love for His disciples, but it indicates that Jesus was passionately focused on His purpose.  He came to Earth to suffer and die for the sins of the world.  This was His mission, His goal.  And He says He has been eagerly looking forward to it.  He doesn’t have some morbid desire to die, He has a divine desire to liberate mankind; to accomplish the redemption of mankind. That was His earnest desire; to save men from their sins.  And Jesus saw the Passover as the end goal of His mission on Earth; to provide Himself as the Passover Lamb, to save mankind from the penalty of death.

Also in this verse we have another significant principle that is often overlooked.  Jesus is saying that this meal not only looks back at the historic deliverance from Egyptian slavery, but it also looks forward to being consummated or fulfilled in the kingdom of God.  What they were doing then was symbolic of what would one day be fully, or completely realized in the kingdom of God. 

One day there will another feast when the kingdom of God comes in glory.  The Bible refers in Rev. 19:19 to it as the marriage supper of the Lamb.  And so to some extent then what was being celebrated not only looked back at the exodus from Egypt, the freedom from bondage to the promised land, but also looks forward to the future freedom from the presence of sin, the freedom from the bondage of sin that this world is under when we are delivered from this body of death to the glorified, eternal life with Christ.

Then in vs. 17, Jesus formally begins the meal by giving thanks, and offering up the cup He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”  Now we see Christ with the cup here, and then after the bread we see the cup again.  Actually, traditionally there were four cups that were offered in the meal.  But once again, the future fulfillment of this symbolism in the kingdom of God is what Jesus is emphasizing.  Twice Jesus emphasizes the future fulfillment of the glorification of the church at the marriage supper of the Lamb.  There was a past fulfillment in Egypt which was symbolized.  And we will look in a moment at the present fulfillment in Christ’s death that was realized.  But twice Christ has emphasized the future fulfillment that is prophesied. That is important. But unfortunately, it’s one that I have never really heard emphasized very much as a part of the meaning of the meal.

Now in vs. 19 we come to the part that is more well known. When Jesus had taken the bread and given thanks, He said, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”  To the Jews, the unleavened bread was emblematic of the bread of affliction.  It was bread that did not have time to rise because of their haste in leaving Egypt.  It was the bread of captivity, of pain and suffering as slaves.  But Jesus inserts into the ceremony here a startling statement.  He says, “this is My body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me.” 

Now this statement has been the cause of much controversy.  There are some who view this statement as a literal declaration that the bread becomes the host of Christ, the actual body of Christ that is eaten.  The Roman Catholics believe that it becomes the actual body of Christ as the priest blesses it and gives it to the recipient.  It’s called transubstantiation.  Protestants, born out of the Reformation, tend to believe that it is symbolic of the body of Christ, but does not actually contain His body. 

Jesus says something similar in regards to the wine.  Luke says in vs. 20, “And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”  Once again the literalists take this to mean that the wine becomes the actual blood of Christ.

I don’t want to get bogged down in all the minutia of every denominational distinction, but I would simply point you back to the historical precedent as a help to understanding what this means.  First of all, the Passover meal was symbolic of an actual historical event.   It was a way of remembering the passing over of the death angel during the last plague upon the Egyptians.  It was a celebration of their deliverance. 

But in this meal Jesus is changing that historical symbolism to mean that He is the Passover Lamb that was slain, whose blood was spread over our house, so to speak, so that we might be free from the fear of death and the penalty of death that is upon all the Earth. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”   Paul makes it clear that Jesus is the Passover Lamb, and yet we understand that is a metaphorical statement.  The Passover lamb symbolizes Christ.

What I find interesting in this is that there is no mention of lamb being eaten in the gospel account of the Lord’s Supper.  But Paul says that He is the Passover Lamb, and yet Jesus says that He is the bread.  It’s interesting because Paul says clean out the old leaven, so that you may be unleavened; he’s talking about the unleavened bread in one breath and then the Passover Lamb in the next.  Paul connects the two.  So what is going on here? 

Well the answer might be that when Jesus became the Passover Lamb, there would be no more sacrificial lambs offered up in the new covenant.  He was the last One.  Something far greater than the blood of animals was offered on Friday; the blood of Jesus Christ is the final sacrifice for sins.  And so the veil to the Holy of Holies was torn in two during His crucifixion.  And when the temple was destroyed just 35 years later as He had prophesied, there was an end to the temple sacrifices.  In the new covenant, there would be no more lambs offered at an altar.  We don’t eat lamb in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper because there can be no more sacrificial lambs.  We don’t worship in a temple made with hands.  We don’t have an earthly priesthood to slaughter the lamb on the altar.  Furthermore we have no more need of it because it was done once for all at Calvary.  Now our Savior has become our High Priest.  So Jesus transfers that symbolism that was once portrayed by the lamb to the bread.  He references the bread as His body, which was given for us.  Paul makes it clear in 1 Cor. 5:7 that leaven is a picture of sin.  Jesus was the sinless One, offered up for the sinner.  He was the substitute for our sins.  He was the bread of life which came down out of heaven. 

