Transcript
In your Bibles, will you turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22 and verse 47? Luke chapter 22 and verse 47. Luke 22, beginning to read at verse 47.
And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude. And he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’ When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’ And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
But Jesus answered and said, ‘Permit even this.’ And He touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the elders who had come to Him, ‘Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness.’
Sheba is a mother with all of the protective instincts of a mother. She is black and brown. She is a mixture of rottweiler, chow, and Labrador. And as you have guessed by this time, she is a dog.
Last January the 15th, which was a Sunday, Sheba gave birth to a litter of nine cute, squirming little puppy dogs. All of whom, of course, at birth were blind. Now Sheba’s owner is a 41-year-old man who lives in Florida. And shortly after the birth of the puppies he came out and he dug a two-foot hole in the ground. He put all nine puppies in a paper sack. He put the paper sack in the hole in the ground and covered it with dirt.
Now Sheba was on a chain while this was going on. But she was obviously watching what was taking place. And the next day, which was Monday, Sheba was released from her chain. And she went straight to the place where her little puppies had been buried. And she dug up all nine of them.
A neighbor who watched her doing this realized that the puppies had been buried alive. And she called the sheriff’s department. The sheriff’s department came out. And they arrested Sheba’s owner on suspicion of aggravated animal abuse, which is a third-degree felony under Florida law.
Miraculously all nine of the puppies survived. Dr. Cindy Bossard, who is a veterinarian, said the probable reason for that was that there was probably an air pocket in the paper sack. And because the outside air was cool the metabolism of the puppy dogs was lowered. She described the puppies as somewhat dehydrated, filled with sand. But she said six of them were really, really bright and alert. Three of them were a little behind the others. But she pointed out the fact that they are even here is a miracle.
Now Sheriff’s Deputy Sherry Schmuter, who was the arresting officer, made this remark about the owner. She said, “He doesn’t believe in spaying or neutering. But he believes in burying his dogs alive and killing them.” If the owner is charged and convicted he faces up to five years in prison. And he faces up to ten thousand dollars in fine for each of the counts of abuse.
And I think that Sergeant Sherry Schmuter spoke for all the rest of us who hear this story when she said this. She said, “This dog is really quite a hero as far as I’m concerned.”
Well I will buy that. How about you folks? But do you not agree with me that there is something chilly about realizing that a human being could take nine cute, squirmy little puppies and bury them in a dark hole? And leave them in their dark dungeon to die? There is something almost inhuman about that. Something that sounds almost diabolical. Something that sounds almost satanic.
And did you know this morning that if you are a born-again Christian, by a born-again Christian I mean if you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ who paid for your sins on the cross and received by faith from Him the absolutely free gift of everlasting life, if you are a Christian this morning, then Satan would love to lock you up in a dark prison. He would love to throw you into a dark dungeon and leave you there for the rest of your life.
And of course I am not speaking literally. I am speaking figuratively. And I am speaking spiritually. And another way to put this is that the devil would like to bring you, as a Christian man or woman, he would like to bring you under the power of darkness.
And because that is a very, very real problem and an ongoing challenge to us in our Christian life and experience, I want to talk to you this morning for a few minutes about the following topic. The topic is walking on the dark side. And as you have already guessed, that topic is also the title of my message to you this morning. Walking on the dark side.
Some of you may have heard me tell this story. But years ago when I was just a little boy and my brother was still a baby in his crib, my family went to visit my grandparents in Washington, D.C. And they lived in one of these wonderful old three-story houses in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. And I always thought the house was fascinating because it was filled with memories that were pleasant and joyful for me.
But at night I always thought the house was just a little bit spooky. Especially the third floor where nobody stayed anymore. And as a kid I always imagined that up there in the shadows of the third floor there were probably lurking some goblins and monsters that were ready to jump out at anybody who was so foolish as to venture that far up at night.
Well on this particular occasion I was lying in a bed on the second floor in a bedroom that was just off the landing of the staircase that led downstairs. My brother was lying in his crib to my right. The door was open. And there was some light coming through the door. And as I recall it, because this is a very vivid memory I might say folks, as I recall that there was a street light outside there sending some light through the window.
And my brother was not asleep yet. He was standing in his crib. And he was moving back and forth holding on to the railing. And all of a sudden I saw a huge monstrous shadow on the wall. And I got out a scream that I think must have shaken the rafters on the third floor. And I ran out of that bedroom. And I stood at the head of the stairs crying, “Help! Help! Help!”
