Luke 22

Luke 22:1-13

Chapter 39 Preparations For The Last PassoverLuke 22 begins Luke’s inspired narrative of our adorable Saviour’s sufferings and death as our Substitute. We now begin to consider the most holy, most profound, and most wondrous things revealed in the Book of God. Nothing is so sublime, so solemn, and so sweet to the regenerate soul as the sacrifice of Christ. No portion of holy scripture is more important than the things God the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to describe in these last chapters of his gospel narrative. And no part of our Lord’s earthly history is so fully given by all the gospel writers as this. Only Matthew and Luke describe the circumstances of our Redeemer’s birth. But all four gospel writers describe our Saviour’s death minutely. And, of the four, Luke’s account is the most detailed. In these first thirteen verses Luke sets before us the preparations made by our Lord Jesus for the last observance of the Passover and for the first observance of the Lord’s Supper. It is important that we recognize this fact. Our Saviour here forever abolished the legal, Jewish Passover and established as a perpetual ordinance in his church the observance of the Lord’s Supper. That which he prepared to keep with his disciples was the last Passover ever to be observed by believing men and women. Christ the true Passover was now about to be sacrificed for us. At the same time, our Lord was preparing to observe the Lord’s Supper with his disciples for the first time. Christ Our Passover “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover” (Luke 22:1). First, I want to remind you that the Old Testament Passover was merely a temporary type and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit declares in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” The Passover was the first legal ordinance established by God in the Old Testament (Exodus 12). It was established as a memorial of Israel’s redemption out of Egypt by the blood of the paschal lamb and the power of God. That first Passover and all the Passover sacrifices that followed it (as well as all the other requirements, ceremonies, services, and sacrifices of the law) were given for only one purpose: to hold forth in type the Lord Jesus Christ. To him the whole law pointed; and by him the whole law was fulfilled. All those things were, as we are plainly told, shadows of good things to come (Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1). Believers in the Old Testament era observed the Passover looking upon the paschal lamb as a type of the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), just as we now observe the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”. The lamb appointed in the Jewish Passover was to be a male of the first year without blemish and without spot. Such was Christ. The lamb was set apart four days before the Passover. So Christ was set apart eternally in the purpose, council, and foreknowledge of God and by entering into Jerusalem four days before his death upon the cursed tree. The Jewish paschal lamb was roasted whole with fire, and not a bone of it broken. So our Lord Jesus, in the accomplishment of our eternal redemption, sustained all the fire of Divine wrath against sin in his sacrifice; and we are expressly told that not one of his bones were broken, that the scripture might be fulfilled (John 19:36). The scriptures tell us that our Saviour observed the feast of Passover four times during the course of his earthly ministry. The first public Passover Christ observed is related to us in John 2:13-25. The second Passover, which our Lord graced with his presence, is recorded in John 5, when he healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. The third public Passover where we find the Lord Jesus present is recorded in John 6, at which time our Lord gave instructions about himself as the Bread of Life. The fourth and last Passover the Lord Jesus kept is recorded here in Luke 22 and by Matthew, Mark, and John. Robert Hawker made the following tremendous observation. “If the Lord Jesus never once during his ministry omitted his attendance on the Passover, how hath he thereby endeared to his redeemed his holy Supper, instituted and appointed as it was by himself to take place in his church in the room of the Jewish Passover! Surely by this Jesus might be supposed to intimate his holy pleasure, that his people should be always present at the celebration of it. Methinks by this constant attendance of the Lord, he meant to say that not one of his little ones should be absent at his Supper. And his servant, the Apostle, seems to have had the same views of his Master’s gracious design in this particular when he saith, ‘For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come’ (1 Corinthians 11:26).” Overruling Providence “And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people” (Luke 22:2). Second, I cannot avoid again calling your attention to the display here given of the overruling providence of our God, as we read here of the chief priests and scribes plotting to murder our Saviour. Though they had no awareness of it, they were but instruments in the Lord’s hands for the accomplishment of his holy will and eternal decrees, by their wicked hands, doing all that they did by the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27-28; Acts 13:27-28). How sweet! How comforting! How delightful this is! To behold the chief priests and scribes as God’s instruments, for the purpose of bringing Christ into the very situation where our sins must have brought us, but for his intervention! Though they utterly hated him, they brought him forward on the mission for which he came into the world, to “save Hs people from their sins”, being made both sin and a curse for us. There was no other means whereby we could have been redeemed; and God sovereignly overruled and used the most wicked deeds of the most wicked men to accomplish it! I say this is sweet, comforting, and delightful to behold. Just as it was here, so it is now. Our God overrules and uses the most malicious devices of the most wicked men to bring his purposed blessings to his chosen. Blind Guides Third, when we read that “the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him”, I am reminded that the most prominent, highly respected, and well-trained religious leaders are often blind guides. High office in the church does not indicate grace in the heart. The first step in putting our Saviour to death was taken by the religious teachers of the Jewish nation. The very men who ought to have welcomed the Messiah were the men who conspired to murder him. The very pastors who ought to have rejoiced at the appearing of the Lamb of God plotted his slaughter. They sat in Moses’ seat. They claimed to be “guides of the blind” and “lights of them that were in darkness” (Romans 2:19). They belonged to the tribe of Levi. They were, most of them, direct descendants of Aaron. Yet, they were the very men who crucified the Lord of glory! Beware of attaching importance, significance, and spiritual knowledge to preachers and religious leaders. Ordination papers do not make men faithful. The greatest of heresies have been started by preachers. By all means, honour faithful men. Hear them and obey them. Faithful pastors are the angels of God to his church. They speak to you the Word of God; and they are to be followed (Hebrews 13:7; Hebrews 13:17). But we must never allow blind men to lead us into the ditch. We must never allow modern chief priests and scribes to make us crucify Christ afresh. We must test all teachers by the unerring rule of the Word of God. “To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). Judas’ Apostasy “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude” (Luke 22:3-6). Fourth, Judas’ apostasy sets before us a glaring example of the fact that men and women who appear to have a good profession of faith often prove reprobates in the end, teaching us the necessity of perseverance. The treachery here described was the treachery of one of the twelve Apostles of Christ. “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.” Those words are peculiarly dreadful. Judas Iscariot ought to be a standing beacon to us all. Judas was one of our Lord’s chosen apostles. He followed our Lord during the whole course of his ministry. He forsook all for Christ’s sake.

He heard Christ preach and saw Christ’s miracles. He preached the same doctrine Christ preached. He spoke like all the other Apostles. There was nothing about Judas to distinguish him from Peter, James, and John. He was never suspected of being unsound, let alone the betrayer. Yet, Judas was a reprobate man, “the son of perdition” (John 17:12). At best we have but a faint conception of the horrid deceitfulness of our hearts. The lengths to which men may go in religion without grace in their hearts is far greater than we think (Psalms 139:23-24; Matthew 10:22; 1 Corinthians 9:26-27; Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:38-39; 1 John 2:19-20). Beware of Covetousness Fifth, the fact that Judas’ betrayal was the result of his love of money reinforces our Lord’s warning in Luke 12:15. “Take heed and beware of covetousness.” What enormous power the love of money has over men! When Judas went to the chief priests and offered to betray his Master, “they were glad, and covenanted to give him money” (Luke 22:5). That tells us the hidden secret of Judas’ heart and the motive behind his behaviour. He loved money. He loved the world. He was fond of riches. He had heard our Lord’s solemn warning. “Take heed and beware of covetousness.” But he gave it no heed. Covetousness was the rock upon which he made shipwreck of his soul. Covetousness dragged him headlong into hell! Beware of the love of this world, particularly as it involves the love of money, which the Holy Spirit tells us is “the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Gehazi, Ananias and Sapphira, and Judas were brought to ruin because of their love of money. And the money they sought, for which they sold their souls, was terribly insignificant! For a mere thirty pieces of silver Judas Iscariot betrayed the Son of God! Thirty pieces of silver was the legal price of a slave. No doubt, these religious hypocrites soothed their consciences by telling themselves that by purchasing Jesus like any other slave, it was perfectly legal for them to hand him over to the Roman authorities.

Thirty pieces of silver. What did Judas buy with his hellish craftiness? He did not gain acceptance with the powerful, elite priests and scribes, as he probably hoped he would; but was now looked upon as nothing but a contemptible slave trader, a hireling, and a betrayer. Thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave to a greedy man, proved at last to be the price he put upon his own immortal soul. Thirty pieces of silver was taken out of the temple treasury, silver that was marked for the purchase of sacrifices. The Lamb of God was purchased with money from the temple treasury for the price of a slave! Beware of the love of money! It is a subtle thing, and far nearer than we might imagine. A poor man is just as susceptible to it as a rich man. Some have much who do not love it; and many have very little who yet love it. Let us be “content with such things as we have” (Hebrews 13:5), be it little or much. We never know what we might do if we became suddenly rich. I find it striking that in the Book of Wisdom (Proverbs) we find only one prayer (Proverbs 30:8-9). “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” Made Ready “Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover” (Luke 22:7-13). Sixth, we learn that when the time came for the Passover to be kept, everything was made ready. Even so, when chosen sinners are called by the Spirit of God to eat the true Passover, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they find everything made ready for them. All things were made ready by divine arrangement. What a marvellous display we have in these verses of our Saviour’s absolute dominion over all things and all men! The disciples found a man by divine direction, who by divine command provided everything that was needed. All things were made ready for the keeping of the feast. A lamb was provided. The lamb was slain and burnt upon the altar for the Lord God and for these disciples. Its blood was sprinkled at the foot of the altar. The lamb was brought into the house, where it was to be eaten. The lamb was roasted and eaten with bitter herbs. In all these things we see a close parallel with Christ our Passover who was sacrificed for us, and of our faith in him. Four times we are reminded in these thirteen verses that the evening before our Saviour’s crucifixion was the appointed “day when the Passover must be killed”. “Then came the day”! How thankful I am that that day came! Aren’t you! “In due time Christ died for the ungodly”! By divine arrangement, the Lamb of God died at the very time when the passover lamb was being slain. The death of Christ was the fulfilment of the Passover. He was the true sacrifice to which every passover-lamb had been pointing for 1500 years. What the death of the lamb had been to Israel in Egypt, his death is to us in reality. The safety which the blood of the passover-lamb had provided for Israel, his blood provides in infinite abundance for believing sinners. Blessed be God forever “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us”! (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Luke 22:14-20

