The Betrayer Revealed Pt 2

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. You can be seated.

In 1776, right after our nation declared independence, one year later in 1777, a man named John Ryland wrote the lyrics that we just sang.

And that's how long that song has been around. It was put to music a little bit later. But those lyrics date back to the same time as the time period of the founding of our nation.

If you've got your Bible, open with me to Mark chapter 14. We continue our study through the gospel of Mark. We have been looking at the events leading right up to the crucifixion of Jesus.

As we've spent a long time looking through this gospel telling us the message of Jesus, we approach one of the most difficult to imagine events.

And that is one of the twelve betraying the Lord. In Mark 14, we began this passage last week looking at verses 10 and 11.

And we called that last week, as far as the outline, a desire to betray and a plan to condemn. This is what was going on in the heart of Judas.

He had a desire to betray and he had a plan to condemn. He is working together with the religious leaders to condemn Jesus with the goal of arresting him for the purpose of putting him to death.

Just as a reminder from last week, it says that Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priest in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.

And he sought an opportunity to betray him. I just want to remind you from last week that Judas was someone that no one suspected.

There was nothing that gave him away in terms of to the other people who were watching him. He looked like them. He dressed like them.

He talked like them. He went where they went. He witnessed what they witnessed, but his heart was not sincere. And I just want to remind you that it is possible to be near the people of God, involved in the ministry of God, and not be converted.

Do not plant your assurance of salvation on simply the fact that you come to church on Sundays, or even that you read through the Bible in a year, or that you serve in ministry.

Those things are good and right things, but an unbeliever can do those things. And so we see in the heart of Judas a desire to betray and a plan to condemn.

Secondly, we'll pick up today in verse 12. We see a desire to befriend and a plan to comfort. This is what's going on in the heart of Jesus.

Judas desires to betray and plans to condemn. In the heart of Jesus, we see a desire to befriend and a plan to comfort.

Verse 12 says, On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?

We are preparing to move now into the upper room. The events of the cross now just a few hours away.

It's Thursday. Technically, the feast will begin at sundown on that evening. Although we find in ancient writings and according to historians, that the entire day was often referred to as the start of the feast.

You've got Passover. That's a one-day event. And then you've got the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's a seven-day event. They happen back to back.

And so it's an eight-day feast altogether. Sometimes the feasts are referred to separately with Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Sometimes all eight days are lumped together and just called Passover. Sometimes all eight days are lumped together and called the feast. This is the time that's going on right before Christ would be arrested.

They're preparing for the Passover meal. Now just a quick word of reminder. This comes into play over the course of the next couple of passages.

The way that you would reckon time is slightly different depending on where you lived at that time. In Galilee, they would reckon time from sunset to sunset.

In Judea, you reckon time from sunrise to sunrise. That became helpful because it allowed them to be able to spread out the crowds when it came time for the sacrifice at the temple.

And so the disciples are saying to Jesus, asking to him in verse 12, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? Now, it's a bit of an interesting question because Passover meal would be something akin to Thanksgiving in our culture.

A time where a meal and fellowship was a significant gathering. It's not something that you maybe do, maybe don't do. It's something that you know you're going to do.

And nobody's waking up on Thanksgiving Day wondering, what should we do for lunch today? It's something you know. You know where you're going to eat. You know who's going to be there.

In that sense, Passover has some similarities. Which is why at first reading, it should sound a bit strange that they're saying, where would you have us to go to prepare a meal for Passover?

You would think that that would be clearly known, already delineated in their minds. But remember back from what we looked at last week in verse 11, Judas is seeking an opportunity to betray him.

So there's some interesting things going on behind the scenes. Judas is wanting to betray Christ. The religious leaders want to arrest Christ.

They don't want to do this while there is a large crowd around. They don't want resistance. They don't want people fighting back.

They don't know what to expect. So their plan is we need somebody on the inside who knows where Jesus is going to be.

It's better if it's away from the crowds. It's better if it's at night so people aren't around to witness what's going on. And so Jesus is going to prepare to have this Passover meal with his apostles.

