 Amen, so keep your place there in John chapter 6, and we're going to look at a few verses here in a minute. But this evening, first of all, take a look at your song of the week, your hymn of the week. What I'm going to explain to you this evening, if we look at verse number 2 of the hymn of the week, I'm on the winning side. The last line in that verse that says, And my soul is on the winning side. So this is a great hymn, one of my favorite hymns, and I'm going to show you tonight that despite the conspiracy against Jesus Christ, how we can know how God achieved this fact that our soul is on the winning side. In John chapter 6, look down at verse number 64. So begin, let's begin looking at this conspiracy against Jesus Christ. I know we all like a good conspiracy. Let's look at the conspiracy tonight. Let's look at the conspiracy against the Savior in the Bible. Now Judas, Judas Iscariot, who was Judas? Judas is kind of a, has kind of a special place in my life because Judas actually as a, as a Lutheran, my hang up, my problem was that I did not believe in eternal security. Now Judas was one, is one of the, he is the child, he is the person in the Bible that the Lutheran doctrinal statements, the Lutheran theologians will point to as proof that you can lose your salvation. And one of the, the beauties of Judas for me is it is very clear in the Bible that Judas never lost his salvation. Judas was never saved in the first place. And that was one of those moments that I just knew like something's wrong here with this doctrine that I'm believing that I'm reading. So let's look down at John chapter six and let's look at the first conspirator tonight, which is Judas Iscariot, which is one of the 12 disciples. Imagine that. One of Jesus's 12 disciples was this man. Look at John chapter six in verse number 64. Let's look at, you know, the state of Judas's salvation if we want to, you know, look at it that way. But look at what the Bible says in verse number 64. Jesus says that, but there are some of you that believe not. So here, Jesus, before this statement, he was giving some real hard doctrinal statements and it was being misinterpreted. And it was a, look, it was a hard saying and it was hard for people to understand. And they didn't understand it and they were offended and many disciples left, but not the 12. The 12 state. Look at verse 64. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believe not and who should betray him. And that shows you that Judas Iscariot was, if this is talking about Judas Iscariot, which it is, it's proved in a few verses. But that shows you right there that Judas from the beginning, number one, he wasn't saved because he believed not and Jesus knew it. Jesus knew it the whole time. And he said, therefore I say unto you, no man that can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father. From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. And then Jesus said unto the 12 of Judas Iscariot, will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. So this is Peter saying this, okay, you will never find a place in the scripture where Judas claims and confesses that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. And Jesus answered them. So Peter's kind of speaking for everybody here and Jesus sort of corrects them a little bit. Jesus says I've chosen you 12, he says that one of you is a devil. One of you is a devil. Does that sound like someone who is saved? If Jesus literally calls him the devil. He's fake of Judas Iscariot. Now who's he talking about? The Bible tells us right here. He's speaking of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was who should betray him being one of the 12. So Judas never acknowledged Jesus as Lord as Peter did right here. Judas was never saved from the beginning and the Bible is super clear about this. This is not something that is confusing. Look at Matthew chapter 10. Go to Matthew chapter 10. Here's another interesting little fact. When the disciples are listed in the gospels, the disciples are listed in the gospels. They're sort of listed, you know, if you've ever noticed this, from the closest to Jesus to kind of the ones that weren't closest to Jesus. Kind of like Jesus' inner circle and then it kind of goes out from there. Look at Matthew chapter 10. Let's look at an example of this. You'll see the same thing in Mark chapter 3 and Luke chapter 6 when it lists Jesus' disciples. Now the names of the 12 apostles are these. The first Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother and James the son of Zebedee and John his brother. Of course, so here's, you know, Peter, Andrew, James and John. These are the kind of the inner circle around Jesus. Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, James the son of Alphaeus and Lebeus whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite and who's the last one listed? Judas and Scariot who also betrayed him. Same thing with Mark chapter 3, Luke chapter 6. The inner circles always, the closest were always listed first. Now turn to John chapter 12. But look, Judas, well actually turn to John chapter 17. Turn to John chapter 17. Judas was never saved. As a matter of fact, you know, he's actually called the son of perdition in John chapter 17. Turn there real quickly. John chapter 17. There's an interesting little parallel here before we move on with the conspiracy. But look at John chapter 17. If you have a red letter Bible, these are red letters. This is Jesus speaking right here and in verse number 12, Jesus says, well I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. And those that thou gavest me, I have kept. He's talking to God the Father and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. Judas here is referred to as the son of perdition. Perdition meaning damnation, like hell, eternal hell. He's like the son of hell Jesus is calling Judas. Now somebody else is called the son of perdition in the New Testament. Just one other person. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Let's look at who else is called the son of perdition. Look, if you're called the son of, you know, the devil, the son of hell, the son of damnation by Jesus, this means you're not only not saved, you're not going to get saved. This is a real live reprobate is what we're dealing with here. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Here's proof of that. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and look at verse number 3. The Bible says, you know, talking about the day of Christ, talking about the rapture, talking about the day that the Lord will come back and gather us all together and take us to heaven. It says, before that day it says, let no man deceive you in verse number 3 by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, talking about the antichrist here, not a antichrist, the antichrist of the end times, the antichrist that is working directly for who? Satan in the end times. What does it call him? The son of perdition, the same thing that Judas was called. And I'm going to show you tonight that not only was Judas never saved, he was rejected of God, he was a reprobate, so to speak, and he is like used by Satan. He was used by Satan to, you know, betray Jesus Christ. Now go back to John chapter 12. Go back to John chapter 12. Let's look at why Judas betrayed Christ. Because look, Judas wasn't, you know, Judas wasn't, I want you to understand that Judas was just, he was this son of perdition, he was this wicked person. He was betraying Christ on his own free will. He was doing this on his own free will. He wasn't taken over by, you know, Jesus or, you know, he was possessed eventually, but we'll get there in a minute. But look at John chapter 12. Judas was operating under his own free will. And look at John chapter 12, look at verse number two. There they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him, then took Mary a pound of ointment of spiked nard very costly and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which they, which should betray him. Notice how the Bible is just super clear every single time his name comes up that he's the one that will betray Jesus. Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor. So we don't have to infer, you know, Judas is, you know, his, his, his motives here. The Bible just tells us it says he didn't care for the poor. He was lying in verse number five. He said he was acting like he cared for the poor, but he did it. He cared for the money. He said not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. And he had the bag and he bear what was, what was put there in. So Judas was the one that was, he was kind of the treasurer of Jesus's ministry. And he was stealing money. He was stealing money from the ministry of Jesus Christ. Think about that. And he's upset that this expensive ointment got put on Jesus's head to anoint Jesus. And it's because he loved money. That's why. Look, that's not the only reason people betray. Okay, I mean, there's many reasons that people out of their own free will will, will betray. You know, money, power, influence, these types of things. But look, in Judas's case, it was just money. It was money. He did not believe and he was driven by money. Now let's look at the betrayal itself. Actually, go to verse 24 of Matthew chapter 26. Go to Matthew chapter 26, Matthew chapter 26, and look at verse 24. Verse number 24. The Son of Man, just one more example of how we know that Judas was not saved. Look at verse number 24 of Matthew chapter 26 and then we'll look at the actual betrayal that Judas was involved in. Verse 24 says, the Son of Man goeth as it is written of him. But woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. We know now this is Judas. It had been good for that man if he had not been born. Right there you know that Judas was not saved. Judas Iscariot is in hell today. Judas Iscariot was never saved. He never lost his salvation. He never believed in the first place. Okay, he was the son of perdition. Now could you really say about a saved person no matter how they lived their life, if they ended up dying and going to eternal life in heaven, could you really say that it would be better if they were not born? You couldn't, right? I mean that's not something that you would say about somebody who was saved. Even somebody who didn't live a good Christian life, at least they're in heaven. You know at least they got eternal life. But he'd been better for Judas Iscariot if he had never been born, because the guy's in hell. Is what Jesus is saying here. Now look at Matthew chapter 26 and look at verse number 14. Let's look at the actual betrayal itself. Here's the actual betrayal itself. And of course it was driven by again money. Look at verse 14. The Bible says in Matthew 26 and verse number 14, then one of the 12 called Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priests and said unto them, What will ye give me and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. So here we have Judas going to, he sees value. He sees value in Jesus because he's hated by all