Chapter 40 “In Remembrance Of Me”In these verses the Holy Spirit describes how our blessed Saviour instituted, as a perpetual ordinance in his Church, the observance of the Lord’s Supper. This is one of those passages of holy scripture that ought to immediately arouse deep reverence in our hearts. I find it utterly astonishing that this blessed ordinance of Divine worship, so beautifully simple and majestic, so delightfully unifying and blessed, has been made a matter of fear and a point of controversy and division throughout the history of the Church. How dishonouring that is to our Saviour, by whom the ordinance was established and for whose honour it is to be kept! No Fencing We are specifically told that Judas was with the disciples when the Lord Jesus established this ordinance in his Church. “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him” (Luke 22:14). After making his bargain with the chief priests, scribes, and elders to betray the Son of God, Judas brazenly came and took his place with the rest of the apostles, both to cover his sin and to watch the best opportunity of betraying the Master. This fact makes it abundantly clear that our Lord did not fence the Table to keep unbelievers from eating the bread and wine with believers. He did not give any basis for the practice of closed communion. Let me be clearly understood. The Lord’s Supper, like baptism and Church membership, is for believers only. We must never encourage unbelievers to join us in observing this blessed ordinance of the gospel. Yet, we must never attempt to set barriers around the Table to keep anyone away. The Holy Spirit makes it crystal clear that it is the responsibility of the person who eats the bread and drinks the wine to examine himself to be certain that he or she is a believer, one who discerns the Lord’s body, warning all those who eat and drink unworthily, that is to say without faith in Christ, that they eat and drink damnation to themselves (1 Corinthians 11:27-30). You, and you alone can determine whether you are in the faith. If you profess faith in Christ, it is my responsibility and the responsibility of all believers to look upon your profession as genuine and to receive you “without doubtful disputations”, without suspicion (Romans 14:1). Our Lord knew that Judas was a devil and that he was, at that time, looking for an opportunity to betray him. Yet, when he passed out the bread and wine, he gave it to Judas, as well as to James and John, because Judas professed to be one of his. Christ’s Desire In Luke 22:15 our Saviour expressed his heart’s ambition and desire to redeem us. “And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.” He desired to eat this, the last passover, with his disciples because, in doing so, he had come to the end of his mission in this world. He was about to suffer all the fury of God’s holy wrath and offended justice as our Substitute and enter into his glory. Before doing so, he established this communion ordinance as a perpetual reminder to us that our union and communion with him is based upon and arises from his sin-atoning death upon the cursed tree. He desired to eat it with them, with his disciples, because his desire is toward us his people (2 Peter 3:9). It was so from everlasting, when he desired us as his spouse and bride. It was so in time, when he became incarnate; suffered, died, and gave himself for us. His desire is towards his people before they are called, while unregenerate, unbelieving rebels. And his desire is with us and toward us still, notwithstanding all our sin and unbelief (Son 5:1-2). In ourselves we are black with sin; but in him we are comely and beautiful, robed with his righteousness, washed, pure, and made white in his precious blood; so comely and beautiful in his eyes that he declares he is ravished by us! Imagine that! The Son of God declares that we ravish his heart (Son 4:9). Therefore, he desires our company and communion always! The Lord Jesus delighted in us from eternity, viewing us as perfect in himself before the world was made. We were the joy set before him, the joy that sustained him and carried him through his sufferings and death. You and I, child of God, are the objects of his unceasing desires and prayers! Our blessed Saviour desired with desire to eat this, the last passover, because that meant that his sufferings and death were at hand, that the eternal redemption of our souls was about to be accomplished (Romans 5:6-8; 1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10). Justice would soon be satisfied. The law would soon be fulfilled. Our sins would soon be atoned for and put away. The Father would soon be glorified by his obedience unto death. Until It Be Fulfilled The law, once it was fulfilled by him, was about to end. The passover and all the ceremonies and rituals of the law were about to be abolished forever. Therefore, he said, “I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:16). Now that it has all been fulfilled by him, our blessed Saviour girds himself with grace and serves us with all that was signified and typified in the law. And, in the glory that soon shall be ours we will eat and drink together with him in his Father’s kingdom, and spend an endless eternity in never fading joys and pleasures, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb (Exodus 15:1-18). The Cup “And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come” (Luke 22:17-18). In the observance of the Jewish passover four cups were used. Commonly, as each cup was passed around the table, one by one, the head of the house would lead the family in prayer and thanksgiving. Then the family would drink from the cups, divided among them. Having done this, the Lord Jesus said, “For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of this vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.” What was our Lord referring to here? Perhaps he was simply saying, “I am about to leave this world, and will never again eat and drink with you physically.” Perhaps he was talking about the new wine of grace that was to be poured out by him in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. I think he was most likely referring to the everlasting celebration of redemption with us in eternal glory, when we shall eat and drink at his table forever, as he tells us in Luke 22:30. The Ordinance Established In Luke 22:14-18 we are given a record of the Lord Jesus observing the last passover feast with his family, with his disciples. In Luke 22:19-20 the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper is established. “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:19-20). We know that these words refer to the establishing of the Lord’s Supper, because the Holy Spirit tells us that in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. Read the last line of Luk 22:19 again. “This do in remembrance of me.” How many times have we read this command, without pausing to consider its implications? The first implication of this command is that this ordinance, as I stated in the beginning, is for believers only. In order to remember Christ you must first know him. I hope that you do know the Saviour. If you do, the Lord’s Table is spread for you.

But if you do not know him, you must not eat the bread and drink the wine. Second, this command reveals the love of Christ for us. Our Saviour would not care for us to remember him, if he did not love us. Love wants to be remembered. And our Lord Jesus, as he was leaving this world, whispered into the ear of his bride, “Remember me.” And, third, this command implies a horrible tendency in us to forget our Redeemer. Because our Lord remembers that we are dust, he graciously established this ordinance that we might, in observing it, remember him. In our assembly we gather around the Lord’s Table every Sunday night to observe the Lord’s Supper, according to his commandment. The Table is our Lord’s memorial. As we eat the bread and drink the wine, we should earnestly pray that God the Holy Spirit will graciously enable us to remember Christ, our Beloved. In these two verses of scripture we have complete directions for observing the Lord’s Supper. Here we see what it is and how it is to be done. The directions are plain, clear, and definite. We must “this do”. It would not be right to do something else. It would not be right to do this for some other purpose. And it would not be right to do this in some other way. Simplicity This blessed ordinance is to be observed with simplicity. There is nothing here that is ornate, mysterious, or even visibly impressive. The ordinances of the gospel are simple, like Christ himself, transparent, and unpretentious. There is nothing here but bread and wine. This is an ordinance to be frequently observed. Paul said, “As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.” Because we have a constant need to be reminded of our Lord and his work of redemption, he has given us an ordinance to frequently aid our memory. This is an ordinance to be observed by all the Lord’s people. Around this Table, as in the kingdom of God, we are all equal. Our needs are the same. Our grounds of acceptance are the same. Our acceptance with our God is the same. We are “accepted in the Beloved”, by the merits of his righteousness and shed blood, in union with him, as one with him. This ordinance is a token of God’s everlasting covenant of grace. Every time we eat the bread and drink the wine, we should be reminded of that covenant God made with his Son on our behalf before the worlds were made. It is a covenant of grace (Romans 9:16-18). It is ordered in all things and sure (2 Samuel 23:5). It is a covenant ratified by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 13:20). This blessed ordinance is a picture sermon of our Redeemer’s death. We remember Christ best when we remember his death. The unleavened bread is the symbol of his body, his holy humanity, his accomplished righteousness as our God-man Representative. The wine represents his precious blood, his accomplished redemption as our Substitute and covenant Surety. And our observance of this ordinance is a picture of our salvation by faith in Christ. To trust Christ is to receive him, to eat his flesh and drink his blood (John 6:51-56). By faith in him, we take to ourselves all that Christ is and all that he accomplished as our God-man Mediator, receiving the atonement he performed for us (Romans 5:11). “This Do” We are commanded to keep this ordinance. Our Saviour said, “This do.” Therefore, we may reasonably and safely infer that it is always proper for us to do it. It is always proper for God’s people to observe the Lord’s Supper, to keep the ordinance, and never proper not to do it. We may eat the Lord’s Supper, though we often sadly forget him. In fact, our forgetfulness is a reason to come to this ordinance. We may come to the Table, though others forget our Saviour. We come not to judge others, but to remember Christ. And if some of our brethren are out of sorts, that does not bar us from the privilege of this ordinance. We may come to this ordinance no matter how weak, cold, and sinful we are. Our worthiness is Christ. We keep the ordinance to remember his goodness and grace. It will be sweet, refreshing and comforting to you to eat the Lord’s Supper. What can be sweeter than the remembrance of Christ? What can be more refreshing to your soul? What can be so comforting to your heart? “In Remembrance” The object of this ordinance is that we may remember our dear Saviour. “This do in remembrance of Me.” We are to observe this ordinance in remembrance of Christ himself, not his doctrines, but himself, not his precepts, but himself. As we eat the bread and drink the wine, let us remember the Lord Jesus. Remember him as the only Object of your faith and the mighty Representative of your soul: past, present, and future. Remember the Lord Jesus as the Joy of your heart, the Rewarder of your hope, and the Lord of your life. Remember Christ. Remember who he is. Remember what he has done. Remember why he did it. Remember what he is to you (1 Corinthians 1:30). Remember him with sincere gratitude. Remember him with deep love. Remember him with confident faith. Remember Thee, and all Thy pains, And all Thy love to me. Yes, while a pulse or breath remains, I will remember Thee. And when these failing lips grow dumb, And thought and memory flee; When Thou shalt in Thy kingdom come, Jesus, remember me! James Montgomery Let me remind you of four things clearly set before us in this passage. The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to perpetually remind us of Christ’s death for us, to remind us of the cost of our redemption. The bread represents his body, his holy humanity sacrificed for us. The wine represents his precious, sin-atoning blood. This is not an optional ordinance, any more than believer’s baptism is an optional ordinance. It is the privilege and responsibility of every believer to observe the Lord’s Supper, in remembrance of Christ. There will always be betrayers in our midst. The words of Luk 22:21-22 are recorded here so plainly that it is obvious that the Holy Spirit intended for us to be reminded that tares always grow side by side with wheat. Our Saviour said, “Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed”! We are never justified in separating ourselves from God’s Church and people because some among us are devils. And we are never justified in refusing to observe the Lord’s Supper because we imagine that some at the Table might be unbelievers. It is your own responsibility, and no one else’s, to examine yourself (1 Corinthians 11:23-29). You alone must determine whether you are or are not a believer. You alone know if you are trusting Christ alone as your Saviour, whether you discern the Lord’s body and know the purpose of his incarnation, obedience, and death as the sinner’s Substitute.

