Welcome to another message from the Gospel of Luke. We're in Luke, the 22nd chapter, but we're going to study about the days that Jesus was crucified on in this next few verses. In Mark, the 14th chapter in verse 1, we're talking about the Synoptic Gospels. Mark says, now the Passover And the feasts of the unleavened bed were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and murder him. But not during the feasts, they said, or the people may riot." Now things are going to fall in place for their party pretty quickly. And Judas will betray his Lord and Savior. And they will have that opportunity that they're looking forward to. Now, I believe that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and not on Friday for several reasons. In John 1931, it makes it clear that our Lord's crucifixion occurred on a preparation day. of the Passover meal. In other words, as most Jews were killing their lambs without blemish, God's Lamb, Jesus Christ, was being slaughtered as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world, which John 1 and 29 say. Wednesday was the preparation day for the Passover. For Jews, an all day start at sundown. For Jews, an all day start at sundown. So actually, Wednesday, at six o'clock was actually Thursday. Now, all of the Jewish boys above 12 years old are believers, would try to come from all over the known world to Jerusalem on this special feast day. There were three Sabbaths this week, the Passover, these are high Sabbaths, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and of course the regular Sabbath, which was on Friday evening at six o'clock till Saturday evening at six o'clock. John 19, 14-16 says that, now it was the day of the preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour, midday, when he said to the Jews, behold your king. Now Pontius Pilate said this, and they cried out, away with him, Crucify him and Pilate said shall I crucify your king and the chief priests answered we have no king but Caesar So he delivered him to be crucified It was a bittersweet day indeed Do we understand because our Savior had to die for us The confusion about the day that Christ was Crucified on what we call tradition and actuality Remember there were three Sabbaths this week two high Sabbaths and the one regular Sabbath on Friday The day of the feast of unleavened bread was a high Sabbath The day of the feast of the Passover was a high Sabbath and of course Friday. Jesus said that he would be three nights and three days in the earth. If on Wednesday night that Jesus went into the grave, I want you to understand this. Jesus was crucified on Wednesday. At six o'clock would start being Thursday, so they had to get him in the grave. He died at 3 p.m. that day. They had to get him in the grave between 3 and 6 p.m. Jotheph of Arimathea and Nicodemus went and begged for his body. They put him in the grave. They put him in the grave quickly because they didn't have time or else they would be breaking that high Sabbath. They couldn't do that. So they put him in the grave. Close the rock or door to it the closure to it now. This was on Wednesday Thursday the next day at 6 p.m. We were in the Sabbath now Thursday Morning they went and took his body and did a complete burial on it and they had all the way Thursday until the next Friday until Friday for the Sabbath to begin. The Sabbath began at 6 p.m. Friday afternoon. Now Jesus said that he would be in the heart of earth three days and three nights in Matthew 12 and verse 40. In John the second chapter verses 18 through 22, Jesus promised the believers a sign, his death, burial, and resurrection. Genesis 22, verses 1-22, we have Abraham offering up Isaac, which is a type of what God the Father did with the Son. The Passover Lamb was the most obvious type of Christ in the Old Testament. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In Exodus, the twelfth chapter talks about that. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first or the head of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on the earth, visible and invisible. where the thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and by him and for him. And he is before all things. In him all things are held together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the head or the beginning of the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him, through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether upon the earth or in the heavens, making peace by the blood of the cross." In Colossians 1, 15-20. The Word of God is a living book. Now the Resurrection Day was the Feast of Firstfruits, that Sunday. That Sunday was the Feast of Firstfruits. The Feast of Firstfruits is the Feast of the Resurrection. Because the Feast of Firstfruits is the Feast of the Resurrection. Now let's go back to the Book of Luke. The 22nd chapter in verse number one, Luke 22 in verse number one. I hope this has helped you understand the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the literalness of his word. The literalness of his word, it is literal. Three days and three nights in the grave. On the regular traditional Friday crucifixion, at six o'clock, before six o'clock he was put in the grave, so there we have Friday. Then we have Saturday, and on the beginning of the Sunday, we don't have three days and three nights in the grave. The only way you're going to have three days and three nights in the grave is if he was crucified on Wednesday. Now, Sunday, the first day of the week, the Feast of Firstfruits, actually began at 6 o'clock Saturday evening. Now, sometime between dusk and daylight, On Sunday morning, the first day of the week, Jesus rose. He rose, it said early in the first day of the week. So that was sometime between 9 o'clock and probably 3 or 4 a.m. Sunday. If that helps you understand. I have done this before on some of my messages in the Bible in Eight Ages. which had been quite a while ago at Valley Baptist Church. 