In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the passage from the Gospel of John, specifically chapter 13, where Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples during the Passover supper. The sermon highlights the graphical exposure of Judas, where Jesus reveals that one of his disciples will betray him. The disciples express doubt and uncertainty about who the betrayer is. The sermon also mentions Peter's reaction and the importance of following Jesus' example of love and peace.

Welcome to John's Gospel again this evening, and we're up to the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel, and we're at chapter thirteen. Last week we went from verse one right down to the end of verse seventeen, and tonight we start at verse eighteen, and we're going down to the end of verse thirty. Just thirteen verses this evening, and these verses deal with our Lord Jesus Christ strutting in the upper room with his disciples at the Passover supper, and they deal principally with our Lord exposing the traitor Judas. And there are quite a number of things that we need to say about Judas this evening. There are five things that I want to underline for you in these thirteen verses. First of all, I want to underline what I'm calling the graphical exposure of Judas, something that was done very definitely, very distinctly done, this exposure of Judas. And then I shall take a moment or two, just a moment or two, to deal with the facial expression of the disciples. You see, when the Lord Jesus said in verse twenty-one, "'One of you shall betray me,' then, just at that moment, the disciples looked one on another, doubting upon his face. And there are quite a number of little truths just cobbled up in that wonderful expression. And they looked round at each other with a doubt upon their faces as to who the betrayer was. And then I want to take a moment in dealing with the informal expedient of Peter. See, verse twenty-four, "'Simon Peter therefore beckoned to John.' And when we come to that, I think you'll see how informal it was. I don't think that he spoke actually to Peter, I think he just beckoned with his hand and gave Peter the sign. He gave John the sign to ask the Lord Jesus, "'Who is it?' And then I want to just take a moment or two with what I'm calling the conversational experience of John. As he laid his head upon the Master's breast and had this quiet, very intimate conversation with him, where he gained the secret of the Lord. And then we shall finish with the final exit of the traitor. Verse thirty, "'He then, having received the stop, went immediately out.' Subject words read, "'And it was night.'" I want to underline these things, there are many truths connected with them. Now we'll start at verse eighteen. You remember when last week we dealt with the tender truth of foot-washing? How the Lord Jesus had left them an example that as he had done to them, so ought they to do to one another. And he ended that wonderful portion with these words, "'If ye know these things,' verse seventeen, "'happy are ye if you do them.'" And then he just put this behind it, "'I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen.'" You see, he wasn't speaking about future happiness for the whole twelve, because he couldn't speak about happiness for Judas, could he? Because just a little bit ahead, just a few hours ahead, he's dropping out of the cage of Satan into the pit. There's no happiness about that. He said, "'I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen.'" And I don't think for a moment that the word chosen here has anything to do with the election of saints. Usually when we talk about election of saints, or the predestination of the sons of God, well, it's always spoken of in the Scriptures as being of God. God hath chosen us in Christ, or we're predestined according to the full knowledge of God. You see, it is God who elects and chooses us. But when we come to service, and we talk about the gifts in the church, or even the calling of apostles, well, it was our Lord Jesus who chose the twelve. "'Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?' So it is not the election of sons of saints that the word chosen is in connection with. It's just the apostleship that he's thinking of here. "'Have I speak not of you all? I know whom I have chosen.' "'But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.'" Now, he's bringing out the Scriptures here. Remember, our Lord Jesus knew the book wonderfully well. He's coming from the first, the forty-first Psalm. I want you to have a look at it, because it is just a little bit different there. Just turn for a moment to the forty-first Psalm. On the way down in the Psalm there, you'll find these words, verse nine. "'They, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.'" Now, here's something for the younger students in the class this evening. When you come to the Old Testament, and especially to the Psalms and the prophecies, you must always remember this, that there can be to almost every passage, first of all, a