But he hasn't broadcasted where they're going. And now we know why. This is a very important night, a very important meal.

He's going to teach so much to his apostles on this evening. But he's not going to broadcast where he's going because one of the 12 is trying to sell him out and tip off the leaders where he's going to be.

And so Jesus has made this arrangement in verse 13. He sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

Follow him. Jesus, knowing all things and having arranged what he is going to do, tells his disciples, at least two of them, what to do.

Go to the city, he says, and you're going to see a man carrying a jar of water. Now this is a bit of a tip for the disciples who are going to meet this person because in that culture, it would not be customary for the man to carry the water.

That's what typically a lady would do. So John and Peter are to go ahead and they are to look for the sign and the sign seems pretty common.

You're just going to look for a man who is carrying water, but that part would be peculiar. That's going to tip them off. It's similar to when Jesus was born and the angels came to the shepherds and said, here's how you're going to know who he is.

You're going to find the babe wrapped in swaddling claws. That's normal. Every baby born would be wrapped in swaddling claws. The sign, the peculiarity in Jesus' birth was he'll be lying in a manger.

It's not where you would normally put the baby. That's how the shepherds knew how to find him, who he was, how to confirm that this baby is the baby that heaven has invited us to come and to meet.

In a similar way, the disciples are told, go into the city, there's all kinds of people around, everybody's carrying jars of water. The sign, what's odd, is that you're going to see the man carrying the jar of water.

Verse 14, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

So Jesus has made this arrangement, and what's so interesting to me is you see Jesus having made this arrangement with the man, with the master of the house, and yet Jesus still, as being divine, knows the exact moment when to send his disciples, at the exact precise moment they will run into this individual.

And I think we're meant to catch the stark contrast here between verse 11, where you have Judas seeking to betray Jesus, and Jesus in verse 13 and verse 14, who's absolutely in control of the details of this story.

In verse 15, it says that he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready, there, prepare for us.

So he sends two disciples ahead and says, I want you to go into the city, you're looking for a man, carrying a jar of water, that's your sign, when you find him, go up to him and say, the teacher, he'll know who it is, is wanting us to follow you, show us the room, so they can go prepare for this Passover meal.

And one of the things I do want you to make notice of, just by way of application, is that of all of the things that are happening right now in history in Mark 14, when you consider all the events that are taking place, one of the key events is this man described only as carrying a pitcher of water.

It's not glamorous. It's not going to make him famous or wealthy in the world's eyes. It's not heroic.

It's literally just carrying water. And yet, his act of doing what he was to do is used by the Lord as a sign to direct the apostles to know where to go where they would receive the teaching that will be used to turn the world upside down.

And I want you to understand, friends, that as one man put it, not every assignment Jesus gives is dramatic, but it's all significant.

And there may be some of you this morning and you feel like the spiritual gifts you've been given are so behind the scenes that you're tempted to think they're not that important.

Or the way that you serve in the church, you may falsely, wrongly conclude that the church could take it or leave it. It's just not that big of a thing. It may be that the way you serve is not dramatic, but I assure you the way you serve is highly significant.

The Bible teaches us that every believer has been given spiritual gifts bestowed to them by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of serving the body and glorifying Christ.

And however you've been gifted to do that, however you have been created, whatever talents you've been given, whatever experience and abilities you've been granted, use them for the glory of Christ and for the good of His church.

And it does not matter how dramatic your gifts may be. It does not matter how widespread your ministry may be. What does matter is that you're just faithful with what God's called you to do.

Be faithful. Be faithful. Sometimes you may feel like it's your spiritual gifts that are small.

Sometimes you may feel like it's your offering that's small and you look at your life and say, you know, we don't have a lot of money, we don't have a lot of resources. If you're reading through the Bible with us in a year, we are in 2 Corinthians.

Yesterday we were reading in 2 Corinthians 7, 8, 9 where Paul is talking about the church there that though they had tremendous poverty, were wealthy in their generosity.

And you may think, well, I don't have much I can give. Other people have so much more. Don't ever conclude that your service, that your spiritual gifts, or that your giving is insignificant just because it's not dramatic.

