God’s Will

In The Garden

the disciples and Jesus have finished the Passover meal

Judas has been filled with satan to betray Jesus

He has gone to the temple to tell them to get ready because he is going to lead them to Jesus

so as many as a thousand men are on their way to the Mount of Olives to arrest Jesus

Jesus is in the familiar resting place

He is in prayer, Peter James and John were asked to be in prayer with Jesus

Jesus told Peter to pray so that he would not fall into temptation

But he slept

As Jesus is praying Judas is on his way to arrest Jesus

we are going to look at Judas and Peter this morning

one of them with very selfish intentions did the will of God

the other with the best intentions did not

The Providence Of God

Lexham Survey of Theology Providence

Providence is the governing power of God that oversees his creation and works out his plans for it.

God though his Sovereignty rules the universe

God did not plant this universe and walk away

He is ruling through people

some are not Godly people that He uses for His purposes

Turn to Ezra 1

the people of Judah are in captivity in Babylon

Jerusalem is is ruins

Solomons magnificent temple is flattened

there is no hope, But God has his plan for the people of Judah

Isaiah 44:28 LSB

“It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And all My good pleasure he will complete.’ And saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ And of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”

Isaiah 45:1 LSB

Thus says Yahweh to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken hold of by his right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings, To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:

Isaiah 45:12–13 LSB

“It is I who made the earth and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, And I commanded all their host. “I have awakened him in righteousness, And I will make all his ways smooth; He will build My city and will let My exiles go, Without any payment or reward,” says Yahweh of hosts.

Ezra 1

this is the fulfilment of this prophecy

God used an ungodly man to do His will

God said by name Cyrus

I will put into his heart the desire to do exactly what God wants him to do

God had to cause others to contribute to this prophecy

like his parents in naming this little bundle of Joy, Cyrus

it was a tossup between Cyrus and Frank

God raised up Ezra at the same time to lead this expedition back to Jerusalem

Thousands of other free will decisions went into the building of this temple

as far as King Cyrus was concerned the choices he made were his free will decisions without any influences from anybody

so with that in mind lets look at

Judas

We have looked at the prophecy of what Judas was going to do

NOW is prophecy God looking into the future and and having someone write it down?

or is prophecy God telling us what He is going to do

so we know from the psalms that Judas was going to betray Jesus with a kiss

Judas was going to be the one that dipped bread with Jesus in the bowl

V 47-48

Judas is going to betray Jesus with a kiss of friendship

the mob is there to arrest Jesus

Peter later on after the assention of Jesus will say

Acts 1:15–16 LSB

And in those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (a crowd of about 120 persons was there together), and said, “Men, brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

God’s decree went out that Judas would betray Jesus

Just like God’s decree went out that Cyrus would be the king that would send the Jews back to Jerusalem

and all decreed prophecies has to be fulfilled exactly

Remember God is ruling this universe

so if Judas committed this great sin will he be punished for it if God decreed it?

lets look at other decrees of God

there is a prophecy that says not one bone of Jesus will be broken

again this is what God says he will do

does Jesus’ human body have the ability to have a broken bone?

yes all bodies have the capability to have a broken bone

but because God has decreed it there is 0% chance of a broken bone

Peter will deny Jesus 3 times on that night

the capability of Peter to not do it is there if he could just keep his mouth shut

but because Jesus God the Son told him he would do it there was 0% possibility that it would not happen

Now Peter grieved horribly because he was fully guilty of denying Jesus

Peter could never say Jesus made me do this so I am not guilty

Judas was the same way God decreed it so he had to do it

but He went out and hanged himself because of the guilt that he had over the sin he committed

Judas knew he was absolutely wrong

he made free choices to sin

from the time Judas was a disciple he was one of the 12

he was trusted with the cashbox. but John tells us that he was a thief.

at the time that they had the final passover no one knew of him being a fake

Judas was for 3 years a pretender

he even went on the missions to heal people and cast out demons

but he was a false disciple

and in the end he shows his true colors

and he will be punished forever in the lake of fire

when we see the stories of the Bible our sense of fairness, our vision of right and wrong our logicalness interfere.

here is how it goes

since God made Judas to be the one that will betray Jesus

our logic and sense of fairness says Judas did the will of God then he should be rewarded

after all Judas was a thief from the beginning

it was Gods providence that caused him to do what he did

so why does God punish him?

so, this is where we take off our feelings, and our logic and see what God has to say about it.

Jesus said about Judas it would be better if he would not have been born

first of every one that has ever been born is going to hell

it is only by God giving to certain people grace to be saved

Read Romans 9 10-21

our fairness and logic does not count

we need to let God’s word say what it says without our interpretive glasses on