As we remember the sufferings of Christ this Good Friday, I want to turn with you to the gospel according to Luke, chapter 22. If you would, take a copy of God’s Word in your hand and turn there with me please. Luke’s gospel, chapter 22.
I want us to think about the two disciples who are singled out in the narrative – one on each side of the familiar account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. The first is Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. And the second is Simon Peter, the backslider. And these two characters serve as mirrors in which to see ourselves, although admittedly the sight is not a pretty one. Judas the betrayer warns us about how close we can come to Jesus and still fail to receive the salvation that He offers. And Peter the backslider warns us about how far one can walk with Jesus and still fall back into devastating spiritual compromise. And then, having considered the betrayer and the backslider and the warnings they both provide us, we also need to consider the blood. The real center of this chapter, the real center of the book of Luke, of the Christian message as a whole, does not focus on the experience of any of our Lord’s disciples; it focuses instead on the blood of Jesus Christ shed for sinners like me and you. The blood of Christ is the only way to avoid falling into Judas’ steps; the only remedy when, as Christians, we find ourselves imitating Peter’s compromise. And so those are our themes for our Good Friday meditation tonight – the betrayer, the backslider, and the blood.
Before we look at each, let’s bow our heads and then we’ll read God’s Word after we pray. Let us all pray.
O Lord our God, we cry out to You that You would send us the light of the Holy Spirit to shine into our darkened understanding and open our hearts meekly to receive the truth of Your holy Word, that all might bring glory to You, that we might be freshly surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, and led to renewed repentance and trust in Him. For we ask it in His matchless name, amen.
Luke 22 at verse 1. This is the Word of God:
“Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him, Jesus, to death, for they feared the people.
Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.’ They said to him, Where will you have us prepare it?’ He said to them, ‘Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.’ And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, ‘Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!’ And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.’ Peter said to him, ‘Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.’”
Amen, and we praise God for His holy and inerrant Word.
Let’s think in the first place, shall we, about Judas the betrayer. In verses 1 through 6 of the chapter we just read, we learn of the conspiracy between the chief priests who were looking for a way to kill Jesus and Judas, into who Luke says “Satan entered,” who then under the Satanic influence went and conferred with the chief priests and the officers how he might betray Jesus in exchange for money. There is really no way to soften it – Judas is a traitor. Indeed, he is the traitor. His name is proverbial today, isn’t it? We call people, we still call people who betray us, we call them “Judas.” But what do we know about Judas Iscariot exactly? The honest answer is not very much. We don’t know how he came to be numbered among the original apostles that were chosen by Jesus, only that he is there in every list of the apostles’ names. In John 13:2, he is named “the son of Simon Iscariot,” but “Iscariot” there isn’t a family surname. You know, a hundred years ago when I was a boy there were such things as telephone books. Do you remember those? The Boomers among you are giggling guiltily because they remember well telephone books! And if you found the surname you would put your finger down and there’s their telephone number. Well if you were looking up the Judean telephone book under “Iscariot” you would not find Judas. It’s not a family name; it’s a place name. It means “man from Cariot.” That’s where he comes from. That’s a vaguely interesting tidbit, I suppose. It doesn’t really tell us much about the character of the man.
So what do we know about Judas? Well, we do know that after being called by Christ to be an apostle he was with Jesus at every point, every step of His public ministry. He was with Jesus and the other disciples at the Sermon on the Mount. He was there for the feeding of the five thousand. He was in the boat when Jesus walked on water, when He calmed the storm. He was there on the shore when He healed the Gadarene demoniac. Judas saw Him make the lame walk and the blind see and the deaf hear. Judas heard Jesus tell the crowds His parables of the kingdom and he was there just with the disciples when Jesus explained their meaning. He was with the others at Bethany when, with a word, Jesus summoned Lazarus alive again from the tomb. We have an especially clear glimpse of the privileges afforded Judas in Matthew chapter 10. Jesus gathered the Twelve. He gave them, Matthew says, He gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. And then verse 4 gives us the names of the twelve apostles. Judas Iscariot is listed last with the additional notation that he would betray Jesus.