these different people. But really Judas was really just kind of a tool. He was kind of a patsy so to speak in this conspiracy that we're looking at tonight. Because really if you go back in Matthew chapter 26, look at verse number two. Really Judas was just being used by certain people that actually wanted to kill Jesus. Look at verse number two of Matthew chapter 26, the same chapter. You know that after two days is the feast of the Passover and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. That's Jesus speaking. Then look at verse number three. It says, then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people. These are the religious leaders of the time that did not, again, they did not believe Jesus was who he said he was. And they consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. There's your conspiracy right there. So look, Judas was a tool used by the Pharisees to accomplish this goal of killing Jesus. And that is the very basis of a conspiracy right there that it was done in what? Look at verse number four, that it was done in subtlety. It was done in subtlety. It was done in secret. So let's look at the players here. We know that there's Judas who got paid to betray Jesus. Let's look at the Pharisees. Go to John chapter 11. Go to John chapter 11. So the Pharisees, we see that they used Judas. They paid Judas to sell out Jesus. But look at John chapter 11. There's a lot of evidence in the Bible that the Pharisees were conspiring for a while to get Jesus, to kill Jesus, to get rid of this guy. So in John chapter 11, it's the story of Lazarus in the Bible. Jesus raises Martha and Mary's brother Lazarus from the dead. In verse number 35, I think it's 35, but it's like the shortest verse in the Bible. Jesus was very close to these people. Jesus was very close to Mary and Martha. He was very close to Lazarus. And it says, when he saw, and this is like, I really like that verse in the Bible where it says, Jesus wept. Because what that shows just as a side note, it shows the humanity of Christ. It shows how Jesus was a man. He was God, but he was also a man. He had all the same emotions, all the same temptations, all the same feelings that people have, yet without sin, Jesus. So you say, why did he cry? You know, why did it was he upset? He knew he could raise him from the dead. He wept because he saw how sad that these people were because Lazarus was dead and he had compassion on them because he was human. He was a human being. Look at John chapter 11 and look at verse number 45. Now after he raises Lazarus from the dead, look, word gets out. Look, this guy just brought somebody back from the dead. It was a pretty big deal. Word gets out and this just shows you that many of these Pharisees, they were rejected, they were reprobates as well. They could not believe the Bible says. And the reason is, I mean, look, somebody comes to you and they say, this guy just raised somebody from the dead. Look, you have two options at that point. You're like, wow, this must be God, or let's kill him. These people were turned against God and they said, let's kill him. Is what they said about Jesus. Look at verse 45. Then many of the Jews which came to marry and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed on him. So some people got saved. Some people got saved. But some went their ways to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus had done. Then gathered the, so, some of the Jews saw this and just believed on Christ. They had that right attitude and they were just like, this is the Messiah. This is God. But the Pharisees, they had a counsel and they said, what do we do for this man do with many miracles? They even denied the miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him. And the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year said, unto them, you know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation perish not. And this he spake not of himself, but being a high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation. And not only for that nation only, but that he also should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. This is speaking about the Gentiles. Then from that day, this is the key verse I wanna point out, then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more or openly among the Jews. So look, at this point, they're trying to kill him. And then we saw that again in Matthew 26, they're trying to kill him. But look, here's the problem, go to Matthew chapter 12. We'll look at one more example. Go to Matthew chapter 12. Jesus heals in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus heals a man's hand on the Sabbath day. In Matthew chapter 12, look at verse number 13. Matthew chapter 12, look at verse number 13. The Bible says, then sayeth he to the man, stretch forth thine hand, and he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole like as the other. Then the Pharisees went out. Again, seeing this miracle, they choose to not, look, they couldn't believe, the Bible says. They literally couldn't believe it. And that's the only thing that makes sense. They're seeing these miracles, and they went and they held a counsel against him, how they might destroy him. So you have this conspiracy of these religious leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees. Even, you know, they're out there and they're using whatever aspects they can to try to corner Jesus, ultimately to try to kill Jesus, using Judas, a scarriot who betrays Jesus, as a tool to this end for themselves. But look, this conspiracy gets even deeper, because even the Pharisees themselves, turn to John chapter 13, turn to John chapter 13, even the Pharisees themselves were just a tool. They were also patsies in this wider, broader conspiracy. So here's Judas, he's conspiring. His conspiracy is, I'm gonna betray Christ and I'm gonna make some money. Then you have the Pharisees, the religious leaders, we must kill this man, or we are gonna lose our influence. We are gonna lose our nation. He is going to, all the people are gonna believe him. So they are using whatever they can to betray Jesus too, through subtlety, you know, come up with a conspiracy to kill this man, or kill Jesus Christ. So look at John 13 and verse 21. This is talking about the last supper, is what we would call it. Jesus is having the Passover supper here with his disciples and he's telling them some things. Look at verse 21. Then Jesus 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 on one another, doubting of whom he spake. He's talking to the 12 now. And he's saying, look, one of you is going to betray me. Now there was leaning on Jesus's bosom, one of the disciples whom Jesus loved. This was John, Simon Peter, therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. Then lying on Jesus, the one lying on Jesus' breast said unto him, Lord, who is it? I mean, isn't that what we would all say? Isn't that what we would all say if Jesus was there and he said, look, somebody in this room is going to betray me. We're all like, who is it? Tell us, we'll take care of business. Look at verse 26. Jesus answered and says, he it is, to whom shall I give a sop when I have dipped it? I mean, he literally tells them. He literally tells them who it is. 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 Jesus said unto him, that thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. Look, this just goes to show you, like the disciples, they just couldn't believe it. They couldn't believe it. They couldn't believe it. They were just, they'd been together so long. They'd done so many things together. They just couldn't believe it. Jesus literally said, whoever I hand this to, that's who it is. And he hands it to him and he says, go do it quickly. And they're just like, they just can't believe it. They're thinking, he must be talking to him about going to buy something that he needed for the supper or something else. Because Jesus was the one that held the bag. In verse 29, it says that, for some of them thought, because Jesus had the bag, he was the treasurer, 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. But he just, they just couldn't believe it. They couldn't believe it. But the thing is, I mean, even Paul says in Acts 20, that grievous wolves shall come in. Look, we have to understand that too. Grievous wolves will come in. Grievous wolves will come in. And look, it may be hard to believe, but it's going to happen. Going forward in any ministry, that's what's gonna happen. That's why the disciples couldn't believe it though. They just, it's a shocking thing. But look, it's like almost, you know, the most brilliant plot you could think of. You basically have three conspirators here. You have three conspirators. Who do you have? You have Judas, then you have the Pharisees, and ultimately you have Satan running the show. And Satan is controlling all of it. He possesses Judas to go actually, you know, go get the guards and get Jesus and sell him out for the money that he took. But let's break down the conspiracy tonight. Let's break down the conspiracy. Now that we see all the players, let's break down the conspiracy. So a conspiracy by its very definition is basically people trying to betray you and it has to be a conspiracy because of the very nature that they do it. The subtlety of it, it has to be a conspiracy. Look, it's people that are trying to outsmart you. It's people that are trying to betray you and outsmart you. They don't just come to your face. Look, they didn't just come to Jesus' face. As a matter of fact, he said that. When they came to arrest him, he's like, why didn't you just come get me in the temple? You cowards. The problem with conspiracies and people in conspiracies is that it's always behind your back. It's never to your face. It's all very sneaky and it's in a way, they do it in this sneaky way using all these different people because they think they can get away with it. They think they can get away with it. All three conspirators here thought that they could get away with this. Look, the Pharisees, think of the complexity of this conspiracy. Go to John chapter 18. The Pharisees, they wanted, what was their goal? They wanted to kill Jesus. They couldn't just go kill Jesus. Why? Because that was illegal for them to do. The Pharisees, they were not in control of this nation. They were under Roman rule. They were not allowed to put anyone to death. That's a problem. If you wanna kill somebody and you're not allowed to put somebody to death, that's a problem. So think of what they did. They used Judas to get Jesus arrested and then look at John 18. Look at John 18. They bring him before the Roman governor who's actually in charge. And Pilate went out to them in John 18. Look at verse 29. John 18, verse 29. John 18, look at verse number 29. Pilate went out to them and said, what accusation bringing against this man? Even Pilate knew that this guy didn't do anything. And they answered and said unto him, if he were not a male factor, we would not have delivered him up to thee. Oh, great. Male factor means a criminal or somebody who's done wrong. They're basically saying, just trust us. Just trust us. We wouldn't even have brought him here if he wasn't a criminal. Then said Pilate unto them, take ye him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death. And it's like, whoa, they're right the way telling Pilate right here. It's like, we want him dead. We want him dead and it's not legal for us to do so. So the Pharisees are not trying to use Pontius Pilate. They're trying to use the Roman governor to do this for them. Look at John, go to John chapter 19. Go to John chapter 19. How did they do that? Pontius Pilate, he's a super powerful guy. He's in charge of Jerusalem. He's in charge of this area. And I mean, he doesn't care about the Jews. That's obvious if you read about Pontius Pilate in the Bible, he could care less about them. How did they do it? How did they use him? Because they needed him to say Jesus had to be put to death because they couldn't do it. Look at John chapter 19. Look at verse, look at verse 10 of John chapter 19. Look what the Bible says. It says in verse 10, it says, then Pilate said unto him, so Pilate is standing in front of Jesus. And he's kind of like saying to Jesus, he's like, you're in a lot of trouble here. He's like, these people want to kill you. He's like, what's going on? He's trying to get answers out of Jesus and Jesus just isn't really talking to him at all. And he says, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have the power to crucify thee and have the power to release thee? He's like, you're just standing here. I'm asking you questions. Why these people brought to you? Brought you to me and you're not even talking to me? He's like, I could kill you. I could kill you, I have the power to kill you or I have the power to let you go. That's what he says. And look what Jesus says to him. Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given to thee from above, therefore that he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. There's a whole sermon right there too on how all sin is not equal. What he's saying is these Pharisees, these Jewish leaders that brought you to me is like, they're in real trouble. He's not saying, you're not sinning. He's like, but they're in real trouble for this. Now look at verse number 12. And from thence forth, Pilate sought to release him. So Pilate's like, this guy's innocent. So you're like, how did Jesus end up getting crucified? But look at the next verse. But the Jews cried out saying, if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Uh-oh. Whatsoever maketh him a king, speaketh against Caesar. They accused Pontius Pilate of treason if they let Jesus go. They used Pontius Pilate's care for his political standing, his position. They threatened him. They threatened him. They basically said, look, if you don't kill him, this guy that you don't care about, he's like, we're gonna tattle on you to Caesar and tell you that there's some guy running around saying he's king and you didn't care. And you're not the friend of Caesar. They used him by saying thou art not Caesar's friend. But one thing about Pilate is he's the only one that was up front. At least he was straight in Jesus' face. He's just like crucify him. You know, he wasn't running around conspiring. He was the Pharisees that conspired. It was Judas that conspired. It was Satan that conspired using both Judas and the Pharisees to kill Jesus. The lords anointed. But it's best not to conspire against God. So you have this wide conspiracy that the Pharisees must have been thinking, like, we got him. We've done it. We got him arrested. We got him in front of the Roman ruler. He, he's, it's just not worth it. Pilate's not gonna stick his neck out for this guy. He's not gonna risk his position and his power for some guy that he thinks is just some troublemaker. No, he's gonna make this problem go away. So he agrees to crucify Jesus Christ. Now, keep in mind that this conspiracy, this was all the free will of the Pharisees. This was all the free will of Pontius Pilate. This was all the free will of Judas, hatching this huge conspiracy against Jesus Christ. Now, you know what, you know what 4D Chess is? 4D Chess is this saying. Everyone's like, oh, that's 4D Chess. 4D Chess is when I can win a game of chess. I'm not saying I play 4D Chess. But I'm saying 4D Chess, that saying of 4D Chess, means I could win a game of chess against you by making moves, anticipating moves before you even make them. That's what, that's what this saying 4D Chess is. It's, it's political maneuvering. That, you know, it's, it's political maneuvering by you don't even, you don't even see the moves that your opponent has made yet and you know what those moves are gonna be. And God is playing 4D Chess with the conspiracy against Jesus Christ. Because I, I could literally, if I literally knew the moves that you were gonna make when I was playing chess against you, I could put all, I could anticipate all your actions. I could put all my pieces in place. And when you moved into those places before you even moved them, I would know where you would be. And I would be able to take you down in that game. Turn to Zechariah chapter 11. That's what God did here with this conspiracy. Look at Zechariah chapter 11. All these people planning this conspiracy, planning all this subtlety, thinking that they were outsmarting Jesus, thinking that they were outsmarting the disciples, thinking that they were outsmarting, you know, Jesus's ministry. All of them were playing directly into the hands of what God knew would happen of God's plan. Look at Zechariah chapter 11 and verse number 12. There's a lot of prophecy on this. I'll just give you one example of what this, what I'm talking about. Look at Zechariah chapter 11 and verse number 12. The Bible says, and this isn't the Old Testament. This is an Old Testament prophecy of what would happen. And I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price and if not forbear. So they weighed for my price 30 pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, cast it unto the potter, a goodly price that I was priced out of them. And I took the 30 pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. What in the world? You can imagine if that's all you had of the conspiracy before Jesus came, that you might not know exactly, that's kind of a glass darkly. We're looking at those verses right there. But now turn to Matthew chapter 27. Turn to Matthew chapter 27. Look at Matthew chapter 27 and look at verse number three. So here we see that in Zechariah chapter 11, you know, hundreds of years before Jesus comes, we see this kind of obscure prophecy about this potter, about these 30 pieces of silver. Like what is this all about? Look at Matthew chapter 27. Look at verse number three. Now we already know that 30 pieces of silver was the price that Judas received from the Pharisees. Look at verse number three of Matthew 27. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself. Now this is the funny thing, because to me, reading the Bible, if you were gonna make any argument for Judas, you would argue that he got saved at the end of his life and not at the beginning, according to the Bible. I mean, he didn't, I'll show you that in a minute. But the point is, is that to argue that Judas lost his salvation, you know, like he was saved at the beginning, there's no argument for that. But at least people could, you know, misrepresent what repent means here and at least make an argument for that. That's not the doctrine that they take. But Judas, when he had betrayed him, he saw that he was condemned, repented himself. That just means he changed his mind. Repented himself, what? The Bible tells us what he changed his mind about here. It doesn't say he repented himself and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not what it says. Look what it says. And he brought again 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. He brought the money back. He brought the money back to them, saying, I've sinned and I've betrayed the innocent blood. And Judas, all he said here was I betrayed somebody that was innocent. He didn't say Jesus was Lord or that he believed on him. And they said, what is that to us? See it out to that. They're like, we don't care. We've got what we wanted, keep your money. But he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and he went and hanged himself. He went and killed himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces and said it is not lawful for to put them into the treasury because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called the field of blood until this day. Completely fulfilling Zechariah chapter 11 verses 11 and 12. This, look, there's many prophecies of Christ betrayal but this is just one example of how all these people that were conspiring against Christ were just playing right into what God knew would happen. This is the genius of God's plan. Is that he used the free will of man, all these pawns, the Pharisees, Judas and ultimately even Satan himself to play directly into God's plan. God used Satan to defeat Satan. Think about that. Think about the genius of that. It shows us that as brilliant as Satan seems sometimes to us because sometimes I look at the things going on in this world and the things that people believe in the things that people are falling into. I'm just like, Satan is brilliant. Satan knows how to play the strings of man on this earth. But it shows you that no matter how brilliant that we think Satan is and as much control as he seems to have over this present world that we will always be on the winning side because God knows exactly what Satan is up to. Look at Hebrews chapter two. Turn to Hebrews chapter two. Turn to Hebrews chapter two. And this is ultimately the brilliance of, I mean, this plan of salvation, it shows that even, I'm gonna show you how even Satan didn't know. Even Satan didn't realize how God was gonna do this. He didn't get it, he didn't understand and he fell right into this trap at his own free will. Look at Hebrews chapter two, look at verse 14. Look what the Bible says in Hebrews 2, 14. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. So he's saying, you know, he became a man just like us that through death he might destroy him that the power of death, that is, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Notice that first, those first three words after that semi-colon. It says, Jesus took on flesh and blood. You need to think about this for a second. Jesus took on flesh and blood that through his death. Oh, nobody saw that one coming. Everyone was looking for this king. Everyone was looking for King David part two. Guess who else was looking for King David part two? Satan himself. Satan himself was looking for this worldly king to free the Jews, to be this conqueror, to bring back the nation. And Satan's like, all I got to do is kill him. But that's exactly how God defeated Satan right there. Look what it says. And through death he might destroy him that have the power of death, that is the devil. It's through the death of Jesus. It's through the death of this. Satan's like, there's the king, there's the Messiah. He knew he was there. I got to kill him. But it's through that death, through that death of Jesus Christ that he kills himself. That Satan is destroyed. It's, I mean, it's like, forget about it. It's brilliant. It's brilliant. Look, and here's the thing. This, notice how the Bible says here, it says that he has the power of death. Did you know that that's the only power that Satan has? The only power that Satan has is the power of death. Think about that for a second. Look, if the devil can keep people, if the devil can keep people in sin, in living in the flesh, in all this garbage and convince them that all these things are okay and all this, and keep them from believing on Christ, look, he wins. He wins. Those people will die and they will go to hell. The same place that Satan is going. The only real power that Satan has is the power of death. He can kill people. And then they will go to hell. And then their souls will be delivered to hell, to which those souls are already condemned. All he has to do is get them into sin. Look, all Satan has to do is get you into sin. That's the power he has over you. Look, Satan can even kill your body. Did you know that? If you get into sin and you get into all this garbage and you start living that kind of life, as a saved believer, Satan can shorten your life on this earth. God's chastisement can shorten your life on this earth. Well look, sin can kill you, even as a Christian, physically. There's nothing that can kill your soul. You know, he can't kill your soul, but he can shorten your flesh. He can shorten your life on this earth. It's the only power he has is the power of death. That's it. But he cannot save. He cannot save anybody. He cannot offer life to anyone. I mean, think about it. Who would take this deal? Eternal life or eternal death. Who would take this deal? Yet everyone's taking the deal of eternal death. But that is the power that Satan has. He's pretty good at wielding that sword. But God, look, God's the brilliant side. That's what we're trying to get you to understand. You know, he could just destroy Satan and he will. He could just destroy someone. Instead, instead, God allows free will. God allows free will. And through free will, he used Satan. He used the Pharisees. He used Judas to destroy Satan. It's brilliant. It's just a brilliant plan. Turn to Isaiah chapter 55. Turn to Isaiah chapter 55. Let me close on just this thought. So you see, there's these people that thought they were pretty smart. I mean, you gotta admit, you know, the politicking that the Jews and the Pharisees did here. I mean, it worked. It met their end goal. But they were playing into God's hand to save the world. And, but they thought that they were pretty smart. But look at Isaiah chapter 55 and look down at verse number eight. Knowing all this, knowing that the Pharisees didn't see what God was doing. The Pharisees didn't see what kind of Messiah Jesus was. Satan didn't even, look, Satan himself didn't even see it. Satan fell into the bear trap and he destroyed himself by killing the Messiah. But look at Isaiah chapter 55. We always have to remember this. The Bible says this. The Bible says this and I'm sure you've heard this verse before but the Bible says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways, my ways, sayeth the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts, then your hearts. Look, then your thoughts. What God is saying here and what we actually see demonstrated in the conspiracy against Jesus Christ is that you don't have to understand everything. Here's the thing. You are not going to understand everything that God is doing in your life. All you have to do in this Christian life is obey. That's it. All you have to do is what you are supposed to do. God does not need your strategic help. And a lot of us, you know, we might think and I've been this person before, we may think, well, you know, I just don't see. I just don't see the path out of this. I gotta find my own way. Look, God's ways are higher than your ways. All we have to do is obey. It's very simple for us as Christians. All we have to do is keep doing what we are supposed to do. Ultimately here, ultimately just like the hem of the week, ultimately just we have to make sure that we stay on God's side because God's side is the winning side. And this is a great example of why God's side will always be the winning side. Look, he's playing at another level. He's playing at another level above you. He's playing at another level about me. I don't care how smart you think you are. Look, he's playing at another level against Satan. All these things in the end times, you're like, how could Satan fall into all that? He's going to. Because God's plan is so much higher, he's at a different level than us. All we have to do is stay on his side and we win. That's it. And that's the beauty of this conspiracy against Jesus. And it just shows us that God's in control. God's going to win. And all we have to do is just be obedient to him and make sure we stay on his side. So I'm thankful even though it cost a heavy price to Jesus. God paid a heavy price for his plan. Look, he didn't make a plan that was the easy way for him. But I'm thankful that his plans are always better. He's 10 steps ahead of Satan. And we just stay on that side and we will be on that winning side as well. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.