There is another important facet to what Jesus said on this occasion which Luke does not record.  Actually it is the Apostle Paul writing later to the church at Corinth under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who adds a point of distinction.  And that is found in 1Cor. 11:25-26, “In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”  The point that I want to make is the twice reference to as often as you do this.  Much has been made about the frequency of observing the Lord’s Supper.  Catholics do so at every mass.  Some Protestants do it every week, some every month, and some only at various times in the year.  I would say that the text speaks for itself.  In Exodus the injunction was to observe the Passover once a year in the Spring.  So if you take the text literally, you might say that “as often as you do this” refers to the observation of the Passover, which was once a year.  But there are some theologians that say that the tradition of the early church seems to indicate that they were gathering together to break bread every Lord’s day.  Therefore they say the tradition of the early church was to observe the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. 

But even if that is the case, Paul definitely rebukes the church at Corinth for abusing the practice of the Lord’s Supper.  He says in 1Cor. 11:20-21, “Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.”  So if anything, Paul seems to imply that familiarity had dulled the importance of the feast and it had just turned into a substitute meal, rather than symbolic of the substitionary Savior.

So when Jesus offered up the cup, He said, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”  He had not yet spilled His blood. When He said “this is My body which is given for you,” He had not yet given His body.  He was obviously speaking metaphorically.  He could not be saying that His literal blood was in the cup.  His body was not being eaten that night.  The apostles understood it to be metaphorical.  The bread was symbolic of His body.  The wine was symbolic of His blood.  And so what was clear to them should be equally clear to us.  Jesus was resurrected in His body.  He went up into heaven in His body.  Symbolically we eat the bread, remembering the sacrifice that He made for us that we might be freed from the enslavement and penalty of sin.  Symbolically we drink the wine or juice remembering that His shed blood purchased our redemption.  It ratified a covenant that God had made 2500 years earlier with Abraham that was prefigured in the burning oven and flaming torch that passed between the cut pieces of the sacrificial animals.   God made a covenant then with Abraham that from his seed would come a nation, and from that nation would come a people numbered like the stars of heaven.  It would no longer be a people united by nationality or by heritage or lineage, but united by faith.  Abraham would be the father of the faithful.  Those that would be saved by faith in Christ. 

So Jesus said the cup signifies a new covenant in My blood. Heb. 9:15 says,  “For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”  It goes on to say that covenants have to be ratified with blood.  This covenant is an everlasting covenant, the supreme covenant, because it was ratified not with the blood of animals, but with the precious blood of the Son of God. 

One last point that I want to leave with you.  And that is that Jesus said in vs. 19, “do this in remembrance of Me.”  Actually, Paul says that He said it twice, after the bread and again after the wine.  Jesus isn’t prescribing a means of grace here.  He is prescribing a way to bring us to remember His ultimate sacrifice for our sins. He is giving us a meal of communion with Him when we remember His sacrifice for us.  When we join in the fellowship of His suffering.  Remembering His love for us should prompt us to love Him in return.  We love Him because He first loved us.  We offer our lives in gratitude as servants of Christ because of His great sacrifice for us.  This remembering of what Christ accomplished should be the motivation for our lives, to live our lives for His glory, in His service. 

We come together as a church, as Christ’s body, to eat together, to fellowship together, to participate in communion together.  And in so doing we recognize that  spiritually we are connected to one another because we have all partaken of His body.   That is the spiritual significance.  That is the symbolism of eating together, Christ’s body makes us all one body in Christ.  This is the New Covenant, that God has provided a way for all men, of every nation and tribe to become part of His church, the bride of Christ, and that one day Christ will come again to reclaim His bride, and we will consummate that relationship at the marriage supper of the Lamb  in the new heaven and new earth.  In the meantime, let us do this, as often as we do it, in remembrance of Jesus. 

That remembrance should inspire in you a desire, as stated in Romans 12:1, to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  We don’t remember Christ’s supreme sacrifice so that we can continue in a life of selfishness, a life of self gratification.  Paul said if we do that we come to the Lord’s table unworthily.  And as such we come under judgment, because we have not properly examined ourselves.  So as we remember what Christ has done for us as the Passover Lamb, we should consecrate ourselves to live holy lives in His service.  Paul says in Romans that is our spiritual service of worship.  Listen, salvation wasn’t cheap, therefore worship shouldn’t be cheap either.  It’s not lip service that God wants, it’s a life of service as a living sacrifice.  That is the proper response of those that properly observe the Lord’s Supper.  Let’s do this in remembrance of Him, by living our lives in service as gratitude for Him.  

