Wednesday's Plan for Murder

If you have your Bibles this morning, please take them and find Luke 22:1.  I want to share a message with you entitled, “Wednesday’s Plan for Murder.”

 

While I am so thankful for my mom and my daughters’ mother, I don’t have special Mother’s Day Sermon for you ladies.  Instead, we are continuing our study of Luke’s Gospel.

 

We have now moved to Wednesday of Passion Week.  Jesus entered Jerusalem on Sunday.  He cleared the temple on Monday.  He taught in the temple on Tuesday, and we now move to Wednesday.

 

 

1. Exposition: 22:1-2

1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.

 

In verse 1, Luke gives us a time marker and some history.  He speaks of two events or celebrations that had morphed into one.

 

The Passover would start on Thursday night at sundown and go to Friday at sundown.  Some estimate that over two million Jews would have been in Jerusalem for this annual pilgrimage feast. 

 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread would happen the very next day.  Because they happened immediately one after the other, by this time, they were seen and referenced as one. 

 

The Feast of the Passover was celebrated by the Jews in Jerusalem remembering when the Lord passed over the houses of the nation of Israel protecting them from the death angel in Exodus 12.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrated Israel’s exodus from Egypt in the same chapter.

 

For us, this might be like celebrating Independence Day on July 4 and then Thanksgiving on July 5.  They celebrated freedom with Passover, and thanked the Lord for it during Feast of Unleavened Bread.

 

Verse 2 says the chief priests and scribes sought to kill Jesus.  Why?

 

He had challenged them, and asserted His authority over theirs.  He had exposed their hypocrisy and deceit. 

 

However, they knew of His growing popularity with the multitudes.  Therefore, it seems as if they had resigned themselves to waiting multiple days until after Jerusalem cleared out.

 

There plans might be different if they had an insider.  If they had someone who knew where Jesus stayed, maybe their plans could be carried out sooner.

 

 

2. Exposition: 22:3

3 Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.

 

Verse 3 says that Satan or the Devil entered Judas.  Iscariot most like was a geographical reference to Judas’ home.

 

The end of verse 3 is terrifying.  How could the Devil possess one of Jesus’ twelve disciples?

 

I would suggest to you that Judas is not an example of a disciple falling away.  I believe he is an example of a person being constantly exposed to the gospel but never being saved. 

 

Judas betrayed Jesus and the Twelve.  Judas never embraced Jesus the Savior. 

 

He was being led by the devil and ultimately was led to death.  We know that Judas took his own life, and because Satan lived in his heart, he died and is spending an eternity in hell separated from Christ. 

 

I’m not saying he went to hell because he committed suicide. I am saying he went to hell because he rejected Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

 

 

3. Exposition: 22:4-6

4 So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

 

The chief priests and scribes needed an insider to move more quickly, and Judas was their man.  Verses 4 and 5 seem to indicate that Judas initiated his desire to be their man. 

 

Verse 4 says he conferred with them.  Verse 5 says they agreed to his plan.

 

What would it cost them?  Judas sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver according to Matthew’s Gospel.

 

Judas knew where Jesus often took the other disciples.  Therefore, Judas promised to lead the chief priests and scribes and captains to Him. 

 

 

 

Applications

First, the Perfect Lamb of God in the New Testament was foreshadowed in the Passover lamb of God in the Old. 

 

Jesus Christ is the perfect lamb of God who died on the cross in our place.  If you put your faith and trust in Him as Savior, you will be saved.

 

The Passover foreshadowed this reality in Exodus 12.  When the blood of a Passover lamb was applied to the doorpost of the Israelite’s home, the death angel knew to  pass over that home and that family and move to the next as he took the life of every first-born Egyptian.

 

Second, being numbered with the disciples on earth doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be numbered with the disciples in heaven.

 

Judas walked with Jesus, and he talked with Jesus.  He ate with Jesus, and he drank with Jesus. He slept with Jesus, and he traveled with Jesus. He ministered with Jesus, and he saw the supernatural done by Jesus.

 

However, he never received Jesus into his heart as Lord and Savior, and therefore, was never saved.  I am thankful if you are numbered with the disciples on earth, but what about in heaven?

 

Finally, if we allow him, the devil will always tempt us deceive and destroy, especially using money.  Money is not evil  Money is neutral.

 

However, money won’t satisfy ultimately.  Judas was paid up for a day.  Judas is in hell for eternity. 

 

Money won’t fix your marriage ultimately.  Money won’t make your kids better ultimately.  Money won’t buy your happiness ultimately. 

 

But Jesus can, and Jesus will if you let Him.