Eight Days that Changed the World – Maundy Thursday
Would you turn, please, to John chapter 13, and verse 1. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Look down the chapter to verse 21.
When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was a leaning on Jesus, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. Now, a sap was just a piece of bread that was pulled from the loaf and often would be dipped in wine and then would be extended as a token of affection or honor at a supper like this. So the Lord Jesus says, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him, for some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then, having received the sop went immediately out, and it was night. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. Now this is called.
Maundy Thursday, which is an unusual word. Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, which is a command and edict. And the verse we’re going to read now is why this Thursday is often called Maundy Thursday. Verse 34, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that she also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have loved one toward, another. So that mandate, that command was the statement of the Lord Jesus that his disciples are to love one another. Now, each night as the days of the week have passed, we have been drawing nearer to the epical events of the weekend. The topics of tonight’s meeting, as I’m sure you know, will culminate in the arrest of the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Knowing what lay ahead of him, the Lord Jesus was gently preparing the disciples for his absence, for his departure. His death on the cross was going to be a shock to them. And so in that upper room, when Judas had gone out, the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and then explained to them so many wonderful truths. And the words that he spoke in that upper room are poignant and tender. In fact, I would consider them not only some of the most.
Poignant words in the Bible, but maybe in all of literature, as the Lord Jesus was addressing these men that he loved so dearly, and yet men that he was going to be leaving. Now, how incredibly important were the events of this day, this Thursday? In fact, nearly one-sixth, one-sixth of the four gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is occupied with the account of the 24 hours from the upper room where we read to the Savior’s burial. There is no day in all of Bible history that is narrated with such fullness as this day. Somebody has estimated that if we possess the record of the Lord’s life, written with the same detail as the record of these last days, that that record would occupy 180 volumes as large as your entire Bible. So these are incredibly important days. Just allow me briefly to sum them up and just think with you very quickly about what took place. In that upper room in Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus observed the Passover with all 12 of his disciples. They were all Jews. He observed the Passover with them all. Displaying grace and humility, the Lord Jesus washed the feet of each of the disciples. No one offered to wash his feet. He washed theirs, and that includes Judas the betrayer. During the Passover supper.
The Lord identified Judas as the traitor. Judas then left the room to complete his awful treachery. And then the Lord Jesus, the Passover having finished, the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. Now, this was now just not with 12, but with the 11. Judas was gone. He is not a saved person. But now for the believers there, those 11 men, he instituted the Lord’s Supper consisting of bread and wine. Following that, the Savior commenced what has been called the upper room discourse. And what he said to those 11 men, as I have mentioned, is incredibly touching. They apparently knew nothing of what was coming. He knew everything that was coming.
That discourse may have continued because after they sang a hymn, they made their way out to the Garden of Gethsemane, a garden that the Lord Jesus often visited. And it may be that the discussion such as the vine, when he discussed that in chapter 15, all that may have taken place on the way to the garden. It was in that garden that the Lord Jesus offered his fervent cries to his father. And it was to that garden that Judas led the band of armed men to capture him. So a month of meetings could not deal with all of the historic happenings of just this Thursday. But tonight is gonna be all about the Lord Jesus. And so I wanna consider with you, first of all, His amazing grace, His wonderful love, and His precious blood.
What amazing grace is displayed in his giving that sop to Judas. During the Passover supper, the Lord told the disciples that one would betray him. Now, you know, they didn’t sit at tables on chairs as we do. They reclined at a table. So there is a table set with food. And from what I have seen from people who have been to the Middle East, it may be almost U-shaped. And then there would be couches radiating out from the tables and the person who was nearest to the couch where the Lord Jesus was reclining was John. And that is why when the Lord Jesus says, one of you shall betray me, Peter, who would perhaps have been positioned further away, beckons or motions to John, ask him of whom it is he speaking. And that is why John simply says to the Lord Jesus, who is it? Now, what was so confusing to the disciples was, number one, they had no idea that Judas was a traitor. The Lord Jesus knew that. He knew that from years before. He actually chose Judas, knowing Judas was a traitor, and he put into his band.
A man who for three and a half years would watch the perfect life of the Lord Jesus. If you have any failures. You don’t want people around who can see those failures, but the Lord Jesus was perfect that he allowed a man to be in his company who would actually sell him for 30 pieces of silver. But the sop also was a confusing thing because that was a token of esteem. That was a sign of affection. I’m told that sometimes at the Passover supper, what the father would do would be dip that sop in his drink and he would give it to his oldest son, to the heir. It was supposed to be a mark of love and affection and honor and esteem. And now when the Lord Jesus dips the sop, he gives it to Judas. Now notice, please, it is when Judas took that sop that Satan entered into Judas’s heart.
