Jesus, Judas and the Will of God - John 13:18-30 - Who is Jesus? - Pastor Jason Fritz

Wow and I want to say you guys sound beautiful as well so thank you for blessing me man that was powerful if you're here for the first time like pastor Johnny said welcome so great to have you with us if I haven't met you yet would love to have the opportunity to do that I'm gonna be hanging out as I always do right down here in the front after the second service if you've got a couple spare minutes please introduce yourself to me I would I would love that this morning we're in John chapter 13 picking up where we left off last week and this is what could be called a dark time a dark text in many ways it records the interaction between Jesus and one of his disciples a man named Judas and as I mentioned last week sort of tongue-in-cheek but it's it's true right the ones last time someone introduced themselves to you by the name of Judas that name is fun out of favor for the last two thousand years and our text will explain why Judas was the one who betrayed Jesus he sold him out for thirty pieces of silver Bible says that the love of money is a a root of evil it's not the only one there are others but that's certainly true it's gonna be the love of money that drives Judas to betray Jesus Jesus now all along we've come to see that that Judas was a greedy guy if you remember back in John chapter 12 there's this beautiful scene this very very sweet scene between this woman named Martha excuse me Mary and Jesus and Mary has this very expensive perfume and if you recall she she takes it and then she just pours it out on Jesus and Judas is there and Judas Judas says Mary why would you do that what a waste we could have sold that it was worth a year's wage if you can imagine working for a year spending all that money on someone that tells you just how much you love them and value them and that's what Mary was doing for Jesus and Judas says what a waste we could have taken the perfume sold it and with all that money we could have done a lot of good we could have fed the poor then we get this parenthetical note in the text that says Judas actually had no love for the poor he wanted to sell the perfume get the money and take from the money he was the treasurer he was the guy that held the money bag and so what we're gonna see this morning is it's so much deeper than what first meets the eye because what we actually see in this text is the Heart of Jesus toward the very one who will stab him in the back who will betray him and deliver him up to be crucified we see a lot in Judas but we also see a lot in the Heart of Jesus so let me just set the tone and give you a little bit of the background here of what we're gonna read Jesus is with all these disciples and they're sharing a meal together it's Passover week and so this is a Passover meal and as we talked about last week no one can eat unless feet have been washed right because we talked about how when you ate a meal together and this would have been around a u-shaped table you reclined on your side in other words you rested on your left elbow and then you ate with your right hand and so head we're at the same proximity as feet and so the meal can't be served delegates can recline and dine unless the feet are washed and so what does Jesus do he does what nobody else is doing nobody else is gonna stoop that low we talked about how that was an act reserved for the lowest of the low if you were a Roman citizen and you were a servant it was illegal for your master to force you to wash feet and what does Jesus do gets a basin of water perhaps a towel around him and it begins washing the disciples feet including the feet of Jesus and then he finishes and he says you're all clean except for one of you your feet are all clean you're prepared to die but not all of your hearts are clean there's one of you who will betray me this is the backdrop John chapter 13 beginning with verse 18 Jesus says I'm not speaking of all of you those disciples you're not all clean I know whom I have chosen but the scripture will be fulfilled and when you read the word scripture what's he talking about he's talking about his Old Testament right that's what Jesus had that was the Bible that Jesus read from the Old Testament he says the scripture will be fulfilled then he quotes psalm 41 which is a psalm that was actually spoken by David he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me we'll explain that in a moment then he says I'm telling you this now before it takes place I'm going to have someone lifts his heel against me and I'm telling you that now before it happens why so that when it does take place you may believe that I am he he who the Christ the Christoph's the Messiah truly truly I say to you whoever receives the one I send receives me he's about to send them out I send you people receive you it's as if there is they're receiving me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me you received me and Jesus had been making this close association with God we've seen that time and time again throughout John's biography of the life of Jesus you received me it's as if you receive God himself after saying these things Jesus was troubled in his spirit you ever think man Jesus never had a bad day he had quite a few it's remarkable one of the best things you can do to feed your soul is do an intensive study on the number of times the Scriptures state Jesus would go away to a lonely place and pray he left sick people sick he left lame people lame why because he needed just to get away he needed a recharge he needed that time with the father and he's troubled and he says truly truly I say to you now imagine you're in this scene imagine you're at this dinner party and you've been with Jesus for three years and he says one of you is going to betray me okay things are about