Luke 22 (Part 1)

Luke 22, which is what we're starting today. Luke 22. We're going to begin here this morning by reading just the first 2 verses, and then we're going to pray. And I think we'll get a little bit farther than that, but we'll see how it goes. Follow along with me here. The first couple of verses say,

Let's stop there. Let's pray. Lord, as we dive into Your Word, we pray that You would help us, Lord, to just really be open to what You want to say to us today. We pray that You'd speak to our hungry hearts. Lord, we come to You with a desire to rightly divide the Word and to be given wisdom to understand how we can apply it to our lives. We long for You. Fill us Lord with Your Life. We ask it in Jesus precious name, amen. I wanted to start off here with just these first 2 verses today, because there's a connection in them that is easy to miss if you move too quickly. And the connection has to do with the reference that Luke makes to the time frame that the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover were right around the corner, and then he makes mention right after that, of the desire of the religious leaders to put Jesus to death. And those are very interesting comments to be put in the same proximity because of what Passover is, how it began, and the connection that we make to it in the New Testament. This is one of those times when reading your Bible is greatly enhanced with a knowledge of the Old Testament, and many aspects of the New Testament are better understood if we have a working knowledge of the Old Testament. And as he's talking about Passover, first of all, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover are technically two separate feasts, but they're right up next to one another, I mean one ends and the other begins the next day. So, they just called them all Passover. They called them both Passover. And that was the reference that was used, but Passover is one of those great observances from the Old Testament that is so powerfully applicable to exactly what we're reading here in Luke chapter 22. And in order to learn more about it, we have to go back to the Old Testament. So instead of having you turn there, we're going to put some passages up on the screen for you today because we learned about the very first Passover from the Book of Exodus. Let me just set it up for you. The nation of Israel had been living in the land of Egypt for hundreds of years, and for many of those, we're not exactly sure how many, they had been in slavery to the Egyptians. But eventually their cry for freedom came up before the Lord and the Lord sent Moses to deliver them from their bondage. Of course, Pharaoh did not want to let them go and continued to harden his heart so, God began to bring a series of plagues upon Israel in order that they might be, His people might be set free. At the very, well between the second to the last, and the last plague, God began to prepare the nation of Israel for their freedom, because God told them that because of this last final plague that would come upon Egypt Pharaoh would indeed let them go. And we begin reading about it in

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt… “Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old.” He goes on a few verses later to say.

…you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.” They were literally to take this year old lamb, slaughter it, take some of the blood in a bowl, and then they were to dip a hyssop branch into that blood to go out of their homes, and on the outside on the doorframe of the house, they were to literally paint blood on the doorpost, on the side, and on the lintel over the top. And can you imagine the houses and what the Egyptians would have thought of that walking by these houses with this blood painted on the doorpost? What a crazy thought. God is preparing them for this final plague. It goes on here later in chapter 12 to say,

