Six Sobering Lessons To Learn From The Life of Judas Iscariot

Well, perhaps you've never heard a sermon on Judas, but it's appropriate. Why? Well, because the scripture tells us that whatever was written in former days, now you recognize that that's found in Romans 15. And Paul, when he wrote that, he was writing 2000 years ago. And undoubtedly, when he was talking about the things that had been written in former days, he was talking about the Old Testament. And it was written for our instruction. But that doesn't make the New Testament any less written for our sakes. And it was written in former days. And it likewise is for our instruction. And so if God has decided that He wants to tell us about Judas, then I think there are some lessons that we can glean. And the thing is, John 13, right at the beginning of this Upper Room Discourse, this is the third message now. And so you can turn there in your Bibles to John chapter 13. This is the most extensive account of Judas that we have in our Bibles. The second most involved in information that we have about Judas comes over in Acts 1, where you have five verses that are dedicated to this man who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in John 13, we actually have 16 verses that deal directly with him. So I'm going to read the applicable verses from John 13 in just a second. So you just camp there. But listen, I want to give you just a little bit of background. I know if I were to ask you about Judas, you can tell me some things. But just to freshen everybody's memory as we're going to dive into this. In Matthew 10, just a little background for you. You know that when Jesus chose the 12 disciples, and we can find this in other places, but every single place that the disciples, the apostles, the 12 are listed, you full well know, if you paid any attention, that Judas is always last. And here's an example of that. And the names of the 12 apostles are 1st Simon, who's called Peter, Andrew, his brother, James, the son of Zebedee, John, his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector, James, the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon, the zealot, and Judas Iscariot. And it is amazing that they cannot... I find this interesting. You can find Judas actually spoken about in halfway decent terms in some places. And yet he defected. In love with the present world, he turned his back on the apostle Paul. Yet at times before that happened, he's actually spoken about in somewhat of a positive sense, a fellow labor of Paul's. You know something about Judas? He is never, there's no progression. He is called the betrayer from the start. You just feel that all the gospel writers have a disdain for this man, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Now, in John's gospel, because that's where we're going to be, I just want you to think about some of the observations that John makes about Judas before we get to chapter 13. There's this truth. Jesus knew. Now, I was talking about this. There were some things that the scriptures specifically tell us that Jesus didn't know. But Jesus did know. It's interesting that he goes looking for fruit on a fig tree, almost as though he doesn't know if he's going to find it or not, and then curses it because he doesn't find it. He's wondering who touched him in a crowd. He says that he doesn't know the time of his second coming, but his father does. You get those kinds of things. But then you also get that many believed in him in John too, but because he knew these many, he didn't commit himself to them. There are times he knew their thoughts. They were saying, who can forget sins but God? And he knew. And so Jesus, and I would say this, it comes back to the fact that the spirit of God was revealing these things. There were prophets in the New Testament, and the spirit revealed things to them that could not have otherwise been known. Agabus knew about some things that were going to happen to Paul. There were certain things that were pronounced about the future. Again, it's an operation of the spirit, and it seems that the spirit was revealing things to the man, Jesus Christ. Some things, but not everything. But I'll tell you one thing that was revealed to Jesus and that he knew right from the beginning is this, never caught him by surprise. Jesus said, there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. And then you get this. Jesus says, did I not choose you? Both of these come from John 6. But did I not choose you 12? And yet one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he was one of the 12 who was going to betray him. Now that is interesting. Think with me here. Jesus knew from the beginning who was going to betray him. The whole three years when Jesus chose Judas, he knew. He didn't catch him by surprise. Now you might ask the question, well, why did he choose him if he knew that? Well, because Jesus' primary task in life was not to avoid the cross. And it was not to avoid the fruit of what Judas would do. But here he is. He's a devil, a devil. And he knew that from the beginning. Can you imagine? I just imagine every single day that Jesus would make eye contact with Judas. He taught them. He interacted with them. He was in the boat with them. He slept with them. He walked with them. He talked with them. They were together for three years. You know how many times Jesus' eyeballs would have connected with Judas's as he was looking those men in the eyes? I mean, I just think about that. And he knew. It doesn't say he was possessed with the devil from the beginning. That's not what it says. It says he is a devil. Now he's possessed by the devil. He himself is a devil. Can you just tuck that one away? Bring it back to that. He's speaking of Judas who was going to betray him. Okay, here you are. John 13. Let's look at John 13 and the verses that apply to Judas. We'll dive in at verse two. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him. It says, Jesus, verse four, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, taking a towel. He tied it around his waist. So we know that the foot washing is taking place here. He poured water into the base and he began to wash the disciples' feet to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Judas is sitting there. Now last week, we were thinking about the fact that Peter was sitting there and he was watching all of this unfold. Indignation was stirring up in him. And Judas is watching this as well. Okay, verse 10. Jesus said to Peter, the one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you. Wow. 13 men in a room and one is dirty. For he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, not all of you are clean. Go to verse 16. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I'm not speaking of all of you. Wow. There it is again. I know whom I've chosen, but the scripture must be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. That's a direct quote right out of Psalm 41. I'm telling you this. I'm telling you this now. What about Judas? Now, this is key. Jesus was telling them certain things in this upper room so that they wouldn't fall away. And one of the things that he wanted them to know is, look, there's been no failure on my part, no failure on my discernment, no failure on me as a Messiah to have one of my inner circle turn on me. And I'm telling you guys, it's going to happen before it happens. So that you know this, this is in the plans. This is according to scripture, guys. It is what their faith shaken by this. You see, you see what's happening there. I'm going to tell you about this before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that what's the opposite of that being that struggling with unbelief, like, oh no. I mean, wow. If one of his inner circle turns out to be defective like this, what does it say about Jesus' whole ministry? I mean, maybe the whole thing's defective. What about all of us? And he's, he's wanting them to know this is according to scripture. Verse 21, after saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified. If you think this incident with Judas doesn't affect Jesus, you're totally wrong. Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another. You see, this is shocking to them. It's like, they're not expecting this. And he recognizes because they're not expecting this, he needs to tell them ahead of time that it's going to happen. Because they really aren't looking for something like this to happen. And they're not, what? And they're uncertain of whom he spoke. And I know this has been said many times, but that tells us something about just what a perfect hypocrite this man was, because none of the other guys suspected him. And I'll tell you what else it tells us. It tells us how exactly like the other 11, Jesus treated this man with the same love and affection and tenderness. He washed his feet and you know what? Those guys watching picked up nothing on Jesus' part that would have clued them in. Ah, it's Judas. Did you see how he washed his feet? None of that. Jesus dealt with this man just like all the others. He says, they looked at one another uncertain of whom he spoke. Verse 23, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved was reclaiming a table at Jesus' side. And I don't think you want to get from that, that John is saying that he's bragging. See guys, Jesus loved me more than all of you. I think what this is, is John recognized that Jesus loved them all, but he's just blown away by the fact that Jesus loved him. And so when he says it, I think it's saying more about just the fact that it's not a proud statement. It's a humble statement. It's like, I just can't even believe that he would love me. I think that's the kind of idea here. So Simon Peter, he motions to John to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. And you can imagine they're whispering there, you know, John and Jesus probably whispering. It's not a bunch of loud music in the background or anything. So that disciple leaning back, why would he lean back? It's to be very discreet. He probably leans back. He gets very close to Jesus' ear. He's whispering, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. Now, if you just step back right now and you watch the scene unfold and you didn't, you didn't hear this, but you would just want you, you see John kind of lean over and there's some whispering, but you watch Jesus. Who's obviously the master of ceremonies to watch him take bread and sop it in whatever the gravy, whatever the juice that was there and hand it to Judas. That would be the kind of thing you would do to honor somebody at a meal. Think about it. It wasn't like, you know, it's going to be the guy I scowl at. It's like read it right up to the end. And this isn't even the end. Even after this, he calls Judas friend and Jesus betrays him in the garden. So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, what you're going to do, do quickly. And you know, the other guys, they're not, they're still not getting it. No one at the table knew why he said this to him. I mean, even after kind of giving a little bit of light to Peter and John, if they're just blown away, they don't know what's going on. They're disconnected. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the feast or that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out and it was night. Judas is gone. He's exited the scene. And that is critical because now the room is pure. Now we have Christ and his 11 faithful disciples. And now the teaching is really going to get deep and preparatory for his removal and them taking up the baton, Judas, when he leaves. Isn't that an amazing statement? It says, and it was night. He went out into the dark. When he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. Just for your information, Judas does get mentioned one more time in this upper room discourse. John 17, 12, when Jesus lifts up his voice to his father in that high priestly prayer, we get one more statement. Verse 12, while I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I guarded them. Not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction or the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. What a name. I'm going to talk more about that in a second. So here we are. You've got a little bit of the foundation. I've got six lessons that I want to bring out concerning this man, Judas. Just as I looked at it, the things that jumped out at me as being most significant. Lesson one. You ready for this? Lesson one. Judas has a dad. I just want to stress the humanity of Judas. Not Jesus, Judas. I want you to think about who this guy is. I mean, he was a man and he had a father. Look at verse two. It says the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son. If you go to verse 26 in chapter 13, so when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Think about this. Who is Simon Iscariot? We have no idea. But you know what? Judas had a dad. Judas had a mom, Simon, undoubtedly Simon's wife. I mean, we have no reason to think that he was like born of a prostitute or anything like that. His father was known. You don't know the father when it's prostitute or something. You know what? There's every indication. Judas was a Jewish boy, like Jewish boys were. An active lad growing up, like we see the young guys. I walk in and, you know, typically I walk in on Sundays when I get three or four. That was him one day in the synagogue. Undoubtedly, he grew up. He was a boy. He had a dad. He had a mom. I mean, that's the kind of thing. And their son, can you imagine it? They had no idea when he was a little guy, he's going to grow up to be one of the most despised names in all humanity. I mean, when we think about the real wretches in history, we talk about Hitler or Stalin or Nero. Judas. Judas. There he is. Their little boy would grow up to be the man who would betray the innocent son of God with a kiss. That's unspeakable treachery. That's their son. He sold the savior of the world, God's own son, for 30 pieces of silver. Their little Judas. That's him. The name Judas Iscariot is a curse today. That's a reality. Have you ever seen? I looked it up. I typed in paintings of Judas. You see these horrible things, him hanging there looking like some monster and this little devil thing is at him and his bowels are all gushing out. And every picture you see of him, you just look at his eyes. There's always some sinister thing going on. That's how he's caricatured. Who names their son Judas anymore? But, you know, in Jesus' day, the name Judas was actually common. I mean, one of the ways we know that is one of the other disciples. Did you know in this upper room discourse, we're going to come to a verse that says, Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Even one of the other guys shared the name. And so can you imagine in Jesus' day, Simon's wife, and there's this guy, Simon. Can you imagine Simon's wife? There was that time. There was a time when Tia told Joshua, I'm pregnant. There was a time when Simon's wife said, Simon, I'm pregnant. And then he was born. And this little guy, Simon's son, he's going to be called Judas. And what is it? That's a form of Judah. The very tribe that David, King David, the tribe that the Messiah was going to come from. The tribe that Moses had said, the scepter would not depart. It's a form of that. A brother from the U.S. just contacted me this week. And he was asking me about some disciplinary questions with regards to his little boy. And it just makes me think, did Simon discipline his son? What happened? What truth was Judas exposed to? What were his parents like? Did they play a part in what he became? It makes you wonder, did they live to see his horrible end? What sort of example were the seeds of unbelief planted? You know, as we're praying for our children, were they the kind of parents that prayed? Prayed for their son? Were they like that? You know, it's not like Judas that we're told anything like he was trained in the occult. He dabbled in magic arts and like opened the door to the devil that way. Or that he was somehow schooled in this college of psychopaths or something. There's nothing like that. It's like every indication would be he's Simon's son. That's who he is. Could it ever have occurred to Simon and his wife? I mean, think about it. Think about what probably would have never occurred to them. For one, their boy and the Messiah were approximately the same age. And so as their seven-year-old Judas, 12-year-old Judas is running around, the Messiah has already been born. And he dwells in the land. And he's amongst them. And they don't know. He's being raised in another place. Simon, a Messiah so long awaited has come. Can you imagine if he knew that? Wow! The Messiah is here. Simon, guess what? Your son is going to know him really well. That is great, Simon. Your son's going to actually be in the inner circle, the 12 closest people. Simon, your son is going to betray. He's going to end up being the one out of all