The Cutting Floor // John 17:6-19

0:00Welcome to the cutting floor, a weekly podcast of West Cannon Baptist Church. Hi, I'm Emily and with me is Pastor Zach. This week your sermon covered John 17 verses 6 through 19. In verse 12, Jesus says that none of his disciples have been lost except for Judas. Does the fact that Judas was lost mean that we can lose our salvation or fall away? I think as we are interpreting what Jesus has to say about Judas, we have to place this in the context of the fact that Jesus says that none of them will loss except for the son of destruction that the scriptures might be fulfilled. So Jesus seems to be indicating that there is a biblical expectation that what occurred to Jesus was going to occur to Jesus. In other words, this is an event that caught Jesus off guard that he's suddenly surprised to discover that he only now has 11 true disciples and that one of them has run off to betray him. Instead, Jesus seems to be indicating that there is a scriptural expectation that there was going to be a betrayer. And if we think

1:03a little bit further back into this very night in the life of Jesus with these disciples, as Jesus is announcing to these men that he is about to be arrested, he says one of you is going to betray me. So Jesus knows in advance that one of these men is going to betray him. And then when he's asked to indicate who among these men are going to betray him, he quotes from one of the Psalms of David, where he says that the one who ate my bread has lifted his heel up against me. And then he takes the bread that he's just broken and he gives some to Judas, indicating that the one that Judas that David was speaking of and there was a fulfillment in David's own life of those that had been close to him who were now seeking his life. But there's a greater fulfillment in David's greatest son's life of Christ, the true David died that in his life, that Psalm is being truly fulfilled that one who ate his bread a close companion, one who is fellowshiping with is now prepared to betray him. And so that Psalm is revealed to be a prophetic pronouncement of a coming betrayal of the

2:09true Messianic figure that David was a type four, but was still looking beyond David to who would come from David as the King promised King from David's line, the Messiah who he come from from David's family. And so Jesus is saying now in this prayer to his father that the betrayal of Jesus of Judas is actually in fulfillment of that scripture that Judas is betrayal is not a a surprise event. It isn't because Jesus has failed to keep one of his own, but rather Judas has now done what Judas was always intended to do, which was to betray Jesus and be the instrument by which Jesus would end up going to the cross. And so it isn't as though Christ's power has been proven to be incapable of preserving his own. It isn't as though Satan has successfully plucked one of Christ's true followers from out of the father's hand, as Jesus says in John chapter 10 that the father keeps those he's given to Christ in his hand and that no one can take them out of the father's hand. That has not

3:11occurred. Instead Judas is revealed to have not ever been one of the true followers of Christ. His heart has always been to love himself and to love money more than to love Christ. We've known that there's a deficiency in Judas' character for some time now because it was already revealed earlier in this gospel that Judas was in the habit of taking money from the money bag from the disciples and using it for his own purposes. And so while he has been in company with the disciples, while he's been proximate to Jesus throughout the ministry of Jesus, there isn't actually a submission of his heart to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Judas is not living for Jesus. Judas is still leaving for Judas. And so it isn't as though we should read now onto Judas a threat to our eternal security if we truly belong to Christ. It isn't as though Judas' faith day-bought and failed. Rather, Judas never truly believed Christ for who he was, never truly submitted his heart. And Judas was always promised for

4:12told prophesied that he would do this to Christ. And so Judas' calling is different than the other callings of the other disciples. The calling of the other disciples is a true call to discipleship. The calling of Judas in amongst the twelve was rather a call for Judas to fulfill the purpose for which Judas was always intended to fulfill, which was to be the one who would turn his heel against Christ. Is there a connection between Judas and the man of sin referenced in 2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 3? You know, the reason why it's interesting to ask this question is the way in which Jesus refers to Judas is reminiscent of the description of that man of sin in 1st Thessalonians. And the language that Jesus uses here is to call Judas the Son of Destruction. Now, I think as we look at that title, we don't need to try to get into this mental twist to try to say, okay, well, is there actually some

5:14personal connection between Judas and this man of sin or man of lawlessness or man of destruction in 1st Thessalonians? But rather, there is a, we'll call it a thematic overlap between these two, meaning that Judas typifies, if you will, the person who has rejected Christ in a way that has been not only has been exposed to the truth of the gospel, but also is rejecting Christ in a way that results in the persecution of Christ and His followers that chooses the love of the world rather than the revelation of God. And that ultimately, the kind of person that Judas represents is going to be supremely realized, we could almost say, in the most depraved way, realized by this coming man of sin. And so what Judas pictures for us is going to be an even greater realization, or we might even say more depraved realization of this coming man of destruction. I do think though it's always interesting to reflect as Jesus gives this particular title