Luke 22:21-30

Chapter 41 “Who Is The Greatest?”We often try to make comparisons between material, earthly things and spiritual, heavenly things. But there is one great problem with all such comparisons: they simply cannot be made! Any rule or principle that is taken from the natural realm and applied to the spiritual realm must be reversed. In the natural realm success is measured by gain. In the spiritual world success is measured by loss (Matthew 16:25). In the natural world wealth is gained and measured by what a man is able to gain and save.

In the spiritual world wealth is gained and measured by what he gives (Proverbs 19:17; Proverbs 11:24; Proverbs 22:9; Luke 6:38). In natural things a “self-made” man is admired. In spiritual things a self-made man is condemned (Romans 4:4-5). In natural things ambition and aggressiveness are looked upon as commendable things. In the kingdom of God they are deplorable things. Natural men are admired who strive for advancement and promotion.

But the Spirit of God teaches us to strive for abasement and servitude. This was a hard lesson for the disciples to learn, because, like us, they each wanted to be the greatest. In the New Testament it appears that the one thing which disrupted the fellowship, communion, and harmony of our Lord’s disciples, more than anything else, was personal ambition, the desire for personal exaltation, recognition, and greatness (Matthew 18:1; Matthew 20:20-21; Mark 9:33-35; Luke 9:46-48). Even as they sat around the Table with the Lord Jesus on the eve of his crucifixion, eating the last supper, while he talked to them about his death, as he gave them the blessed ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, “there was a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest”! What a pitiful picture we have before us: brethren, sitting together with Christ at the table of communion striving about which of them would betray the Master (Luke 22:22-23) and which of them would be counted the greatest (Luke 22:24). Where humility should have abounded, pride and ambition intruded! When love and unity should have prevailed, ambition divided! Our Lord’s words to us in Luke 22:21-30 are intended by him to cure us of the evil of ambition, of self-seeking, self-serving, self-promoting pride. As we read this sad story, let us ask God the Holy Spirit to teach us its lessons. I remind you that the Lord Jesus had just eaten the last passover with his disciples and instituted the blessed ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. Then, the Lord Jesus gave them an example of humility and love that should forever cure his followers of this evil (John 13:12-17). After that, the disciples began to fuss about who should be accounted the greatest among them. Very few realize it; but he that is greatest in the kingdom of God is the servant of all. We all have lofty desires. We talk piously about our desires to be like Christ, to live the Christian life, to honour God in our lives. Is that truly the desire of our hearts? If it is, let us pray that God the Holy Spirit will teach us to serve one another. If the Son of God made himself the least, we must not strive to be the greatest. If our Master became our Servant, let us serve one another (Philippians 2:1-7). “He that Serveth” First, our Lord assumed the place of a servant among his disciples. He says, “I am among you as he that serveth.” In this world our Lord was not one of the cultured few upon whom others wait. He was not one of the rich, the mighty, or the noble whom others serve. He was the Servant of servants (Mark 10:42-45). When he came down from heaven, he took upon himself the form of a servant. In the circle of his disciples Christ was always the one who served. He healed the sick. He fed the multitudes. Only once did he ask anyone to give him anything; and then it was that he might show his humility. Being a Jew, he condescended to ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. Even then, his object was that he might serve her. Where he was most evidently the Master, among his own disciples, he was most evidently the Servant. Like a shepherd, he was Servant to his sheep. Like a nurse, he was Servant to the children of God. Like a chambermaid, he washed his disciples’ feet. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper the Lord himself was among his disciples as “he that serveth”. He provided the table. He desired the fellowship of his brethren at the Passover. He broke the bread. He offered the prayer. He poured the wine. Throughout the whole course of his life on earth, the Lord Jesus took the position of a servant, a slave. When he entered into the covenant of grace with the Father as our Surety, the Son of God became a voluntary Servant (Psalms 40:6; Isaiah 50:5-7; Exodus 21:6). When he came into the world to save us, he announced himself as the Servant of Jehovah (Psalms 40:7; Hebrews 10:5-10). The physical body prepared for our Saviour and all his earthly surroundings were fitted for service (Hebrews 10:5; Philippians 2:7; 2 Corinthians 8:9). Throughout his life, our Lord Jesus cared for and served others (Matthew 20:28). He laid aside his own will and pleasure and came to do the will and pleasure of his Father, serving our interest (John 4:34; John 6:38). He patiently bore all manner of evil from men as one who is servant to another (1 Peter 2:23). The Son of God assumed the lowest place among men, that he might bring us to the highest place of heavenly glory as the sons of God (Psalms 22:6; Isaiah 53:3; 2 Corinthians 8:9). Adore Him What we have seen thus far should fill our hearts with wonder and adoration. What astonishing love! What amazing grace! He who is the Son of God became Servant to those who are his servants! Does that fact not astonish you? He who is Lord of all became the Servant of all his people (Colossians 1:15-19). The Creator served the creature! The Ruler served his subjects! The Firstborn served the adopted children! He who is “all fulness” served us, who are all emptiness! He who has all preeminence served us, who are less than nothing! He who is infinitely Superior in wisdom, power, and holiness became Servant to the very lowest (Matthew 8:26-27; John 14:9). He gave sight to blind beggars. He defended an adulterous woman. He calmed the troubled waters for his unbelieving disciples. He ministered to the small child. He stretched out his hand to drowning Peter. He removed the doubts of doubting Thomas. He came to Peter, when Peter had forsaken him. But do not imagine that our Lord’s service was limited to those disciples, or even to his time on earth. He performed all his earthly service for us. He serves us now. And he will serve us forever. He who is our great Benefactor became Servant to us who are the beneficiaries of his grace (John 15:16). The righteousness he accomplished was for us (Romans 5:19).

The death he died, the atonement he made was for us (Galatians 4:4-5). His heavenly intercession is for us (Hebrews 7:24-25). His providential rule is for us (John 17:2). The angelic hosts, his holy servants, are sent by him to serve us (Hebrews 1:14). Throughout the ages of eternity, all the glory, joy, and bliss of heaven will be given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Even then, he will serve us (Luke 12:37).

Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, condescends to serve us, who are altogether unworthy of his notice, much less his service. The Cause How can this great condescension on the part of Christ be explained? What is the cause of it? What is the reason for it? Why has he done it? Here are three answers. (1.) The Lord Jesus Christ is so infinitely great that he loses nothing by serving us (Hebrews 1:2-4). (2.) The Son of God is so full of love to us that his love for us compels him to serve us (John 15:9; 1 John 3:16; John 13:1). And (3.) our Mediator, the God-man, is so entirely consecrated to the glory of God that he willingly endured even the painful, shameful death of the cross for us, that he might glorify God (Matthew 26:38-39; John 12:28). Imitate Him May God the Holy Spirit graciously teach us to imitate our Saviour by serving one another. Let this be the rule of our lives (John 13:5; John 13:13-15). If we would be great in the kingdom of God, we must become servants. There is no greater, more noble ambition than this (Ephesians 4:32; Ephesians 5:1). If we would follow Christ, let us cheerfully choose to fulfil the most lowly services in the kingdom of God. Blessed are those saved sinners who seek from God the Holy Spirit, the spirit of true love and humility toward their brethren (Ephesians 4:1-3; Philippians 2:3; 1 Peter 5:5).

It is in this way that we are to continually lay down our lives for one another (1 John 3:16-17). This is that which inspired the apostle Paul to spend and be spent for God’s elect (2 Corinthians 12:15). May God give us grace to make self-sacrifice the rule by which we live, ever seeking the good of others (Philippians 2:4-5). Rather than whining, “Nobody comes to see me”, why don’t you go see somebody? Rather than complaining because no one calls me, I ought to call someone. Rather than selfishly thinking, “Nobody seems to care about me”, we ought to take care of others. Rather than being bitter because we are forgotten, we ought to make it our business to remember others. Over the span of more than sixty years in this world, I have observed a remarkable thing: those who spend their lives caring for and serving others never whine and complain about being neglected and overlooked or forgotten, while those who constantly complain about being neglected and overlooked and forgotten seldom do anything for anyone but themselves. If we would serve Christ and his people, we should never avenge ourselves, bring grief to others, or disrupt the blessed peace of God’s saints; but rather bear any injustices done to us, just as our Master did (1 Peter 2:19-21). Always seek the place in God’s Kingdom in which you are likely to receive the least and can give the most. Choose to serve rather than to be served! Our Lord did. The place of highest honour in the Church of God is the place of greatest service. The towel with which Christ wiped his disciples’ feet is indescribably more attractive than the royal robes of the greatest king on earth. There are just two kinds of people in this world: those who use and those who are used. God, make me one who is used. Those who take and those who give. I want to be a giver. Those who are served and those who serve. I pray that God will make me a servant. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Christ, the Servant of all (Matthew 11:11). Let us strive to be like him!