The plan to kill Jesus, Luke 22: 1-6

Every year a certain website publishes the most popular baby names.  It’s interesting to see how that changes from year to year.  One hundred years ago the most popular boy’s name was John, and the most popular girl’s name was Mary.  Not all that exciting.  In those days people tended to name their children from the Bible. 

According to baby center dot com, in 2014, the most popular boy’s name is Liam, and the most popular girl’s name is Emma.  You might imagine that Bible names might have fallen out of favor somewhat, but a surprising number are still in vogue.  For instance, Noah is number two for boys.  Other Bible names that made it into the top 40 include Elijah, Luke,  Daniel, Isaac, Caleb and several others. 

Girls names though not so much.  Only Hannah, Grace and Elizabeth made the top 40.  Anyhow, this website has records of the top baby names since 1880.  But there is one name that is very well known and yet never made it into those lists.  It’s a name that no parent would ever want to name their child.  I can’t even imagine anyone naming your dog this name.  That name is Judas.  It’s a name synonymous with treachery, with being a traitor.  It’s a name of infamy.

Today we find ourselves looking at a passage of scripture that introduces us to that infamous person.  He is one of the most tragic characters presented in the Bible.  But Luke does not give us a lot of information about Judas.  Other than the information given in this chapter, Luke does not detail a lot of the events that pertained to Judas.  We have to look in the other gospels to fill in the blanks. 

But as I said, Judas is notorious as the quintessential traitor, as the one who betrayed Christ.  Most people are somewhat familiar with his story.  However, Luke presents a bigger story, the big picture, and Judas is just one of the players in it.  Luke presents the plan to kill Jesus, and in this passage we will see that in some respects, Judas is but a minor player in the sovereign plan of God.    

There are four elements to this plan to kill Jesus that are presented in these first six verses particularly that we will be looking at today which are an introduction to what is called sometimes the passion of Christ; the final hours leading to His arrest and crucifixion.  I have titled today’s message the plan to kill Jesus.  And the text will show four elements to that plan.  First, the providence of God.  Second the plot of the priests.  Third the possession of Judas,  and fourth the participation of wicked men.

Now even though in vs. 53 Jesus refers to this time as an hour belonging to the power of darkness, the text reveals that though these events are the results of the actions of  evil,  everything that happens is within the sovereign scope of God’s purpose and will. 

So in that respect let’s look first at the providence of God.  Providence in this case referring to the purpose of God, and the provision of God in and through all circumstances.  And we see that principle indicated in vs. 1. “Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching.”  What that verse indicates is that God’s plan called for Christ to be offered up as the Passover Lamb on this particular feast day. 

Christ’s death was planned by God before the foundation of the world.  That’s why He is in Scripture called the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.  It was a divine plan on God’s part that Jesus would die even before the world was created.  And that plan was foretold when God instituted the Passover Feast as the children of Israel were preparing to leave Egypt.  God gave specific, detailed instructions to observe the Passover 1500 years before Christ was born which was intended to teach the purpose and plan of God to provide a Passover Lamb that would save His people from the fear of death.  A Lamb that would provide escape from man’s enslavement to sin and from being held captive by the devil to do his will as illustrated by the Israelite’s captivity in Egypt. 

A later prophecy in Isaiah 53 makes it even more clear that God would cause this Lamb of God to suffer for the sins of the world, that those who believe on Him could be saved. Isaiah 53:4-7 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.  All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.”

So we see that God had appointed an hour, He had a purpose and a plan established before time began that He would provide a Lamb on a certain Passover Feast in 30 AD who would be the sacrifice for the sins of the world so that men might be saved.  Satan, Judas, the high priests and scribes and the mob are just players in plan established and foreknown by the Sovereign God of the Universe.  Satan had no power in that hour of darkness unless it had first been given to him.  And yet even though their actions are in accordance with the providence of God, they still remain culpable in their actions.  They will still bear the responsibility of their sin.

Today as we consider the advancement of evil in the world, we should take comfort in the sovereignty of God.  That God has a plan.  And nothing that is happening in the world is outside of the sovereign plan of God.  Satan can do nothing against the church unless he first receives permission.  It may be a difficult thing for us to learn, it’s a difficult doctrine to accept.  It requires faith to believe that all things are working for the good of those who are called according to the purpose of God.  But as we look back on the history of what God did in the life and death of Jesus according to His divine plan, then we ought to have confidence  in the future.  We know that greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world.  (1 John 4:4)

Then in vs. 2 we see the plot of the priests and the scribes as part of the overall plan to kill Jesus. Luke 22:2 “The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.”  The animosity of the chief priests and religious leaders had been becoming ever more apparent as Christ conducted His three year ministry on Earth.  At the beginning of His ministry they seemed to have a tacit acceptance for His ministry.  Sometimes they even invited Him to dinner.  They regularly attended His sermons.  Some feigned discipleship. But as Jesus’ preaching revealed their hypocrisy, their animosity and resentment grows. By this time that animosity has grown to a hatred which will culminate in murder.

