JESUS FORSAKEN.
John 18: 5b, 18b
A Passion sermon by:
Rev. G.R. Procee
PUBLISHED BY THE
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(February 2008)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 241: 1, 2, 3
Law of God
Psalter 321: 3, 4
Scripture Reading: John 18: 1 – 18
Text: John 18: 5b, 18b
“And Judas stood with them ……And Peter stood with them”
Congregational Prayer
Offerings
Psalter 109
Sermon
Psalter 107
Thanksgiving Prayer
Prayer
Psalter 428: 1
Doxology: Psalter 196
Congregation,
We are with the Lord Jesus in the Garden on the Mount of Olives. It is the night in which He is arrested. There are so many aspects in the sufferings of Christ that call our attention. We now wish to listen to a specific aspect of what the Holy Spirit revealed to us. We notice the cryptic words in verse 5: And Judas also stood with them. But when we read a little further as Jesus was arrested He was taken to the palace of the high priest and there we find Peter present, and it says of Peter in vs. 18: and Peter stood with them. Let us have a closer look at these events as we meditate on:
Jesus forsaken. We consider: 1. Judas. 2. Peter 3. The Lord Jesus 4. Ourselves.
1. We see then Judas. Who is this Judas? The name Judas is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Judah. That means: He who praises the Lord. This is a beautiful name. That was also the name Judas had received from his parents. He was called to praise the Lord. We know him under the name Judas Iscariot, which means a man from Kerioth, a town located in Judah. He was the only apostle that came from the tribe of Judah.
Judas had also been called by the Lord Jesus to be one of His disciples. He had been with the Lord Jesus throughout His ministry and had seen the miracles and had heard the sermons and parables Christ had spoken. He was also sent out with the 12 disciples to preach and he healed sick and cast out devils and did other wonders in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Judas was a very privileged person.
But there was one thing wrong with Judas. His heart was not right with God. Outwardly you could not sense any difference between him and the other disciples. But the Lord Jesus warned already early in the Gospel that one of the disciples would be a traitor. John 6:70,71 Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
There was one other difference between Judas and the other disciples. That was the fact that he carried the money bag. John 12:6 says that Judas kept the money bag and that he
was a thief, stealing money from that common bag. That was the occasion that Mary anointed the Lord Jesus and after Jesus had defended her against the harsh words of the disciples, Judas decided to betray his Master to the Jews. He agrees with the Jewish leaders to lead them to Jesus in a quiet location where they can arrest Him without causing turmoil among the people. They will pay him 30 pieces of silver of this.
So it happens that in this night the disciples see a band of soldiers and temple police armed with sticks and swords coming into the garden where Jesus is with His disciples. We imagine the shock, and fear among the disciples. Their shock even increases as they look and they see in the middle of that band of soldiers and priests, Judas standing with them. No longer is he with the disciples. No longer is he with Jesus. No, the disciples see Judas standing with them. Judas, who had been with them these more than three years, who had stayed with the Lord Jesus while so many others had left Him. Now the disciples see him, this praiser of God, this Judah, standing with those who wish to capture and kill the Lord Jesus.
He did not want to belong to Jesus but to those who opposed Him. Judas had become annoyed. He had hoped for wealth and honour. He had hoped that a beautiful kingdom would be established here on earth and that he, Judas, could be maybe minister of finance in that new kingdom. But instead it was all poverty and dishonour. Jesus was placing himself outside of the loop. He was on bad terms with the Jewish establishment. Nothing would ever come of His so called Kingdom. Judas had enough. He turns against Jesus in enmity.
There always had been enmity, but now it becomes public and clear to all by his actions. He on purpose stands with the enemies and he aligns himself with the enemies and he himself is now against Jesus.
How brazen he is and how unashamed he is, how hardened he has become. The devil has entered into him and now Judas is hard and cold and stands without any shame amongst these terrible wicked people.
Here we see the exceeding hardness of heart, a backsliding outward nominal Christian may fall into. It is a process. He remained unbelieving, he became more annoyed. He then decided to forsake Jesus and to betray Him. In the night when Jesus pointed him out to be the one who would betray him at the last Passover, then the devil entered into Judas’ heart. From the highest privilege he fell into the lowest depths of sin. Privileges he misused now paralyzed his conscience. They increase the degree of hardness. The same fire can melt wax but it will also harden clay. Now Judas is no more with Jesus and His disciples. Now he stands with the enemies of Christ.
That is what happens to imitation faith. After some time it gets annoyed. That is the bottom line of not being fully committed. When one holds back something of his or her life from the Lord Jesus. Then you will end up standing together with the enemies. When you come to church but you do not love the Lord Jesus your hypocrisy will find you out. When you have a baptized forehead and are called to flee from the world and to mortify the deeds of the flesh, but instead you love this present world and you just do what you like, this pretending to belong to Jesus will find you out. You cannot serve God and mammon. For you will hate the one and love the other.
There is a serious warning here: Paul says in 1 Cor. 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Examine yourself. Where is your heart? What does your heart pursue? Beware of cherishing any besetting sin, such as love of money, or love to the world, or desire for honour. That is what Judas had. Beware that you think that following Jesus will give you honour and glory; wealth and ease in this life. It is often the opposite. God's children inherit glory and full joy, but here in this life they have a battle to fight, a race to run and they can be harassed and even plagued. There is no outward honour in the Gospel or in following the Lord Jesus. The Lord said in John 16: 33: In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Judas did not listen to the Word of Christ. He did not pay attention to the miracles of Christ. He did not believe the Saviour. He never came to the full surrender to Christ.