Just be faithful. Whatever the Lord's entrusted to you, gifts, opportunities, platform, resources, just be faithful.

Nobody reading the events of the last 24 hours of Christ's life leading up to the cross, nobody's gonna stop and say, the central character is the man carrying the water.

He's not the central character, Christ is. But this man is a very important, useful person in the purposes of God. You may not be the teacher, you may not be the leader, you may not be the decision maker, you may be the one carrying the pitcher of water.

And that ministry, offering, and that offering, and that way of serving is essential in the purposes of God.

Be faithful, brothers and sisters. In verse 16, it says, the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them and they prepared the Passover.

Luke 22 tells us it's Peter and John that go to make the arrangements. I also want to point out that the owner of the house who is welcoming them is showing quite a bit of courage here.

you'll recall as we've been looking at, the religious leaders have already said they want to arrest Jesus. They want to put him to death.

And if you're the one welcoming Jesus and his apostles into your place for a meal, you are putting yourself at risk if word gets out. And just to show you how serious it is, in John 11 verse 54, it says, Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews.

And so, we have this person who not only is doing what we would call just a mundane task of carrying water, we also see him being faithful to that, we also see a sense of courage in opening up his home to the Lord.

Now there's a reason why the details where they're going are secret, it's because Judas, if he knew where they were going, could prearrange to have the authorities go and shut it down.

Jesus wants to spend this evening with his people. And so, what we see happening here in verses 12 to 16 is fascinating to me because Jesus is absolutely in control of the story.

Not even just the big picture, he's in control of the details. There will be a man, he will be carrying water, you're going to go into the city the exact same time he's going to be there, you're going to notice him, you're going to follow him, he's going to have a place prepared for us, we're going to have a meal at that time, all the while behind that, Judas and the religious leaders trying to figure out how do we make this plan come to be.

Now these are real people making real decisions, following the intention of their heart, truly trying to betray, arrest, and put to death Jesus. Absolutely true, yet they are not sovereign.

We sing the lyrics of sovereign ruler of the skies, there's only one. Judas is real, and he's making real decisions with real consequences, but he is not sovereign.

the chief priests and the elders are real people making real decisions with real consequences, but they are not sovereign. And Mark is making it clear in verses 12 to 16 that Jesus is perfectly in control of the events and even the smallest details.

meals. This Passover meal is a time for Jesus to one last time pour out his heart to the apostles, One last time to teach them and to train them and to prepare them for what's coming and what their task will be after the resurrection.

And in John 15, he's going to call them, as we've already read today, to abide in his love. Verse 17. The plot thickens a bit.

When it was evening, he came with the twelve. So he put all these details together from all the different gospels, and what emerges is that Jesus and the apostles arrive at the house for the meal, it's early evening, probably around 6 p.m.

as we would reckon time. And as I've called this section for you, a desire to befriend and a plan to comfort, it's what's going to take place at the events of this meal that we see that come to be.

That he wants to befriend the apostles one last time, he wants to spend this meal with him, just like for Thanksgiving, you typically will spend your Thanksgiving with those closest to you.

In the same way, the Lord wants to spend his last Passover meal with his disciples, saying to them, you are my family, showing them and teaching them one last time of his love for them.

Verse 18 says that they were reclining at the table and eating. There would have been three tables arranged in a U-shaped fashion.

They would be lying down on pillows, resting on their left arm, using their right hand to eat. And what you would do at Passover is the head of the family or the host of the meal would walk through some things very specifically.

They would remind the family or those who were gathered there about the faithfulness of God, drawing their attention off of the cares of the world and onto the character of God.

we're at the Passover meal. It's a very significant event. We're just hours before Christ will be in the garden and be arrested.

9 a.m. the next morning he'll be hanging on a cross. And according to Luke 22, it's at this time that an argument breaks out among the apostles.

You know what they're arguing about? Who's the greatest? We've seen that before, haven't we?

Mark's already told us about times where Jesus was talking to them about his upcoming death. And the disciples break into an argument about who's the greatest.

Christ. They just can't help themselves. They get distracted so easily.