lecture and a historical background. But it can go on down into the deeper, spiritual truths, or prophetical. You see, I believe this, that when the psalmist penned these words, "'Ye, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me,' I believe that the psalmist was thinking then, or writing then, of Ahithophel. Remember that story in 2 Samuel 17, where Ahithophel, David's own familiar friend, rebelled against him with his son Absalom, and turned against the king. He was David's own familiar friend. And now he was trying to put a seal upon the king and crush him in the dust. That was actual and historical. But you see the Lord Jesus fastening on this truth, and he's taking it now into a deeper depth. And what the psalmist had penned here, he's applying it now to Judas, with a right application to. Now, how can the Lord Jesus call Judas, out of the twelve, my own familiar friend? Very simple. But it's a very wonderful thing. You see, there were twelve apostles. And when I was giving Bible readings here on the tribes, I pointed out on more than one occasion that eleven of the apostles came from Galilee, came out of the two tribes of Naphtali and Babylon. Eleven of them came from Galilee. And only one came from Judas. In fact, he came from a place in Judah called Karion. That's why his name is Judas Iscariot, which actually means Judah of Karion. He is the one who came from Judah. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ belongs to the tribe of Judah. And when they all walked together, here were two from one tribe, Christ and Judas Iscariot. And in that sense, he looks upon them as his own familiar friend out of the twelve, because he came from the same tribe. My own familiar friend in whom I trusted. You see, just in the very sense that the master in any business has to trust the servant, so our Lord Jesus trusted Judas. And then he went on to say this, Which did eat of my bread? In fact, at the very moment that he's looking back at this verse, Judas was at the Passover table with him. My own familiar friend has lifted up his heel against me. And the moment we touch the word heel, we're beginning to see the horror and the awfulness. Of the deed that Judas was about to perform. You know, he was really going to put his might on the very head of the Lord and crush him into the dust. The very thing that God had prophesied the Lord would do with the devil. The devil was going to use Judas. Do it with the Lord. It was a terrible deed. And the Lord's beginning to expose it here, first of all, from Scripture. Let's get the hold of that. Now go back to verse 18, where we're out in John, and watch it now. I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now, I tell you before it comes, that when it come to pass, ye may believe that I am. And the word heel is in italics. You see, the actual prophecy in the Old Testament in the Psalms has a deep, messianic, prophetical meaning. And that's why the Lord went back to the Psalms. Oh, it may have an actual one as far as David is concerned, and a historical one as far as Ahithophel is concerned, but it's got a messianic, unprophetical one as far as the Lord and Judas is concerned. And the fulfillment of that, he says, will prove that I am the Messiah. And it was just about to be fulfilled, just there and then, six hundred odd years later, here is the fulfillment. And he's telling them now, I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe, without any doubt, that I am the very one spoken of in the Old Testament. Then he went on to say, verily, verily I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. And at first glance you would think I've got no connection with anything in the chapter. You see, I think it's connected like this, and this is wonderful. You know, the moment that the eleven apostles became deeply conscious that one of the number, one who had troubled with the Christ, one who had plodded his feet, one who had learned the deceit, was about to do such a dastardly act, the whole apostles were being thrown into confusion. Who receiveth now? Who has been good now? He said, now just take your time, take your time. Just because this fellow has failed, and is going to fail in such a terrible way, he doesn't alter the commission, you know, that I've given you fellows. He says, verily, verily I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. You know, he's very wonderful here, he's very careful with his own, isn't he? He's got them round him in the upper room, hasn't he? And he's about to reveal now, in no uncertain manner, that one of them is going to be the betrayer, the traitor. And he's very careful to point out, first of all, this was told in the Old Testament, and this will prove that I am the Messiah. And I want to tell you, this doesn't alter your commission. But very wonderfully what? For our Lord is really wonderful. He was very careful here, and very tender with his beloved apostles. Now, having touched the Word of God through exposed Judas, the next word comes in verse twenty-one. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, and I think this must have been spoken with emotion, verily, verily, I say unto you that none of you shall betray me. I want you to get that little bit in before we go any further. I want you to get that emotional saying of the Saviour here, that is part of the exposure of Judas. I know the word from the Scriptures is already there, but here is something that's coming from the very innermost, moved soul of the Master. I say unto you that none of you shall betray me. And he was moved. He was troubled, you know. He wasn't troubled about what Judas was going to do. Not at all. He wasn't troubled because the devil was working overtime. Not at all. He was troubled because a man who had stayed in his presence for three and a half years was about to turn his back on him and go to hell. And some of you live with them and they're going to hell. But the Master was troubled. My dear unseen friend, you get a grip of it if the believers listen. You get a grip of it. He was troubled when Judas would go to hell. Don't you ever forget that either. Aye, it wasn't anything nice to him that Judas should do. And just the way this saying came out now. You know, the exposition of Scripture didn't seem to touch the Apostles. Who considered the first Sam and Registrar Luke. But when his soul is moved and it comes out, none of you shall betray me. My, that really caught them, didn't it? And that brings us to that other portion. Just leave it for a moment. The twenty-second one, then the disciples Luke one and another, doubting of whom he speaks. Just leave that for a moment. You can see that the Lord is exposing Judas from the Scriptures and then by the very saying from his own moved soul. And then at last, not least, mind you, he took the shop. And he said to John, Whomsoever I give the shop to, he's the betrayer. And these three things are placed together to expose the tricker. You've got the unerring word of God. You've got the saying from the moved soul of the Master. And you've got the shop handed over at the Passover table. And remember what a touch this was. You know, even today at the Jewish Passover supper, that the host puts the shop, just a piece of broken unleavened bread into the vinegar and hands it to any of the guests. Well, first of all, it's an honor to whomever, whomsoever it's handed. And it means this. Should there be any one single thing between us just now, I'm prepared to forgive you right on the spot. Mind you, when he quoted the Scripture, his soul was moved. And he handed over the shop. And you put them all together and you've woven the classical exposure of Judas. Now, let's get this other little bit in. That's the expression on the faces of the disciples. And it teaches us certain things. Verse 22, Then, just at that moment, then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom is left. Now, you would pass that by quickly, wouldn't you? There isn't much in it, so you would think. But it teaches us three things. First one is this, that for three and a half years, Judas has been inwardly thinking of betraying the Master. Yet, he is toyed of risk with the idea of betraying Him and getting the silver. But with all the evil that filled his soul, he has successfully covered it from every other above. Then they looked one on another. You know, if he had given it away in any hint, or any word, or any act in the last months, they would have immediately turned and looked on him. But they didn't, you know. He was a success in covering his evil from the other disciples. And then, I think that secondly, it means this. You see, when the disciples turned and looked one on another, you know, actually, Matthew puts it like this. They turned and looked one on another and said, Lord, is it I? They didn't say, is it Judas or not? You know, each of them, the eleven, they must have known that deep down in their own hearts, they had never once thought such a diabolical thought. Never once. And yet, now that the Master has said, one of you shall betray me, they believed his words, rather than the dictates of their own hearts. And that's to their credit. Mind you, within the human breast, there's a heart that would betray the Lord. And there's enough left in every believer in this meeting to do a diabolical act. These men, why they believed his words, rather than what their own hearts would say. And another of them said, Lord, is it I? Would I do it? I think this little look on each other not only tells us that Judas succeeded in covering his sin, and that the rest of the apostles were prepared to take the Lord's word against the dictates of their own hearts, but it also tells us this, that the Lord Jesus, the blessed Lord Jesus, right down through three and a half years of walking and working and toiling with Judas, had never said one word or one hint to let him know that the Lord Jesus turned an angry eye on him. But the patience, and the tenderness, and the love, and the grace, and the compassion, and longsuffering that was shown to all had been shown just exactly