That sop was a secret message from the Lord Jesus to Judas. He was saying, in effect, Judas, it’s not too late. If you turn now, I can save you. When hypocritically, Judas takes the sop, the die was cast. He was still maintaining the mask. He was still going on with his hypocrisy. He was still going to pretend to be a disciple, but he intended fully to sell the Lord Jesus, as in fact, he had already done. He takes the sop, Satan enters into his heart, and the Lord Jesus, knowing now that Judas is beyond hope, says to him, what you’re going to do, do it quickly. Judas leaves, and the reason why the Lord Jesus wanted that Satan-possessed man to be out of that room was because he cherished, he treasured these moments, with these men that he loved and that he had taught for three plus years. And he was treasuring all these last moments with them before he would be taken to Calvary. I can say.
Authoritatively that I only know of two men who are linked with Satan possession. Many people have been demon-possessed.
But I only know, I only know of two men that are linked with satanic possession. Judas, Satan entered into him. The devil did not leave this task to an inferior demon to carry this out. This was the hand-picked work of the devil to make sure that Christ would be murdered. Satan entered into him. And it seems that in a coming day, the man that is called the beast, this coming world ruler that is depicted in Revelation chapter 13, verses 1 to 8, that he as well will be indwelt by Satan. But I just think about the grace that the Lord Jesus showed to this man. Remember now, Judas had sold him. The price that was agreed with the chief priest was 30 pieces of silver. Now, 30 pieces of silver was the price that was levied if a man had a servant, and another man’s ox hurt that servant so that that servant was killed or that servant could no longer work. Then what was imposed on that man who had caused the damage was 30 pieces of silver to make up for the wounding of a slave.
When they got their heads together, the leaders of the people and Judas decided, that that would be a suitable price. The same money that would be paid for a dead or a dying slave, 30 pieces of silver. And yet here, the Lord Jesus reaches out one more time to Judas to reach him before he makes this terrible mistake. So before I just leave this point, I want you to think two significant things about Judas. The first is that he was a hypocrite. He was pretending to be something he was not. The man that we’re talking about tonight, the Lord Jesus, he is the truth. He is the truth. So while Judas was living a lie, he was selling, he was betraying. He was a traitor to the person who is truth embodied. In Genesis chapter three.
There was a willing abdication. I said the other night that it is only the Bible that gives us a logical explanation for why human beings like you and me are capable of such marvelous acts of selflessness and kindness and altruism and creativity and goodness, and yet at the same time are capable of such acts of selfishness and bitterness and envy and sin. And the reason is that we were made in the likeness of God, and then something came in to ruin that. And so we have vestiges, if you will, of what we should be with the terrible effects of sin so obvious in our life. Now, in Genesis 3, that is where it happened. And Adam willingly abdicated his throne. He believed the devil’s lie.
And he gave up his freedom and his crown and his kingdom into the hands of Satan. Whatever Satan had whispered in Judas’s ear months, if not years before had been a similar lie. And sadly, Judas believed the lie and turned from the truth. Now, the only reason I’m wasting your valuable time on this is that still today in the 21st century, with a thousand lies and enticements, the devil labors to turn humans away from God. He whispers into the ears of people that God is unkind, that God is unfair, that God is something to stay away from, that if you want to know God at all, wait till you’re dying. If you want to know anything about Christ, just wait till your deathbed. Don’t get involved with him now. There are countless lies that the devil whispers into the ears, into the hearts and minds of human beings to turn them away from God. So I would like to ask you tonight, whom do you believe? Do you believe the devil who was a liar from the beginning.
Or do you believe the man who is truth embodied, the Lord Jesus? You know, there’s a wonderful statement about God and the Lord Jesus is God, he’s deity. There’s a wonderful statement about God made by Paul when he’s writing to Titus. And he just simply says, God who cannot lie. God who cannot lie. I don’t want to lie, but tragically, I have the ability to lie. God has no capacity for lying. It’s not part of his makeup. He cannot lie when he speaks. It is always true. And so you are left with either accepting truth from God or swallowing the lies of the devil. In the Palazzo Spada in Rome, the famous 17th century architect Francesco Borromini, has something that still is there to this day. It is called Borromini’s.
