Introduction: History, not myth

Luke 22 is not a fable. It is a dated, deliberate account of a week in history when the plot to kill Jesus was hatched and carried out. The Passover was in the city. The crowds were present. The institutions and the religious leaders who should have recognized the Messiah instead conspired to silence Him.

That sharp tension between what is happening in human hearts and what God is accomplishing providentially is one of the Gospel’s most unsettling and practical lessons. It forces us to ask uncomfortable questions about religion, grace, and how the enemy works when people lose their souls while keeping their religion.

The conspirators: religionists, not atheists

The plot in Luke 22 begins not with secular enemies but with the Sanhedrin: the chief priests and scribes. They knew Scripture. They sat under God’s covenant. Yet their answer to Jesus was murder. This is the mockery of justice that runs through the chapter. They could not produce legitimate charges because there were none. So they manufactured a plot, bought a treacherous insider, and arranged a covert arrest.

That detail matters. It is a warning: formal religion and moral appearances can coexist with a heart that is distant from God. The Pharisees polished the outside but were spiritually hollow. Their hatred of Jesus sprang from pride, greed, and threatened power—sins that look respectable when wrapped in robes and ritual.

Judas, Satan, and moral responsibility

The text tells us plainly: Satan entered Judas. That line should make you uncomfortable, because it pushes us into the mystery where divine sovereignty, demonic malice, and human culpability meet.

Judas is not a cipher. He walked with Jesus for years, handled the money bag, heard the teaching, witnessed miracles. Yet covetousness, pride, and perhaps wounded vanity opened a door. Satan used that opening and turned Judas into a tool of betrayal.

How should we think about “Satan entered Judas”?

• It affirms real demonic activity. The New Testament does not spiritualize or domesticate the tempter.
• It preserves Judas’s responsibility. Satan did not push Judas like a puppet; Judas gave him a foothold by following his own sinful desires.
• It shows how the wicked are used redemptively by God. Even the treachery of Judas becomes an instrument in the sovereign plan that secures salvation.

Why would Satan bring about what defeats him?

The question is fair. If Christ’s death is the seed of God’s victory, why would Satan so eagerly push Jesus toward the cross? The answer is not simple. Perhaps Satan is blinded by rage, perhaps he misunderstands, perhaps God allows him to play a part in the drama in order to display redeeming wisdom. Whatever the motive, the result remains: human wickedness and demonic plotting were woven into God’s invincible plan.

Mockery of justice and the timing of the Passover

Luke anchors these events in the calendar of Israel. Jesus dies at the time of the Passover—no coincidence. The Exodus deliverance, remembered in the Passover meal and the week of unleavened bread, was a type pointing forward to a greater deliverance from slavery to sin. Paul will later call Christ “our Passover” and urge the church to remove the leaven of sin from its life.

The symbolism is stark and beautiful: the Lamb of God is crucified during the feast that commemorates a lamb’s blood saving a nation. History and typology converge. The old covenant foreshadowed the new. The shadow passed; the reality arrived.

Jesus’ intercession: a contrast between Peter and Judas

One of the most piercing theological lessons in Luke 22 is how Jesus prays for his own. He knows his people and he knows the unregenerate. He prays for Peter—who will deny but be restored. He does not pray, in the same way, for Judas. John makes the point plain: Jesus knew who would betray him and who would come by the gift of the Father.

““No one can come to me unless it has been granted him by the Father.” (John 6:44)”

And again in the high priestly prayer:

““I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” (John 17)”

There is enormous comfort and solemnity in that reality. Comfort, because if you are one of those given by the Father you have a Sustainer, a High Priest who prays for you and keeps you. Solemnity, because the presence of outward religion or privilege does not guarantee saving faith.

Doctrine and devotion: predestination and perseverance

The sermon of Luke 22 forces us to face certain doctrinal truths plainly: God’s giving, Christ’s intercession, and the preservation of the saints. Romans 8 helps connect the dots—God’s plan is comprehensive, and nothing can separate God’s elect from his saving love.

That does not make the Christian careless. Rather it makes him grateful and watchful. The elect are not saved by their steadiness but by Christ’s faithfulness and prayers. The believer’s perseverance is the effect of divine care, not human self-reliance.

Practical application: guarding the heart and means of grace

If Judas’s betrayal begins with small, ordinary sins—greed, a hurt pride, neglect of prayer—then the remedy is equally ordinary and urgent: watchfulness, Scripture, prayer, and godly company.

•  Fill your mind with Scripture. The places you neglect to fortify are the places the enemy will exploit.
•  Use means of grace. Prayer, sacraments, preaching, and fellowship are not mere rituals; they are conduits of Christ’s sustaining care.
•  Cut off obvious occasions of sin. Jesus’ language is extreme to shock us: remove what causes you to fall. Take drastic, practical steps to flee temptation.
•  Keep humility. The danger is not simply that we sin, but that we become proud in our knowledge or religious life and so open the door to deception.

Conclusion: a high priest who prays

The drama of Luke 22 shows sin in a thousand forms—religion that kills, treachery from within, a tempter at work. It also shows the heart of the gospel: a High Priest who prays, a Lamb who dies at the appointed time, and a Father who gives a people to the Son.

For those given to Christ, this is everything: you are not in the hands of a capricious fate or a feeble self. You are in the hands of the one who laid down his life and now intercedes for you. That truth is both a warning to the self-sufficient and a balm to the humble.

May the seriousness of Luke 22 sharpen vigilance in the Christian life, and may the certainty of Christ’s intercession strengthen the weary heart.

Full Sermon – https://youtu.be/CEICZGgpaVc