The only thing that seems to be holding back their desire to murder Jesus is that they feared the people.  It’s interesting that they obviously don’t fear God.  They are much more concerned about popular opinion than they are about God’s opinion.  I believe the Bible indicates that they acted in full recognition that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God. No one had ever spoken with the wisdom that this man spoke with.  No one had ever performed the miracles that this man had performed.  But their hearts were hardened to the point that religion was merely a means to an end.  And the end that they were concerned about was money, power and prestige.  Their office provided  those things.  And Jesus threatened their privilege.  Twice now He had cleansed the temple, exposing their corrupt religious practices.  And they hated Him for it.  They hated Him so much that they were willing to commit murder.  They were willing to lie, to commit perjury, to buy witnesses, to hire a murderous mob. 

But we mustn’t delude ourselves into thinking that this is just the isolated actions of some very evil men.  We sometimes see evil expressed in some particular individuals or even in regimes such as Nazi Germany and we think that this type of evil is so much worse than what normal people are capable of.  But that is not the case.  Their murderous plan is simply the result of an animosity towards the truth.  When a preacher preaches the truth of God’s word, there are only two possible outcomes;  you either are convicted by the Spirit of Truth and confess and repent and accept it, or you reject the truth, reject the conviction of the Holy Spirit and harden your heart.  But that rejection of the truth always breeds animosity towards the truth and the preacher, and if unchecked,  animosity becomes hatred.  And hatred is a dangerous thing. Jesus equated hatred with murder.  It is a poison that pollutes the soul and causes corruption to spill out in evil actions which work contrary to the will of God.  In my experience, when someone rejects the truth, and they rebel it eventually evolves into hatred, and in that hatred they begin to work against  the church to try to destroy either the pastor or the church.  We must be careful how we respond to the preaching of the truth.  These priests rejected it and ended up killing the Son of God.

In vs. 3 we see the third aspect of the plan to murder Jesus, and that is the possession of Judas. Luke 22:3 “And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve.”   I believe Luke summarizes here in this statement a progression in the life of Judas that has actually gone on for quite some time.  I believe the Bible reveals that his possession by Satan was something that began small and grew to be all consuming.  Luke just summarizes that process here. 

But first of all, I want you to take special notice of the phrase, “one of the twelve.”  What a tragedy.  This man was part of Christ’s inner circle.  He had participated in some of the most spectacular things that have ever been witnessed on earth.  He had heard the greatest preacher of all time, had lived for three years with the perfect man, the Son of God.  And yet after all that, Satan comes in to him. 

I can’t help but ask myself how this came to be?  What happened to cause this man to go from discipleship to being demon possessed?  Judas was a man of great privilege. He had every opportunity.  Jesus had been so gracious to Him and yet Judas had followed Him with ulterior motives.  The Bible says that Judas held the bag. His motive was money, and he knew being treasurer in the new kingdom would pay off handsomely.  After all, Judas used to steal from the disciples money bag.  And you know what strikes me about that, is that Jesus obviously knew that Judas would betray Him, and He knew that Judas was stealing from them, but He never confronted Him. 

Yet just as the sin of the priests and religious leaders brought about animosity which escalated to outright hatred which culminated in murder, so Judas’ sin of the love of money, the love of this world, as it went unconfessed, unrepented of, opened up the door for Satan to come in.  It may have started small at first.  Perhaps it started as an irritation at how Jesus constantly preached against the love of money being the root of all evil.  A resentment towards Jesus’ preaching against the love of the world being at enmity with God.  That you could not love the world and love God.  And Judas’ resentment grew into hatred as well, because he dearly loved the world.  His only real interest in Jesus was in what he thought he might gain from his association with Jesus.  And when that prospect started to look dim, he decided to cash out.  He had opened up his heart to Satan a long time before, when he refused to repent of his sin.

Judas  represents those that have known the Lord, even followed the Lord, but with selfish motives.  Their motivation was what they could get out of it, what’s in it for me.  This evil motive is revealed by the willingness to sell Jesus out for money.  But the 30 pieces of silver that Judas sold out Jesus for is also a metaphor for whatever your price is or my price.  Unfortunately, all of us seem to have our price.  Maybe it’s money, but it may be fame or popularity or prestige, or social standing, or simply a good time. 

