Well, good morning. If you would take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, and we'll be looking at verses 47 through 53. And if you're new with us, we have been working our way through the gospel of Luke. And we are at the point in Luke's gospel that is commonly referred to as Passion Week or Holy Week. And just to set the context, Jesus had entered into Jerusalem on a Sunday, and that's often referred to as the triumphal entrance. And then on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of that week, Jesus was teaching while the Pharisees and the scribes and some of the religious leaders were conspiring to kill him. And then on Thursday, Thursday was the day where the Lord had his last supper with his apostles. And then right after that, he took them and they followed him to the Mount of Olives where he prayed and they slept. And we studied that last week. And then our passage this morning is what happens next. Luke 22, 47 through 53. While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the 12, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, no more of this. And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the power of your word. And thank you for the testimonies that we heard earlier about how your word was used by the Holy Spirit to save souls. And God, we would ask that your Holy Spirit that worked in the lives of Charlie and Marcy and Eleanor would work in our hearts right at this very moment. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. If there's one thing you and I need to know in order to have the right understanding of this passage, one thing that we have to, it's so necessary for us to have this one thing right, this right understanding, if we're gonna correctly interpret the passage that I just read. And the one thing that we need to know is this, that Jesus Christ was in total, total control of every detail surrounding his betrayal and arrest. Let me put it another way. Jesus was not a victim. He was not a victim of betrayal. Jesus was not a victim of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Jesus was not a victim of bad luck. Jesus was not a victim of catching a bad break. Jesus was exactly where he needed to be the night he was betrayed. And he not only embraced and accepted the events of his arrest, but he was in complete and utter control of it. As our text said, this truly was the hour and power of darkness. But Jesus was in charge the entire way. And you know why this is so important for us to understand correctly? Because if Jesus was in control on the very, very worst day and the very worst series of days in human history, if he was in control of that dark hour, then he is in control of your dark hour and you can trust him. And to help reinforce that point, I want us to consider Two interactions. There's actually three in our text, but because of time, we're only going to look at two of the three. I want us to look at two interactions that Jesus had throughout his betrayal. The first interaction we're going to look at is Jesus's encounter with Judas. The second one that we're not going to have time to look at is Jesus's interaction with the disciples. And then the third that we're going to look at is Jesus's interaction or encounter with the crowd. And my goal is that hopefully when you see Jesus interacting with these groups, that you'll be convinced in your mind that Jesus was in control the entire way. So let's begin with Jesus's interaction with Judas. According to verse 47, we see and read this, while he, and the he there is Jesus, while he was still speaking, there came a crowd and the man called Judas, one of the 12, was leading them. You know what's a problem with reading and trying to grapple with a text that we've heard so many times, we've just become accustomed to the story. But we forget that this is a tragic event that happened to the Lord Jesus. And we also forget of the relationship, the close-knit relationship that Jesus had with Judas. We just chalk it up, oh, Jesus is God. didn't have feelings, Jesus didn't have concerns. This betrayal didn't mean much to Jesus. Jesus can take it. And I would argue that that's not the case. Just like you have feelings and just like I have feelings, Jesus, yes, he was 100% God, but you know what? He was 100% human. And so this betrayal, affected him in a deep and profound way, especially concerning the background and the history of this relationship. I want to remind us, Judas was loved by Jesus. Judas was mentored by Jesus. Judas spent time with Jesus. Judas was called to be an apostle. Judas followed Jesus for three years. Judas sat at Jesus's feet while he taught. Can you imagine that? Sitting at the feet of Jesus Christ for three years while he taught? Judas witnessed the miracles of Jesus. Judas saw the lives that were transformed by Jesus. Judas was given authority and power to perform miracles by Jesus. And Judas was given responsibility among the other apostles to be treasurer. So Judas's role in the arrest, it was significant. This was no light matter. He's not some outsider. He's one of the 12. You know, when