True to Form
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Intro: When we say someone or something is true to form, what do we mean? We are aiming to communicate that they are being or behaving as expected. (In other words, from what we know of them, this is exactly what we should expect.)
In our text from Luke’s gospel this morning, we are reminded that Jesus, as the divine eternal Son of God, remains exactly true to form. And unfortunately, the religious leaders are true to their self-interested and self-righteous form.
And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
Jesus is true to form. (21:37-38)
Jesus is true to form. (21:37-38)
We find Jesus doing what he was doing every day during this week up to this point. Beginning early in the morning, he was teaching every day in the temple.
Jesus must have been teaching them many things, such as telling them, that with his arrival, the kingdom of God was coming in a new way (“preaching the good news,” Lk 20:1), and that it was foretold in the Scriptures. Also in this context he seems to be emphasizing that his kingdom was not coming in the way they expected (earthly and political deliverance from oppression), at least not yet (as he had expressed shortly before this in Jericho on his way up to Jerusalem, Lk 19:11). But a major emphasis in his teaching during these days does include that his kingdom would one day reach such a culmination of total reign with his bodily return in glory. Therefore, they must not assume that he will not ultimately return to rule and judge with all authority; instead, they must be ready for his return.
This serves as a transition for Luke from the Olivet Discourse’s conclusion toward the gathering storm of sinister intentions from those who desire to see Jesus destroyed. But as the sky above covers the entire earth, so God’s sovereign purpose for what the divine messianic Lord has come to accomplish envelopes everything in the ensuing plot.
As such, Jesus not only knew what would take place concerning him but also remained in control of it. - And with the preceding context of the coming of the Son of Man in glory at the last day, we ought to be reminded that Jesus presently remains in control; he is watching and interceding on behalf of his people, he is working in us and through us by the Holy Spirit he has given us, and Christ is absolutely certain to come again on that final great day that God has already predetermined.
In fact, the story of the Bible carries forward God’s revelation of himself, which culminates in Jesus Christ. In it we are to see the faithfulness of God to fulfill his promises to do for mankind what we are incapable of doing for ourselves—to make undeserving sinners righteous and spiritually alive.
Therefore, as we await his return, our confidence is not in ourselves but in the one who gave himself for us and secures us to the day of redemption. In the present, then, we do not trust in our own strength but in the grace of God (his favor poured out on undeserving sinners) to save us, to sustain us, and to use us for his glory.
We can trust in the Triune God of the Bible because he will always be true to form.
And now in our text there is a stark shift in tone as the narrative returns to scheming religious authorities desiring to put Jesus to death. Luke 22 contains the betrayal of Jesus and the final pre-cross preparations with his disciples.
Like night and day contrast to Jesus, Luke lifts the veil of deceit to reveal…
The self-righteous religious leaders are true to form. (22:1-2)
The self-righteous religious leaders are true to form. (22:1-2)
They are still about their self-interested scheming, determined to destroy Jesus.
We have, in our teaching in recent months, discussed at length the falsehood and hypocrisy of the religious establishment and the way that they are leading the people astray, because Jesus exposes the ungodly selfish hearts of them all: the scribes, the Pharisees, the chief priests (meaning the most influential of the priests, not just the high priest), and the Sadducees.
Because of many other texts already covered and more to come, I won’t belabor the point about their character here.
But here’s a passage from John’s gospel that reveals who they are and what they are about. While they are claiming Abraham as their father (in other words, the children of God’s promise), Jesus blasts a hole in their hypocritical facade to reveal their true identity.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Thus here we see them being true to form, exactly as Jesus said they were. And the character of Satan and deceitfulness of sin is relevant to our discussion today as well.
Before we come to that, though, Luke also reminds us that the setting for all of what is about to take place is the approaching Passover and subsequent Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Darrell Bock explains, “The Feast of Unleavened Bread, a week-long celebration, followed the day of Passover. In fact, the two feasts were usually treated as one. The Passover and Unleavened Bread commemorate Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, during which all the firstborn of Egypt died and the firstborn of Israel were “passed over.” … [It] was the time when the nation reflected on its deliverance, as families held a meal to recall the event, sing, and offer thanks and sacrifices to God. Pilgrims flocked to the city to celebrate; Jerusalem was filled to capacity. Thus, the leaders’ concern about the mass of people who might react to any action against Jesus is real.” (p. ***)
But if we should be tempted to view these blind guides as uniquely wicked (they do bear great responsibility as supposed spiritual leaders), we must see that their depravity is not the exception but the rule.