6:18to Judas, is to just ask ourselves the question, who really is destroyed by Judas? If we call Judas the son of destruction as our Lord does, who really gets destroyed? Judas thinks that he is saving himself in order to destroy Jesus. He's done the political calculation. He thinks to himself, listen, this, this Jesus guy isn't going the places that I thought he was going. He's not ushering in the kind of kingdom that I was expecting. This ship is sinking. The political elites are opposed to him. They're seeking his life. This isn't going to last. I'm going to get off of this sinking ship while there's still time. And I'm going to make the best deal for myself that I can. That's what Judas is thinking. And he imagines that he's going to pocket some money in order to destroy his friend or his companion at the very least. But the person who gets destroyed in that betrayal isn't in the end Jesus at all. It's it is Judas. Judas, the one who betrays is the one who is himself destroyed. We'll find in the

7:18book of Acts that Judas after pocketing his money is so overcome with guilt that he tries to return his blood money and then goes out and hangs himself. He commits an act of self-destruction because he recognizes that he has done something so unspeakably evil that he can see no path forward even for his own existence. And so this I think gives us a picture in miniature if you will or an intense analogy for the reality of what sin does in our lives anytime that we reject Jesus in order to pursue the other loves of this world, the other passions of our heart, whether that be love of money, love of power, love of being around the people of influence and prestige that reject Jesus, whatever it is, whenever we pick the path of Judas to reject Jesus, it always ends in our own self-destruction. And so we should take a lesson from the son of destruction of what happens to those who reject the truth of Jesus to pursue the loves of this world. How can this prayer from Jesus encourage those who are

8:20prone to be anxious or worried about their faith? I think one of the the great difficulties of the Christian walk is the reality that we are walking by faith and non-by-sight. And that that creates attention in our heart where we often feel acutely our own lack of faithfulness and constancy. When I look at my own life, I see how often I am prone to doubts, often I am prone to sin, often I am prone to backsliding in my walk with Christ. It's easy for me to look at those things and become overwhelmed by my own unworthiness or my own inconsistency and double-mindedness and to think to myself, Zach, how can you imagine that you can really be a child of God? If you continue to struggle with these things or in these ways or this often, if these battles are still raging in your heart, how can it be that you are a child of God? And we know that Satan

9:21delights in warming his way into our thinking and into our believing. There's a reason why Satan is likened in Scripture to an accuser. You can bring a charge against God's elect. What Satan who is constantly endeavoring to bring accusations. Not only in the courtroom of God's justice, but first within our own hearts to try to convince us that we in fact are not children of God. I think one of the beautiful depictions of this in literature is in Bunyan's Pilgrim's progress where in his walk to the celestial city, Christi is constantly being the victim of all of the spiritual persecution and the attacks of a pollyon on the way. He was trying to convince him that he does not belong to the king of the celestial city. It should turn aside that he doesn't actually have any right as a son of God. And so this is when Christian in Pilgrim's progress has to arm himself with the armor of God. He has to put on the armor of God. And that's what we have to do in the Christian life. And part of why this prayer I

10:23think is so encouraging as a Christian is to come to it again and again in our seasons of doubt or perplexity or fear or spiritual depression and to look at the words of our Savior, who is pouring out his soul to his father on behalf of us and is asking his father to do what only his father can do, which is to keep us from that evil one who stands in the way between us and the celestial city and would to try to tell us and dissuade us from pursuing our way because you do not belong to the king. You are not a son of God. You are not sufficiently morally good or righteous or faithful to walk this way. And yet, Christ in this prayer pleads on behalf of this people that his father would give to us sustaining, persevering faith so that the evil one will not have us, but that the father will faithfully keep his own. And that gives me confidence, know that even in my days of doubt or fear or when I feel Satan's accusation is pressing in, to be reminded of the fact again and again that God will sustain the

11:25faith that he has given because he is honoring the request of the son to preserve those whom the son has redeemed for eternal life and that the father will grant them to the son and raise them up on the last day. If you have any questions from the sermon or the sermon passage that you would like to have answered on the podcast, please email them by 8am on Tuesday morning to questions at Westcannon.org. We'll see you next week.