to get really dark things just took a turn disciples were looking at one another was he talking about one of his disciples whom Jesus loved that would be John he was reclining at table at Jesus side which tells you he's in the place of honor his nickname was John the Beloved when Jesus is on the cross he looks at John and he says take care of my mom that's a good dude that's a good friend he has a place of honor he's right next to Jesus seated at the table the further it was just an honor to be invited at it to a dinner party like this but but to be seated next to the host was the highest honor John's there so Simon Peter motion to John to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking you know he wants Peter wants to be discreet you know cuz he doesn't have that place of honor and he's like he's next to John so he says hey John what was he talking about you asked Jesus you're next to him you asked Jesus who's gonna betray him who who is it so that disciple John leaning back against Jesus said to him Lord who is it jesus answered it is he to whom I will give it takes a piece of bread breaks it this morsel when I have dipped it in the cup so when he had dipped the morsel he gave it to Judas the son of Simon Iscariot then after he had taken the morsel Satan entered into Judas jesus said to him what you're going to do do quickly now no one at the table knew why he said this to him and this gives the appearance that Jesus wasn't pointing Judas out in front of everybody you know they see the sack and it seems to be more of a private conversation between John and Jesus and they don't understand what's going on no and why did he do what you're going to do do quickly so what are they thinking it tells you some thought that because Judas had the money bag which was remarkable that Jesus trusted the guy this tells you a lot about grace and mercy knowing that Judas stole from the money bag he was the treasurer Jesus allowed that Jesus was telling him you know they thought they were saying Jesus was telling Jews hey just go buy what we need for the feast or that he should give something the poor hey what you gonna do go quickly so they didn't get in quite catches so after receiving the morsel of bread Judas immediately went out and it was night and this is the last night that Judas will ever see because after this we know how it ends he's gonna betray Jesus and he's going to kill himself there's a remarkable difference between the disciple Judas and the other disciples yet on one hand Judas like the others left everything behind to follow Jesus and when you were going to take up the position or place of disciple following a rabbi you gave it all up you gave up everything you left everything God and that's what Judas did but now we discover he did it for selfish reasons either as long as he had access to the money or whatever it was it what else it was it was in fact for some selfish reasons and what he could get out of it that's why he followed Jesus could that be true of people today so what we're gonna see is the compassionate heart of Jesus reaching back out to Judas before we get there just note and this is important to note in the text none of this catches Jesus by surprise in fact look at verse 19 he says I am Telling You this now before it takes place so that when it does take place you may believe that I am he so Jesus says look here's the thing it seems like things are going horribly wrong in just a few hours you all are gonna experience some events and it's gonna make your head spin some of you gonna be tempted to question everything here the beginning of the week I ride into town and people are singing my praises there palm branches away but things are about to become very very dark and I know it I know the one who's gonna betray me and more to the point I chose him what yeah not only do I know what's gonna happen but I actually chose Judas knowing that he would betray me you see of Jesus what's all that about Jesus says I'll tell you what it's about it's about psalm 41 one that he just quoted when he says he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me that's an interesting phrase right he who eats my bread so we're having dinner together has lifted his heel against me so this phrase was used referring to a horse as it lifted its leg and kicked its owner so here's what Jesus is saying I'm about to be kicked and I know the one that's gonna kick me it's Judas and more to the point what I want you to know is this it's not catching me by surprise because I know my Bible and watch this and if you know your Bible the way I know my Bible it is going to get you through some very dark times ahead you follow see because Jesus understood his Bible and he knew that it was gonna go down in the way it was that's how he knew he knew because he he understood the passages he understood that they applied to him he says I chose them all this is all happening exactly as God wanted it to happen so nothing's gonna catch me by surprise but the events that are about to follow are gonna mess with you they're gonna take you to a place you've never been taken before all hope is gonna seem lost what are you gonna do the same thing I'm doing to you right now turn to the scriptures season this remarkable you know it just you don't have anything that Jesus didn't have let me say again you don't have access to anything that Jesus didn't have and one of the primary tools he used to combat or confront the dark times in his life were the scriptures I know how this whole thing is going to go down in fact in John chapter 17 we'll get to this in just a few chapters Jesus says this while I was with them as he's making this prayer the disciples I kept the disciples in your name which you have given me he says I've guarded them and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction why was he