And then having reminded us that he would betray Jesus, in the very next verse Matthew says, “These Jesus sent out.” The Greek suggests an emphasis on that word, “these.” These twelve. These specifically. These, not excluding even Judas who was to be a traitor. Isn’t that striking? Given authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and heal every disease and every affliction. Judas, the point is, Judas is a full member of Jesus’ inner circle. He went on the mission trips. He preached the Gospel. He called people to repentance. He exercised dramatic, supernatural power given to him by Christ Himself. And in the upper room, as we just read, on that final Passover when Jesus rose from the table, John 13, and took off His outer garments and wrapped Himself in a towel – do you remember that affecting moment when the Lord, the living God made flesh, the King of glory wraps Himself in a towel and washes the grime from the feet of His disciples? Jesus washed His betrayer’s feet, Judas’ feet. Judas was there. And Judas was there with his hand on the table, Jesus says, when the Lord’s Supper was instituted on that Passover evening. “Do this in remembrance of Me,” He told them all. Judas, Judas was there.
Few people have ever been exposed to such spiritual privileges and opportunities as Judas Iscariot. Few have ever heard the Word of God opened and explained and applied with such clarity and power. Few have ever come so close to the love of God and the power of God and the grace of God as Judas Iscariot did. Few have ever had leisure to study the person and words and works of Jesus Christ as intimately and as intensively as Judas Iscariot did. And yet the Gospels are clear, aren’t they, that Judas was not at all what he appeared to be. When Jesus predicted His own betrayal and arrest in our chapter, in verses 23 and 24, you’ll notice the disciples as a group were thrown into disarray, all twelve of them beginning to wonder who in their midst the traitor might be, and then lapsing into an argument actually about who among them was the best. Clearly this is not at all their shining moment. They are all vain and insecure, aren’t they? They are all jockeying here for position. They are all equally afraid to have their own doubts and fears suddenly exposed. And so none of them guessed – not from his behavior, not from his words – that the traitor might be Judas Iscariot. In fact, they’re all worried it might have been any one of them. There was nothing about Judas that singled him out from the rest. He fit right in. He belonged.
The only one to know the identity of the betrayer all along was Jesus. In John 6 verse 70, Jesus tells the disciples, “Did I not choose you Twelve, and yet one of you is a devil.” Already He knows one of these, His closest friends in the world, is rotten to the core. There is another revealing moment a little later in John 12 verse 6. You remember another beautiful scene of love on display when Mary anoints Jesus’ feet and she breaks a flask of expensive ointment and pours it over His feet. But listen to John’s comment about that scene. John says, “Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, he who was about to betray Him said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. And having charge of the moneybag, used to help himself to what was put into it.” So Judas has a secret life, do you see. He has a hidden life. There was a public face – He was an apostle. He was instructed at the feet of Jesus. He went on mission trips. He performed miracles. He preached the Gospel. But he had a secret life of terrible, hidden sin. He was a habitual thief. And his conscience has become so seared by his own wickedness that he was quite comfortable sounding pious in front of Jesus Christ Himself, looking his Lord in the eye and putting on a show, you know, a full outrage at this alleged waste of expensive perfume instead of helping the poor. But it was all in service of his avarice and greed.
And so by the time we arrive at this climactic moment in Jesus’ ministry here in Luke 22, Judas has given himself so completely to selfishness and sin that the Devil has claimed his heart. If we pay careful attention to the testimony of the Gospels, you’ll see the satanic influence in Judas’ life appears to have come in waves. Not all at once, but at strategic moments, reinforcing Judas’ own wicked instincts for betrayal and greed. So for example in Luke 22 verse 3, we are told Satan entered into Judas at some point prior to the final Passover meal. But then in John 13:2, we have a similar account. John 13:2, at the Last Supper, Satan had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. But then later on in the same chapter of John’s gospel, after the Supper is over while the disciples are all relaxing around the table, Jesus predicted His betrayal. His betrayer, He said, would be one to whom He would give a morsel of bread dipped in wine. And John 13:27 adds, “When He dipped the morsel, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him and Jesus said to him, ‘What you are doing, do quickly.’”
Now I’m taking the time to paint this picture about Judas and tell you his story because I want you to hear the chilling warning in Judas’ sorry tale. Think about it for a moment. He’s been given every conceivable opportunity for repentance and true faith, hasn’t he? This is a man who has entered into the highest imaginable privileges of earthly intimacy with the incarnate Christ Himself. He has been personally discipled by the Messiah, the Lord of glory. Can you imagine that? Personally discipled by the Messiah Himself! He saw all the evidence, heard all the teaching. He witnessed the life and ministry of the God-Man. Nature coming meekly to heel as He calms the storm with a word. Demons fleeing at His rebuke. Even death reversing itself at His say-so when Lazarus stepped alive from the grave. All these extraordinary privileges, and yet still he’d been so captured by his secret sins and betrayals, become so practiced at faking it and putting on a show that his heart became the haunt of devils and a seat of Satanic malice.