Luke 22:31-38

Chapter 44 “He Was Reckoned Among The Transgressors”There are many things revealed in these verses that we need to read often and lay to heart, asking God the Holy Spirit to graciously and effectually apply them to us continually. Our great enemy, Satan, the prince of darkness, constantly seeks the everlasting destruction of our souls. He desires to have us. He is “a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”. He is “the accuser of the brethren”. He constantly works evil in the world, among men, and in the churches of Christ. The great and only security of our souls from the adversary is our Lord Jesus Christ, his power, his grace, his sacrifice, and his mediation and intercession. He says to his own, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke 22:32). “They that are with him in heaven are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14) because he has made them so. When God’s elect fall, they shall be converted. The Lord Jesus said to Peter, “when thou art converted”. There was no possibility that Peter might not be restored (Malachi 3:6). “A just man falleth seven times and riseth up again” because the Lord raises him up by his grace (Proverbs 24:16), “for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand” (Psalms 37:24). We, who experience God’s grace, ought to take great pleasure in helping one another, especially counting it our privilege and honour to help those who are fallen. “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Galatians 6:1-2). Learn this too: We ought to devote all to Christ, and use every reasonable means at our disposable for our Master, to faithfully serve him (Luke 22:35-36). “And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” Our Lord’s words here are not to be taken literally, but as a proverbial saying. Until our Saviour comes again, we are to make a diligent use of everything God has given us. We are not to expect miracles to be performed to save us from trouble and labour. We are not to expect bread to fall from heaven into our mouths, if we refuse to work for it. We are not to expect difficulties and enemies to be overcome, if we will not wrestle, and struggle and take pains. J. C. Ryle wrote … “We shall do well to lay to heart our Lord’s words in this place, and to act habitually on the principle which they contain. Let us labour, and toil, and give, and speak, and act, and write for Christ, as if all depended on our exertions. And yet let us never forget that success depends entirely on God’s blessing! To expect success by our own ‘purse’ and ‘sword’ is pride and self-righteousness. But to expect success without the ‘purse and sword’ is presumption and fanaticism. Let us do as Jacob did when he met his brother Esau. He used all innocent means to conciliate and appease him. But when he had done all, he spent all night in prayer (Genesis 32:1-24).” Those are all very important lessons. We need to be often reminded of them. But, in this study I want to focus your attention on our Saviour’s statement in Luke 22:37. “For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.” Must Be First, the Lord Jesus says, “that this that is written must yet be accomplished.” The scriptures speak of many things that simply must be; they must be because the Lord God has ordained them and declared that they must be. Let me remind you of just a couple of them. There is a multitude of sinners in this world, who are the objects of God’s everlasting love and grace in Christ, who must be born again (John 3:7). The Lord Jesus did not simply say to Nicodemus, “You really should be born again”, or “You need to be born again”, or “I urge you to be born again.” Our Saviour said to Nicodemus “Ye must be born again”! This is not a matter of speculation on my part. John tells us later on in his gospel (Luke 19:38-40) that Nicodemus came with Joseph of Arimathaea to beg the body of the Lord Jesus from Pilate, and made considerable sacrifice for his burial. At the appointed time of love and grace, Nicodemus was, according to the purpose of God, born again. I take Nicodemus to be representative of all God’s elect. The Lord Jesus says, concerning all chosen sinners, “Ye must be born again;” and they shall, every one of them, at God’s appointed time, be born again. This is a matter of absolute certainty, because it is a matter of absolute necessity. Why must God’s elect be born again? What necessity is there for this? God’s elect must be born again because we need it. Though chosen and redeemed, though predestinated to eternal salvation, none of God’s elect can ever be saved apart from the new birth. Here are seven clearly revealed reasons why God’s elect must be born again.

1. We must be born again because we were all born wrong the first time (Psalms 51:5; Psalms 58:3). Because we were born wrong the first time, unless we are born again, we can neither see nor enter into the kingdom of God.
2. Every one of the elect must be born again because God, who cannot lie, promised it, before the world began (Titus 1:2; Jeremiah 31:31-34; 2 Timothy 1:9).
3. All the chosen must be born again because election demands it (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). If even one of those chosen to salvation should fail to obtain salvation, then God’s election is meaningless, his purpose is useless, his love is worthless, and his Word is comfortless! If God cannot be trusted to do this, to save the people he purposed to save from eternity, he cannot be trusted to do anything (Ephesians 1:3-6).
4. God’s elect must all be born again, because predestination arranged it. Predestination is God’s appointment and arrangement of all things from eternity to secure the salvation of his chosen (Romans 8:28-30).
5. Every one of God’s elect must, without exception, be born again, because the sin-atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has obtained it and demands it (Hebrews 9:12).
6. Every chosen, blood-bought sinner in this world must be born again, because our God wills it. It is written, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Someone may ask, “How do you know that is what 2 Peter 3:9 teaches?” We know because 2 Peter 3:15 tells us so. “The longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.”
7. All the chosen, all who were predestinated to eternal life, all the redeemed, all of them must be born again, because the Holy Spirit was sent here to do it (John 6:37-40; John 6:44-45; John 6:63). In John 4:4 we read that the Son of God must go through Samaria, because the time of love had come for a chosen sinner in Samaria. When the appointed time of love has come, the time in which the chosen, redeemed sinner shall be born again, then our great God and compassionate Saviour “must needs” go to where the chosen, redeemed sinner is and give life to the object of his love; and he shall. Election marked the house into which Christ must come. Predestination set the time of his coming. Blood atonement paved the road on which he would come. Providence brings him to the appointed house at the appointed time. Efficacious grace brings him in (Isaiah 55:11). Here, in Luke 22:37 the Son of God tells us of the absolute necessity of his death upon the cursed tree as our Substitute. “This that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors.” The Son of God must die as he did, because the scriptures must be fulfilled (Psalms 22; Isaiah 53). The particular passage he quotes here is Isaiah 53:12. “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world with a commission, on a mission of mercy, under the bondage of his own voluntary suretyship engagements, which he assumed for us as the Surety of the everlasting covenant (Hebrews 7:22; Matthew 1:21). The death of our Lord Jesus Christ was no accident. It was not something which came to pass because of man’s free will, or because the Jews would not let him be their king! The Lord Jesus died at Calvary, because he must die at Calvary. As he himself declared, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:22). The Necessity The word “must” means “necessary” or “binding”. It is used to describe that which is absolutely vital. Why? What necessity was there for the death of the Son of God upon the cursed tree? Why must this Holy One be made sin for us? Why must this Saviour be put to death? Our Saviour has told us that his death as our Substitute was necessary, because the scriptures, which declared hundreds of years earlier, “he was reckoned among the transgressors”, must be fulfilled. But there are other things that made his sacrificial, sin-atoning death upon the cursed tree necessary. The Lord Jesus Christ must die at Jerusalem as he did, because God the Father purposed it from eternity (Acts 2:23). Our dear Saviour had to die at Jerusalem, in order to fulfil his covenant engagements for us. Our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily assumed all responsibility for our souls in the covenant of grace; but once he assumed that responsibility, he must fulfil it. He is honour bound to do so (Genesis 43:8-9; John 10:18; Acts 13:29). It was absolutely necessary for the Lord Jesus Christ to die as he did upon the cursed tree, lifted up from the earth, in order for the holy Lord God to save us from our sins (Romans 3:24-26; John 3:14-17). If God would save us from our sins, he could only do it this way, because righteousness must be maintained, sin must be punished, justice must be satisfied, forgiveness must be legitimate, and the love of God must be blameless. The Lord God was not, in any way, compelled, by anything outside himself, to save anyone. But, having determined to save some of Adam’s fallen race, he could not do so except upon the grounds of justice satisfied. He was not compelled to save us. But, having chosen to save us, he could not do so except by the sacrifice of his own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged.” Have An End Now, look at the last line of Luk 22:37. Our Saviour says, “the things concerning me”, all of them, all the things written of him in the Old Testament scripture, all things decreed from eternity concerning him, he said, “have an end”. That is to say, everything decreed, purposed, and written concerning me have a specific design, goal, and intent, a conclusion, a termination, a predestined result, and a divinely ordained finality. When he who knew no sin was made sin for us, when he bearing our sins in his own body on the tree was made a curse for us, when he had suffered all the fulness of God’s wrath and justice as our Substitute, our blessed Saviour cried, “It is finished! … Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Then, he reverently bowed his head as an obedient servant, whose work was finished, presenting himself to the Father, and gave up the ghost. At that moment, all things decreed and written of him had achieved their goal and predestined result with finality, and came to their end, their conclusion, and their termination (Genesis 3:15; Psalms 22:12; Isaiah 53:5-12; Daniel 9:25-26; Zechariah 12:10; Zechariah 13:6-7). All the requirements of his engagements as our covenant Surety, all his obligation as our Surety ended. All the shadows, types, promises, and prophecies of the Old Testament scriptures ended. The law of God ended (Romans 10:4). The fury, wrath, and vengeance of Divine justice was ended for him and for all his people. Jehovah declares to his chosen, “fury is not in me” (Isaiah 27:4). Judgment ended for his redeemed. Our sin and guilt before God ended (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Colossians 2:13-17; 1 Peter 4:1-2; Romans 8:1). How we ought to rejoice and give thanks to our God for the fact that the designed purpose of our Saviour in coming into this world had its end (Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 10:10-14). “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him” (John 13:31). Another Must In the light of all this, let me show you one more thing that must be. In John 3:29-30 we read, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” Christ is the Bridegroom. “He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom.” Gospel preachers are friends of the Bridegroom. We stand before him. We listen for the Bridegroom’s voice and rejoice to hear it. Our joy is full when we are used of God to bring the bride and the Bridegroom together. And the Bridegroom’s friend, every true servant of God, is anxious to turn honour and attention away from himself to Christ, the Bridegroom. This is the prayer, desire, and determination of every true, faithful servant of God. “He must increase; but I must decrease.” Christ is from heaven and is heavenly. We are just men of the earth, and earthly (Luke 22:31). We will soon fade away. Christ is eternal. Christ is himself the Revelation of God.

We are just his messengers (Luke 22:32). Christ has the Spirit without measure. We have the Spirit as he is measured to us (Luke 22:34). To believe me or any other man is meaningless. To believe him is to seal this fact to your own heart, that God is true (Luke 22:33). Christ must increase, because the Father has put all things in his hands (Luke 22:35).

Christ must increase, because he alone is our Saviour. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” “He must increase; but I must decrease.” The more I decrease, the more I delight just to stand before him and hear his voice. And the more I stand before him and hear his voice, the more he will increase before me, and I decrease before him. Oh, let Christ increase and me decrease! We cannot be occupied with more than one thing at a time. Let us ever be occupied with Christ, and not with ourselves! The more we are occupied with him, the less we shall be occupied with ourselves. Humility is not something we cultivate. Rather, it is something that comes from beholding the Lord Jesus Christ. The more I try to be humble, the more proud I become. But the more I stand in his presence, hear his voice, and behold him, the more I am occupied with him, the more humbled I am before him. “He must increase; but I must decrease”!