Corridor, I believe is the name. And it’s an optical illusion. And if you stand looking into that corridor, it’s actually outside of a building and you’re looking with walls on either side and you’re looking into this corridor. He has created this optical illusion that makes this, I think it’s about 20 feet, makes it look like it’s 65 feet long. And it distorts a statue that’s at the far end of it. And it’s all just an illusion. And for many years, there was a sign above that statue at the far end that said, the world’s grandeur is nothing but an illusion. The world’s grandeur is nothing but an illusion. And yet, sadly, many people are mesmerized by the illusion of success, of pleasure, of wealth, of fame, and of a thousand other things, and they have neglected the most important thing in their life, and that is their eternal well-being. Could I challenge you tonight? Could I ask you tonight, have you made any preparation for where you’re going to be when you die?
If you were going to travel to Disney World, you’d be making preparation. You’d be checking your flights. You’d be checking the prices. You’d be checking the costs of the tickets. You’d be planning where you’re going to stay. You’d be deeply involved to make sure that that one week, perhaps, that you have is just going to be perfect. You’re going to make sure you take care of everything so you plan it all out. You try to think ahead of what problems there might be. You want to pack the things you’ll need for one week.
My friend, you’re going to be in eternity forever. Whether you believe that or not, that’s what God says. You’re going to be in eternity for endless ages. Don’t you think it would be wise for you to make sure that when you leave this world and you go out into eternity, that you will be in heaven with God and not in hell? I would suggest to you with the example of the Lord’s parables, using that concept of wisdom and folly, I would suggest to you that the highest wisdom of a human being.
Is to look ahead and to prepare for that eternity and to be saved, to have Christ as your savior. One more thing about Judas, he was a thief as well as a hypocrite. He worked it out that he would be the treasurer for the disciples. And when anybody ever gave the disciples any money to buy food or something like that, Judas would put it in the bag. But when no one was looking, he’d be taking it from the bag. and he’d be using it for himself. Now, remember, please, that the Lord Jesus was constantly giving, giving, giving food to people, giving health to people. He gives eternal life to those who trust him. He said to the woman at the well in John chapter four, if you knew the gift of God, if you knew who it is that’s talking to you, you would have asked of me and I would have given you living water. He was constantly doing that through his life. And then he gave his life at Calvary, and now alive from the dead, he gives eternal life to everyone who trusts him. And yet in contrast to that, Judas was taking, constantly taking. So I’m going to say again, it was marvelous grace on the Lord’s part to offer Judas the possibility of forgiveness, even at that late stage, that late hour.
And that same grace is offering you salvation tonight. Right here and now. Has nothing to do with the supposed importance of the speaker. I’m just a normal person like you. But whenever the scriptures are read and the gospel is preached, God is giving a bona fide offer of salvation, of eternal life, of forgiveness to everybody who hears it. So you’re getting the offer of a lifetime because it’s coming from God and you could have eternal life.
You know, when Paul thought about how he was saved, he used to be called Saul from the town of Tarsus. When Paul thought about how he was saved, here’s how he described it. He said, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ just overabounded. He knew how bad a sinner he was, but he was saying God’s grace was even greater. Do you remember, of course, when Peter was talking in Acts chapter 15, he’s talking about Jews and Gentiles. And this is what he said. We believe that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We will be saved even as they, that there were not two ways of salvation, that by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter was saying Jews can be saved and so can Gentiles. So by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, you could go home tonight with every one of your sins forgiven. If you trust the Savior, because His grace is amazing. But think with me, please, about His wonderful love. It’s described here in John 13 as being love to the end, and it has been translated to the uttermost, to the uttermost. You know, whenever I read John 13 and 1, I am reminded of a very fascinating missionary book I read when I was a teenager. The missionary’s name was Henry Martin. And he was a missionary to what was called at that time, Persia, that is Iran today, much in the news.
And he hired a Muslim translator to help him translate. And what they started on was the gospel of John. Now, you must understand that this translator had never read the Bible before. So he’s reading John chapter one and making his way through the gospels. And he’s reading about the Lord Jesus and these disciples. And they got to John chapter 13. And as they were talking about this verse and how it should be worded, and the translator looked at it carefully, he looked up at Mr. Martin and he just simply said with a tone of awe in his voice, he said, how much he loved these men, how much he loved these men to the uttermost. I’m glad that I am one of his own that he loved and that he loved me to the uttermost by giving his life for me at Calvary. I hope you’ll come tonight to understand how much he loves you, because think of how expressive, how expressive the display of that love was.
It’s a cross. Tomorrow night, if the Lord hasn’t come, we’ll be looking at what happened on what is called Good Friday. I think the Germans have a word for it that is much different. They call it something that would be translated mournful Friday. What a Friday it was. Do you know that on that cross, God was displaying how much he loves you. On that cross, the Lord Jesus was displaying how much he loves you. He became a man. He became a man so that he could die. God cannot die.