Instead Judas allowed unreasonable resentment to build up. He loved money. One sin allowed to fester can bring the whole person down into hell. One wrong link in a heavy chain can cause the whole ship to be wrecked. One little leak can sink a ship. One allowed and unmortified sin may ruin a professing Christian.
Judas never saw the beauty of Christ because he had never seen his own miserable sinful existence. How do you live? Have you seen your own guilt? Are you troubled by it? Do you see that Jesus is the Life, the Resurrection? Do you see that only Jesus can fill your life with salvation? Do you see that only Jesus can save you from your guilt and from the power of sin? Have you seen Him already as altogether lovely and desirable? Judas never saw it. He lived so close, but he never saw it. He didn’t want to see it. That is dead dangerous. In a moment that can swing into resentment and hatred. Then you end up standing with Judas and with them.
There is only One who can open your eyes. That is Jesus. When you don’t see Him in his beauty and you don’t recognize Him in all His love, cry out to Him that you are so blind and that you need light. Lay your case before Him and ask Him to open the eyes of your soul to graciously give you light. The Lord is the light of the world. He still opens the eyes of the blind. He promises that. At the same time you must ask yourself also what is the cause that you don’t see beauty in Him? It can very well be that you look too much at the world and that you are too occupied with the flesh and with the pleasures of this world, that you have no time to look at Jesus. Maybe some of your priorities need to change. That you need to do some looking, some searching some fleeing to Jesus alone, forsake the idols of this world and look to Him.
2. Peter stood with them. We are now a bit later. It is the same night. All the disciples have left Jesus alone. Except two: Peter and John. The High priest knew the disciple John and allowed him to enter in together with Jesus. John then arranges that Peter also can enter in. We know Peter, his name is actually Simon, his father’s name was Jonah. The Lord gave him the name Peter which means rock, Petra, or Cephas, Rock. Peter is the
man of granite, the rock, the founder of the church together with the other apostles. But here you see what happens to man called to be a rock, when he trusts in his own strength. As soon as Peter enters, the door maid says to Peter: You are a disciple of Jesus, but Peter immediately denies this: “I am not.”
Peter now does not want to be known as a disciple of Jesus. It is getting rather dangerous here now. Peter shuffles away towards a fire. It is cold.
Peter warms himself and stands there right in between the servants and the officers, the men of the temple police. Peter stood with them. He wants to belong to them. He doesn’t dare say that he is a disciple of Jesus. He doesn’t stand now with Jesus. Although his Master is down the hall being interrogated, and although Peter could have stood there and witnessed for his Master and he could have contradicted the false witnesses brought forward against Jesus. He could have been a support for Jesus. He could have been a witness for the defense. But now Peter is only concerned about his warmth and he doesn’t want to be noticed as a disciple of Jesus.
Peter stood with them. Peter was warming his hands. But inside his heart was cold, wretched and comfortless. Prov. 14:14 “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.” Peter’s ways were cold and wicked. There he stood with them. He stood with the enemies of Christ. He aligned himself with these wicked men.
He had said that he would never forsake his Master and he trusted in his own strength. But when a girl asks him: were you also not with Jesus? He then denies this vehemently. He even curses himself if he knows Jesus. Peter is ashamed of Jesus when he should have confessed Him. He acted like a coward, running away when he ought to have stood by His side. This all takes place after he had been with Jesus at the Supper and after he had heard such moving words and discourses and after he had heard the most touching and profound prayer ever uttered. After he had heard such stern warnings and the end result: Peter stood with them. 1 Cor. 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
We see Peter after all he had heard and seen, standing with them. This is a lesson for the
church of Christ. It is recorded as a warning, that those who fear the Lord would be kept from such failing. It is a beacon set up in Scripture to mercifully prevent others from making shipwreck.
Peter is not the same as Judas. No, Peter was still a child of God. His conduct was shameful but he did belong to the children of God. That only makes the warning and all these events even more serious. We see how far and how low a child of God can sink and fall that outwardly it seems as if there is no difference between him and Judas. Peter wanted to stand with them, the enemies. That gave him great sorrow and misery. The Name of Jesus was blasphemed because of Peter. The pain he afterwards felt was awful. The remorse was heart rending. It was a shameful blot upon his life.
That is a warning for God's children. If Peter had not trusted in his own pride and if only he had lost his foolish self confidence. If Peter had not been so sure that he would never deny his Master, then probably he would have never fallen.
It is also a warning against laziness. The Lord had said to Peter to watch and to pray lest he would fall into temptation. But Peter had slept, he had not been watchful. Brazenly he enters the palace of the high priest and is immediately overwhelmed by fear. If only he had watched and prayed he would have received strength and courage to stand firm. Peter would have found grace in time of need.
It is also a warning against the fear of man. Peter looked at man and feared them. He forgot to look to Christ. Few are aware how soon they fear the face of man, whom they can see, instead of the Face of God, Whom they cannot see. This is all a warning for you, God’s children. Do not trust in your own strength, but forsake yourself. Be watchful and persevere in prayer. For so soon it can be in your life that you stand with them.
3. The Lord Jesus. In the midst of all this we see Jesus. Judas stood by them. Peter stood by them. What about Jesus? Does He also stand by them, by the enemies? Does He now cave in to the pressure and does He now promise to do miracles and to do what the people want and so save Himself from their torments? Does Jesus stand also with them? We know the answer: No. The Lord would never deny His Father nor would He forsake His calling. Jesus did not stand with them. He did not give in to the temptation. He stood