Do you see how high you can climb in the outward enjoyment of real divine blessings and privileges? Do you see how deep you can go in accessing the truth of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, how near you can come, how near to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and still fail to receive the salvation He came to provide? Have you become practiced at putting on a religious charade? You can put on a show, look the part, turn on the language, the vocabulary when you need to. And you can convince everyone. And all the while, out of sight, your heart is a sinkhole of unrepentant, unaddressed sin. Are you living a double life? Are you? A life of hidden, unacknowledged, indulged, played with, secretly cultivated sin in your heart, all while you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Take warning, please, from the tragedy of Judas Iscariot before it’s too late. Satan wants your heart for his own. And there is no surer way to hand it to him on a silver platter than to come as close as you possibly can to salvation while still secretly living for yourself. You are in grave spiritual danger, so please hear the alarm sounding. Can you hear it? It’s sounding for you to wake you up. Judas Iscariot, the betrayer.
Then secondly, notice Simon Peter, the backslider. As we saw a moment ago at the Last Supper, when the disciples heard that one of them is going to turn traitor, they all tried to guess which of their number it would be. “The last one that annoyed Him – I’ll bet it was him! He’ll be the traitor, surely!” And that, of course, pretty soon gave way to a squabble about which one of them was the best disciple in the room. And so they judged – listen, they judged each other and they flattered themselves! “Maybe it’s him, or him over there, or that guy over there. Clearly I’m the best in the place. It’s got to be. I mean I’m the greatest, surely.” They judged each other and they flattered themselves. How like us they were. Let’s admit it now, don’t we read the Bible and, wonder of wonders, we are never the bad guy in the story! We are always the hero, never the villain. The warnings and rebukes that we hear, they must be for that guy. “I hope she’s listening to this because she could really use a few choice words right now. Okay, I may not be very godly, but at least I’m better than the man or woman sitting next to me in the pew right now.” That’s how these disciples were thinking. That’s how they were thinking in the Upper Room at the Lord’s Supper.
But look down at verses 31 through 34 and notice how Jesus bursts the bubble. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you.” Clearly, Simon has no grounds for boasting in his own greatness, does he? Jesus tells him straight he is going to fall as a result of Satanic sifting, verse 32. When he protests that, “No, no, he is ready for martyrdom in Jesus’ cause if need be,” our Savior has to tell him very plainly and directly, “Listen, you are going to deny even knowing Me, three times over in fact, before the rooster crows.” Simon Peter, Simon Peter, the leader, the spokesman. Simon Peter who, with James and John, form Jesus’ innermost circle of intimate friends and confidants. Simon, of all the disciples, Simon will deny so much as even knowing who Jesus is.
What’s the message? The apostle Paul puts it like this. “If anyone thinks he stands, let him beware lest he fall.” That’s the message. Don’t think that you are so mature in the faith, so well schooled in the truth of holy Scripture that you are now beyond the danger of backsliding. Under Satanic sifting in the moment of crisis, in order to save his own skin, Simon preferred to masquerade as a stranger rather than be known as Jesus’ disciple. He’d rather people thought he was ignorant than have them identify him as a friend of Christ’s. If you have been a faithful follower of Jesus, you need, I need to learn from this text that we too are the target of the Devil’s assaults. If you’ll look closely at verse 31, if you’re using our church Bible or an English Standard Version, you’ll notice that the ESV has a little footnote in verse 31 indicating that the “you,” “Satan has demanded to have you that he might sift you” – the “you” there is plural. “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to have you all and sift each of you. You are all in the crosshairs, Simon. He wants to take you all down.” That’s what Jesus was telling him.
And so we can’t afford to let our guard down, can we? “Our adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” He has demanded to sift up. And Simon Peter’s example ought to teach even the most advanced disciple that he or she is not beyond the danger of falling under the onslaught of temptation. There is a warning here about backsliding. And so Simon falls. He denies knowing his Lord. Though we learn in our text, don’t we, that he does not fall beyond recovery. Verse 32 Jesus tells him that He has prayed for him, and the result of Christ’s intercession on his behalf will be his restoration. His faith will not fail utterly. He will turn again, Jesus says.