And I can still see my aunt out of me followed a few stairs downward by my grandmother racing up those stairs to find out what in the world was wrong with Zane. And the general consensus was that the light that had been coming through the door had cast a shadow of my little brother on the wall. So that I had been scared by a monstrous shadow of my baby brother.
And I was not completely convinced of that, folks. And there was no way I would have gone back into that bedroom again if Momo, that is what I called my grandmother on my father’s side, if Momo had not, like all good grandmothers, consented to go into the room with me and lie out on the bed until I fell asleep. And I figured if Momo was there even if a monster jumped out of the corner again I could always hold on to her and I would be perfectly safe.
Now I suspect that all of us as little children at one time or another have been kind of frightened by imaginary monsters that we imagined lurked in the dark shadows of a room or along the dark shadows of the street. And that was mostly our imagination.
But I wonder if you noticed in the passage of Scripture that we read this morning. I wonder if you noticed that something very much like that happened in this passage. For in this passage out of the darkness comes one of the greatest monsters in human history. And his name was Judas.
You see Jesus and His disciples had left the upper room where they had just observed the very first Lord’s Supper. They had gone into the Garden of Gethsemane. And Jesus had taken three of His disciples a little further into the garden with Him. And then He had engaged three times in agonizing prayer. And He had encouraged the disciples to pray with Him.
But when He came back to them after He was finished praying they were all sound asleep. And so He said, “Arise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” The Bible tells us that while He was still talking to them, while He was still talking to them, out of the darkness comes a mob of people. And they are led by the man that we know as Judas Iscariot, the son of a man called Simon.
And Judas approaches our Lord Jesus Christ. And he plants on the cheek of Jesus the most tragic and treacherous kiss in all of human history. Now we know from the Gospel of Mark that that would signal that he had given to the mob that was following him that the man he kissed was the man that they needed to arrest.
And I have to believe that our Lord spoke in tones of sadness when He replied to Judas. And He said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Now I want you to notice something very carefully. This scene which is beginning to unfold for us in this passage of Scripture is described by the Lord Jesus Christ in a very special way at the very end of our passage. He gives it a very special designation. For in talking to the mob of people who followed Judas Jesus says this, “This is your hour and the power of darkness. This is your hour and the power of darkness.”
Can anybody doubt that Judas was under the power of darkness at that moment? In fact we read in the Gospel of John that when Jesus handed him that special morsel of bread, then Satan entered into Judas. And then immediately after receiving the sop Judas went out of the upper room. And with very striking language John notes, “And it was night.” And it was night.
And no human being in all of the history of the world has walked out into a blacker and deeper darkness than Judas Iscariot when he walked out of the upper room. Satan was in his heart. He was on his way to betray His Creator, His God, His Teacher, His Savior. To betray this Person for thirty pieces of silver.
And as he stands before Jesus and as he plants this kiss on Jesus’ lips he is clearly and unmistakably operating under the power of darkness. And would you like to know one of the frequent signs that the power of darkness is at work? One of the frequent symbols that Satan is active? Here it is, folks. Listen carefully. It is treachery and betrayal. It is treachery and betrayal.
Now please do not think that we only meet these things out in the unsaved world, out in the marketplace or out in the office or factory where we work, in the school where we go. Treachery and betrayal can meet us in our most intimate circles. They can meet us within the confines of our own family. And they can meet us within the confines of our own church.
Do I need to tell you that if a husband or a wife is having an extramarital affair with someone other than their spouse that they are betraying their spouse? That they are violating the solemn words of commitment that they made to their spouse when they were married? Do I need to tell you that if we turn our backs on somebody who has done much for us, whether that good was physical, material, or spiritual, when we turn our backs on them we are betraying them?
Can it be that it was only a little over two years ago that we heard about the tragic betrayal of two little girls who lived in suburban Chicago? Nine-year-old Nicole and her four-year-old little sister Diana. It was the Christmas season of 1992. And their parents had left posted for them a set of instructions for mealtimes and for bedtime.
But their parents had not left for them any instructions on what to wear on a cold and snowy day or where to put cookies for Santa Claus or what to do if the fire alarm went off. Which is exactly what happened while the two little girls were bathing. They accidentally splashed some water into the vent of the heater which set off this fire alarm. And which frightened them to death.