You don't have to look very far to see that happening in our world today, even in the churches. We're churches that will sing about the cross and preach about sin and judgment and salvation.

So easily become distracted with who is the greatest among us. Church, I want to remind you that we don't want to spend our days competing with other believers or competing against other churches.

It happens all the time. Happened with the disciples, happened in churches today. People who are supposed to be linking arms with each other and joining hearts together and in the same mission, one Lord, one faith, one hope, one baptism, one faith passed down once for all.

And you see churches fighting for position, churches competing with each other. Let me just remind you, as we are setting out to do the work of taking the gospel to the neighborhoods and the nations, other Bible believing churches are never our competition.

Never. Never. the argument about who's the greatest happens in our day, it happened in Jesus' day.

Jesus, according to John 13, is going to wash their feet, and he's going to begin to recite for them what the host of the meal would recite for those who are taking the meal.

He would talk about the calling of Abraham. He would talk about how the Lord led his people away from the Egyptians in the time of the Exodus.

They would eat the bitter herbs that would remind them of how the Egyptians had treated the people of God in a bitter way. They would have a food made from dried fruit that would remind them, be symbolic for them of the mortar that the Israelites were forced to use in the making of bricks.

They would sing the Psalms. And then Mark tells us that Jesus said, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.

Verse 18. Now we've read this so many times that we know what's coming, at least if you've grown up in the church at all, you're familiar with that.

If you know the name Judas, you instantly think of betrayal. And my fear is that because the story is so familiar, the name is so common to us, Judas, that we read that and it just sounds like, well, that's what we expect to happen.

But try as hard as you can for just a moment to consider what's going on in the actual events of the lives of the apostles, how shocking it would be for them to hear Jesus say on that night, right before his arrest and crucifixion, that one of you here is going to betray me, and it's one of you right here around the tables.

They're having a meal together, Christ pouring out his heart to them, serving them, teaching them, and he says one of you is a betrayer.

I agree with many others who see here an allusion to Psalm 41 9, speaking of Ahithophel, David's counselor.

Ahithophel betrays David to follow Absalom. And in Psalm 41 9, it says, even my close friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.

And it's at this point that something unbelievable happens because the disciples in hearing Jesus say this, that one of you right here in this circle of tables reclining with me, one of you is going to betray me, the disciples begin to say in verse 19, in a sorrowful way, is it I?

It's not me, is it? And again, if you have in your mind that Judas had this weird haircut that everybody was always suspicious of, or Judas always, you know, wore a t-shirt that everybody thought, that's not the way we dress, something's wrong with this guy.

Nobody knew. Jesus did. The apostles did not. They weren't tipped off. They weren't suspicious of him. In fact, they were more suspicious of their own heart than they were of Judas.

In verse 20, he said to them, it is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. The tables are arranged in a U-shape, and so Jesus kind of narrows it down.

They're dipping their bread. You've got a bowl there in front of each table, and so there's twelve apostles in Jesus, that's thirteen. There's twelve who could be the betrayer, and Jesus narrows it down to, it's one of the guys who's dipping his bread with me, and so it's not the people at the tables away from him, now it's narrowed down to someone who's right there at his table.

John and Judas are right there beside him according to other gospels. trying to fit in with the others.

Judas says, is it I, Rabbi? In fact, let me just show it to you. You can say they're in Mark 14, but turn real quick to John 13. Let me show you what takes place.

Matthew 26, Judas says, is it I, Rabbi? Now Judas knows he's the betrayer, he's just fitting in. Everybody else is saying, is it me?

Is it me? It's not me. It's not me. And Judas just fits in. Is it me? Because if he doesn't say something, it's going to be very obvious. Everybody else is asking, Judas is not, and so Judas wants to blend in just a bit.

John 13, verse 27. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him, and Jesus said to him, what you're going to do, do quickly.

Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor.

Now that's very telling for us. The other apostles said, maybe Judas has left because he's the one that controls the money.

The other apostles would not allow him to control the money if they suspected him. you can not only be on the inside, you can be trusted by everybody on the inside and still not be converted.