somebody on the outside of our inner circle insults us, it really doesn't hurt us that bad. You know, when it's somebody who you don't really know, who might say something that offends you or me, we can get over that. But when it's somebody within our inner circle, it hurts, doesn't it? Doesn't it? When it's a best friend and they jab you, doesn't it hurt? When it's a spouse and they say something, doesn't it hurt? When it's your kid and they say you invest your life in these things, and they say something to you that just intentionally tries to jab at your heart, of course, the closer the relationship, the more the hurt. And that was true with Judas. But before we get to Jesus's response to Judas, we need to ask ourselves a question. The question is this, how? How? How does one go from following Jesus intimately and personally for three years? How does one go from that to betraying the Son of God? Well, of course, there's many layers to that question. On one level, the betrayal of the Messiah was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. And you can read that for yourself, both in Psalm 41 and Zechariah 11. So at one level, the betrayal of Jesus is foreordained. And I understand that. On another level, Judas's actions is due to the satanic influence that he was under. We can see for ourselves that earlier in chapter 22, Satan entered into Judas. So he was under satanic influence when he betrayed Jesus. And that's also a legitimate point. But there's another reason for Judas's action. And it's this, unbelief. Unbelief. The story of Judas is the story of so many today. the story of a man or a woman or a child who's around the things of God, who hears the Word of God, who witnesses the miracles of God, yet who are, at the end of the day, not a true believer of God nor a follower of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Like so many today, Judas wanted Jesus for what Jesus could do for him. It was a transactional relationship. Judas wanted power and he wanted prestige in this world. And he thought Jesus was gonna be able to give it to him. And the other, let's be honest, the other disciples struggled with that as well, but eventually they came on board and they came to the realization that Jesus Christ came to save sinners from their sin, not in order to build an earthly kingdom. Judas could never come to grips with this reality. Never could. And isn't it interesting that Judas' unbelief was not detected by any of the other apostles? Isn't that interesting? Remember at the Lord's Supper when Jesus announced that one of the 12 was going to betray him? What did they do? Did they all say, oh yeah, it must be Judas. We saw this coming, it's definitely, no. What'd they do? They said, is it me? Is it me? Is it me? Which tells you what? Judas was so deceptive and so sly in his unbelief He had the ability to be able to put on the show, to act the part while inside his heart was growing colder and colder and more bitter and bitter towards God and the things of God. Judas never dealt with his unbelief. And the question that I need to ask each and every one of you this morning is this. Are you faking it? Are you playing the part? Are you coming to church? Are you around the things of God? Are you listening to the word of God? Or at least hearing the word of God? Are you witnessing the miracles of God? Do you understand that we witness three miracles today? That's a miracle. When you hear a testimony of someone coming from the kingdom of darkness and God capturing their heart and picking them up out of that kingdom and bringing them into the kingdom of light, that's a miracle. You witnessed a miracle today. And so the question for each of us Are those miracles? Is the word of God? Are the people of God? Is the church of Jesus Christ? Is it speaking to your heart? Or are you a person of unbelief? And my plea with anyone here this morning who's playing the part, repent. Repent. Repent. God loves you and he wants you to be part of his family. He doesn't want you to have to play the part. He wants you to be the person that he created you to be. And that begins when you believe. But again, Judas never believed. And so it was with a heart full of bitterness that Judas drew near to kiss Jesus. Why a kiss? Why? Well, for one reason, it was dark. And so those who came to arrest Jesus, they needed some indicator or some signal to know that's the guy, that's the person we're arresting. But you know what, there's another reason why it was a kiss. A kiss in the original language is the same word for love. So even his last move was a move of deception. To kiss one in the middle, even still today, to kiss one in the Middle East, to kiss one in parts of Europe, done all the time. It's a way of saying, I love you. I care about you. I'm concerned about you. And so when Jesus bent over to put his lips on the cheek of Jesus Christ, he was in one sense on the outside again, playing the part. trying to show this superficial love when inside, he was cold and bitter towards Jesus Christ. And with that kiss, Psalm 41.9 was fulfilled. Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. You don't think that hurt? Yet even in this seemingly desperate moment, Jesus demonstrates that he's in complete and utter control of the situation. Jesus does not try to defend himself. He certainly does not seem surprised at what Judas has done. He just simply says, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? And I would call Jesus's words there a compassionate rebuke, a compassionate rebuke. In other words, this was Jesus's way of saying, Judas, Judas, come to your senses, Judas. Judas, what are you doing, Judas? Judas, it doesn't have to be this way. You see, to the very end, Jesus is responding to Judas with grace, with grace, while at the same time demonstrating his commitment to continue on the path towards the cross. Nothing was gonna derail Jesus from the cross. You know why? Because he had people like Charlie in mind, and Marcy, and Eleanor, and anyone else in this room who are followers of Jesus Christ. The second interaction, which we're not going to have time to go through, is the interaction that Jesus had with his disciples. But we're going to skip down to the third interaction, and that's the interaction that Jesus had with the crowd, which consisted of chief priests, temple officers, and elders. And you know what these people had in common? They all hated Jesus. They were threatened by Jesus and they wanted him dead. Yet they had nothing on him, nothing. They had nothing on Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus asks in verse 52, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter with that question. Day after day, when Jesus was teaching in the temple, these religious leaders had every opportunity to arrest Him. Right there in the daylight. But they never did. Why? Because they feared people. That's why. They feared people. Did you catch, in a few of the testimonies, the complete bondage that comes with fear and the fear of people. These religious leaders, they were so fearful of people that even though they hated Jesus and even though they wanted him dead, they wouldn't do it in the daylight because they feared the people and they were too cowardly and too hypocritical to reveal their jealousy of Jesus. So they came at night. They came at night. hoping that no one would see them. But even though they thought they were in the driver's seat, it was really Jesus. It was Jesus who was controlling things. Hence his closing statement. But this is your hour and the power of darkness. What is Jesus doing there? What's he doing? What's he saying with that statement? You know what he's doing? He is defining the parameters of His betrayal. He's letting them know, this is your hour because I'm the one who gave it to you. This is your power because I'm the one who's given it to you. Jesus is setting the limitations for this dark period leading up to His crucifixion. And the hour He's referring to, it's not a literal hour. It's the time between His arrest and crucifixion. And yes, that time was a demonstration of the power of darkness, symbolized by them coming at night. It's no coincidence. It's a momentary time. It was a momentary time, Jesus' arrest, in which Satan was granted permission to work through human agents in order to kill the Son of Man. But there was a greater power at work and that was the power of Jesus Christ that rules over and sets limits on the power of darkness. Are you in darkness this morning? I mean darkness. Are you in a dark place? Do you see that Jesus, on the very worst day in human history, Do you see that He was in complete and utter control over every detail of the events that took place during that hour of darkness? And if Jesus was in control of the very worst and the most evil day in human history, don't you think He's got under control your darkness? He does. And you can trust Him. And you can believe in Him. Now every believer in this room has a different path that got us to Jesus. That's what I love about the testimonies. All different stories, all different paths. No testimony is the same. Marcy's was different than Eleanor's, different than Charlie's. They were all different, but you know what they all had in common? They all ended up, at the foot of the cross. And it's at the foot of the cross that we remember that during that hour of darkness, God used what he hated, the killing of his son, in order to accomplish what he loves. And that's the salvation of souls. the salvation of the soul of Marcy, Eleanor, Charlie, and everyone else in this room who's trusted Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that we can trust you and we can trust your Son, the Lord Jesus. And Father, thank you that during those hours, that period of time which was the most evil period of time in human history. Thank you that Jesus was in control. And Father, I thank you for the truth, for the reality, that for those in dark situations, in dark places, thank you that you are in control of their plight as well, and that they can trust you. Father, we love you because you first loved us by sending your son, the Lord Jesus, to save us. It's in his name we pray, amen.