Many of the very people who were earnestly impressed and eagerly attentive to Jesus in v. 38 of chapter 21, we will see as Luke continues to tell the events of this week how the wickedness of their own hearts allows them to readily be swayed to turn on Jesus and call for his crucifixion.
But that universality of depravity is why Jesus came. Wicked is what we are without him. Yet God through Christ deals with the stronghold of sin against us when we are powerless to deliver ourselves from its grip:
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Jesus came to be the perfect Passover Lamb for all who put their trust in him alone to be their deliverance from sin and deliverance from the righteous wrath of God against sin.
Speaking of that sin, we are reminded from our passage that…
Sin and Satan are true to form. (22:3-6)
Sin and Satan are true to form. (22:3-6)
Our text says that at this point where the religious leaders were resolved in their commitment to kill Jesus but still stumped for how to accomplish it because of their fear of the people, Satan removed the obstacle through using Judas to betray Jesus.
It is essential that we see Satan and sin for what they are. Satan is out to devour us. Sin leads to our destruction.
You are just a means to an end for Satan. This usurper of God’s glory desires to bring God down and lift himself up. Therefore, this serpent wants to inject his lethal venom into everything God has made, because it all proclaims the glory of God. And mankind is the central target, the beings created in his image to worship him and walk in trusting fellowship with him.
The great enemy of God is the betrayer of humanity, so what we ought see here is that Satan used and discarded Judas. We cannot stand near the lion and admire his mane and stroke his glossy fur. He will devour you.
This also means that sin is not neutral. While we are created in God’s image, the injection of sin into humanity means that venom is passed down to us all at birth. It is killing us, leading to our destruction. You have a disease that makes you crave more of that which is killing you.
So we must rightly understand that sin seduces us but that sin betrays us.
[Read highlights from Dave Harvey in When Sinners Say “I Do”, pp. 55-56]
Again, sin is not neutral. It is the fruit of the devil and his tool.
Just so, Satan was able to take advantage of Judas’s sinful heart. And that’s what I want us to see before we formulate a conclusion today, that this is not mere coincidence that Satan is able to betray Judas in order to have him betray Jesus.
Judas is true to form. (22:3-6)
Judas is true to form. (22:3-6)
From God’s word we know the nature of Satan and sin, and we know that sin has taken up residence in human nature. We see the outworking of it in the life of Judas Iscariot.
Although it appears that none of the other disciples realized it, Jesus knew that Judas did not truly believe in him, even that he would be a betrayer.
But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
Furthermore, the pattern of Judas’s behavior reveals his unbelief and that he was allowing self-interest and deceit to have their way in his heart.
When Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, anointed Jesus’ feet at Bethany with expensive ointment, Judas acted as if it should have been sold instead to give to the poor. But look at what John says they came to realize about him with later reflection:
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.
So Satan entered into Judas with the consent of his sinful heart. Judas became the most famous betrayer of history by allowing the secret sin of his heart to rule him.
Such is the nature of sin in all our lives. It’s already there betraying us because the devil is out to usurp the glory of God, and he aims to use us as a means to that end.
But God has intervened through Jesus! While Satan was doing what he does, and his unknowing pons were behaving according to their true form, so the God who is ruler over all was proving his sovereign control and his true nature through Jesus. ***
Are you living true to form?
Are you living true to form?
When you stand before the piercing and penetrating eyes of the eternally just and loving God, who are you really? What does God see?
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Have you become something new?
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Clearly the work of the Spirit is not something we can do for ourselves. No one controls his own birth. Paul affirms the grace of God in saving us. Even our faith is a gift.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
However, in his sovereignty God has not removed your responsibility, not only for your sinful rebellion against him, but also that you are must respond in trusting submission to Jesus:
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Have you been re-formed? Have you been made new? Have you been reborn?
And how do we remain true to our new form of being “in Christ”?
First, what is that new form?
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
What does it take for us to live true to our new form?
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
We must always stay close to the means of God’s grace to us, that by dependent prayer, the conviction and confirmation of the word, and the mutual ministry and accountability side by side with fellow saints, we will stay close to Jesus to be our goal, our guide, our model, and our means to endure to the end.