I think Judas is perhaps the most tragic personality in the Bible.  Judas is a classic illustration of all examples of lost opportunity. No one ever had greater opportunity and lost it. He is the ultimate example of wasted privilege. He is the supreme example of a false disciple who passes on the opportunity of a lifetime, who wastes his great privilege, for the trinkets of world.

But lest we get on a high horse and think ourselves so much better than Judas, lest we say like Peter, “though everyone else denies you, I will never deny you Lord…” yet sadly many of us today are somewhat the same. We are false disciples, willing to sell out the Lord for a few coins, or for pleasure, or for whatever passion we lust after.  If Christ had a Judas in His inner circle, then we should not be surprised when churches today are full of people like Judas. They feign loyalty to Christ. They sing about how much they love Jesus. They pretend to care but yet their actions reveal that they really don't care because they regularly sell out Jesus for anything else that seems more valuable at any moment to them.  And when they see that things aren’t going the way they thought it would and they're not getting out of Jesus what they thought He would provide, they will go for something else.  They betray Him with a kiss but there is no love there, just the emptiness of false affection.

Listen, Hollywood has deceived us into thinking of demon possession as something that looks hideous and frightening and that causes a person to act like some evil monster.  But the truth is that Satan gains control of his victims one little piece at a time.  And most often, he prefers to stay in disguise.  The Bible says that he disguises himself as an angel of light.  He disguises himself as spiritual, or religious.  He doesn’t like to be revealed for who he really is.  And so naïve people think that they are choosing a lesser form of the truth, a less restrictive version of the truth, and in reality they are embracing the false doctrines of Satan that takes root in their soul and starts to occupy their mind and control their will.  And they soon find themselves completely  under the control of Satan and they never really know it. 

2Tim. 2:25-26 says “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”  See, the captivity of Satan comes from an opposition to the truth, which results in them being held captive to do his will.  So the possession of Judas is not some special one time horrific event, but it is something that people everywhere even today must be on guard against.

Fourthly, though all the players are somehow participating in the sovereign plan of God, yet that does not excuse their participation in the plan to murder Christ.  The participation of wicked men is expressed in vs. 4-6. “And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them.  They were glad and agreed to give him money.  So he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowd.”

What these verses illustrate is Judas is not some sort of zombie now that Satan has entered him, and he is unable to think or act rationally.  Look at his actions, they indicate a rational mind; they indicate a willing participation  on his part.  He went to the chief priests, he discussed a plan to betray Jesus, he agrees on a plan, he consents to a fee, and he begins to seek an opportunity to betray Him.  Actually, his actions prove my point that he and the priests are fully culpable for their actions.  They knew full well what they were doing. 

See, the real fear is not some sort of possession that takes over and renders you senseless.  But satanic control happens as a result of a man or woman consensually giving themselves over to evil desires, to evil thinking and then disobedience.  And so their goals and ambitions reflect that of their master. 

Listen, Satan doesn’t create anything.  He just mimics what God does.  But he does so deceitfully.   The way you follow God and become a child of God is to believe God and obey God.  In the same manner, the way you become a child of the devil is you believe his lies, and you obey him.  The difference of course is that Satan is the father of lies; he offers you the world, offers you fame, fortune, happiness, but he can’t really provide any of it.  He can’t create.  He doesn’t have the power of life or death.  All he can do is try to thwart the plan of God to give you life, by getting you to chose death, all the time thinking that you are getting a better life.  He is a liar and a deceiver and a destroyer.

I think that the major thing we can learn from the life of Judas is that oftentimes the greatest danger to the church comes not from our external enemies, but from within the ranks of those seemingly chosen, our trusted friends.  People who ate with us, experienced so much with us. People trusted by us.  And yet their hearts have turned.  Satan has found a willing accomplice that will willingly help him to try to take down believers and overthrow the church.

There are three major ways that the devil is working today to attack the church.  And his schemes are not new, he’s been perfecting them since the beginning of time. 

Number one:  The devil destroys.  The Bible says that the consequences of sin is death.  Satan is working to destroy lives through addictions like drugs and alcohol, fornication, and every other type of sin that he knows has terrible consequences, in order to trap people in a vice that will lead to their death. 1Pe 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

   

 Number two:  The devil deceives.  Satan is a deceiver.  He is a liar, and the father of lies.  Mat 24:11 "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.”  He offers  “a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. “ Prov. 14:12  You can’t trust your own wisdom.  “Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” Prov. 3:6

    

Number three:  The devil distracts.  With Christians, this may be the most effective strategy of Satan against the church.  They may not fall for an obvious temptation like adultery or drunkenness, but they don’t recognize the ploy of the devil to distract them from the task that God has called them to do.  They think it just circumstances that compel them to make this choice, or even more dangerous, they think it God’s will.  More Christians have turned aside to go down the wrong path because of misinterpreting Satan’s distraction for God’s will, when in fact, Satan has cleverly appealed to their pride. Gal 3:1 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” Gal 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Beware of that which appeals to the flesh. 1Jo 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

I trust that no one here today has given themselves over to some sin, some rebellion that they are harboring in their heart.  I hope that all of us will live in the spirit of repentance as we are being cleansed and confronted with the truth of God’s word on a daily basis.  I pray that we will not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word.  Jesus said, if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.  Let us commit to be obedient to the truth from the heart.  And as we do so we resist the devil by not being obedient to him.  As James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  Let’s pray.

