It Always Works Out [7-26-26]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHjOM4KT8dA?si=_HawTny4r0j4HA3h

July 26, 2026

Luke 22:1-6

“It Always Works Out”

Events spelled out in today’s short passage are straightforward. Easy to follow. It would be tempting to zip through it. What’s underneath is going to take a little digging. Really, a lot of digging.

Here’s Luke 22:1-6:

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

The surface stuff is simple. It is a clear flow of events at a clear place and point in time. To help get us down to bedrock, I’ve turned to two additional resources, besides the commentary I’ve been using. R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur have been really helpful in spelling out foundational meaning around these short verses.

On one level, we have an attempt to derail Jesus’ popularity. The goal is to do away with him as discreetly as possible.

But there is so much more.

First, there’s the role of Satan. On the surface, it might seem that this is Satan’s plan. Some erroneously assume that Satan orchestrated and pulled off the betrayal of Jesus using agents in his service. They couldn’t be wronger.

Think about it. Did Satan want Jesus to die on a cross the day after Passover? Was that his plan? Engineer the death of Jesus that day after Passover? Did Satan make that happen?

Absolutely not. Here’s something you might want to write down:

EVERYTHING HAPPENED WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF GOD’S WILL.

That’s the Biblical truth we have to get on top of right away.

Before we get to the specifics of Jesus and his ministry, let’s look at a major theme that runs throughout Scripture. God’s sovereignty. To put it another way, the sovereign nature of God’s will. We’ve all heard of that, right? It’s a huge deal.

Simply put, God’s sovereign will is His ultimate, unchangeable plan and control over the universe. It means God has the supreme power to ordain or allow events to happen. We make choices driven by our God-given free will. We are not puppets on a string. But nothing happens outside of God’s sovereign purpose and control.

On one level, there’s God’s permissive will. God allows us to make decisions every day. What to eat. When to eat. How we spend our time. Where we work. Whom to marry. You hear how the list goes on-and-on. These choices are freely made. Some have long-term consequences. Some have little-to-no earthly consequences. Some choices affect us negatively. Some affect others negatively. And positively. Same thing about how other’s choices affect us. Whatever is happening, it is all part of God’s permissive will. God is still on the throne. He has not lost control. {That there is an important piece to understanding today’s passage.}

God’s permissive will even applies to sinful decisions. We’ve all been there, right? A day doesn’t go by without us making one kind of sinful decision or another. God allows that. Back in the Old Testament, Joseph’s jealous brothers sold him into slavery. When everything played out, and Joseph saw them again, he said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” {Genesis 50:20}

To put it another way, God’s sovereignty means He has supreme authority and control over all of creation. Even our sinful choices are within God’s sovereign purpose. Paul captures it this way:

And we know that for those who love God all things work 

together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

• Romans 8:28-30

Make no mistake. There are things, within God’s sovereign will, that while He allows them to happen, He takes no pleasure in them happening. When my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 38, dying at 44, it was within God’s permissive will. As Job reminds us, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, yet I will always praise the Lord. Amen? We can always say, “God is good all the time,” because we live within His sovereign will. Even though cancer brought pain and sorrow to my mother’s life, God worked it for good. He gave her the faith to persevere and trust Jesus. Which is why, the moment after she died, Dorothy Jean Mortimer saw Jesus face-to-face.

There can be hiddenness within God’s permissive will.

There is nothing hidden in God’s declarative will. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God makes His will known. God reveals His purposes. As Micah 6:8 tells us:

He has told you, O man, what is good;    and what does the Lord require of youbut to do justice, and to love kindness,     and to walk humbly with your God?

While we have the freedom to accept or reject God’s declared will, it doesn’t make it any less His revealed truth to us.

In the same way, the Ten Commandments are specifics of God’s declarative will. They represent His sovereign expectations for the choices we will make in life. They are given for our protection. God, in His infinite wisdom, knows what’s best for our lives. So God places these ten signposts around our lives. And life goes much better for us when we live within their protection. Obedience means we know God knows what’s best for us. It is God’s desire that we live within His sovereign purposes for our lives.

Before returning to Luke 22, one final point of understanding when we talk about God’s sovereignty. This is an important principle. I’m sure we’ve all felt or thought this way at some time or another in our lives. When we are struggling or hurting, and we pray to God for relief, and it doesn’t seem like He cares or is listening, God is simply choosing not to intercede directly. God is never totally passive.