the same to Judas. What a Lord! What a wonderful Lord! The very fact that they looked one upon another and said, Lord, is it I? Teaches us that Judas had succeeded in covering his diabolical act, that these men believed the word of the Lord rather than what their hearts would say, and that the blessed Lord had been very tender and loving and compassionate. I don't know how he was, but he was. My, if you thought that there was somebody in the meeting who would betray you and put you on the scaffold and offer your life to the world in so many months' time, how would you go on with them? But the Lord went on. And you'll see why as we get on. Now, we're rushing it a bit because we need to get into the depth of the end. I want you to notice next the informal expedient of Peter who devised the way of getting the secret of the Lord. Now watch. Verse 21. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he said. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. John himself, he always puts his name in like that, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter, therefore, beckoned, now watch the word beckoned, beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he speak. And I think you'll need to get the order up the table here before you get the loveliness of this idea. I think that you all know that at the Passover table in those days, they didn't sit on chairs round the table, you know. They actually lay down and inclined on their left arm and they took their foot with the right, so that all of them were lying on their left side. If we take the Master as the principal one at the feet, well, lying just in front of him, of course, was John. That was the place of privilege. It doesn't mean that he was just leaning on the Master's bosom all the time, but he was there. And when he wanted to speak to the Master, he had to lean back and look up, and he leaned on his breast. Of course, I believe that behind the Master was leaning Peter. He was at his back. And, you know, the moment the Master said, one of you shall betray me, there was quarrels. But Peter was quickly back, but it was only back then, you know. And I believe that behind, behind, in front, in front of John was Judas. And he didn't speak to the Master. You know, some of the old Protestant expositors say this, that Peter couldn't have been the first pope, because on this occasion he was using the intercession of John to get the answer of the law. Another expositor said, Well, John was in his boozing, but Peter was behind his back. He was beginning already to follow apart off. Now, I don't give very much for either of the expositions, to tell you the truth. We've got to face things honestly. There's no use in running away with a story and making something out of it that's not really there. Look, physically speaking, only one could be in the place of privilege. And physically there, John Ross, of course he was. Now, the question is still unanswered whether he was... Oh, I know that physically he was in his boozing, but was he there spiritually? Let me tell you, it was Peter. I said, you ask him. He jumped into the breach here, and it was Peter, no matter where he was placed, who thought the thought, and who beckoned with the hand to get the answer of the Lord. You see, what I see in the thing is, I see John in the bosom of the Master, I do. But I see Peter knocking at the Lord's house door. And what I believe is this, that both of these things can be altered. Spiritually, you can be near to the Lord and get the answer if you're really in touch. And both should be you. A very lovely little thing that was informal. I don't think that Peter often did that. It was doing something behind the Lord's back. He was just battening with the hand. It was an informal expedience. But it really got the answer of the Lord. And then, watch again. I think that we should notice John. And the book says, verse 23, Now there was ringing on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spoke. Then he then lying, that is him turning around, you see, and lying on Jesus' breast, said unto him, Lord, who is it? He had the experience of being in the near place. Whether he was there spiritually or not, we just cannot say. But it is possible to be there spiritually, you know. It is possible to live in this world down here below, that you can lean back in the hour of need, and look into the face of your beloved, and just ask him for the very thing you want. Oh, it is possible. He experienced the near place, and then he experienced leaning on his beloved. I know that physically he did that. I wonder, was he doing it spiritually? You know, it is possible to be where the bride was in the son of Solomon in a spiritual sense, coming up out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved. Stayed upon Jehovah! What a place to live in. And I will tell you this, if you are actually leaning on him and looking into his face, my, you are under the shadow of the Almighty. And I will tell you this, you will get the secret of the Lord. This is how it