lost look what it says why why so that the Scriptures might be what fulfilled you see that Jesus says I've seen it all I've read I've read the book and everything that's taking place is just as God said it would be so this this is a this is really remarkable now that you've kind of seen this principle played out in Jesus life the Bible just starts to do this it opens up in ways that you've never seen it before so for example in Matthew chapter 26 Matthew's account of the betrayal of Jesus goes like this Judas is leading what is essentially an angry mob and there are soldiers and there are religious leaders and Judas says here's the deal it's dark outside it's going to be hard to see - the way to identify Jesus gonna kiss him I'm gonna kiss him on the cheek and when I kiss the man that I kiss on the cheek that's how you know who Jesus is that's how you know to arrest him that's the guy and so that's exactly what happens this mob comes and juice comes in Judas is like Jesus and he embraces Jesus and he gives me kiss and he steps aside and then what happens the soldier steps forward and he's about to apprehend Jesus and one of Jesus disciples takes out a sword he's like and he slices the soldier's ear off and what does Jesus do lay down your weapon holster it put it away and then he takes and restores the soldiers ear and then he goes on to say do you not understand what I could do in this moment I could call more than twelve legions of angels and they would smoke this place a legion consisted of at least six thousand Roman soldiers twelve times six thousand of 72,000 Jesus says I could with a word call down 72,000 angels and they could destroy this place and everybody here it took two angels to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 72,000 but then you know what Jesus says and my paraphrasing he's like when I read my Bible I don't have scripture to support that action whoa did you catch that let me tell you what I could do in this moment and you get this sense son of god deity son of man humanity there's a sense in that son of man it's like oh man would I like to but you see when I read my Bible I don't find that part instead what I find is that the Messiah is going to be betrayed hand it over to the Gentiles spit on insulted tortured and then crucified what's happening this is Jesus placing himself under the authority of the Bible Wow you just let that sink in for a second this is Jesus placing himself under the authority of the Bible in Luke chapter 18 the disciples asked Jesus why are we going back to Jerusalem that's where they want to kill you and Jesus responds in verse 31 jesus took the twelve aside instead of them we were going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man about me will be fulfilled he will be delivered over to the Gentiles they will mock him insult him and spit on him they will flog him and kill him on the third day He will rise again that's why we're going to Jerusalem boys because the scriptures say this is what's gonna happen to the Messiah let's go he says look we're not gonna stop this instead and this is powerful this is Jesus saying I have to bring my life under the authority of the scriptures and the Bible was his authority so in Matthew chapter 5 verse 18 Jesus says everything the Bible says is going to come to pass everything yeah down to the very last word his way of saying that is to use the phrase every jot and tittle we talked about this a couple weeks ago jot refers to the smallest Hebrew letter a yo'd it looks like a small little comma what does that it tittle is just a little a little line that separates to one Hebrew word from another Hebrew one Hebrew letter from another Hebrew letter just a little little line separates two letters down to the very letter down to the very word everything that is written in the book will come to pass so that's why in Matthew 19 Jesus quotes Genesis saying God says it was Eve God says it was Eve that brought was brought to Adam so you go back and you read that passage in Genesis and you're like wait a minute that's the author of Genesis saying that and Jesus says yeah you see here's the deal the author of Genesis was speaking as if he was God he was speaking on behalf of God he was speaking for God so for Jesus whatever scripture says God says now people will very often say especially in our time in our in our culture they'll say you know what I am I'm super cool with Jesus in fact I'm really interested in Jesus but I have no interest in the Bible whatsoever I have no interest in the Bible that makes no sense the reason why you're interested in Jesus the reason why you have an affinity toward Jesus is because everything Jesus did was in conformity with the Bible in other words what made Jesus so interesting what made him so compelling what what what made him so dynamic what made him so such a draw it's because everything he did was in submission to what God the Father wanted him to do as express through God's Word the Bible so little tangent here's a little side note and I mentioned this in the first service and I talked to a couple guys single guys afterwards and they said that was helpful someone shared again with you guys this is just this is free there's a little side note and it's just to the single guys in the room you ready have you had this observation where you can be like the most sort of you can be like me I'm just a really average pretty normal guy really nothing special about me but then you look at my wife and I get it guys look at me all the time like how did that dude wind up with her you know she's like way smarter she's like way better looking you know she's like way out of his league how did that guy with her how did that Christian brother wind up with that Christian sister how did that happen what happens is that Christian brother is simply putting himself in