humanity. He's going to be the one to betray him. And Simon, do you know when you sit in the synagogue, have you ever heard Psalm 41 read? Yeah. You ever heard Psalm 55 read? Yeah. Psalm 69? Psalm 109? Zechariah 11? Yeah. You know what? They all speak about your son. What do they say? He's lifted his heel against me. That's the one Jesus quoted there in John 13, 8. That's a Psalm of David. And you know David had an Ahithophel who turned out to betray him. But you know what? That pointed to a greater betrayer. And we get the same thing in Psalm 55. It's not an enemy who taunts me. Then I could bear it. It's not an adversary who deals insolently with me. Then I could hide from him. It's you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. Or in Zechariah, you get this, they weighed out as my wages, 30 pieces of silver. Throw it to the potter, the lordly price with which I was priced. So I took the 30 pieces of silver, threw it into the house of the Lord to the potter. Psalm 69, Psalm 109, Peter quotes both of them in Acts 1. May his camp be a desolation. Let no one dwell in his tent. May his days be few. May another take his office. Could you imagine if you're Simon and you're sitting in the synagogue and they're actually reading from scripture? It's about my son. He was a man who had a dad. If the reality is that Judas is not so different than the multitudes. You see, the thing is we can think about him as a monster, but I'm going to show you before the end of this sermon, in many ways, Judas is not so different. A man who is the son of Simon becomes forever the son of perdition, the son of destruction. Is it possible that we have some people in here, you know, you grew up, you were the son of John, you were the son of William, but in the end, the same title, that happens all over the city. Listen, the title, son of destruction. Wow. Okay. That's the first lesson that we're dealing with a guy that he was not spawned in hell, somehow born of some inhuman demon thing. I mean, he was a man. That's the first lesson. Lesson two, I want you to notice something. Jesus just said, just quoted to you from John 17, where he's the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Now notice this, he is lost and he's a son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. And the devil came into him. Okay. You got, you have a man who is coming to the world and there's old Testament scripture that says you're going to betray the Messiah. And then the devil comes in. And I think we need to just think about this fact for a second. Does it make anyone feel perhaps like Judas had no choice in the matter? And then you think the devil came into him. Now, isn't he like under the control of somebody else? I would just ask you this, is this God's fault? Is this the devil's fault? Is this Judas's fault? I mean, you know what, what you never want to do, because you have to wrestle with this throughout scripture, with everything, with all evil, where sin came from, where the devil came from. You have to wrestle with the sovereignty of God over against these realities. And Judas captures the reality of this. So we need to think. But the fact is we must never imagine ever that Judas was forced somehow into doing something apart from Judas's will. Never think that it's, it's Judas did what he did freely and willingly. And we need to recognize that it was his own evil decision. God did not force. We never see. This is the, this is the way the world caricatures this. They see a mean God taking an innocent Judas and forcing this unwilling Judas to be the betrayer. Why? Because scripture had to be fulfilled. But we don't want to do that. Judas betrayed Christ by choice. If this were not so, then how would Jesus listen? We fault somebody, we accuse somebody, we threaten somebody with judgment because somebody is responsible for what they're doing. When somebody is being acted on by outside forces and they have no control over it, they're to be pitied. We want to rescue such people. How did Jesus talk about Judas? Did he talk about him as though he was to be pitied, as though he was a victim? Not once. Never did he do that. Jesus rebukes him. Jesus calls him a devil. And so we need to remember that. Here again is one of these truths. It just, it pulls us, it causes tension. It's a fact that makes us feel like, you know what it makes me feel? You know what it makes me recognize? The fact that the Bible teaches the sovereignty of God and it teaches man's responsibility. That alone makes me realize this is God breathed. Because you know what? No man does that. No man creates that. Either man is going to say God is sovereign and therefore people are robots or they're going to say man is free and if God is sovereign, he's laid his sovereignty aside. And it's basically how man reasons. And so to get this kind of thing, you know what? It's perfectly captured in one verse concerning Judas. At least I think so. Listen to this. This is Matthew 26, 24. But just listen to it. The son of man goes as it is written of him. So it's written. It's got to happen. Scripture's got to be fulfilled. God said it was going to happen. The Holy Spirit inspired that. It's going to happen. So the son of man goes as it's written about him. It's got to happen. But woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. Did you get that? He's, Judas did it. By whom? It's him. It's his fault. He's done it. And then listen to what he says. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Why would he say that? Well, because he's saying this has to do with Judas's evil heart, his evil intentions. That's why it would be better for him that he had never been born. And you get these two truths. The fact that scripture sovereignly fulfilled and Judas, it's his fault and he's responsible. And these two truths get blended so often in scripture. It happens if we have eyes to see it. What Judas did, it perfectly fit with God's plan. Perfectly. But you know what scripture teaches us? God is never the author of sin. God did not make Judas sin. He did not compel Judas to betray Christ. He didn't do it. He can't say, well, God made me do it or the devil made me do it. None of that. We don't want to imagine that. What scripture tells us is this. Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, the one I will kiss is the man sees him. The betrayer, Judas is called the betrayer. Why? Because he did it. He's the betrayer. He earned the title, not God, not the devil. Judas is the betrayer. Listen to this. In Luke 22, 48, Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the son of man with a kiss? Would you do that? Judas, you're doing that. In Matthew 26, 50, Jesus said to him, friend, do what you came to do. Don't imagine. Don't imagine that Jesus wanted Judas to betray him. That would be a wrong way to look at this. The God who purposes is also the same God in scripture that legitimately grieves at sin, suffering, the death of the wicked. Listen to this. Listen. He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. Have you ever read that from Lamentations? I just read the New King James rendering of that. God does not afflict willingly. You know this. We often quote it from Ezekiel 33. As I live, declares the Lord God. Is that your watch? Have you silenced it? No. Thank you. Think with me. As I live, that's what God says. As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Listen, Jesus washed Judas' feet. You need to think about that. Now, John doesn't even take us there. Do you know that's a glaring silence in John 13? John knows full well Jesus. John surveyed that whole picture. He had plenty to say about Judas, but you know what he never tells us? You know what he leaves out of the scene? When Jesus came to Judas and washed his feet. And you just wonder, you know, he looked up in his eyes. What's going on with him? You know what it says? Jesus was troubled in his spirit. How do we put all that together? Jesus weeps over people who rejected him. God doesn't take pleasure. God does not willingly afflict. Listen, how can they both be true? They can both be true because God has purposes that he's going to bring to pass, but that never undoes the fact that God feels that way. You see, we're created in the image. As I've said it before, in Texas, we still have capital punishment. And if you saw a nurse giving a lethal injection to a criminal being put to death, and you saw a tear come down her eye, you would say, she's executing justice. She's killing him. And she's weeping at the same time. You know what? That's possible in humans. But sometimes we look at God and we just, we make him so mechanical, almost emotionless so often. We like to extract emotion. And in reformed circles, that's very prevalent, just to pull the emotion out of God. But I'll tell you, Jesus expresses, he declares the father, watch him. Look, there is a tension here and there are mysteries here. But you know what? The Bible tells us both. So both are true. And we can really believe that God feels this way and that God does not take pleasure in these things. It's as though there are plans and purposes that God has to bring to pass, that those purposes, they're somehow for God's glory. And yet in the midst of it, it's not the thing that most delights God to bring to pass. You just have to wrestle with scripture and come to that reality. And Jesus is troubled. You can't just think, well, Jesus coldly mechanically just wanted to see scripture fulfilled. And so he had no care or concern about Judas. He's troubled his friend. This is how the Psalms portray this. This is my friend who did this. And he calls him friend when he comes to kiss him. Lesson three, the devil got into Judas's heart. And you see that in John 13 too, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son to betray him. Verse 27, after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, what you're going to do, do quickly. How'd that happen? I mean, I think we should stop and think about that. He grew up a Jewish kid in the synagogue, Simon's son. I mean, I'd say likely in the synagogue. He was just a regular Jewish kid saying the Psalms. You think he would have ever heard the proverb that said, keep your heart with all diligence, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it, for all the springs of life, keep your heart. He had a heart and somehow the devil got in there. You think he kept his heart? He didn't keep his heart. And you know what? We can't say that when the devil comes in and the devil takes control of somebody, that somehow that's not the fault of the individual. I'll tell you this, you tempt the devil, he'll come in. You tempt God to let the devil come in, he will do it. And if God pulls his hand back, and that's what happened. But how? I mean, he had three years with Jesus. He was here in teaching. Like they all said, this guy teaches with authority. This guy, I mean, we never heard anybody teach like this. And then Jesus said, if I hadn't done the works that nobody else did, they wouldn't have any sin. And so he's, can you imagine? And then the thing is, it's like Jesus even empowered him to do miraculous things. It's like, it's crazy what this guy was exposed to. What did Jesus or Judas rather done to open his heart to the devil? I mean, what brought him to this state? He grew up like any other young lad, what