Here is the great difference between Judas and Simon, between final apostasy and temporary backsliding. The apostate, like Judas, only appears to have been a true disciple, but never really received saving grace. Came so close, but loved himself far too much. But the backslider like Simon Peter, he really is a disciple, and although he will sometimes fall back into old habits of sin, he never falls beyond recovery and he is always restored and brought back. The crucial question for us tonight is really very simple. We need each of us to ask ourselves, “Which will I be? Which am I? A Judas – betrayer, a counterfeit, formal, external, a Christian in appearance only? Or am I a Simon Peter – a backslider perhaps, but one whose faith cannot utterly fail?” If you are the latter, the only proof is that you turn again, that you come back. Which are you? Which right now does your life, your heart reveal you to be? Are you being called tonight to come back home, to come on home in repentance at last to your Lord? The betrayer. The backslider.
And finally, very quickly, notice what we learn also about the blood. More important than the question of whether I am a betrayer or a backslider is this vital question, much more important. Here’s the question – “What can save me from a Judas Iscariot Christianity – a mere show, an outward profession, a secret, double life of formal religion and inner rebellion? What can save me? And what is the remedy for my Simon Peter backsliding? I have a real faith, I love the Lord Jesus and I trust Him, but I have been overcome by the remaining wickedness of my heart. Is there a way back for me?” The answer to both questions is the same – the blood of Jesus Christ. At the institution of the Lord’s Supper in verse 20, Jesus took the cup and said, “The cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” The new covenant, the long promised age of the Messiah in which sinners may be rightly reconciled and related to God through faith in Christ alone. It dawns because of His blood. It is secured in His blood, is ours by His blood. He dies, He dies that we might live.
So what security can we offer to anyone worried that theirs is actually a Judas Christianity – inauthentic, superficial, external, unreal? We can offer you the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, which cleanses us from all sin. And you must come now tonight, tonight, with our delay, while there is still time, and confess up till now you’ve not been sincere. You’ve been play acting, going through the motions. But tonight you must turn to the cross of Jesus Christ and ask, “O Lord, tonight, please, by Your blood, make me clean.”
And what help do we have for you if you’ve been backsliding like Peter? You thought you were so safe, so strong. Nothing could shake you. You were in church. You were always in the Scriptures. But that was ages ago, and today you can’t really remember when last you really sought the Lord. O, yeah sure, maybe you show up from time to time around here on a Sunday, but every time you think about your Lord, all you feel is shame and you want to run and hide, like our first parents in the garden. You’ve been running and dodging and hiding from the gaze of God. What hope is there for you? We have the blood of Christ for you. We have the blood of Christ for you. “My little children,” John says in the second chapter of his first letter, “I am writing these things to you that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but for the whole world.” His blood, His blood can make the foulest clean. Jesus deals with God’s just judgment on behalf of every sinner that cries to Him for mercy. He will plead your cause.
Maybe your guilty conscience has kept you running from God for some time, but here tonight, Jesus says to you in verse 27, “I am among you as one who serves.” That’s His heart. He is here to serve. He loves you and He wants you back and He died that your guilt might be washed away forever. Stop running! Stop running and come home. Fakes and backsliders alike, you’re not beyond rescue if tonight you make use of the cross of Jesus Christ. God has appointed His Son for the use of anyone, even you, who wants to come and get clean.
Have you ever wondered why we call this Good Friday? If you think about what happened, it doesn’t sound good, does it? The betrayal, the arrest, the agonies, the horrors through which our Savior passed. That Friday, Jesus says in Luke 22 is “the hour of darkness.” It doesn’t sound good. For Him it was unspeakable in its sorrows and sufferings, and yet for everyone else it has become the foundation of free forgiveness. Free forgiveness. And that makes it the best day of all. Really good. Really good. Come and get clean. Tonight, you, come and get clean from the nail-pierced hands of your Savior, Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray together. Father, there are perhaps some here tonight who have been hiding from You, who have fallen back into old ways, into wickedness, who, like Peter, have been living in constant denial that they really know You. Please, O Lord, draw them back, summon them back, bring them home. O Lord, if there are any who have been resisting You and refusing You, by the overpowering wonder of Your love, break through their resistance and bring them tonight to repentance at the foot of the cross. O Lord, we bless You that today is the best of Fridays, the Good Friday, for here all our hope was founded in the sufferings of our Savior. May we take hold of it, each of us for ourselves, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.