submission to what God wants for his life and yet that makes him that makes him one attractive dude because he can be strong he can be courageous and confident knowing who he is what his purpose is what he's doing here on earth he can be a warrior and at the same time he can be very tender-hearted he can be incredibly kind but he can also be very courageous why because really he's patterning his life after the life of Jesus and he's submitting his life to the will of God and that makes him very attractive to godly women there you go guys you're welcome now you know why so everything Jesus did what do the scriptures say what's happening life I'm going through a really difficult time and people are rejecting me right now blessed are you when you are persecuted come on now because you see they did it to me and because they did it to me they're going to do it to you now we know a little bit of what it's like to be Jesus you you live the way God wants you to live and then all of a sudden the Scriptures you see what I said earlier you see you understand Jesus attitude toward the scriptures you see it and all of a sudden everything opens up because I'm gonna say this the entire Bible really is about Jesus you say what are you talking about I'll prove it to you psalm 41 if you go back and look you won't find the word Messiah in that song it's a psalm from David and David is really bummed because he has a buddy that turns against them and if you've ever been stabbed in the back you know I was like hey look that hurts this guy lifted his heel he kicked me my own friend who shared it my da2 my table and he kicked me stabbed me in the back and Jesus picks that up and he says actually that's about me say what he mean it's about you yeah well well actually everything that happened to David it is actually about me I said how was that possible well what do you want to go David fought this battle with this guy Goliath and David fought on behalf of his people and David's victory was his people's victory and his people didn't have to lift a finger Jesus fought this battle against sin and death and won and he fought it on behalf of his people and his people didn't have to lift a finger Jesus victory was your victory the story of David's about Jesus where do you want to go next give me somebody Joseph Joseph is betrayed by his own his own blood betrays him end of the story Joseph says I forgive you I want to help you I'm gonna give you exactly what you need Jesus comes to his own his own did not receive him his own offer him up to be crucified Father forgive them for they know not what they do the story of Joseph is about Jesus Exodus is about Jesus unless one has the blood of the Passover lamb around his or her door that angel of death is gonna visit and do destruction the Exodus is about Jesus Jesus Oh see now it's my blood that spares you from the angel of death and separation for all eternity from your Creator God the Passover is about me the Exodus is about me David's about me Joseph's about me Hosea is about me it's all about me I am the substance that which is the shadow I am the picture on the puzzle box you put all those first Peter says that you know they had these Old Testament prophecies and they were diligently looking through them bringing out the time the place the Messiah trying to put all these puzzle pieces together and then all of a sudden Peter says and then Jesus came and all of a sudden that's it if we're not talking about all these obscure prophecies fulfilled in Jesus who are we talking about we're not going to talking about anybody it's him it's him the whole Bible is about Jesus and yet Jesus would say to bend my knee to the authority of God's Word and it's gonna get me through the darkest times in my life really the darkest times yeah maybe some of the most famous one-liners of Jesus father into your hands I commit my spirit that's Psalm 31 what was going through Jesus mind is he's being nailed and hanging on the cross Scripture my God my God why have you forsaken me that's Psalm 22 you can't have it both ways you can't say you know I'm interested in Jesus but I have no care for the Bible the fact that you're interested in Jesus is because he cared for the Bible do you remember not not long ago just a few weeks ago those those 12 young soccer players from Thailand and their coach remember the story they were stuck in a cave cave flooded you know how they got out they sent in divers you know what those divers had with them a lifeline an eight millimeter rope it was a literal lifeline and so they'd swim through the darkness and get murky and all this junk would get kicked up and they couldn't really see that way they could come up in BAM you'd attach that rope to the top of the cave and then they go down and they keep swimming further and they'd come up hey they'd attach that rope to the top of the cave we'd go down finally until they get to where the boys are and they told the boys put these masks on and grab on to this rope and as long as you're grabbing on to this rope or you grab on to me while I'm grabbing on to the Rope we're gonna make it out of here it's your lifeline the Bible was Jesus lifeline recently I was with a woman a man my heart was just melting you know I was like she was describing the marriage that she was in and she just felt stuck and trapped and she just wanted out she said I don't to be married anymore she's like I just when I am when I look at him it's just hatred and I said what happened she said you know walking down the aisle I was walking down the aisle and I knew I knew I was making the wrong choice we did not share the same values the same beliefs but I was so desperate to feel secure it was a false sense of intimacy it was a longing that was fulfilled in the wrong direction and I went through with it and then she said you know I just felt like I gave