“It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. (Check this out) And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” Now, as most of you know, this was again, the final plague that God brought upon the Egyptians prior to the release of Israel from slavery, but what many Christians, perhaps, don't fully connect with is just how Passover is a picture of our salvation, and it's a beautiful picture. It's an illustration. More than a metaphor it's an illustration that God gave us, in real life, to depict how we, in fact, are saved. And it is a beautiful foreshadowing. And I want to just want to share with you some of the things that are foreshadowed through Passover. Israel’s slavery – A picture of our slavery to sin. For starters, Israel's slavery in Egypt is a picture of our slavery to sin. You know, we are all, every one of us born into slavery, just like those Israelites were. We’re born into slavery to sin. We don't have control over that condition of slavery. We are slaves to sin by birth, just as the Israelites were. All right? Then we have Egypt, which of course is a picture of the world. Egypt – A picture of the world That's the world all around us seems to hold us into that slavery and escaping that slavery of the world is a horrible picture of just our bondage. Pharaoh – A picture of Satan And then Pharaoh himself is a picture of Satan, who desperately wants to keep us in slavery. Hold us right there, not to move on to freedom, but to keep us in that posture of slavery. Passover Lamb – A picture of Jesus And then we have, as we read here in, in Exodus, this Passover lamb that the Israelites were told to take and slaughter. And that, of course, is a picture of Jesus. We'll talk more about that in just a bit. Blood on Doorpost – A picture of the Cross The blood that they would then put on their doorpost from that slain lamb is a picture of what Christ did for us on the cross. And just as He shed His blood on the cross, this was depicted foreshadowed by the putting of this blood on the doorposts of their homes. Israelites remaining indoors – A picture of faith in the sacrifice of Christ And the Israelites were told, by the way, to remain indoors that night. And that, in itself, is a picture of the faith that we have to remain under the blood, to remain safe under the blood of the Lamb. And God told them, if you remain indoors during this night, when death goes through the area, you will be safe. I will pass over your home if you are there safely sheltering under the blood of the Lamb. And it's a picture of our faith in Jesus Christ. Death Passing over – A picture of what we are saved from! And we are safe from death. We are saved from the second death as we put our faith in Him, safe, sheltering under the blood of the Lamb. And then of course, the whole idea of death passing over the Israelites who were there in those homes is just a further picture of our salvation. And there are other things. There's the picture that the yeast, they were to make yeast, bread without yeast and yeast is always a picture of sin itself. There's other things we could have mentioned, but moving on here, the reason that we know that all of these events from Passover point to the person of Jesus Christ is because of statements throughout the Word, not the least of which is this one that the apostle Paul made in

Cleanse out the old leaven (or yeast) that you may be a new (batch or) lump of dough as you really are unleavened. (Look what he goes on to say) For Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Paul makes the connection for you and I, if it were not obvious already, the thread from the Old Testament to the New, is Jesus Christ our Passover Lamb. And so, and I believe that it was no mistake that while all these things are going on, this connection that Luke makes here, Passover is right around the corner and the religious leaders are plotting the death of Jesus. And it is no mistake at all that while Jesus was hanging on that cross on that Friday, that the Israelites were readying themselves to observe Passover. They were making sure that the lamb was there, and they were going to slaughter the lamb, and go through the whole process in commemoration of that first Passover observance. And, and here Jesus was hanging on the cross at that very time. The fulfillment of Passover. No mistake, okay. No mistake at all. The timing of this is just too powerful to miss. And it is also no mistake that Jesus has been recognized as that Lamb for a long time. You know, you remember when John the Baptist was still in his ministry, the Bible tells us that he would see Jesus walking by. What would he say? Check this out.

The next day, he saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John wasn't just spouting off the top of his head. He was speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calling Jesus the Lamb of God, connecting Him with that Passover lamb. And if you look with me again in verse two, this is where we see this statement made that the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death. Knowing as we do that Jesus came to die. This is an incredible statement because, and it's even kind of ironic in a sense, that Jesus, who came to die, who is the picture of Passover, is dying at this very time when the religious, preparing to die, as the religious leaders are preparing to have Him put to death. And we see that they needed to find a way to do it apart from the crowds. It says that there in verse two, because the crowds were very much on Jesus' side. They loved him. They loved His words. They hung on every word that He said. So, the religious leaders knew they needed some sly way to arrest Him when nobody was around, and they found the opportunity. As we go on to read in verse 3 it says,