How to live in the last days; Luke 21: 28-38

 At the beginning of the hippie movement in 1965, a rock and roll band by the name of the Who wrote a song called, “My Generation” that helped define the age.  If you were part of that generation, then you knew at the time who the band was talking about.  It meant anyone younger than the age of thirty.  One of the most famous lines of the song was, “I hope I die before I get old.”  I guess thirty was considered old at that time.  But I doubt the band members feel the same way today.

But even though they had a sense of who comprised their generation, the lines became blurred as the hippies grew up and the movement expanded.  Today that generation is still around, having lived twice as long as they said they wanted to live. The point being, that the idea of a generation is kind of an indeterminate designation.  Though it is widely accepted that a generation is about 40 years, no one can say for sure when a generation begins and when it ends.  There are still people living today, for instance, who were part of the generation that lived through WW2. 

The point that I’m trying to make is that when Jesus uses the phrase “this generation” in vs. 32, we’re not really sure exactly what He means.  Because generation can mean people living during a general time period or it can mean people who are closely related in age.  My view, and one that I think is widely shared among Biblical scholars is that generation in this passage refers not to people closely related in age, but related by an age.  People living in a certain age, or an epoch, a time.

And that principle is born out by the question of the disciples which prompted this whole discourse.  It’s found in Matthew’s version, chapter 24, vs.3, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”  As I pointed out last week when we looked at this, I think the key to understanding this passage is that there are three ages presented in the Bible.  There is the ancient age, from creation to the flood.  That age lasted 2000 years and came to an end with a world wide flood which destroyed all  life on earth except for those saved on the ark.  And then there was a second age, which was the Jewish age, from Abraham to the Apostles.  That age lasted for 2000 years as well and came to an end with the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem and Israel.  Millions of Jews were massacred and the remainder dispersed, chased from one country to another, living without a homeland.  And the third age mentioned in chapter 21vs. 24 is the age of the Gentiles. We are living in the age of the Gentiles.  This age has lasted 2000 years as well.  It began with the trampling underfoot of Jerusalem by the Gentiles in 70AD and I believe it’s nearing the end as signaled by the Jews retaking Jerusalem in 1967 and living once again in the nation of Israel.  I believe that 6000 years of human history is fast approaching it’s climax, which is going to end with the destruction of the earth. 2Pet. 3:7  “But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

Now with that understanding  it is possible to interpret this passage in a sort of sytematic way.  But let me say as a caveat, that the phrase “this generation” is the source of a great deal of debate in theological circles.  It has put at war various groups from differing camps within the eschatological debate that has been going on for almost a hundred years.  And I don’t intend to get involved in that war this morning.  I think it is impossible to be that dogmatic about a passage which obviously was intended to be somewhat obscure.  So rather than focus on different viewpoints of end time theology, I would like to focus our attention on the point of it all.  What was Jesus trying to say?  What message was He trying to convey during these last hours with His disciples?   I think that is what is important, and not trying to figure out the day or the hour of our Lord’s return, which Jesus says is not our privilege to know. In the parallel account in Mark 13:32 Jesus adds,  "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

So what is the main point that Jesus is trying to make?  I believe that the context of this message, known as the Olivet Discourse, is a message concerning the end of the ages.  I believe that it is clear that Jesus is trying to warn His disciples about the impending judgment of Israel, and how they are to live in the last days.  They were living in the last days before the destruction of the temple, the last days of Israel as a nation, and the last days before there would be a great massacre and persecution of the Jews.  It happened within their generation.  It happened just as Jesus predicted within the next 40 years. 

And I believe Jesus message was intended as a warning for future generations as well.  We are living in the last days of the age of the Gentiles.  We are living in the last hours before the great tribulation, and in the last days before the judgment of God is poured out upon the earth.  So I believe that the message that Jesus gives here is a message which I have titled, “How to live in the last days.”

The way that I have decided to present this last section is to identify some key phrases or thoughts that are strung through these verses to give us something to hang onto as we consider how we are to live in the last days.  And here is what I have extracted from this passage as to how we are to live in the last days;  we need to straighten up, lift up, look up, keep our guard up, sober up, lighten up, wise up,  pray up, and listen up. 