And they ran out into the cold Chicago weather in their bare feet with only their shorts. A neighbor named Connie Stattelman saw them running out. And she intercepted them and wrapped them in blankets. And then she said to them, “Where are your mom and dad?” And the little girls replied, “They’re in Mexico.”
And of course I am talking about the tragic incident involving David and Sharon Schab. Who had the Christmas season of 1992 hopped aboard an airplane on their way for a Christmas season vacation in Acapulco. And they left their two little girls at home by themselves to take care of themselves.
Do I need to tell you that those two little girls were betrayed by the parents to whom they had a right to look for protection and security? And do I need to tell you this morning that our society and our culture are permeated by treachery and betrayal? Do I need to tell you that husbands betraying wives and wives betraying husbands, parents betraying children and children betraying parents, friends betraying friends, and alas, my friends, too often Christian brothers and Christian sisters betraying other Christian brothers and other Christian sisters?
And what I would like to do first of all this morning is to challenge you to examine your life. To examine your relationships. To examine your personal commitments. Are you dealing in faithfulness and loyalty with the people who have a right to expect that from you? Are you dealing with them treacherously and with betrayal?
And if you are then you can be pretty sure of this. That you are walking under the power of darkness. Or to put it another way, you are walking on the dark side.
But Judas was not the only one in that scene, was he, who was under the influence of the power of darkness? You see when the disciples saw what was taking place, when they realized what was going down, they turned to Jesus. And they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them, we know from the Gospel of John that it was Peter, but one of them did not wait for an answer. He did not wait for any instructions from the Lord.
Instead he reached and drew the sword that he was carrying. He swung it. And it came flashing down in a deadly arc at the head of one of the servants of the high priest. Fortunately he missed the man’s head. But he cut off his ear.
Do you realize how dangerous this act was? Why Peter could have got himself arrested that night. He might have gotten himself killed or executed. If the other disciples had followed his example they too might have been arrested. They too might have been executed.
And who can doubt that Satan, who was right there in the person of Judas inside of Judas, who can doubt that Satan would have voted to have that happen? Not only to arrest and have our Lord killed but to arrest and have the disciples killed as well.
And the same enemy of his soul that had once put words in Peter’s mouth and Jesus had had to say to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan,” is clearly now putting an idea into Peter’s mind. It motivates Peter to commit a rash and foolish act which might have endangered himself and others round about him.
But our Lord had prayed in the upper room that God would keep these men from the evil one. And He is in perfect control. And He defuses the situation by saying to those who are holding Him, “Permit even this.” And then He reaches out and apparently reattaches the ear and heals the ear of the servant of the high priest.
But would you like to know yet another signal that the power of darkness is at work? Would you like to know yet another sign that Satan is involved in his characteristic activity? Well here it is. When in disregard of the counsel of God we act recklessly and rashly and foolishly.
Do you realize how often this happens in everyday life? Here is a husband and wife who are arguing furiously. And instead of saying to each other, “Let us pray about this and let us stop this right now and pray about this and see if we can get some guidance from the Lord,” one of them jumps up and says, “I am finished with this. I am finished with this marriage. I am going to see a lawyer in the morning.” And they rush out the door. And they slam the door behind them. And they set in motion a train of events which may not be easy to stop.
Here is a parent who is upset by something that his son or daughter has done. And instead of saying to his son and daughter, “I am going to wait and pray over this a little bit and see what action I should take,” the parent says, “Get out of my house. You are no son. You are no daughter of mine. Get out of here. I do not want to see you again.” And the child goes out the door. It may be years before they return.
Do you see how in our rash and reckless behavior we set in motion the activities which the devil himself wishes to bring to pass?
In June of 1994 Billy Best was diagnosed as having Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a very curable form of cancer. The experts, the medical experts of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, recommended that he undergo radiation and chemotherapy. And he began to take treatments.
But after a while the treatments began to weigh on him. They were not much fun. Needles were involved. And not only that he began to suffer hair loss and muscle soreness and pain in his jaw. And one day he made a rash decision. He sold a guitar amplifier that he owned. He grabbed up his skateboard. He hopped on board a bus. And he ran away from home.
He wound up in Houston, Texas. And fell in with some skateboard friends and lived in deserted buildings. And later some families, a couple of families, took him in. Meanwhile the media broadcast Billy Best’s story all through the country from coast to coast.
And after about a month away from home Billy Best came back. He rejoined his parents. They went to the doctors. And then they told the media that even though the treatments had not been determined as to their exact nature the chemotherapy was definitely out.
And the reporters asked Mrs. Best what lesson might be drawn from her experience. And she said this. She said, “To listen more carefully to our children, especially when dealing with something like cancer.”
In a television interview on the program called “Current Affair” Billy Best told the interviewer that he had put his faith in God. He said, “If He heals me it is His will.” And then he added that he was not afraid to die.
Do I need to tell you that the decision to put this matter in the hands of God was far, infinitely superior to the rash and reckless decision to run away? Do you know what we do a lot of times when we face crisis and when we face turmoil in our life? Instead of turning to God and to His Word for wisdom we run away from it. Or otherwise we charge it with drawn sword and hack and chop and try to cut it down to size by our own strength and effort instead of waiting upon God for His direction and for His provision.
And when we act rashly like that, more often than we think we are acting under the power of darkness. Or to put it another way, we are walking on the dark side.
So Judas acted treacherously. And Peter acted rashly. But what about the other actors in this story? What about the mob? An unusual mob made up of mainly religious people. Chief priests, police officers from the temple who were in charge of keeping order in the temple, elders, maybe even some members of the high council of the Sanhedrin.
And when Jesus turns to the mob He says something surprising. He does not say what we would expect a person in this situation to say. We might expect someone in this situation to say, “You do not have any right to arrest me. I have not done anything. What have I done? What are you arresting me for?” But Jesus does not say that.
Did you notice what He did say? He said, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour and the power of darkness.”
What is Jesus saying? I think He is saying something like this. You are treating Me in an insulting and demeaning way. I was every day in the temple with you. And everybody knew what Jesus did in the temple. He taught the Word of God. I was a teacher daily in the Word of God. You never touched Me.
But now you come out here in the dark of night. You act as if I am some kind of a dangerous robber or a dangerous highwayman. And I am someone you cannot safely arrest unless you have clubs and swords. My friends, what an insult. What a put-down to the Son of God.
And if it is true the treachery is a work of darkness, if it is true that rashness and recklessness are often works of darkness, it is equally true, my friends, that insulting, demeaning behavior toward others is a mark of the work of darkness.
Do I need to remind you that Satan has as one of his names the devil? Do you know what the devil means? It means a slanderer. Somebody who slanders other people. The devil is described as the accuser of our brethren who accuses them day and night before God.
And I am sorry, folks, but lots of Christians do the devil’s work frequently by insulting, demeaning, putting down their brothers and sisters in Christ, condemning others and oftentimes guilty of the same things themselves. And when we do that, more often than we care to admit it, we are living under the power of darkness. Or to put it another way, we are walking on the dark side.
During World War II an American aircraft carrier was on duty out in the North Atlantic Ocean. During the course of performing its expedition six pilots took off from the carrier to go out and scout for enemy submarines. While the planes were gone the commander, the admiral of the aircraft carrier, sounded the alarm. A button was pushed. And every light on the aircraft carrier went out.
Finally the six airplane pilots were finished with their task of searching. And they were returning to the carrier. And they realized that the carrier was down there somewhere. But they could not see it. And so one of the pilots picked up his intercom. And he radioed the carrier. And he said, “Give us light. We are coming home.”
And the operator on board the carrier said in reply, “Order blackout. I cannot give you light.” One of the other pilots picked up his intercom. And he said, “Just give us some light and we will make it.” And the operator on board the carrier said, “No light. Blackout.”
A third pilot picked up his intercom. And he said, “Just give us one light and we will land.” There was nothing more that the radio operator on board the carrier could do. And he reached over and turned a switch and cut off radio contact with the six airplanes.
That night six brave American aviators in the prime of their manhood plunged into the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and perished in that dark, dark sea. All because there was no light.
Now listen carefully. You are a believer in Jesus Christ. If you have been born again you can never lose eternal life. You will never perish in the darkness of eternal hell. But if you try to fly through life without the light of God’s Word you are headed for a crash. And you may even be headed for the loss of your physical life.
And the wonderful thing about the Christian life is that there is never a total blackout for the obedient Christian. There is never total darkness for one who is following Christ. That is why we can sing with the songwriter,
“If we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way. When we do His good will He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there is no other way To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
And Jesus said, “My friends, I am the light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.”
Shall we pray? Father, all around us there is a world filled with darkness. And just because we are in this church building this morning does not mean that any one of us may not be walking in the dark. Father, reinforce upon our thinking the folly of walking on the dark side and the wisdom of following Him who is the light of the world. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.