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5 And they were glad and agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. Because that's, of course, what they were looking for. We see here in this passage; we understand that Judas was used in the plot to betray Jesus into the hands of the religious leaders. I'm not suggesting in any way that Judas wasn't culpable for his actions. He certainly was, but we also learned from this verse and others like it, that there was a power behind Judas. And that is the power of the enemy. We're told very clear terms in verse 3, that Satan actually entered into Judas Iscariot and moved upon him to do what he did. And so, we have, entering to the story, an old enemy we've heard of before, and that is Satan, the devil, who now is behind the scenes working this evil. And you might recall that back in the earlier part of Luke when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness, you'll remember that Satan brought all of his temptations. And then it says that when it was all over, Satan left Him until an opportune time. Well, this is that opportune time because of Judas' heart. And it had to come through someone outside of Jesus because we know that Satan couldn't affect Jesus personally. The temptation, the period of temptation in the wilderness proved that. Satan couldn't get at Jesus. Jesus was victorious. He stood upon the Word. He stood in the power of God and Satan couldn't touch Him. And so, it had to happen from without. Do you remember that when Jesus was meeting with His disciples in the upper room during that last supper, He made a statement about Satan and his ability to affect Him. Let me show it to you from

I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. (And that's a title that He uses of Satan, the ruler of this world. But I want you to notice what Jesus says related to that. He says) he has no claim on me, In other words, he has no power over me. He has no claim on my life at all. Man, I wish I could say that. I provide just like you, I'm sure, a big target for the enemy, but not so with Jesus. And so, because Satan had no claim on Jesus personally, he had to bring his evil from outside. And Judas was easy prey because we know from the Scripture that Judas' heart was not right before God. There's all kinds of people that really feel, they like to feel bad for Judas, and I don't know if that's a popular opinion or whatever, but it seems like people like to argue that the guy was misunderstood, and I think he was really just wanted the best, but he just went around about it wrong or something like that. And I don't think so, at least not according to what we frankly read in the Scriptures. Do you remember the time when Jesus was in Bethany. In fact, He was in the home of Lazarus and his sisters, and they were eating, and it says that Mary took this very expensive ointment, you remember? Broke open this container and poured it onto His feet. Began to wipe His feet with her hair. Do you remember the reaction of some of the disciples? Check this out on the screen.

But 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?” (Look at this though) He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Okay? That tells you a little bit about what's really going on but check out some of these other comments concerning Judas that are made.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (And then it says parenthetically here) (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)” So, we see here from this passage, Jesus knew all along. Judas didn't believe. He didn't have a heart of faith at all. In fact, he was completely unchanged, and he was a thief. And then another passage from

Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” And so, Jesus is speaking of Judas there. He says, not all of you are clean. And we’re going to leave this passage up for just a moment, because if I could comment on it for just a moment, this is a very important one to understand, because Jesus is using two metaphors. Let me go back. Let me explain. At the Last Supper, you guys know that during that time, Jesus got up from the table, and He put His garment around His waist, and He got down on His knees, and He started to wash the feet of the disciples. Made them very uncomfortable. In fact, Peter objected. And so, Jesus started this conversation with Peter about bathing and foot washing. And He talked about those two kinds of things. He specifically made reference to bathing, which is an idea of washing the whole body, and then just rinsing off the feet, which is what they would do when guests came for dinner. They wore open sandals and that sort of thing, and their feet would get dirty and so forth. It was a very nice thing to do if you had people over to wash their feet, you know? Jesus is using these two washings, if you will, to speak of two different spiritual cleansings. And you'll notice in this, in this passage, he says, the one who has bathed, and that talks about the person who's received a full bath, doesn't need to wash, or that word actually means rinse, okay? Except for his feet, because why? He's completely clean. He's talking about salvation. That full bath is salvation. Because when we come to Christ and we receive forgiveness for all of our sins, it's like that's that spiritual full bath and you're clean, you're clean. But we still have to wash our feet once in a while because we still walk through this world and we still, there's the filth of the world, right that we pick up that needs to be cleansed. And this is always, I'm bringing this up because this is a big point of confusion with a lot of people. They will say, I don't understand why Jesus told me I had to come and ask for my sins to be forgiven after I've been saved. In other words, when I got saved, I was told that my sins are forgiven past, present, and future. Is that true? Yes, that's true. That is very true. Future. It's a done deal, right? So why then does He tell us, in things like the Lord's Prayer and elsewhere, to come and to say to Him, forgive us our sins? I'm already saved, right? No, that's the rinsing. You've already gotten the bath when you came to Jesus Christ. You're clean. But you’ve got to be rinsed because we walk through the world. Well, why do I have to be rinsed? Because your feet are dirty. Well, what big deal is that? Well, because sin still clings to us. And we still come before a holy God, and we don't want anything to come between us and a holy God. Relationally speaking, we need to come before the Lord and ask for that cleansing, not for salvation, but for relationship, for better communication. Do you ever, you ever noticed that even as a believer, your sin can still stand between you and God? Right? It still can. You ever done that? As a born-again Christian, you ever had just a really rotten day where you gave in to the flesh and you knew there was a separation between you and God? Not eternally. You're still saved. You're still going to heaven, but that sin is standing in the way. You got to have that cleansing. You’ve got to have that rinsing. And so that's what Jesus is talking about in this passage. But I want you to note again, getting back to the context of what I'm sharing, that He says concerning Judas, well, He says to all of them, you are clean, but not every one of you. And we are told that that statement was because of Judas. So, very important things to remember here. You know, when you stop and think about this whole idea of Jesus, excuse me, when you stop and talk about, or think about this whole idea of Satan entering into Judas in order to betray Jesus, you kind of ask yourself, why go to all the trouble? Because think about it. When Judas betrayed Jesus, it started a series of events going that, just like dominoes, ended with His crucifixion. Well, what happened at His crucifixion? Satan was, that that was a death knell to his kingdom. Satan received the biggest defeat at the cross and yet he started that ball rolling. Isn't that kind of a crazy idea? I mean, think about some of the passages that we have in the Bible that talk about what happened at the cross, at the cross of Jesus Christ. Look what Paul said to the Colossians,