22 in verse 1, the plot to kill Jesus. We read about that in Mark the 14th chapter in verse 1. That's what we call a synoptic here. 14, 1 and 2. John 11, 45-53. Matthew 26, 1-5 and 14-16 are the synoptics of this are the cross references to these verses here. And Exodus 12, 1-27 if you want to read about the Passover there. And it kept on being the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the one being called the Passover. Now we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread that was for a week and we also have the Passover. They're closely related. Two High Sabbaths. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover are two High Sabbaths plus Friday Sabbath. 22 and verse 2. Kai axe ton, hoi arkeires, kai hoi rameites, to pos on that lucen, au ton, et bo i fo bon te gar ton laun. For they kept on seeking the high priest and the scribes, how they might destroy or murder him. Now by the way, in the book of Exodus, or that is Deuteronomy, It does not say, and Exodus also, it does not say thou shalt not kill. What it says is that you shall not keep on murdering, slaying and murdering. These people wanted to murder Christ. They were going to slay him, they were going to murder him like a Passover feast, like a Passover lamb. And here we have the high priest, the chief priest, and the scribes. Scribes are basically the county clerks. These are the scribes in all of the synagogues that wrote everything down, all the legalities. And these are the same scribes that had to write down that Jesus healed every person and raised every person from the dead that He did. These are the scoundrels that had to give a clean bill of health to the lepers and to the blind and those raised from the dead and those healed from their maladies. These are the ones that had to write it down and give them a piece of paper saying that I have been healed. And how? They had to write it down. Jesus did it. And the scribes, how they might destroy him, how they might murder him, that was an elusin. And it might mean, it means to carry him away, to destroy him. And they kept on fearing. And they kept on fearing for themselves, the people, because the people believed Jesus. These were the religious leaders that had gone astray. The people wanted to hear the truth. The people wanted to hear the truth. Eis elthein de Satanas, Eis Udan, Ton Kalomenon, Isa Karioten, Unta ectu arithmu ton duodeca. And having entered Satan, this Satan here, you know, he's got many titles. Satan is the one who opposes. Lucifer is light carrier. That's Latin, by the way. It's actually Hallel in Greek, or in Hebrew, that is, which means the shiny one. He's called Satan. He's called Diabolos, the destroyer. He's called many things in his titles and all of the titles are titles of renown for the evil one. Title of renown for the evil one. Titles in which he has betrayed his God and tried to destroy us and did his best to completely destroy Jesus. And having entered Satan into Judas, now the spirit of Satan entered into Judas, the one being called Issachariote. Now this word means a man from Karioth. This is the only disciple in the New Testament that was prophesied in the Old Testament that he would my friend shall raise up his heel to me. Though that man that eats bread with me shall raise up his heel against me." And Jesus sat there at the Passover dinner and took a morsel of bread and dipped it in the bitter herbs and gave it to Judas like a mother bird feeding her babies. Like a mother hen calling and feeding her babies. He gave it to him. Being out of the arithmu, out of the number, that's where we get to the English word, arithmetic, out of the twelve. Now, the twelve is spoken of here as a unit. 22 in verse number four now. Kai apelthon, sina laleson, tois akedrioson. Kai strategois, tol pos altois parado alton. And having gone, he conversed with, he talked with, this word means, it comes from sin and laleo, which means he talked in human language to them. They're very Adamic, all of them, he was very Adamic, the Adamic evil in his heart. And the wicked twisted poneria, That means to practice and to perfect evil. With the wands, chief priest, and the temple guards, the sategos, the temple guards, there were many. These are what we call the Herodian guard, and there are hundreds of them, especially at this time of the year. Now I want to tell you something else. They were not supposed to, it was illegal and un, well, Illegal and irreligious to carry a weapon during these High Sabbaths and Sabbaths, during these Holy Weeks, but they were doing it anyway. The temple guard, the Herodian guard, and how to them he might hand over Jesus or Him. James 1 and 13 reference to this in John 6, 64-66 and John 17 and verse 12. And now we have him betrayed. And this is another place in the Old Testament where he would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. And kai ekaresan kai sinathento alto agrodion dune. And they rejoiced. And they agreed for themselves to him money to give. 30 pieces of silver were also the price of a slave. 22 and verse 6 Cai ex omol lo gason Cai ex ate eucarion tu paradune auton apere uclo and He fully consented. He fully consented and said the same thing. That word is ek homo logia. That means to confess. He said to them, I am a disciple. I will lead you to Him and I will fervently kiss Him and keep on kissing Him and holding on to Him until you get Him. He fully consented. He said the same thing that they did. And he kept on seeking what it says here is a good season, an opportunity to betray him, to hand him over without a crowd to them. Now this old clue here, this is 5,000 people. 5,000 people. He kept on figuring out how he's going to betray his Lord and Savior. If you can even imagine that. Let's go back and read these verses here, 22, 1 through 6. Luke 22, 1 through 6. Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread was drawing near, which is called the Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened begins the Passover. The Passover was a point of time. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was for a week. But now we have a Passover. That's the summation of it. That's the end result of it. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to make a way with Jesus. for they feared the people." They wanted to kill him. Here they're supposed to come to the point where they confess their sins and God forgives them, the Passover. And this is the nation of Israel, how it began and came out of Egypt. And yet Egypt's sinful world was in these religious leaders in the depths of their souls. But then Satan entered into Judas, called his Icariot, who was one of the twelve apostles. And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and the captains how that he might betray him and deliver him up to them. And they were delighted. They were full of joy and pledged themselves to give him the money. We'll do it. We'll take it out of our bankrolls. We'll take it out of our budget. We will kill him. And so he agreed to this and sought for an opportunity to betray him to them without an uprising in the absence of a great crowd of people of the Oaklands. This is the beginning. The beginning of a betrayal. The beginning of betrayal. Judas Iscariot, he saw all the miracles that all the others did. He probably performed miracles by the power of God. He was one of the twelve apostles. The apostles were the first gift placed in the church. He was part of the church. Not only was he part of the church, but he had an office in the church. He was the treasurer of the church. He held the money bags, and the Bible says that he kept on stealing from that money bag. This man, Jesus said as he was praying to the Father, he said, I pray that you keep them all and I have not lost anything except the son of perdition. One he chose was the devil. One he chose was in league with the devil. And Satan's spirit entered into Judas Iscariot. And he carried out this diabolical scheme to betray his Lord and Master. for 30 pieces of silver. But what happened? We'll see a little bit later on the more definite details of this murder and preparation for murder. But Judas Isikariot, after he had done this dastardly deed, he started feeling sorry for himself. He no longer had the money back. He no longer was the treasurer. He had killed the goose that laid the golden egg. He was very sorry that he did that. He wasn't going to get any more money. We had a clerk in that church, but our treasurer in that church had already existed. Jesus told them, as we're going to see further on, He said, go to Jerusalem and wait there in Jerusalem until you receive power from on high. Now, the day of Pentecost was not the birthday of the church. The day of Pentecost was a day that that church was closed with great power to carry out that commission that the Lord had given them to do. Make disciples, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to guard with their lives all things that I've given unto you, and lo, I'll be with you until the end of the age. In Matthew 16, 18, Jesus speaking to the church and to Peter. He said, you are Peter, a little stone, but upon this gigantic foundation rock I shall be building my church and the gates of hell shall not wrestle her down. Now if you look up here in the church age chart that we have this trail of blood, Jesus said, you really want to follow me? Then pick up your cross and follow me. He that does not pick up his cross is not worthy to follow me." They would all die except for John. John died too, but all of them died a martyr's death except for John. John would take care of Jesus' mother until she was gone. He would pastor the church at Ephesus until he was well over 100 years old. Mary is buried at Ephesus somewhere. There's a tomb of Mary there. Mary was not, did not just go up into heaven because she was so perfect. She was not a god. She was not an angel. She was a woman. But she bore the Son of God. She bore the Son of God. If you're out there tonight, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, Are you going to be like Judas? Are you going to be like these religious leaders that cut the throat of the Passover lamb and cut the throat of the Son of God? Jesus Christ died for your sins. You will never be held responsible for your sins when it comes to going to heaven. No man goes to heaven because of sin. Men, no man goes to hell because of sin. Men go to hell because they rejected Jesus Christ and His offering. Once you're in hell, then you're judged for what you did on this earth. Do you know Jesus? Is there a time in your life when you came to know Him? Is there a particular time in life that you repented of your sins and called upon Him to save your soul? Is there? There needs to be, there has to be a point of conversion, a point of salvation in your life. Nobody can be saved for you when you're baptized as a baby. You have godmothers and godfathers and they make a confession of faith for you. It's not valid, people. It's not valid. When you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, that God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem us from the curse of the law. When you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are saved. For in grace you are having been saved through faith, and that in honor of yourself is the gift of God, and not of works, lest any man should boast. The faith is a gift of God. The repentance is a gift of God. And once you have been saved by grace and forgiven of your sins, begin to follow Jesus Christ. That's the only life for you. Follow your Savior, follow your Lord. Father, we send this message out this evening to glorify you and to look unto our Savior, look unto the author of our salvation. Father, thank you. We hallowed be your holy name. Help us to follow Jesus that are saved. And those out there, I pray that you convict them of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. Do not let them rest until they do. Forgive me where I fail you, Father. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.