works, you see. If you are spiritually in the near place, where he filled your mind with peace, stayed upon Jehovah, we get perfect peace. He will fill your mind with peace, but then he will fill your peace with his mind. Did you get that? Because it is the mind that is at peace in the near place, under the shadow of the Almighty, that knows the mind of the Lord. Take off the mind of the Lord. Did you get that, dear? Because that is very important, you know, to be where your mind is at peace, and where the peaceful mind knows the mind of the Lord. Lovely, you know. Now, we get on now. I want to take time with this final excerpt of the Seder. Verse 26, Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I object 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. Actually, it means that Satan took absolute possession of him. How dreadful. Then said Jesus unto him, Thus thou doest. Do quickly. Now, no man at the table knew for what intent he speak this unto him. For some of them thought because Judas had the bag, that is, he was the treasurer of the clout, that Jesus had said unto him, buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then, having received the sop, went immediately out. And it was night. Why, those are four simple words. And it was night. Now, seasonally it was night. Yes, it was night. It was night-time, that's all about that. In a seasonal sense, it was night, yes. We know that. But there's something deeper here. The Spirit of God has put this very powerfully. Not only in a seasonal sense, but in a spiritual sense. Night has fallen upon his soul. And not only in a spiritual sense, but in a final sense, in an eternal sense. He's gone out into eternal life. No wonder the Lord was moved. Let me tell some of you sinners this. Let me tell you this. That it is possible to rise from that sickness this very night and turn your back on the Savior of the world who's holding out his hand to unite. And know this, there's twice of us, and there will never come a ray of light to your soul again. And you'll be left in your darkness to dwell doomed and bound Why tell me this? What terrible cases those were. I can almost see him getting up from the table. Taking the last look at the Lord. Turning his back. He's down. Oh, one saved friend in the meeting. Go out slowly tonight, will you? Go out slowly. Go out slowly. How horrible. Now there are a lot of why's asked about Judas. I think this is the important part of the subject now. I think that there are more questions asked about Judas than any other character in the book. Why was he chosen in the first place? That's always a question. Why did our Lord Jesus Christ choose Judas and number him with the twelve? Why? Why was he sent out to preach when they were sent out two by two? Why? Why was he allowed to continue for three and a half years when right from the very beginning the Lord knew he would betray Him? Why? Why is all this recorded in the Old Testament and is still numbered with the Lord's disciples? Why? Oh, there are a thousand why's about Judas. Let me try to answer some of them for you and figure this thing out. It must be time for this. When our Lord Jesus Christ the Eternal Son who was ever in the bosom of the Father when the fullness of the time was come came down lords and angels and took upon them the form of a servant he came into this world with this cry in his lips I come to do thy will O God and the first and foremost answer is this that it was the will of God that Judas should be numbered with the twelve. That would settle all arguments but God must have had something in putting him there. First of all, I think this that Judas was placed there to prove to the world mark that, to the world the submissiveness of God's Son as the heavenly Jehovah. God said, I want you to take Judas I want you to put him under the twelve and I want you to put up with him for three and a half years and at the end he'll betray you and send you for thirty pieces of silk. And the blessed Lord Jesus was submissive to the will of God. All this proves beyond any doubt how submissive he was to the will of God. Just because it was God's will he put up with them. I and he was tender to them and he loved them and he blessed them and he did a thousand things for them just because he was submissive to the will of God. I think that God put Judas in there not only to prove to the world the submissiveness of his Son but to prove to all in family the defectiveness of the human heart. I want you to get the hold of this. The heart that was in Judas as a fallen son of Adam's wife is the very same as the one that's in your breast. A fallen creature. And everything that Judas ever did and everything that Hitler ever did and everything that Eichmann ever did you could do. And God is proving to all in family that the heart in the human breast is this peaceful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Only God. Isn't this man of all the privileges there was? My, he sat for three and a half years and listened to the Master preaching. And he never