God cannot die. So God became a man in order that he could die. And that is an incredible fact. His name is Immanuel, God with us. He’s not a distant, faraway God. He came here. He was with us here. And he wants to be your savior tonight. He willingly sacrificed his life, willingly sacrificed his life. There were no plots, no scheme, No ruse could have successfully ensnared him. No one could have killed him. He said, I have power to lay my life down. I have power to take it again. No one takes my life from me. I’ve received this commandment from my father. He wasn’t mortal in the sense that he had to die. Only that he could die if he chose to. That’s a vast difference. You see, I have to die. The Lord doesn’t come. I will die. If someone were to burst into the hall tonight and figure that the first person who should be taken out is the man on the platform, if he’s got a good aim, I will die. But no one could somehow secretly kill the Lord Jesus. He was not mortal in the sense that he had to die. The amazing thing is that the Prince of Life.
Was willing to come down here and enter into this awful experience called death. He did that willingly so that the one who never had to die died, so that we who had to die could live. And he’s offering eternal life to you tonight. If you know things about ancient history, they’re really not sure if this is completely as widespread as they often say, but if you’ve ever heard about the whipping boy, that, if a prince was young and he misbehaved, the prince doesn’t get punished. There’s no corporal punishment against an heir to the throne. There would be a whipping boy. There would be an associate who would take the boy’s punishment so that the prince does the wrong thing. He gets off free. And then this poor sap who has to take his place, he gets punished instead. He didn’t do anything wrong, but he gets punished instead. Why? Because the prince is an important man, see, or is going to be an important person.
Then you come to the Bible and you come to the gospel and God has turned that completely on its head. And we, we, guilty sinners who deserve nothing but judgment, the king, the king dies for us. The prince, who never did anything wrong, takes the place of guilty sinners and dies on a cross. Because you see, his death was by means of crucifixion. That was an agonizing, excruciating death marked by pain and anguish. But he endured it, and he endured its awful curse, and he endured the agony of bearing my sins in his own body on the tree so that I could live. I don’t know what you will hear, tomorrow. I don’t know what you will hear in the days ahead.
But I can tell you this, you will never hear anything more important than the fact that Christ died for your sins on the cross. You will never hear anything more significant. You will never hear anything that will have greater implications for you than the message that the Son of God loved you and died for you on a cross at Calvary. It was an act of selfless bravery. It was an act of willing self-sacrifice displayed to the full so that the apostle Paul put it this way in such a personal manner. The son of God loved me and he gave himself for me. Think of how extensive, how extensive the results of that love are because the provision that the Lord Jesus made is for the world. He didn’t make it for Christians. He didn’t make it for people who live in a certain part of this world. He didn’t make it for a favored ethnicity.
The Lord Jesus said in John chapter three, God didn’t send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Again, he said in John chapter 12, I didn’t come to judge the world. I came to save the world. In John chapter six, he said that he was the bread of God. He had come down from heaven to give life to the world. You see that this is unlimited in its scope, that it’s taking everybody in, that what the Lord Jesus did at Calvary was sufficient for the entire globe, for the entire race, for every human being.
We think that people are great when they perhaps have had an impact on their generation, but, There are a select group of people throughout history who have had an impact on their generation and in some cases, every generation to follow.
There’s only one man, who had an impact on his generation. Every generation to follow.
And every generation that was before him. because his work was known to God, from creation itself, from before creation. And before the Lord Jesus even came, it was his coming, it was his eventual and certain death on the cross that was allowing God to save people like Abraham, and Moses and David and people in that what we call the Old Testament times. And he has come to provide life for the world. He provides deliverance from sin. John wrote that Christ is the propitiation, the payment for our sins and not for ours alone, but for the whole world. So whether it is life that you’re seeking or salvation that you’re seeking or forgiveness that you’re seeking or deliverance from sin, think of how extensive this salvation is, that he did something that is provided for the entire world. A native from the country of Belize in South America once described to me a poison tree.
She said, even the powder of it, if people walk underneath it and there’s any kind of breeze, even the powder from the tree causes a painful rash. And that the only remedy for that poison tree, the only remedy is the tree, and I’m going to do my best to pronounce it the way she did it. She called it the Gumbolimbo tree. And she said, and this is what I found remarkable. She said, wherever you find that poison tree.