Luke 22:39-46

Chapter 45 Agony In GethsemaneWe come now with the Son of God into his favourite place of prayer, the garden of Gethsemane. The word Gethsemane means “olive press”. What a fitting place Gethsemane was for the events which transpired on this dark, dark night. Here, the Lord of glory wept in agony of soul, prayed with a heavy, broken heart, and began to have his soul crushed in anticipation of being made sin for us. So heavy was the burden of his heart that the pores of his flesh poured with a bloody sweat! I never read this passage and its parallels in Mathew, Mark, and John without a great sense of utter ignorance and inability. How can a mortal man of sinful flesh comprehend what our Master experienced in Gethsemane? It is simply impossible. I will not attempt to expound the verses before us. That I know is a task too great for the man writing these lines. This passage contains things the wisest of faithful, godly men cannot explain. We will simply look at our Saviour and his disciples as they are set before us in this passage and, I trust, learn the obvious lessons here set before us by God the Holy Spirit. Our Saviour’s Agony What was the cause of our Saviour’s agony? What was the cause of this great heaviness and sorrow, this grief and agony of our blessed Redeemer’s soul? What was it that crushed our Master’s heart? What so greatly disturbed him? It was not the fear of physical pain, the fear of death, or even the fear of dying upon the cross. It was not death on the cross that our Redeemer agonized over in Gethsemane. He stated very emphatically that he came for the purpose of dying as our Substitute upon the cursed tree. We should read the record of our Saviour’s agony here in light of his earlier temptation in the wilderness. After that temptation, Satan left him for a season, awaiting another opportunity to assault him (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemane the prince of this world launched his final assault upon the Lord Jesus. Just as he assaulted Adam in the garden of Eden, he assaulted the last Adam in the garden of Gethsemane. In Gethsemane the serpent bruised the heel of the woman’s Seed, and in Gethsemane the woman’s Seed again overthrew his assault. That which crushed our Saviour’s heart was the anticipation of being made sin for us. The heavy, heavy burden which crushed his very soul was the enormous load of sin and guilt, the sin and guilt of all God’s elect which was about to be made his. Our Saviour’s great sorrow was caused by his anticipation of being made sin for us. “It was”, wrote J. C. Ryle, “a sense of the unutterable weight of our sins and transgressions which were then specially laid upon him.” He who knew no sin was about to be made sin for us. He who is the only man who really knows what sin is, the only man who sees sin as God sees it was about to become sin. He who is the holy, harmless, undefiled Lamb of God was about to be made a curse for us. The holy Son of God was about to be forsaken by his Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “began to be sore amazed”, to be in great consternation and astonishment, at the sight of all the sins of his people coming upon him, at the black storm of divine wrath that was gathering thick over him, at the sword of justice which was brandished against him, and at the curses of God’s holy law and inflexible justice, which, like thunderbolts of vengeance from heaven, were directed at him. In consideration of these things, our Saviour began “to be very heavy”! That which crushed our Saviour’s very heart and soul was the very thing for which he came into the world: the prospect of what he must endure as our Substitute. The message of the Word of God, in its entirety, is Substitution. The Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, our Mediator and Surety, died in our place, in the place of God’s elect as our Substitute. By his own blood, when he was made sin for us, when he was slain in our stead, he satisfied the justice of God for us, magnified his holy law, made it honourable, and purchased for us the complete, everlasting forgiveness of all our sins. He died, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Christ died at Calvary so that God might be both just and the Justifier of all who believe. It is written, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged” (Proverbs 16:7; Romans 3:19-28; Ephesians 1:7). Since the Lord Jesus Christ died as the sinners’ Substitute, since he has met and fully satisfied the justice of God for us, believing sinners have no reason ever to fear condemnation by God, accusation before God, or separation from God (Romans 8:1-4; Romans 8:31-39). It was the enormous load of our sin and guilt which crushed our Saviour’s heart in Gethsemane (Isaiah 53:4-6). Sin’s Ignominy What a horrible, monstrous, ignominious thing sin must be! Nothing so displays the exceeding sinfulness of sin as the death of our Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. When the holy Lord God found sin on his own darling Son, he killed him. God poured out all the unmitigated fury of his wrath upon his own darling Son, when he found sin upon him, and forsook him. Those facts ought to startle every human being. They assure us that if God finds sin on us, he will do the same thing to us forever. Let us never look lightly upon sin. Christ’s Prayer What is the meaning of our Lord’s prayer in Luke 22:42? “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” In his time of great heaviness, sorrow, and distress, we find our Lord Jesus in prayer. What an example he sets before us. The first one to whom we should turn in every time of trouble is our heavenly Father. Our God should be the first to hear the words of our complaints. He may or may not relieve us of our trouble; but it is good for our souls for us to unburden our hearts at the throne of grace. There, and only there will we discover the all-sufficiency of his grace (Hebrews 4:16; James 5:13). But what was our Lord praying for in the garden of Gethsemane? Let us never rush in where angels dare not tread. I will not entertain idle curiosity about the things of God, especially when discussing the heart-wrenching agony of soul endured by the Son of God to save us. Still, this agony of soul, which the Lord Jesus endured for us, is recorded in all four gospel narratives. Matthew and Mark both tell us that our Saviour uttered this prayer in much the same words three times. As we have seen, Luke adds the details about his bloody sweat and an angel coming to minister to him. “And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done” (Matthew 26:39-42). While the apostle John does not specifically deal with our Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane, he does give us a hint at the meaning of his prayer. In John 12 we see our Saviour in a similar position and experience six days before the betrayal in Gethsemane (John 12:23-33). Here we see our Saviour in great agony of soul. His agony was clearly related to his death at Calvary. Yet, he set his face stedfastly toward the cross without flinching. While he certainly has his death at Calvary in mind, our Lord Jesus, obviously, was not asking that he might be kept from that appointment for which he came into this world. He had come to this place on purpose, that he might be betrayed by Judas, arrested, and hanged upon the cross by the hands of wicked men as our covenant Surety (Hebrews 10:1-10). If the Lord Jesus was not praying to be saved from dying in our place as our sin-atoning Substitute, what was he praying for his Father to do here? Our Lord was here once more under the assault of hell. Satan was making his last effort to keep him from fulfilling his Father’s purpose of grace in redemption. He was doing everything he could to keep the Seed of the woman from crushing his head. I have no doubt at all that our Saviour, being overwhelmed with the prospect of being made sin, in this state of soul agony, was (as a man) fearful of dying before he had finished his work, before he reached the cross. He was fearful of dying in the garden of Gethsemane (Hebrews 5:7). We must never forget that our Lord Jesus is both God and man in one glorious person. As God he could never know fear. Yet, he could not be a man tempted in all points like as we are if he did not know fear. These two distinct natures in Christ, the divine and the human, are obvious throughout the gospel narratives, especially in those passages dealing with his temptations, sufferings, and death. Here in Gethsemane we see the man Christ Jesus begging for relief from this great trial of agony. Yet, his submission and resignation to the Father’s will is submission and resignation to his own will as God. “The hour” from which our Lord prayed for release was not the hour for which he had come into the world, but this hour in the garden. “The cup” he prayed might pass from him was not the cup of his Father’s wrath to be poured out upon him at Calvary. That cup Jehovah’s Servant took with determinate purpose and resolve. The cup he wanted to pass from him was the fear of dying in the garden before he could take the cup of his Father’s wrath and drink it for us. Our Lord’s Example What a remarkable example our Lord Jesus set before us of submission to the will of God. “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:21-24). This is the highest measure of practical godliness and holiness. Let men brag and boast to themselves, as they may, about their imaginary godly deeds. The surrender of my will to God’s will in all things is godliness. Godliness is bearing patiently whatever my Father sends, desiring only what my God has purposed, wanting nothing but what he wills, preferring pain to pleasure, if that is my Father’s will. Nothing can make us happier in this world than submission to the will of God. And nothing brings us so much heartache and misery in this world as having our own way.

May God give us grace to willingly submit to his will: his eternal will of predestination, his revealed will in scripture, and his accomplished will in providence. Let us ever say, with Eli of old, “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.” Our Shame What shameful, fickle, slothful, sinful creatures the very best of God’s saints are in this world. We have a painful illustration of this fact in the slothful indifference of Peter, James, and John in Luke 22:45-46. “And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” But we have an even more painful illustration of it in ourselves. We all far too often sleep when we ought to pray, ignore our Lord when he is near, and quickly let slip those things we ought to hold fast. All who are born of God, so long as we live in this world, are people with two diametrically opposite, warring natures (Romans 7:14-23; Galatians 5:17; Psalms 73). The spirit is ready and willing; but the flesh is sinful and weak. Therefore, we must ever watch and pray. We must always be on guard, as soldiers in hostile, enemy territory, knowing that there is a malicious traitor within. We must fight the battles daily. We must wage warfare against our flesh daily. Our rest is yet to come (1 Thessalonians 5:14-24). Give Thanks If you will read Mark’s account (Mark 14:41-42), you will see what great reason we have to give thanks to our dear Saviour for his stedfast resolve as our Surety. “And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough.” Our Lord Jesus was saying, “It is done. This trial is over. I have finished the work of my obedience.” “The hour is come.” Now the appointed hour of my death, the appointed hour of your redemption is come. Now I must finish the work my Father gave me to do for you. I must go yonder to die in your place! Did you catch those last three words in Luke 22:41? “It is enough”! He said, “Sleep on now, take your rest it is enough”! His obedience is enough. His blood is enough. His grace is enough. He is enough. Therefore, we can take our rest in him. “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude” (Luke 22:3-6).

Luke 22:47-53

Chapter 46 The BetrayalThat which is contained in these verses is both sad and solemn. It is a subject full of serious warning to every hypocrite. Yet, it is a subject that is instructive and comforting to believing sinners. Here the Holy Spirit describes the betrayal of our Saviour by Judas Iscariot, showing us how our sovereign God and Saviour used the deeds of the most infamous man in history to accomplish his purpose of grace in the redemption of his elect and to fulfil the scriptures in his death. Judas Iscariot “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot.” First, let me tell you something about this horrible man, Judas Iscariot. There were four men named Jude, or Judas, in the New Testament. Jude, the brother of James and half brother of our Saviour, who wrote the Epistle of Jude (Matthew 13:55). This man was the Judas who asked the Saviour, “Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” (John 14:22). There is another Judas mentioned in Acts 9:11, who lived on Straight St. in Damascus, at whose house Ananias met Saul of Tarsus, after the Lord Jesus had revealed himself in that man chosen of God to be the apostle to the Gentiles. There was a third Jude, or Judas, who was surnamed Barsabas. He was sent by the apostles to the church at Antioch, after the conference at Jerusalem (Acts 15:22-30). And here is Judas Iscariot, the traitor, the betrayer of our Lord. His name was Judas; but he was, by divine providence, surnamed Iscariot, which means “the man of murder”. It had been better for this man if he had never been born. Of him our Saviour said, “The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born” (Mark 14:21). “Then” “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot.” It is important to notice the time God the Holy Spirit identifies for us when Satan is here said to have entered into Judas. This was two days before the passover. It happened while our Saviour was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper (Matthew 26:2-17; Mark 14:1-11). In fact, Mark’s account seems to indicate that the thing Satan used to trigger Judas’ wickedness was the devotion of the woman who anointed the Saviour with precious spikenard for his burial, and the Master’s commendation of her good work. Immediately after our Saviour commended this woman and her work, Judas “went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them” (Mark 14:10). John tells us that this happened before the supper in Simon’s house ended (John 13:2). While they were at the table in Simon’s house, you will remember, the Lord Jesus arose from the supper and washed his disciples’ feet. (This was not at the Lord’s Supper, but at the supper in Simon’s house in Bethany.) Then, the Saviour told the disciples that one of them would betray him. When they wondered which of them would do the horrible deed, he said, “He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly” (John 13:26-27).