heard anything in Morrigan like that, you know. For never man speak like this man. And he sat for three and a half years and he heard the greatest messages that ever fell on a mortal ear. And he sat for three and a half years and he watched all the miracles. My, he saw Lazarus coming out of the grave. He saw the storm hushed. He saw the leper cured. He saw the blind getting tight. Oh, what privileges he had. And then in the inner circle in the shadows in the evening he saw the tenderness and the loveliness and the graciousness. And at the end of three and a half years there's something in his breast that's a good price on the cross. And you're not a good bastard. Not one bit. That's why the Bible's emphatic about we must be born again. You need a new heart. That old one's rotten. We must be born again. And if you're so big and stupid and foolish and proud and stubborn to much that you think, no, this is not me. Maybe one of these days you'll wake up to find it is in me. That is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Did you learn that? But I think that God placed Judas there not only to prove the submissiveness of his son to the world and the deceptiveness of the human heart to all in family, but he put him there to prove the emptiness of example for sinners. Ah, this is the gospel, the preach now. They say, you know, all you need is an example. Well, Judas said that's all right. They say, you know, we should be lifting up the Lord as an example. Let the Pope see his grace. Let the Pope see his love. Let the Pope see his mercy. Let the Pope see this, that, and the other. All we need is an example. Well, here's a fellow who had it. And he went to hell at the end. Is that true, Stevie, that the example is not enough? Well, you're stupid if it doesn't. I can't do very much for you. You may only waste your time at the class. I beg of you to listen to this. It is not an example from the life of Christ the Trinity. It's life from the death of Christ the Trinity. I'll say it again. It's not an example from the life of Christ that you need. It's life from the death of Christ. It's not Christ's life that you need. It's Christ's life you need. A sacrifice that can blot out your sin. One that can meet the requirements of God. An offering that can defeat Heaven. Someone to rise in your favor. That's what you need. Have you got him? Ah, it's a sacrifice. Not an example you need, this fellow, but all the examples that were going in his head. What is the accumulation you're speaking of? I know it's not very obvious, is it? Well, are you? You're an example. You're an imitation. There's Judas. There he is. Three and a half years he's got and then he's in Hell. My dear friends, nothing can for sin atone. Nothing but the bloody Jesus. Unless it proves the emptiness of example to sinners, doesn't it? Then it should prove this, the subtleness of Satan with those who are hesitating. You know, for three and a half years Judas had the opportunity of really giving his heart and life to the Lord, but he never did it yet. Well, he wasn't saved at all. Friends, there are people in this meeting, you know. Oh, I know I've got to say this, and some of you are my best friends, but I can't help it. What can I do about it? Listen, if some of you are in this meeting, and you've been my best friend for nine, ten years, and you're on your way back home at this moment, and you think you're clever too, I'll tell you this, the subtleness of Satan I'll put some of you in the picture. You're not clever enough with Satan. Go on, fiddle about with him for another few moments, and you'll go to hell. The devil lifted him out of the upper room, you know, and took him out of the Savior's presence and through the curtain and down the road and into the pit. And oh, my dear friend, if the old arch enemy should put his hands on you tonight, then God should let you go. In spite of all the tears and prayers and tributes... Remember, there's a subtle enemy in here, and he was in the upper room too. I think God put Judas in there to prove the submissiveness of his son, and to prove the deceptiveness of the human heart, and to prove the emptiness of example for sinners, and to prove the subtleness of Satan, and to prove the awfulness of turning your back once more on Christ. Oh, I said this at the beginning, and I'll say it again. I'm trembling, you know, tonight. Friend, you could turn into the aisle and turn your back on Christ who died in Calvary this very night in August for the very, very, very last time. If you get it into your mind tonight, that you can go out through that door tonight for the last time, and it can be written over your tombstone, and it was... Now the problem really starts, doesn't it? If God testified, and he did, if God testified in many of the Psalms, I've only looked at one of them, you can look at the rest of them. I'll not take the time I was going to do that. If God testified in many of the Psalms that this one would lift his heel against Christ, and that he would fail a master for thirty pieces of