Now let’s  look briefly at each of these.  The first is straighten up.  Jesus said in vs. 28, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up…”  What things is Jesus talking about?  Well, it’s obvious that He’s talking about the persecution, the distressing signs in the heavens, the fear from natural catastrophes that will take place and so forth.  It stands to reason that in order to straighten up you must first have been bent over or knocked down. 

So although in these last days we may get knocked down, we don’t stay down.  I like how Paul talks about it in 2Cor. 4:7-11 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”  We can straighten up in the midst of tribulations or persecutions or hardships because we know that we have a higher calling, that there is a greater purpose to our suffering, so that  even in the midst of all of these trials we are manifesting Jesus Christ to the world.  That knowledge should make you straighten up.  Paul said in Phil. 3:10-11  “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”  So straighten up. 

Secondly, Jesus says when these things begin to take place, lift up your heads.  Listen, when the world starts getting you down, you have to take your eyes off of the world. Take your eyes off your circumstances and lift up your eyes to heaven.  Psalm 121 says, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.” 

And I’m going to stretch that phrase to include lifting up one another. Gal. 6:2 “Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.”  Listen, that is the purpose of the church, to bear one another’s burdens.  To help hold each other up.  To come to the aid of those that are hurting, or wounded.  Lift up one another.  Encourage the weak, the faint hearted.

Thirdly, look up.  Vs. 31 says, "So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.”  Jesus gave an illustration to help the disciples understand what He meant.  He said when you see a fig tree starting to bud then you know that summer is near. I don’t know about you, but I love summer.  Especially when I was a kid, but I feel like the older I get the more I like it as well. I just can’t stand winters anymore.  So every year, I used to eagerly watch for the trees to start to bud.  Because once I saw that happen, I knew that summer was near.

That’s what Jesus is talking about.  There is no mystical message about fig trees here.  It’s just when you see these things happening, be joyful.  Look up!  Jesus is coming back soon!  It’s almost time for the consummation of the Kingdom of God.  You know what He’s talking about?  He said in vs. 27 that the Son of Man will come in the clouds with power and great glory.  What He is saying is “Look up!”  “I’m coming back soon.”  Looking up means to live life with the expectancy of Jesus’ imminent return. 

Jesus could  come back today.  Folks, how differently would we live if we had a real expectation that Jesus could come back today?  Maybe early tomorrow morning.   What would you do differently if you really believed that?  I think one of the most poignant things that I have read was some transcripts of telephone calls from victims of the Twin Towers bombing.  As the buildings were going up in flames, as people were dying all around them and they knew death for them was imminent, those people made phone calls to their loved ones.  They wanted to take those last minutes to reach out to their families.  I think if we lived with the expectation of Christ returning in the clouds in judgment and power and glory with all His angels, I think we would get serious about reaching some of our loved ones with the gospel. I think we would make some phone calls.  I think we would visit some people.  I hope so.  I hope that when He comes He would find us about the business of the Kingdom of God. 

Fourthly, how do you live in the last days? Straighten up, lift up, look up, and fourthly, keep your guard up.  Jesus says in vs. 34, “Be on your guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.”  We need to live in these last days on guard against the schemes of the devil.  We need to guard our hearts and minds against temptation.  Peter said in 1Pet. 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 

Listen, make no mistake.  You are living in enemy territory.  The devil is your mortal enemy.  He wants to distract you, capture you, trap you in some sin, and ultimately to destroy you.  So be on guard.  Be vigilant.  Keep close watch over your souls.

Fifthly, sober up. “Be on your guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness…”  Listen, I’m not going to try to tell you that you can’t have a beer or a drink and be a Christian.  But I am going to tell you this: the Bible makes it clear that we are to be sober.  We are living in the last days.  We are living in a critical time.  Our enemy is fighting  harder than ever, knowing that his days are short.  And so God tells us 8 times in the NT to be sober.  That means circumspect, calm, collected, using sound judgment at all times.  We already saw that we are to be on guard.  Do you think soldiers on guard should drink? Obviously not. 

Peter said in 1Pet. 4:3 “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.”  Dissipation, by the way, means wasting your resources, squandering money, talents or resources by living for pleasure.  Dissipation is wasting the grace of God by living for pleasure.  That is not why Jesus bought us with His blood.  Our freedom is not for licentiousness.  We need to sober up. 