Though the Lord Jesus had spoken very plainly, the disciples failed to realize that he had identified Judas as the betrayer. But Judas “having received the sop went immediately out” to betray him (John 13:30). Immediately following the supper at Bethany, while Judas was making his dastardly deal with the chief priests, the Lord Jesus sent Peter and John into Jerusalem to prepare for the passover. Then, when the appointed hour arrived, “he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him”, to keep the passover feast (Luke 22:14; Matthew 26:20; Mark 14:17). Our Saviour kept the passover feast with his disciples, as was required by the law (Luke 22:15-18). In Luke 22:19-20 he established the gospel ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, by which God’s saints in this gospel age remember the Saviour and symbolically “show the Lord’s death, till he come” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Judas At The Table I have said all that because I want you to see, and to see clearly, that Judas was at the table with the Lord Jesus and his disciples when the Lord’s Supper was established. In Luke 22:21-22 we are plainly told that after making his hellish deal to betray the Son of God, Judas was present with the twelve and kept the first observance of the Lord’s Supper with them. The Lord Jesus said, “Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed”! What a base, crass, hard-hearted hypocrite Judas must have been! Apparently, he came only to cover his tracks; but there he is sitting with the Son of God and his apostles as the Saviour established the blessed ordinance of sweet communion, just as though he was part of the communion! This is important because there are multitudes who would have us “fence the table”, or not observe it at all, lest someone eat the bread and wine with us who is an unbeliever. Some would even keep other believers from the table. Such practices are terribly evil. Be sure you understand what the scriptures teach regarding the Lord’s Supper. Like believer’s baptism, it is a blessed, gospel ordinance of worship; and, like baptism, it is an ordinance to be observed by believers only. If you do not trust Christ as your Saviour, if you do not discern the Lord’s body (That is to say, “If you do not know why Christ came into this world and what he accomplished, if you do not know your need of him as your sin-atoning Substitute.”) you must not join God’s children at the Lord’s Table. The ordinance is not for you. To eat the bread and drink the wine without such God-given discernment is to eat and drink damnation to yourself. But, if you are a believer, if you do trust Christ alone as your Lord and Saviour, the Table is prepared and set for you. No believer is unworthy to receive the bread and wine in remembrance of the Saviour. In fact, every believer is specifically told to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of the Saviour, and to do so often (Matthew 26:26-28). The observance of the Lord’s Supper is no more optional than believer’s baptism. It is just as evil to refuse one of the Lord’s children their place at the Table, as it would be to refuse baptism to one to whom he has given faith in Christ. Who makes the decision? Who decides who shall eat the bread and drink the wine? The scriptures tell us plainly. Each person must examine himself. You, and you alone, are to determine whether you are a sinner whose only hope of salvation and eternal life is the crucified Son of God. It is not the pastor’s responsibility, or the responsibility of the church’s elders or deacons. It is the responsibility of the individual, and no one else, to determine whether he does or does not trust Christ as his Saviour. The Lord Jesus knew that Judas was a devil from the beginning, and knew that he had already made arrangements to betray him for thirty pieces of silver. He spoke so pointedly to Judas about these things, that he had no excuse for his hellish hypocrisy. But the Master did nothing to keep that devil from eating the bread and drinking the wine. “One Of The Twelve” We are told that Judas was “of the number of the twelve” (Luke 22:3). He was “one of the twelve” (Luke 22:47). Those twelve men formed the most elite group of men ever to walk across the face of the earth. Yet, “one of the twelve” apostles of Christ was Judas Iscariot, Judas the murderous traitor. When the Lord chose Judas to the office of an apostle, he knew he was a devil (John 6:70-71). When the Lord Jesus commissioned the others, Judas was commissioned with them. When our Saviour sent out the twelve to cast out devils, heal the sick, and preach the kingdom of God, Judas was among them (Luke 9:1-6). It seems to me that Judas must have even performed the same miracles that the other apostles performed; else he may have been detected by them. Gracious Designs All this was done, though the Lord Jesus knew exactly who and what Judas was. Rather than questioning these things, we ought to immediately recognize that our Saviour had wise and gracious designs in them. Judas was a man specifically raised up to stand as a glaring beacon to warn all men, telling all that outward religion without inward grace is not only useless, but damning. Judas was chosen to be a preacher and even an apostle. No doubt, he preached exactly the same doctrine as Peter, James, and John, the very doctrine that Christ preached. But Judas was a devil. He was never born again. He was never called to life and faith in Christ by God the Holy Spirit. Judas was never made a partaker of Christ and a partaker of the grace of God. He was nothing but an outward, empty hearted professor of faith in Christ, not a possessor of grace. He was an apostle (a messenger of God) in name only. Peter said he was “numbered with” the apostles and had “obtained part” of their ministry (Acts 1:17). He obtained part, just an outside part of the apostles’ ministry, no more. He had the name and the office, the duties and the doctrine, the fame and the functions of an apostle, but nothing more. He had no grace in his heart and no gifts of the Spirit. Those who heard him preach heard cold, dry, empty echoes of a cold, dry, empty heart. I fear there are multitudes like Judas today who fill the pulpits of churches. They are ordained by men, but not by God the Holy Spirit. They are talented, but not gifted with grace. They are forceful, but not faithful. Their doctrine may be profound and precise, but it is not pure. It may elevate your thinking, but it will not edify your soul. It may swell your head, but it will not sanctify your heart. Such a man was Judas. He was a devil from the beginning and remained a devil to the end, though he was numbered with, and constantly associated with the apostles to the end of his days, until the measure of his iniquity was filled. Then, he went “to his own place” (Acts 1:25). We should never be surprised by the appearance of such men, or surprised that they go undetected, even by the faithful (Matthew 7:22-23). No Harm Judas also stands as a constant, blessed beacon of light, proclaiming forever that all Satan’s devices and all the deeds of even the most malicious men shall never hurt God’s cause, injure his people, or hinder the gospel. The Apostles were not hindered in their work because Judas was among them. The disciples were not harmed by his presence at the Table. Our Saviour was not hindered, but only helped in his determination to redeem us by Judas’ betrayal. In fact, it was Judas’ fall from the number of the twelve that made room for the twelfth true apostle, the apostle Paul. In choosing Judas to be an apostle and allowing a devil to sit at the Lord’s Table with his disciples our Saviour assures us that his saints are not polluted or harmed in anyway because a Judas is among them. The Lord’s true disciples did not lose a thing because Judas was among them. They had Christ with them. Their joy was not diminished because Judas was there. If, indeed, the Lord Jesus meets with us when we gather to worship him as he promised (Matthew 18:20), we will suffer no loss if a devil dares try to hide himself from God among the sons of God (Job 1:6). If God the Holy Spirit will lead us “by the footsteps of the flock”, where the Good Shepherd feeds his sheep (Son 1:8), our souls shall be blessed with his flock, though there may be a goat or two among the sheep, or a lion lying in wait. He will prepare a table for us, even in the presence of our enemies, anoint our heads with the oil of grace, and cause our cups to run over. Wheat And Tares Yes, our Saviour had wise and gracious designs in his use of Judas. He knew that his church, so long as we are in this world, would never be free from false apostles, false preachers, and false prophets. And he knew that tares would grow together with the wheat until the harvest. Goats will ever be found among his sheep in this world. Wherever the good fish are gathered by the gospel net, carps will be gathered, too. And this is exactly according to his purpose. Yet, the “precious and the vile” are still perfectly distinct, and between them there is “a great gulf fixed”. Tares will never become wheat. Goats will never become sheep. And bad fish will never become good fish. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent cannot be mixed. Betrayed With A Kiss Skip down to Luke 22:47. The Lord Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He has finished praying. When he arose from prayer, he found Peter, James, and John “sleeping for sorrow” (Luke 22:45). When he did, he said, “Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” (Luke 22:46). Read Luke 22:47-54. “And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.

Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. A Multitude Here is a multitude of Roman soldiers armed with swords and spears, and Jews with the chief priests, with Judas leading the way. “Judas was guide to them that took Jesus” (Acts 1:16). But, why would such a huge multitude come to arrest one unarmed man? Were they afraid of him? It appears that they were. It is obvious that the soldiers, as well as the Jews, had heard that this man claimed to be more than a mere man. He claimed to be God in the flesh; and his disciples all worshipped him as God. We know that the soldiers were aware of this, because one of them later declared, “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39). It is certain that none of the princes of this world really knew him, “for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8). Yet, these men knew that he openly claimed to be “the Lord of Glory”, and feared that he might be. And he showed them that their fears were justified (John 18:4-8). It is obvious that though Judas was determined to betray him, he was terrified of him. Matthew tells us that he told the soldiers as soon as they saw him kiss the Lord Jesus, they should hold him fast (Matthew 26:48). Total Depravity Why did he use such precautions? There was in that devil of a man a terrifying conviction that Christ was more than man. He could not have forgotten the miracles of Christ. He had seen the Master escape from the hands of his enemies, when they sought to throw him over the hill of the city (Luke 4:29-31). Therefore, he told them to bind him and lead him away securely (Mark 14:44). These men, all of them, must have been terrified as they led the Saviour out of Gethsemane. They all had seen and heard enough that night to convince them that this man is God. Our Lord took the initiative, approaching them with not the slightest twinge of fear. He had declared, “I AM”, and they fell away backward before him. He picked Malchus’ right ear up off the ground and replaced it before their eyes. They knew who they were dealing with, and must have been nervous and afraid. Yet, such is the deadness and depravity of the human heart that sinners cannot act contrary to the evil determination of their own wicked hearts and wills, unless they are graciously compelled to do so by God the Holy Spirit. Even when stricken with terror, they cannot and will not repent, except God give them repentance. If we know, by the sweet experience of his grace, what it is to repent, what it is to trust Christ, our hearts ought to constantly bow before him with gratitude and dance before him with joy! Christ In Control Though bound like a criminal, our Lord Jesus Christ was in absolute control, even of this mob. He was overruling their malice for his own glory that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Our sovereign Saviour was, by the use of these wicked men, accomplishing the prophecies of the Old Testament scriptures. He was taken by force, but not by the force of these men. He was taken captive by them by the force of his own determination to die in our place upon the cursed tree, and to do so exactly according to the scriptures. According to the scripture, he had to be betrayed by one who was familiar with him and called his friend, one in whom he confided, one who had eaten of his bread (Psalms 41:9). According to the scripture, the sacrifice for sin had to be bound. Therefore, our Saviour voluntarily stretched out his hand to be bound by sinners (Psalms 118:27). As Isaac was voluntarily bound and laid upon the altar, our blessed Saviour was, by his own voluntary will, bound by these wicked men that the scripture might be fulfilled. Jews And Gentiles This wicked band of murderous men was a mob of rebels, composed of both Jews and Gentiles. Though utterly unconscious of the fact, they were visibly and undeniably fulfilling that which was written of them in the 2nd Psalm hundreds of years earlier. We know that the actions of these men was the fulfilment of the 2nd Psalm, because the Spirit of God specifically tells us that is the case in Acts 4:24-28. “And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” Brought To The High Priest In Luke 22:54 Luke says, “Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house.” When they came to arrest our Saviour in the Garden, it was the intention of this mob to deliver him up to the Romans, to give him a mock trial, and murder him. These soldiers did not come representing the Jews’ or their high priest. They were Roman soldiers. Why, then, did they take him first to the high priest? Again, though they had no idea what they were doing, they acted directly contrary to their own inclinations to fulfil the purpose of our God. Roman soldiers would not willingly do anything just to please the despised Jews over whom they ruled. And they probably acted in direct disobedience to their orders. These men were the Roman governor’s soldiers. It is highly unlikely that the governor sent them out with orders to arrest the Lord Jesus and take him to the high priest’s house. It seems to me that he would have ordered them to bring the Lord Jesus directly to him. Why, then, do you suppose they took him to the house of the high priest? If you will read the 1st chapter of Leviticus, you will see that the sacrifice for sin had to be brought first to the priest. Why did they bring Christ first into “the high priest’s house”? They did it that Christ might die for our sins according to the scriptures, that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Christ our Passover, our Sin-offering, our Sacrifice, had to be bound and led away, as all sacrifices under the law were, to the high priest. And both Jew and Gentile had to be involved in the great work. So they dragged the Lord Jesus to the high priest, then to the Governor, and then to Pilate, and at last to Mount Calvary, where he was crucified by the hands of wicked men, according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, “according to the scriptures” (Isaiah 53:5-12). “His Own Place” When he had done that for which he was ordained, that for which his vile, base heart lusted, this hard, impenitent rebel, Judas, the man of murder, went to his own place in hell, and that by his own hand. We are specifically told, “Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place” (Matthew 27:3-5; Acts 1:18-25). What a horrible death Judas died! Being condemned in himself, he committed suicide, hanging himself. Then, “falling headlong, he burst asunder, and all his bowels gushed out.” What a spectacle! How just! Then he went to his own place in hell. Imagine if you dare, what has followed. Throughout the unimaginable miseries of eternity, Judas is forced to endure, to the everlasting torment of his soul, the unceasing condemnation of his own guilty, damning conscience. In the screeches of the damned, this fire burns in his soul and this worm never dies, Judas’ own conscience ceaselessly screams, “Would God I had never been born! Would God I had never been born! I am justly damned forever! I am the man who betrayed the Lord of life and glory with a kiss”! Christ’s Appointed Place Yet, it was by the hand of Judas, the man of murder, that the Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed Saviour, went to his appointed place, at his appointed time, and finished his appointed work as our Saviour. Here he justified us with his own blood, forever put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, and obtained eternal redemption for us, dying “for our sins according to the scriptures.” Our Own Place The end result of all this is glorious. Because Christ took our place at Calvary, because he was made sin for us, we have been made the righteousness of God in him; and soon we shall be brought, by his omnipotent grace and immaculate mercy, into our own place with him in heaven at last! What will be your place? Will you be brought down to your own place in hell by your own hands, by your wilful, obstinate rebellion refusing to bow to the Son of God? Oh, may God graciously save you from yourself by his grace, give you life and faith in his darling Son, and sweetly force you to enter into life eternal by Christ the Door. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Trust the Son of God now; and soon he will bring you to your own place, the place prepared for you from the foundation of the world, and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Luke 22:54-62

Chapter 47 A Great Sinner And His Great SaviourBecause it is describe in great detail by God the Holy Spirit in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it is obvious that Peter’s fall and his recovery by the Lord Jesus Christ is a matter of great importance, and one that we need to have repeatedly impressed upon our hearts and minds. May God the Holy Spirit be our Teacher as we go over the inspired history of this sad event. Here is the tremendously instructive record of a great sinner and his great Saviour. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. Were it merely an uninspired book of religion written by men, the gospel writers would never have told us that Peter, one of the Lord’s apostles, denied his Master three times. What are we to learn from this sad, yet encouraging event in the life of God’s servant, the Apostle Peter? Declining Steps First, we should observe that Peter’s great fall was preceded by gradually declining steps. His great sin was preceded by lesser evils. The steps of his demise are clearly identified by the inspired historians, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. First, Peter displayed terrible pride and self-confidence. Though all the other disciples might deny the Saviour, Peter boasted that he would never do so. He openly boasted that he was ready to go with the Lord Jesus both to prison and to death. Then, when the Lord Jesus told him to watch and pray, lest he enter into temptation, Peter was found sleeping. Third, Peter was vacillating and indecisive. When Judas, the chief priests, and soldiers came to arrest the Son of God, Peter immediately fought for his Master bravely.

Then, he ran away. Then, he returned. Then, we see him following the Saviour; but “Peter followed afar off”. Next we see this man, who was the object of God’s everlasting love and boundless, immutable grace, mingling with his Saviour’s enemies. He went into the high priest’s house and sat down among his servants, warming himself by their fire, hoping to hide himself among them, hoping he would not be identified as one of the Lord’s disciples by his enemies. He sat among godless, reprobate men, committing the most wicked deeds ever performed by men, hearing the filth gushing from their hearts, as they cast accusation after accusation against the Lord of glory, and he wanted to be identified not as a follower of Christ, but as one of them!

Finally, Peter was overwhelmed with fear and denied the Lord Jesus three times. Let us beware of the little foxes that spoil the vine (Son 2:15). What a sweet and tender precept this is! How very needful! Foxes are used to represent the subtle, less open, less obvious sins and corruptions lurking in us, like those cunning creatures, hiding in silence, waiting to catch their prey. Foxes also represent cunning, false prophets hiding themselves among God’s saints (Lamentations 5:18; Ezekiel 13:4). Satan never more cunningly and, perhaps, never more effectively deceives men, than when he transforms himself into an angel of light and makes his ministers ministers of righteousness. The vines the foxes would destroy are the Lord’s people, believers, having tender grapes. What is more tender than a tender conscience? What can be more easily wounded? Let us ever look to Christ, the Lord of the vineyard, for grace against these destructive enemies to our souls’ welfare. Let us ever be keenly aware of the fact that our greatest watchfulness and most fervent prayers, without his watchful eye and gracious protection, can never protect us from these shrewd, cunning foxes. Let us never cease to ask our Saviour to protect us from these foxes and destroy them before us. Robert Hawker wrote: “Lord, I would say, keep me from every enemy which doeth evil in thy sanctuary, and preserve alive, in flourishing circumstances, all those tender graces of thy Spirit bestowed upon me, that I may bring forth fruit to the praise of thy holy name, and may flourish and spread abroad as the cedar in Lebanon.” And let us never cease to give thanks for the sweet assurance that though the foxes would destroy the vine, if they could, they never shall, because the Lord Jesus himself keeps his vine! Inward Corruption Here is another thing we all prefer not to think about, but something we should constantly remember. None of us know what vile corruptions are hidden deep in our hearts and what horrible deeds we might commit in a moment, if the Lord did not keep us from acting according to what we are. Like you and me, Peter knew he was a sinner. He confessed it. “Lord, depart from me. I am a sinful man.” But like us, Peter had no idea how sinful he was. I am sure he never dreamed he could do the things he did in the high priest’s house that night. You and I need to be constantly aware of this fact. There is no evil in the world that is not in us. And there is no evil thing we will not do in a heartbeat, if the Lord God leaves us to ourselves. Peter was a great man, a great Apostle, a great believer. He was faithful and courageous, a man who truly loved and trusted the Son of God; but he was just a man, a sinner saved by grace, nothing more. Whether we know it or not, we carry within us a boundless capacity for evil. There is no enormity of sin into which we will not run, if we are not held from the evil that is in us by the hand of God’s omnipotent grace. When we read the falls of Noah, Lot, and Peter, we only read what would befall ourselves, if the Lord did not prevent it. Let us never presume. Let us never indulge in high thoughts about our own strength, or look down upon others who have fallen. May God the Holy Spirit graciously and constantly teach us to “walk humbly with God”. No Effectual Means Third, the story of Peter’s fall teaches us that no means of grace will effectually serve our souls, unless the means is made effectual by God’s Spirit. I would say nothing to minimize the use of outward means. God uses outward means. But the means are meaningless, without the blessing of God upon them and the work of his Spirit by them. Not only is that true, but it is equally important for us to understand that no past experience will secure our souls from present evil. Peter was an apostle of Christ; yet, he fell. Peter had seen and performed great miracles; yet, he fell. Peter once walked on water to the Saviour; yet, he fell. Peter had seen the transfigured Christ; yet, he fell. Peter had just heard the greatest sermon ever preached (John 14-16); yet, he fell. Peter had been warned by the Master; yet, he fell. Peter heard the cock crow, reminding him of the Saviour’s warning; yet, he fell, persisting in his downward course. Amid all these distinguishing mercies, and forewarned as he was by Christ, he not only denied Christ, but persisted in the denial, though the first crowing of the cock told him of his treachery. Still, he went on in his wickedness, fully aware of what he was doing! How often we hear the Word of God, or read it, hearing the very voice of God, as Peter did when he heard the crowing of the cock in the early hour of the morning, and totally ignore his voice. We will never heed it, except the Lord graciously causes us to hear it, as he caused Peter to hear the second crowing of the cock. Peter was in the immediate presence of his Saviour; yet, he fell! No means of grace is a means of grace, without the workings of God’s grace upon us and in us. The only thing that distinguishes us from others is the distinguishing grace of our God. The only righteousness we have is Christ; and the only thing that keeps us is the grace of God. Peter’s Recovery What should we learn from Peter’s recovery? For one thing, we should learn that when we fall, we have no ability to recover ourselves. When Peter heard the rooster crow the first time, how alarmed he must have been. Yet, he went on to even greater wickedness. Even when he heard the second crowing, he was unaffected, until “the Lord turned and looked upon Peter”. What a look that must have been! The Lord turned to Peter. Peter did not turn to the Lord. He looked upon Peter, not in anger and disgust, but in mercy, love, and grace. That look was a look of tenderness, compassion, and faithfulness. What a great, gloriously, indescribably great Saviour our dear Lord Jesus is! His love for us is great. His grace to us is great. His faithfulness is great. His forgiveness is great. His righteousness is great. His atonement is great. His keeping is great. And his restoration is great. Peter had gone back to his nets and boats, sure that he was reprobate; but the Lord Jesus would not let him go (Mark 16:7; John 21:15-17).