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross. I love that passage out of the NIV. It's just spoken so beautifully. What did Jesus do? He disarmed those powers and authorities. That's talking about the enemy. Triumphing over them, right? So, Satan begins this betrayal process that ends with this triumph over his kingdom. And then notice also in

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, Jesus himself, likewise, partook of the same things, (the same weaknesses, the same flesh and blood) that through death (Look at this) he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. Guys, Jesus on the cross destroyed the power of Satan. And isn't it interesting that this betrayal that began with Satan entering into Judas started this very downfall. And every so often people will write me or ask me, so why did Satan do any of that, all that stuff if he knows that he can't have ultimate victory over Jesus, why even try? Why, why go to all the trouble? Doesn't Jesus, doesn't Satan know that Jesus is God? Yeah, sure. Of course he does. Certainly, he does. Remember what the demons used to scream out when Jesus would go walking through the area? Some demoniacs would come along and these demons inside of these people would just start screaming, I know who you are, the Holy one of God. And this is so Satan. Yeah, of course Satan knows. Sure, He knows. Well then, they say, well then why? Why does he go to all the trouble? You know, I understand the question because as human beings there's a very common thing among us that we want to find out the reason for things. That's why we ask why all the time, starting when we're little children, why, why? And then we grow up and something happens in our lives, and we look to God, and we go why because we think somehow understanding the reason is going to bring us comfort. But you need to understand something here and that is Satan needs no reason to do what he does. Satan attacks because of who he is. Not because he's reasoned it out or decided it would be a good strategy. Satan is who he is. He is pure evil, and pure evil will always attack. It's just like a rabid dog. He doesn't need a reason. He's just coming at you with everything he's got, because it's who he is. But you know what? When people ask me that question, so I'm trying to figure out Satan. Hey, don't sit and try to figure out Satan, okay? I mean, don't waste your time. It's not worth your time. You want to expend brain power? Then focus on the nature of God. Focus on His nature. Think about His steadfast love. Think about His mercy. Meditate on His goodness and so forth. Those are the things that are worthy of your thoughts because they will truly transform your lives. So, we’ve set the stage here this morning to go into the rest of this chapter to understand the connection between the Old Testament, Passover observance, and the coming of Jesus, And the death that He died on the cross. ---