up on my life line I knew it was right and I just I just let go of the rope I said well you know the Rope is always there for you you know and sometimes is that rope is really what you need to hang on to when you realize like we said a couple weeks Oh God uses our own stupidity to grow us in mature us the Lifeline is always there you're never too far oh you don't what Jesus used you have access to 40 45 year-old man we were discussing some of his financial issues and the man's about to be just wiped out completely from nothing to everything to nothing and he said I had this opportunity to make a deal but it was it was messy and I was going to have to willingly and knowingly use people and he said I was this close but I didn't do it I was so fearful because this would have solved all my problems so I thought but I didn't do it and I made the right choice and I'm so glad see what's the difference between Peter and Judas because what did Peter do I'll never deny you Judas let's get him hey aren't you the guy that hung out with Jesus no no I think you were no yeah I'm pretty sure I saw you with him a few days earlier in his entourage entering Jerusalem look I never knew the guy there's a denial there isn't there what's the difference between Peter and Judas and you the crazy think about it Judas was soon out with it with the 12 and and he performed miracles he cast out demons he had the best teaching available he lived with Jesus it doesn't get any better than that I mean if he wasn't in an environment for growth nobody is and so what happens if some people come to the Bible and they look for rules and they see that's the question is that that's it isn't it isn't that the question the question is when you go to the Bible do you do you think the Bible is about you or do you think it's about Jesus because if you think it's about you you're gonna do with the Pharisee sit you're gonna go and you're gonna look let's see how can I earn my way to God how can I remain in control oh there's a lot of rules here rules I'm drawn to rules regulations yeah oh good moral stories it's great there's a lot of really good moral stories in here and so what happened was the Pharisees said hey what's in it for me this is this book is about me and so when they encounter Jesus isn't remarkable Jesus says you don't know God and they must have been done what do you mean we don't know God you don't know God you know why you don't know God because you don't know me so people come to the Bible they look at the rules and that leads to legalism doesn't it and some of you come from those churches but the core of the Bible it is not about rules two-thirds of the Bible I would just mean is about grace one-third is about regulation where's the emphasis Jesus came to set us free from the law when we walk in obedience our lives open up but we walk in obedience in light of what Jesus has done for us in light of the grace that we've been shown and that's what they miss so if there's one word that separates us Judas from Peter from us it would be the word repentance the Greek word means Metanoia or is metanoia met and met on me it's a compound word meta means beyond you have metatarsal bones in your foot the metatarsal bones extend beyond the tarsal bones meta means beyond Noah means thought Metanoia means beyond thought or to think differently so what happens is you go through life and you have a set of values do you think this is the way life should be let me know then something comes in your life that radically changes the way you think Jesus comes into your life you think wow you know what I got a different set of values now I used to think this way but now everything has been changed so Jesus comes into Judas life and there's remorse what's the difference between repentance and remorse remorse leads to sadness repentance leads to a change in thought that leads to a change in behavior and that's the difference so you're here this morning and two points of application right one is how do you need to change your thinking Jesus comes into your life and your values are changed and some of you know we're here and we're struggling and it's because we're playing the role of Judas more than the role of Peter fallen forgiven but we've got this mindset that says I belong to Jesus and I submit myself to the authority of the Scriptures and as I do that oh man I can make it through the dark times I can make it through the dark times no doubt every single person in this room you have some point of a dark moment a dark time in your life right now what are you doing with that how are you dealing with that isn't Jesus a great leader the greatest leaders don't just say it they do it so father what again again just means what a rich text there's so much here Lord simple prayer help us to repent move us through repentance not saw not remorse at least a saw that doesn't produce anything but real repentance we understand things differently we see things differently because of our association with Jesus and may we continue to see him as the example submitting to the Scriptures being fed by the Scriptures being ministered to by the Scriptures Lord and that is the very thing that's going to get us through the dark times until we see the light of glory we ask it the name of the one who makes it all possible and his name is Jesus Christ and God's people said amen

Channel: Illuminate Community

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Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Judas and the Will of God - John 13:18-30 - Who is Jesus? - Pastor Jason Fritz, gospel of john, John 13:18-30, Who is Jesus, Pastor, Jason Fritz, illuminate community church, bible, gospel, judas, sermon, church, scottsdale church, scripture, god

Id: XtBifPoR41k

Length: 36min 33sec (2193 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 17 2018