Luke 22:63-71

Chapter 48 Majesty On TrialWhile our Lord Jesus was before Caiaphas in the dead of night, before the Sanhedrim had been fully gathered together to hold their trial at daybreak, our dear Redeemer was treated with the utmost cruelty and abuse. His enemies were so anxious to condemn him that as soon as he was brought into the high priest’s house, they began tormenting him, as they blasphemed. Then, early in the morning, the Jewish Sanhedrim gathered to condemn the Lord of Glory. That is what is described in this portion of holy scripture. Like wild beast, or enraged savages, “The men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.” They vented their utmost hatred upon the “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” His tormentors had no pity for him in their hard, calloused hearts. None were found to vindicate his character, or plead his cause. No man stood with him. There were none to pity him. What gross cowards these men were! Cruelty is always the badge of cowardice. They were the very same men who in the garden, “went backward, and fell to the ground”, when our Lord said, “I AM.” They went out, with swords and staves, to take him prisoner. Yet, they fell to the ground when he simply spoke a single word to them. But now they think they have him in their power. He stands before them as a sheep before her shearers; and they are determined to be as cruel as possible in tormenting him. Yet, even this record of their cruelty is set before us in the Word of God that we, through patience and consolation of the scriptures, might have hope. Blessed Holy Spirit, whose Word we have read, be our Teacher and show us wondrous things out of thy law this hour, for Christ’s sake. God In Great Humiliation First, we have before us a vivid picture of that which the Apostle wrote concerning God our Saviour, when he said, “he humbled himself”! Here is God, the eternal God of Glory, in great, indescribable humiliation. “And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him” (Luke 22:63-65). There stands Jesus of Nazareth, God in human flesh, the God-man our Mediator. I will not attempt to picture him. No artist’s brush can paint the picture. No mortal tongue can describe it. But, here God the Holy Spirit paints a picture of our Saviour’s humiliation with words of infinite skill, in the eloquence of simplicity, without the slightest hint of overstatement. May God the Holy Spirit give us eyes to see him who was tormented in the high priest’s house on that dark, dark night. Do you see him standing before his implacable foes, clothed with a seamless garment, bound, delivered over to the officers, and now surrounded by them, as they mock him, scoff at him, and beat Him? Let your eye rest on him. Set your heart on him. There he stands, our Saviour, very God of very God. What do you see? I see Omnipotence held captive. The Spirit of God speaks of “the men that held Jesus”. Is God held prisoner by men? Yes, he was. The man they held is himself “over all God, blessed forever”, the Creator of heaven and earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” He was, at that very moment “upholding all things by the word of his power.” In all his weakness and in all his sufferings, he was still “over all, God blessed forever.” Though mocked, beaten of men, and blasphemed, the holy angels adore him. Surely, there is something wondrous in this! Omnipotence held captive! He who can create or destroy, according to the good pleasure of his own will, took upon himself our nature, and in that nature sank so low as to become subject even to the very utmost cruelty of man. What a wondrous stoop of condescension! The omnipotent God allows himself to be bound, and never proves himself more truly omnipotent than when he permits himself to be held as a prisoner by sinful men. Our omnipotent God became the captive prisoner of wicked men, that wicked men held in the captivity of their own sin and guilt might be set free. The Lord Jesus Christ went into captivity that he might lead captivity captive and set us free. Behold the Man again. This man is the glory of God. Looking stedfastly on him, I see glory mocked, for “the men that held Jesus mocked him”. They could not see his glory, because they were blind, and because he veiled his glory, hiding it from them. But the angels of God beheld it. And because he has revealed it to us and given us eyes to see, we behold his glory, “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” It is amazing to me that the God who reigns in glory over myriads of holy angels should be mocked by miscreants, who could not even have lived for a second in his presence if he had not given them life and sustained them in it. Yet, there he is; he who made the heavens and the earth, despised and rejected of men, treated with the utmost scorn and mockery. His glory was mocked that we might be glorified together with him, we who have so horribly mocked his glory! What is sin, but the mockery of the glory of God? While I am indignant with those men who so mocked my Saviour, I am even more indignant with myself for all the mockery I have heaped upon his glory! Oh, how I have mocked him! Behold the man again. Looking upon my Saviour as he stands silently before his tormentors, I see goodness smitten; perfect, infinite, unutterable goodness stricken, bruised, assailed, assaulted, and smitten. “The men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.” To smite wickedness is an act of justice; but to smite goodness is an abomination (Proverbs 17:15). The Son of God who stood there had within his soul mercy which endures forever. Yet, they smote him. There burned in his holy heart a love which many waters cannot quench, and which the floods of waters cannot drown. Yet, they smote him! He had come to bring peace and goodwill to men, and to set up a kingdom of joy and love, of righteousness and peace. Yet, they smote him! Never was goodness so good as when our blessed Saviour, the good and the just was smitten, not of men, but of God, that all the goodness of God might be ours in him (Proverbs 17:15; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Oh what great goodness there is here! He was “smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed”! Yet, again my heart is compelled to cry, How very grievously have I smitten him, even in his own house! I see something else here. I see omniscience blindfolded. “When they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?” Of course, omniscience can never be blinded. Yet, here is God in human flesh blindfolded. Why did our Saviour endure this indignation? What is the meaning of this? Why is it written here?

I do not presume to think I know the answer to such questions fully. Yet, when I see omniscience blindfolded, and hear these men ask the God of Glory who smote him, Numbers 23:21 comes to my mind. By the sufferings and death of Christ, the God of Glory has been, in absolute justice, forever blinded to our sins, so blinded that he does not even see us as the sinners who have smitten him! Blessed be his name forever, “he hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” The precious blood of Christ has so thoroughly blotted out our sins that God does not behold iniquity in Israel! Indescribable Depravity Next, look at our Saviour’s tormentors. In the actions of these men, I see a terrible, but clear portrayal of the indescribable depravity of humanity, the indescribable depravity of your heart and mine. There is much talk these days about the will of man. Some fools even talk about man’s “free will.” Here are men, religious men, the temple guards, acting in the dark of night, acting not by order, not by law, not by the influence of others, but acting by the impulse of their own will. The things they did to the Son of God draw an ugly, but unmistakably clear picture of the nature of man and the nature of his will. They have God himself in their hands. What will man do in his time of utmost liberty and freedom? “And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him” (Luke 22:64-65).

Oh, what enmity fallen man has for God! How utterly depraved we are! Fallen man hates God. Ours is a race of rebels who defy God’s justice. We defy his omniscience. We are a people whose lives are lives full of blasphemies and insults to the Almighty.

Fallen man is more relentlessly cruel than any wild beast. Majesty In Misery Yet, I see something else here. I see majesty in my Saviour’s misery. Amid all this evil there stands God our Saviour, glorious in majesty, wonderful in goodness, majestic in glory. As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, he opens not his mouth. No flush of anger appears on his face. No glare of wrath shoots from his eyes. He bore it all, bore it in his very soul, with Divine patience, the very patience of “the God of patience”. He bore all in patience, knowing that he bore these things from men by the will and hand of his heavenly Father. “Never man spake like this Man”, when he spoke not a word! What an example he sets for us to follow (1 Peter 2:21-24). Our Saviour was triumphant in submission. Submitting to the will of his Father, his persecutors could not make him give way to anger. They could not destroy his devotion. They could not keep him from doing all that he came to do for us. No, the strong-souled Christ persevered in his merciful work until he had accomplished our redemption by the Sacrifice of himself. Obstinate Unbelief “And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go” (Luke 22:66-68). They were determined not to believe in him and receive him. Their unbelief was wilful and obstinate. They defied that which was clearly and indisputably set before them. Therefore, our Saviour said, “Ye will not believe.” This is the great evil that lies at the root of most men’s sins, they believe not in Jesus Christ, whom God hath sent. It is this of which the Spirit of God convinces men, as our Saviour foretold concerning him: “He will convince the world of sin … because they believe not on me.” Yet, there is nothing more reasonable, nothing more worthy to be believed than the revelation God has given of his Son to us in the holy scriptures. Christ My God Behold the man again. I see Christ my God confidently declaring his everlasting glory as our Saviour. “Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth” (Luke 22:69-71). Our Saviour plainly asserted that Daniel’s vision (Daniel 7:13-14) would be fulfilled in him, thus asserting that he is God our Saviour, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. These religious rebels heard the word out of our Saviour’s own mouth. Yet, they would not believe. What a glaring proof these men are that faith is the gift of God. Love In Labour Behold the Man one more time. Here I see love in labour. All this shame and suffering was endured by our Saviour because of his great love for us, because of the joy that was set before him, the prospect of giving us eternal life and salvation. “He loved me, and gave himself for me.” Let every believing sinner take this personally. For you, as much as if there were no other person in the whole universe, for you, the King of glory became the King of scorn, and bore all this shame and misery. For you, as your Substitute, he bore it all, and indescribably more, when he was made sin for you. He shed his blood, laid down his life, bore all the wrath of God, sacrificed himself and made atonement for you, for your sin! For me! For my sin! “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” What does that mean? It means that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never be discovered a miscarriage. Every sinner for whom he died shall be saved. His soul’s travail shall not be in vain! Yet, it means more. It means that when he has brought his ransomed home to glory, he shall be satisfied with you. He shall be satisfied with me. And we shall be satisfied with him forever! “And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King. And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it … But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children … And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots … And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost”