Middle Knowledge Musings on Judas' Betrayal

As I work through Mark 14:17-21 in preparation for this Sunday's sermon, I am wrestling with the dual reality of God's foreknowledge of Judas' betrayal and Judas' moral responsibility for his actions. There is only one solution to this dilemma: Middle Knowledge. What follows is my own attempt to think through this and disentangle my thoughts by putting them into words.

God knows the free actions that human agents will take in any given circumstance. He knows, for instance, that if Judas is placed in circumstance C, he will perform action B. He chooses which circumstances to actualize according to His own divine freedom and for His own purposes. His actualizing is not determined by our actions. By actualizing circumstance C, His foreknowledge of Judas’ action is perfect and infallible. Judas can do no other; if he were to do otherwise, God’s knowledge would be otherwise. God is sovereign over the circumstance, and uses it for His glory. But the choice remains Judas’ own free decision. Therefore, he is not absolved of moral responsibility. God chose to actualize a particular set of circumstances, and those circumstances happen to entail Judas’ betrayal. Judas is not a victim of fatalistic providence and foreordination. He is a responsible moral agent who made a free choice. God is not to be blamed for actualizing the circumstance. He is free to actualize any circumstance He desires for His own purposes. He did not determine Judas’ actions, but He determined the circumstances Judas found himself in. Therefore, God is able to bring about His own purposes through the free action of Judas, and Judas remains accountable for his action.

Now, I just have to figure out how to say that in a sermon in a way that won't be 100 stories over everyone's head.