All you need to do is look around because very close to it, there is always a gumbolimbo tree. So that wherever you find the problem, right near it is the solution. You go this whole world wide and what you will find are hearts breaking, families being ripped apart, homes being destroyed. You’ll see the terrible effects of sin in the lives of countless men and women, what it has done to our nation, what it has done to our world. But wherever you find sin, the true pandemic, wherever you find sin, you will find this wonderful cure made available to the whole world that Christ is the Savior, the Bible says, for the world. If you’re in this world, then he’s the Savior God has appointed for you. I hope that you’ll trust him tonight and leave this meeting with salvation. Finally, I want you to think about Christ’s precious blood. I didn’t take the time to read with you the event that took place on this Thursday night in that upper room, but when Judas went out, the Lord Jesus took a cup of wine from the table and he said, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for the remission of sins.
Peter, who was at that table, picked this adjective led by the Spirit of God, and he said, you are redeemed with the precious, precious blood of Christ. You know, when they kept the Passover, they looked back to what happened centuries before when God brought them out of Egypt. If you come here Sunday morning at about 10 o’clock and you come through the doors, You’ll see a table. This is if the Savior has not returned. You’ll see a table with a loaf of bread and a cup of wine. And Jews, when they keep the Passover, look back to that night when they were delivered from Egypt. Christians, when they observe the Lord’s Supper that he instituted, we look back to Calvary and to what Jesus did on the cross, and we look forward to the moment when we’ll see him because he’s coming again. But I want you just to think in the closing moments of the meeting about that precious blood. Think of how many sinners Christ died for.
Think of how many sinners he shed his blood for. Here’s the Bible’s description. It says he gave himself a ransom for all. Now, when you think about the millions of people who are living, who have lived and may yet live, please understand that for each one of those individual people, Jesus gave himself at Calvary, shed his blood and promises this gift of salvation if they will simply trust him. His work on the cross embraced the entire human race without distinction, without exception. He tasted death for everyone. That includes you. You can get in on the good of this. You can come into the blessings of what he did at Calvary, because just think of how valuable that blood is, how precious that blood is when it was shed for every human being. Think of how many sins Christ died for.
The night that God made me aware of my sins, I felt it was a crushing burden. I’m not trying to exaggerate to you. I just remember stumbling out of the gospel meeting and thinking, my sins are taking me to hell. What am I going to do? Where am I going to be in eternity? How can I be saved? Those were just my sins. Everybody here has sins. Maybe you have less sins than I do, but everybody in the world has sins. Think about the ponderous burden, the immeasurable, the incomprehensible number of sins that were charged to the Lord Jesus at Calvary. And for every one of those sins, he had to shed his precious blood. Now, this is what casts light on what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Lord Jesus was not balking at dying He wasn’t somehow now After this is the very purpose he came He’s not somehow now saying Is there any other way except my dying.
What was happening in the Garden of Gethsemane was the eternally holy Son of God contemplating what was about to happen in just hours. Not a cross, not nails, not the thorns, not the scourging, not the beating, not the spitting, no. That the eternally holy Son of God, for the first time in his experience was going to come into actual contact with sin. God would lay those sins on him and then punish the Lord Jesus as if they were his sins. And I want you to think of how precious his blood must be if they can cleanse the sins of every sinner. How greatly, how infinitely, how terribly he suffered so that sinners could be set free. How wonderfully, how gloriously, how magnificently he has triumphed so that you could have the forgiveness of sins tonight. You could be saved. You could go home having everlasting life. But finally, I want you to think about how many sinners.
Are going to be in heaven because of the precious blood of Christ. So I think of how many sinners he died for, the entire race. I think of how many sins his blood can cleanse, every sin. But then I find what the book of Revelation describes as the number of people, who are going to be in heaven. And here’s the description. From every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
An unnumbered crowd that cannot be, John couldn’t number them as he looked at the vast throng of people that he is prophetically seeing around the throne of God and of the Lamb. Billions upon billions of people who in their life here trusted the Lord Jesus, either looked forward to his coming that he would come and die, or like us, looking back to the fact that he has come and he has died. Heaven filled with men and women from every part of the globe. But of course, the question just right now here in Midland Park is, will you be there? Will you be there? There’ll be people there from India. There’ll be people there from Africa. There’ll be people there from Canada. There’ll be people there from the United States. If I ran down a list of all of the countries in the world, to be people from every nation. What a tragedy if you’re not there. What an unutterable tragedy when you think of all that the Lord Jesus did to make it possible so that you could be there, that he shed his blood, that he sacrificed his life, that he died, so that you could have eternal life. Please, could I urge you, before you put your head on your pillow tonight, make sure that Christ is your Savior and that heaven is your eternal home.
Filed under: Gospel Series, higgins-eugene