Sixthly, we need to lighten up. “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life…”  The worries of life.  I’ve said it before many times, some things aren’t necessarily sins in and of themselves, but they are weights which hinder us and slow us down. Heb. 12:1 says,  “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”   What weights are keeping you from running the race to the fullest?  What weight is holding you back from really living fully for the Lord in these last days?  It may not be a sin in and of itself, but if it’s keeping you from living out God’s purpose in your life then you need to get rid of it.  Lay it aside.  You’re running a race.  You’re almost at the finish line, and some of you are trying to run with a lot of baggage that is slowing you down. 

Jesus gave the familiar parable of the soils in Luke 8:14.  He said, "The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”  Lighten up, let go of the worries, riches and pleasures of the world so that you might bring forth fruit.

Seventh, we need to wise up. “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.”  Did you ever set a trap?  I trapped once or twice when I was a boy.  My dad always warned me to be careful because I could lose a finger setting the trap.  The spring was so powerful and the jaws of the trap slammed shut so fast that it was very dangerous. 

Jesus likens the last day, the day of judgment coming like the jaws of a steel trap, slamming shut the door before you can react.  Jesus said that His coming will be like the lightning flashing in the evening sky, lighting up the sky from one end to the other in an instant, in a blinding flash.  Jesus said in Matthew 24 that He is coming at an hour that you do not expect.  Peter said He is coming like a thief.  It won’t be announced.  Jesus talked about the sudden destruction that is coming.  The trap is that those people who have succumbed to the allure of this world, to dissipation and drunkenness and drugs and debauchery will suddenly find themselves mourning at the sudden appearance of Christ in glory.  Wise up. Don’t be caught outside the door.

Eighth, how do you live in the last days?  Pray up.  Vs. 36, "But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."  Listen, you won’t be able to stand in that day if you are not leaning on the strength that God supplies.  We need to be prayed up if we expect to be able to stand up in the last days.  Ephesians 6 is the chapter which describes  the armor of God.  And in all the armor we have only two pieces of equipment that are offensive, that are weapons.  One is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  And the second is prayer. 

Eph. 6:18 says,  “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” To live in these last days we need to pray all the times in the Spirit.  We need to be praying for one another all the time.  We need to pray for our children all the time.  We need to pray for our wives or husbands all the time.  Paul said in the next verse to especially pray for him that he would be given the words to say.  We need to pray for our pastor all the time. 

Listen, I don’t dare think that I am holier or more righteous than any of you simply because I am a pastor.  I’m just like you are.  I bleed, I get sick, I get disappointed, I get tired, I even get backslidden sometimes.  But one thing I think I do have that perhaps you don’t have.  And that is I am the subject to a special strategy of Satan due to my position to destroy me, to destroy my family, to destroy my testimony, to tempt me to be unfaithful to the gospel. I know my weaknesses, and I know how hard Satan is trying to defeat me.  Because if he can cut off the head, he can kill the body.  I covet your prayers.  We need to pray up.

Finally, number 9, we need to listen up. Listen up. Vs. 37 “Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet. And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.”  You want to stand firm in the last days?  Then attend to the teaching of God’s word.  Don’t neglect coming to church.  Don’t neglect coming to Bible study.  The word of God is truth.  The word of God is life.  The word of God is eternal. Jesus said in vs. 33, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” The word of God is our strength.  The word of God is our comfort.  The word of God is sufficient for every need. 2Tim. 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”  You could translate it better, “so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 

Listen, I am all for private devotions.  I think everyone should have a quiet time and study the word of God on their own.  But I want to impress on you the necessity of corporate worship.  But it’s not just a time to get together and listen to a speech and maybe hear some songs.  But God has called preachers to teach the word, to rebuke, to convict, to encourage in ways that don’t always come out of your personal Bible study.  When we study our Bibles we tend to gloss over some areas and dwell on others that happen to appeal to our interests at the moment.  But a God called preacher is going to preach the word of God in such a way that will exhort you to action, that will convict you of sin, and build up the weaker elements of the body. 

Paul exhorted a young preacher by the name of Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”  I’m afraid that time has come.  It is the last days, and such a great deception has occurred that if possible even the very elect would be deceived.  False prophets have risen.  Church’s lamps have gone out.  Christian’s love has grown cold.  And people have turned away from the truth and turned aside to teachers that tickle their ears with stories and jokes and nice sounding platitudes. 

If you are going to live in these last days for the Lord, then you need to come together with the body of Christ and strengthen one another, fellowship with one another, and submit to the preaching of the truth of God’s word from a pastor who has been appointed and annointed to preach the gospel. 

Well, there you have it.  We are living in the last days.  Christ is coming back soon.  It could be today.  Maybe tomorrow morning.  Let’s live like it’s our last day on earth.  Let’s be ready when Jesus appears like lightning in the clouds, with all the angels of God with Him.  On that day, the whole earth will be shaken, and every eye will see Him, and all who have not trusted in Him will mourn.  Let us be ready.  Let’s pray.