Sermon Tone Analysis

Lynn and I have three children and Lynn has put a lot of thought into each one of their names.

Michelle is actually named after me but her middle name is tied to Lynn, her first name being Lynn-Marie.

Kaitlin is named after Lynn and her middle name is a darivitive of my mothers name, Rose.

And Hunter is actually the translation of my middle name which is Cacador and his middle name is after my father-in-law middle name.

Many poeple put a lot of thought into name their children and even if they don't put a lot of thought into name their children there are still some names people really shouldn't name their children.

For example Cain, who killed his brother, most people wouldn't name their son Brutus either.

He is very well known for stabbing a close friend and emperor of Rome in the back.

Then there is the name Benedict which for the British I guess it is a fine name but every time I hear it, I am reminded of Benedict Arnold which is synonymous with treason.

There is one name, however, that if you look it up within a list of traitors throughout history comes up number one and it is a name you don't hear much today.

It is the name Judas.

I don't know about you but when I hear the name Judas, there are a few words that go through my mind that discribe Judas.

For one pity, sadness, and the reason why those emotions run in my heart for him is because of what he is most known for, Betraying Jesus Christ with a kiss.

Now this betrayal didn't happen all at once, his turning on Jesus didn't just occur on the night of the Last Supper.

In fact this betrayal of Judas' was not a solo act.

We are going to take a look at Judas' betryal of Jesus and we will examine this morning the forces that were at work and even the motive of Judas' betrayal and in the end we will see what our role is in this grand Betrayal of Jesus Christ.

Betrayal of Jesus Christ.

We will explore these truths in our text this moring in the Gospel of Luke.

Turn with me to Luke 22:1-6, Luke 22:1-6.

As you turn there remember Jesus has just provided a lengthy lesson on what is in store for His disciples.

Following after Jesus isn't going to be easy and He has never painted it as a cake walk but at every opportunity to instruct His disciples, Jesus has told them about the difficulties that lie ahead.

He tells them they will be persecuted and many will die and people will hate them even their own families.

With such a dismal future the only hope you have is in following Jesus to the bitter end even if it means you will die while following Him.

This is not an easy truth to accept, which is why Jesus encouraged His disciples to guard their hearts.

To watchful anticipate His return because even though the world is going to hate them because they love Christ the reward of following Jesus and guarding your heart and prayerfully anticipating His return is so much sweeter than anything this backwards, evil, dark world has in store for us.

Now it comes as no surprise that in God's providental plan was to place this section next.

God the Holy Spirit worked through Luke to pen the event we are about to look at next.

This event is placed here not by accident but by the will of God so we can see a man who didn't gaurd his heart and what happened to him.

Let's go ahead and look at Luke 22:1-6 and Luke writes;

Luke opens this chapter with the word "Now."

With this word Luke is changing the scene.

He is moving us from looking into Jesus' public ministry to providing the events that lead up to the cross.

The first event we will see is the background story to the very well known betrayal in the Garden.

This betrayal colminated in the garden but it was an event that was a long time coming.

As we look at this event here we will first see the forces that are at work in the betrayal of Jesus Christ.

The Forces

Luke goes on to tell us, "the Feasst of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching."

Luke provides both the names of this all important Jewish festival.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven day festival that begins with Passover.

Both of which the Passover and the entire festival have its roots in the Exodus account.

It is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread because they were commanded to cook bread without yeast because there was no time for the rising of the bread.

They had to be ready to leave quickly.

It is also called Passover because the 10th and final plague come on the Egyptians that night, death of the first born.

God provided specific instruction to the Israelites if they wanted to escape this plague they had to paint the lentiles and door posts with the blood of the lamb and the Angel of Death would Passover their houses and spare their children.

This festival commemorates this event.

It is a time of looking back on God calling His nation Israel and delivering them from slavery in Egypt.

Even though the first born of Egypt died that night, the passover actually commemorates life and redemption.

It was God's means of delivering His people from their bondage to Egypt and at the same time God judged the nation of Egypt for their treatment of God's people.

So the Passover just like Easter is to us is actually a celebration of life and redemption.

Which is also the most opportune time for God to chose to have His Son die on the cross as our substitutionary sacrifice to pay for the penalty for our sins.

That said God is the first force at work in Jesus' betrayal.

Even when God called His nation Israel and delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians God had this future redmeption in mind.

The Exodus from Egypt was a foreshadow and a picture of the Exodus that would happen at the cross.

Don't think for a second God didn't kno what was going on here.

In fact God had this all planned out from the beginning.

God was working in this event entire event.

The second force at work here was the enemies of Jesus.

Look at verse 2 with me.

"The chief preiests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death."

Luke now shifts from Jesus and His disciples to the chief priests and scribes.

They have been testing Jesus during His public ministry and the testing has intensified ever since Jesus has entered the temple earlier this week.

The entire time Jesus has been teaching in the temple these religious leaders have been unsuccefuly trying to trap Jesus in something they could use against Him.

They are not happy with His teaching because His teaching is infringing on their own power and influence over the people.

They are very disturbed or should I say very jealous over the fact that Jesus has such a positive influence with the crowd.

Luke is setting up Jesus' last hours and these men are instrument in this last hours of Jesus' life.

From the introduction of the chief priests and scribes to their intentions.

Luke tells us here they were seeking to put Jesus to death.

This is not new information this has been mentioned on more then one occasion.

Luke is not only providing a summary of what the religious leaders were thinking and planning but he is also using this as a way to introduce the events that will lead to the cross.

I see here God is actively working in this entire plan.

There is such irony here.

During a time where the religious leaders of the day should have been focusing on God and His dileverance of the nation of Israel and looking forward to the coming of their Messiah.

They were planning the death of the Messiah.

Instead of having their hearts in tune with God's power they are more conserned about their own power.

Instead of celebrating the life and redemption of His people from the oppression of sinful man they are conspiring to kill the One who has come to bring life and redemption and deliver them from oppression of sin.

Notice the one thing stopping them from acting on this desire to put Jesus to death.

It is the people the crowds that have been following Jesus.

These leaders are so concerned with power and the opinion of the people they are meant to lead that they fear losing their power and prestige because of Jesus' authority and influence.

The religious leaders knew they had to do something that would exalt themselves in the eyes of the people and discredit Jesus, His Word and His influence.

Their biggest problem is they have no evidence against Jesus and they are unable to find anyone to accuse Him because He speaks with such love and power.

Then enters the third and fourth force in the betrayal of Jesus, look with me at verse 3. Luke contiues, "And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve."

You see here Satan plays a huge part in Jesus' betrayal.

The last time we actually saw Satan was in Luke 4 when Satan tried to tempt Jesus into following him instead of the Father.

Satan failed to turn Jesus from His mission and now Satan is a very active force in bringing God's plan to fruition.

Luke tells us that Satan was active in the events leading to the cross.

Luke doesn't say a demon he doesn't say Judas acted on his own but that Satan was working in and through Judas to bring Jesus to the cross.

Judas was always a part of God's plan to betray Jesus.

Luke even made it very clear who this was.

Judas was a popular name in that time in fact there were two disciples with the name Judas so he was known as Judas Iscariot.

This brings us to the fourth force in the betrayal of Jesus Christ, Judas.

Luke makes it very clear Judas was one of the twelve.

Why would Luke say this?

Well it's not just for a description.

There are two important reason, I believe Luke writes this.

The first is to show Judas, the one who betrays Jesus, is one who was selected by Jesus.

Jesus hand picked these twelve men and they were selected for a purpose and a reason and this poor guy was chosen to follow Jesus but follow at a distance.

Even though Judas was hand picked by Jesus, he was never destined to be one of the church father's his destiny has always been to be utilized by Satan to bring about God's righteous redemption.

This is sad but never the less this brings glory to God.

Job understood this truth he says this to his wise friends in Job 21:30,

Solomon understood this truth about God as well,

Paul even teaches this to the Roman church in Romans 9:14-24