Jesus told him what you do, go and do quickly. Verse 21, back to Mark 14. Verse 21. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. You cannot miss this. This is crystal clear for us. This entire text shows us the absolute sovereignty of God and the absolute responsibility of man, both right in front of us.

You cannot read the details of this passage without concluding the Lord is absolutely sovereign down to the slightest detail.

You also cannot help but consider the reality that man is absolutely responsible for his sin. Jesus says to him, woe to that man by whom the Son is betrayed.

It would have been better for that man had he not been born. born. John 13 adds at this point, Judas left.

He immediately went out. And John adds this detail. And it was night. night. It was night, literally.

But it was night in a much more metaphorical sense. For Judas, it was night. It was dark.

It was black because his soul was unconverted and he is now left to go to the work of betrayal. this is what happens when somebody is face to face with the truth, rejects the truth, and walks away.

It's night. Two weeks ago, I was having a conversation in my neighborhood with a couple of young men who are not believers, going around town, part of their mission, looking for people to talk to.

And I engaged them in sharing the events of the gospel with them. We spoke for maybe an hour and a half. And at the end of that conversation, as I tried to answer their questions and point out to them the truth of the gospel and why we believe the Bible and what the Bible teaches about Christ, it was getting dark.

And one of them said to me, we're going to have to end the conversation because it's getting to be night. And I thought about Mark 14.

it was literally getting to be dark, that's true. But for them, they had been face to face with the truth of the gospel.

And if they were to walk away from the truth of who Jesus is to believe another gospel, it's as dark as it can be. Jesus is telling his disciples all of these details, and there's a great mercy in this.

Because he's helping them to understand that as dark as it is, it's about to get even darker, it's about to get even harder, it's going to lead to the darkest of the dark, where at noon on Friday, it will literally go dark, as the wrath of God is poured out upon Christ.

But he's giving his apostles the mercy here of helping them understand that he's in control of everything. Reminding them the very reason we're in this room is because I was in control of sending two of you ahead at the exact right time to meet the person who would be the sign to take us up here.

I've told you one of you is a betrayer, so yes, he's going to go do what he does, but even when he acts out his betrayal, it's not happening contrary to his knowledge.

And Jesus is giving his apostles one final reminder that whatever they're about to experience, they can at least rest in this, the Lord is in control of everything.

And church, I want you to be reminded that no matter how dark the night may be, our God is in control.

one last word about Psalm 41, the reference I made earlier with Ahithophel, Ahithophel hung himself just as Judas will soon do.

Jesus giving one final warning here, don't do what Ahithophel did. Don't betray and then find yourself so much in despair you end it.

It's exactly what Judas will do. He'll follow for a season and then he'll walk away.

And I want to say to you friends, don't do what Ahithophel did. Don't do what Judas did. Don't play the game of convincing everyone around you that you're genuine all the while knowing in your heart you do not belong to Christ.

it will end dark for you and eternity will not be long enough to contain your judgment.

Here's the good news. Christ shares this final meal with his apostles and after his arrest sentencing he will hang on a cross not as a victim as an atonement that all who would believe in him repenting of their sin and trusting in the finished work of Christ that they would be saved.

Today life and light is offered to you in the person of Christ and the work of the cross.

Call unto him believe in him trust in him otherwise all you've done in hearing the truth yet again has caused your heart to get even more hardened hardened hearts become bitter bitter hearts walk away from the truth.

Today in hearing his voice do not harden your heart call unto him repent believe.

Lord we thank you today for your word and pray for your spirit to work in power among us to help us to believe the truth to respond to the truth.

And for those of us who are in Christ may we cease from our pride are battling against other believers or other churches or other ministries instead may we only see ourselves as dead who have been brought to life prisoners who have been set free beggars adopted by the king and in humility may we go and serve for the glory of your son.

It's in his name that we pray. Amen. If we can serve you, help you, pray for you, would you make note on your connection card on your way out, drop that in one of the giving box, let us help you in any way that we can.

Tonight evening service at five o'clock we'll sing together, read God's word together, study in 1 Thessalonians, come back and be a part of that at five o'clock. God bless you. You're dismissed.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.