silver, and that he would go by his own transgression down into his own place and be the son of perdition. If God said that in the Psalms six hundred years before this man was born, tell me this! Can he do anything else? Tell me. Did God tell him? Don't you ever believe that? Now you watch this bit carefully, and you young ones watch it, because you can't repeat this every day, you know. And one day you'll come round and ask me the question, and I'll know right where you were sleeping in the Bible class. I was preaching one evening some years ago at a certain place from a text from John 13. It was the text in verse 27, where the Lord Jesus leaned over to Judas and said unto him, That thou doest do quickly. And I preached on the choice that Judas had. And I preached about the choice that this man had and the choice that this man made. And I'd only got down from the platform and into the little vestry when a very able high school master, the master of the high school, came in and said, I said, Willie, you talk the greatest lot of nonsense I ever heard anybody talk. I said, that's all right. Sit down for a minute. He was a friend of mine. He'd come to tell me what he thought, and I appreciated that every bit of it. I said, what's up with you? He said, you know, you were talking about the choice that Judas had. And you must know that God prophesied 600 years before he was born that he would go that way. He said, I know that God prophesied that he would go that way. He said, if God's word is infallible and God's word is impregnable and unchangeable, well, where's the choice for the fellow? Where's the choice? I said, you know, master, you're all wrong in this thing. You're that stupid you can't see it. All right, I said, it's your turn to give me more light. All right, I said, we'll do it this way now. I said, we'll look at our watches. And it was twenty past nine. Twenty past nine. I remember it all right. I said, master, it's twenty past nine and I'll say I'm God. I'll pretend I'm God. And just being God, I know all that's going to take place this night and every other night, don't I? And I'm going to make a prophecy for two hours later. I'll say, master, two hours later there will be a car smash at the crossroads. Two hours later. We'll write it down. We'll write the prophecy up. That the car coming up Union Street and one coming down Market Street will have a smash at the crossroads. Two hours later. Now, I said, we'll go up and stand on the footpath and watch it happen. And we stand there and it's coming very near the time. It's a quarter past eleven and it's going on and exactly at twenty past because I was God and I knew. A car came up Union Street and one came down Market Street. Now, I said, didn't I foretell that? I said, where do you see the police coming up? And they won't bother their head with me, you know. Who are they going to blame for this? Did my foreknowledge and foretelling alter the rules of the road? Did my foreknowledge and foretelling take the wheel out of either of their hands? Did my foreknowledge and my foretelling do away with their responsibility of driving? My dear friends, by foretelling it doesn't mean to say that you've put the fella in the pit where he can't do the thing. You've just foretold that he won't do the thing and there's all the difference between can't and won't. And I looked into his eyes and I said, a high school master should know that. He said, you know, I never saw that. He's very honest about that. He said, I can see now that foreknowledge and foretelling never altered a man's responsibility. Of course God knows who will go to heaven in this meeting. Of course God could write down every name of every soul that will go to hell in this meeting. But just because God could do it doesn't do away with your responsibility. It's only that he knows what you do with your responsible position. He didn't make it that you can't. He just knows you won't. Can you see that? Friend Judas had a choice. He was a human being. And I believe the Lord went the last mile with him when he handed over the shop and said, look, even at this moment although you've made up your mind to reject me and despise me and sell me and betray me, you're trickery. Even at this moment, look, I'll forgive you. He was going the second mile. And if I'm not mistaken, he's gone almost the second mile with somebody in this place. Friend, we're going to bow our heads and then we're going home. You are the saved ones. Go out safely. Let us pray. Oh God, we confess we're afraid. And what more can we do? Lord, we just rest on the fact that Thou art God. And we ask Thee to deal with every unsaved soul in the meeting, with every soul that's not really sure of where they're going. And oh God, tonight we pray that Thou would bring man to kneel before the Savior and expect to grant more that even the retelling of this dreadful, horrible story might bring glory to Thy name and salvation to others. Pass us in Thy fear and with Thy blessing through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.