Finally, last point on the sovereignty of God. Because God is sovereign, His will can never be frustrated. As Isaiah 46:8-10 reminds us:

“Remember this and stand firm,    recall it to mind, you transgressors,remember the former things of old;for I am God, and there is no other;    I am God, and there is none like me,declaring the end from the beginning    and from ancient times things not yet done,saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,    and I will accomplish all my purpose.’”

Does Satan orchestrate and engineer the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Absolutely not. While Judas chooses to be directed by Satan, neither Satan nor Judas are controlling these events. Here’s something else you might want to write down:

EVERYTHING HAPPENS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF GOD’S WILL.

The Bible makes clear that everything in the life of Jesus is controlled by God. Everything. In John 5:19-20, Jesus says:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.”

Everything Jesus does is what God wants or allows. Jesus does what the Father wills him to do when the Father wills him to do it. As Paul puts in in Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.” We see God’s sovereign purpose in the birth of our Savior. On God’s schedule.

And then, as we saw back in Luke 9, Jesus sets his face for Jerusalem. Jesus is heading toward the cross on God’s schedule. According to God’s sovereign purpose. It’s the will of the Father that the Son die for the sins of the world. Amen?

Remember. The death of Jesus Christ was planned by God before the foundation of the world. It was God’s divine plan that Jesus would die for the world before the world was created. It was determined down to the year, month, week, day, and hour.

In the Gospel of John, he describes our Lord’s crucifixion as “His Hour.” Hour specifically references the precision of this time. It is the very time God has set for Jesus to be our sacrificial Lamb. Jesus will not die on the schedule of the Romans. He will not die on the schedule of the Jewish authorities. And Jesus most certainly won’t die according to the schedule or plan or purpose of Satan. Jesus isn’t going to the cross because Judas planned it. Here’s one more clear, concise thing to write down:

GOD ESTABLISHED HIS HOUR.

Remember some of the things leading up to this hour. After Jesus was born, efforts were made to kill him. There were times during his life when people tried to seize him and kill him. Always unsuccessful. Because God is sovereign. Back in Luke 4, some wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff. But he vanished out of their midst. Why? Because it wasn’t him time.

Here’s where we’re at in Luke 22. Here’s why this information is so vitally important.

Those who want Jesus dead will kill him at the very hour they want to avoid. But this is God’s hour. Jesus will die as God’s lamb. This is the time when everybody brings a sacrifice at Passover. God will bring His sacrifice as well. God brings it at the very time all Passover lambs are being slain in Jerusalem. And God’s lamb will be slain for the sins of the world. It is the only sacrifice to atone for sin. Every sacrifice that went on before was but a glimpse of the final sacrifice. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.

Jesus’ death will be no surprise to God. Everybody else involved wants it to 

happen at any time except for now. They don’t want it to happen now 

because now is God’s appointed time to take away the sins of the world. Now is the time to free people from a corrupt religion. Now is the time to free the people from a fear of Rome. Now is the time to free the people of fear of death and eternal punishment. Now is the time for everyone to see the Lamb of God die for the sins of the world. Now is the time for them to hear Jesus cry out, “It is finished.” They will see the sky darkened and the curtain of the temple torn. These are all the things Satan and the religious authorities and the Romans want to avoid. But try as they may, they cannot thwart God’s sovereign purpose in the death of His Son.

Jesus’ death is no surprise to God. It is not the plan of Satan. It is no surprise to Jesus. Remember, Jesus says in John 10:17-18:

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Jesus is here on God’s schedule. He gives up his life for the purpose of 

paying the penalty for the sins of all would believe. Jesus will bring them to heaven to praise and glorify him forever.

So here we are. We’re getting close to the end. Everything is now in motion. The power of Satan…the greed of Judas…the corruption of the leaders…they’re all pieces in a divine plan. They are all willing players in their rejection of Jesus Christ. They are guilty in their sin. But they will not…they cannot thwart the sovereign purpose of God. It will come to pass.

Let’s pray:

HEAVENLY FATHER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PROFOUND, POWERFUL, CLEAR, AND CONSISTENT WORD. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNSTOPPABLE SOVEREIGN PURPOSE, AT WORK TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS. AS WE MOVE CLOSER TO THE CROSS, MAY WE SEE JESUS CHRIST HIGH AND LIFTED UP, AND BE DRAWN TO HIM. WE PRAY IN HIS NAME. AMEN.