happened? And you know, the fact is, we don't know for certain, but several things jump out. And I would say this, the first is this, one of you is a devil. Judas was a devil. Now think with me here. You see, we have this tendency to think, well, he's this really bad, notorious guy. And if you look at the paintings of him online, I mean, they make him out to be a monster. We don't have anybody like that here, or do we? Are there any devils here? I was reading just recently from a proverb, or a psalm rather, and Spurgeon made a comment on it saying, there's one devil in every church. Undoubtedly drawing from that passage right there. Listen, listen, do you realize what Jesus said to the crowd? He said, you are sons of your father. John 8, you remember that? You remember when he says that? He specifically says that the people were sons of the devil. The sons of the devil. You're of your father, the devil. Now look, one of you is a devil. What is a son of a devil? A devil. What's a son of perdition? It means that you basically have the character of the father. You resemble the parents. That's why you call somebody a son of the devil, a child of the devil, your father, the devil. And you know what he's saying? He's saying to the crowd, that's who you are. You know what it is to be a child of wrath? You see, there's really no different than saying he's a son of perdition. And we were all children of wrath, like the rest of mankind before we were saved. You see, it's really, he's a devil. But what does that mean? It means he had devilish characters. It doesn't mean he was the devil himself. But what did it mean? What was Jesus saying? Your father, the devil. He was a liar. He was a murderer. How does Peter describe him? Your adversary, the devil. Devil means slander. Judas was a devil. But then there's this, there was greed. You know what it says? You remember when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, she broke the alabaster box and Judas was indignant over it. And it says specifically, why was he indignant? Because that could have been sold for a lot of money and the money put in the money bag. But he was a thief and he helped himself to what was in the bag. And then he sold his savior, the savior of the world. He sold him for 30 pieces of silver. You think greed got in there? You know this, there was a first time that Judas stole. You know something else that we find out about him? Unbelief. And scripture says that. Some of you do not believe. Jesus knew from the beginning who did not believe, who it was who would betray him. Can I give you a formula for destruction? Here it is. Come close to the teaching from this book. Those are the very things that he heard. What we read in this book is what he heard. Judas, come close to this truth. Come close to the light. A good formula for destruction. Here it is. Here it is. Come close to Jesus' life, Jesus' miracles, Jesus' teaching in this book, like in this church, and just resist the truth and choose a sin. Maybe it's sexual sin. Maybe it's greed. It's covetousness. Just let it, just start to play with it. Choose money. Choose stuff over Christ. Ignore the light. You know what? That combination might be all that was necessary to make Judas a devil. You know what? You know what we find in scripture? When you have light and you reject that light, wow, it is going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than if one of the 12 in Matthew 10 goes out and preaches the gospel and those people reject it. Children of wrath. Your father, the devil. You know what? We have this idea that what it takes to make a devil, somebody down in their basement kidnaps children and take them down there and do all sorts of fiendish things to some monster. Oh, you better redefine what the devil is. The devil is somebody that's an adversary to Christ. He's against Christ. He's an anti-Christ. That's the perfect formula for it. And you know what's happening the whole time? Judas is playing with this sin. The devil's just playing him like a fool. Just playing him. Judas. Oh, you could have imagined him. Imagine what he was thinking. Just what people today think when they're toying with sin. When they come under truth, they may hear good sermons on the internet. They may come to a good church, but they play with sin. They may, oh, he was the perfect hypocrite. He's just being playing with sin, playing with sin. Judas, you know what he would have told you? I'm a free man. I'm not in any bondage. I'm independent. I'm not like these other 11 guys. They're weak. I'm too wise to enter into the narrowness, the strictness of this narrow way that Jesus imposes on people. I'm a free man. I'm a free thinker. I have a will of my own. I'm the man. I do my own thing. I go my own way. And you know what? I'm wise enough to know how far to go with sin so that I can draw my hand back and not get burned. Too smart to get sucked into where I can't get out. I know what I'm doing. You know what Tozer said? He calls the devil a smooth destroyer. Just remember this son of destruction. He was Simon's son. Just the same stuff. He toyed with sin. There was a first time. There was a first time when he knowingly sought to deceive and put on a face, put on a mask, the first time that he stole. You know what? I've seen it. I have seen it. People who toy with sin, they toy with sin. And you know what happened? God will let the devil come in and help you right on your way to hell. You ever noticed that? Why? Because you know what? You know what God says? You better watch out. Sin has a hardening aspect to it. You resist Christ and you begin to toy with sin. I've seen it. You know what? Nobody is spiritually static. No one. You are moving in one direction or another. You're not sitting still. And every time we've got people in here that are lost, every time you come under the sound of this truth, beware, something is happening. Things are happening. Things are moving in the spiritual realm. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Exhort one another while it's called today. As long as it's called today, then none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. You know what happens? You toy with sin and you're a little harder. You come under the light and you reject it. You're a little harder. You keep going on like that. I've seen it. People toy with sin. You know what happens oftentimes? People that deal, people that are exorcists, people that deal with demons, people in the church over the years that God has given extraordinary gifts to deal with the demonic, oftentimes these demonic beings, they like to associate themselves with certain sin. And what happens is people open the door and the devil, you give the devil a welcome mat. And you know what? The devil can't do anything without God's permission, but God will give him permission. Put out the welcome mat and see what happens. Not static. How do you think the heart gets hard? Judas sold his savior for money. And you know what? By doing it, he sold his own soul. Beware, beware. You may turn into a devil and you already may be one. Lesson four. Yes, there's three more. This next one, very short. The thief Judas had the money bag and Jesus wasn't concerned. Notice 1327, after Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, what you're going to do, do quickly. Now, no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what you need for the feast or that he should give something to the poor. Now we know a chapter before that he was a thief and having charge of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Here's the thing. You know, Jesus never took the money bag away from Judas. Now, you know what? Over the years, that has jumped out at me because you know what it says to me? Jesus trusted his father to provide all of his needs and it didn't matter if Judas took money out of the bag. You know what? We'd remove him so fast. Why? Because it's kind of a reflection of how much we trust money. We can't let that happen. We need it all. But you know what's going to happen if all of a sudden the bank account's empty? You know what? Jesus didn't care. He just let it happen. Why? He was so absolutely convinced God was going to provide every one of his needs no matter what Judas was doing with the money in the money bag. It just reminds me of the time. Remember, there was this king. His name was Amaziah. And you remember what he did? He gave 300 pieces of silver to these soldiers, these mercenaries in Israel. And then here comes the prophet. And the prophet says, hey, king, you know what? God's not with Israel. You don't want those guys going out with your troops. God's not with them. You know what? God's sufficient. And the king says, what about the silver I gave? And you know, the prophet says, king, don't worry about it. God wants to give you much more than that. He can do it. See, why are we so worried? Oh, no. What about the 300 pieces of silver that got taken out of the bag? God's totally angry. Anyway, that's lesson four. Lesson five. Now, one thing I noticed about John 13 is this. As you step back and you look at the whole thing, aside from Jesus, who obviously is the main character of the chapter, you know who the other two that get the most attention? Peter and Judas. And I think it's worth comparing these two guys just for a second. Have you ever thought about this? Jesus pegs both of these guys, Peter and Judas with a devilish name. Get behind me, Satan. Jesus specifically calls Judas a devil. He specifically calls Peter Satan. That's a similarity, right? Wouldn't we all admit that? What about this? Both wickedly commit treason against Jesus on the very night of his darkest hour. And both of these defections are predicted by Jesus. They have that likeness. Jesus was troubled in his spirit, testified, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. Same chapter. That's John 13.21 right here. In John 13.38, he looks at Peter and he says, truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you've denied me three times. You know what they both also had? They both had three years with Jesus. They saw the same things. They not only saw the same things, they did the same things. Think about this. Matthew 10, these 12, Jesus sent out instructing them, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Peter did it. Judas did it. They both did those things. That's the same. You know what? The devil specifically had interest in both these guys. You ever notice that similarity? Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. Right here in John 13, during supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot. And then you know what it seems? It seems that both of these guys repented of their treasonous rejection of Christ. Right? I mean, what you have is Peter denies the Lord and he goes out and he weeps bitterly. And in Luke's account, Jesus said to him, when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. So he went and wept bitterly. We know he turns again. And then Matthew 27 says, Judas, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, changed his mind, or the King James says, repented. So the idea of regret it brought back the 30 pieces of silver. So he brings back the money. He admits, he confesses openly, I've sinned by betraying innocent blood. They've got that going for them both in common. Both sought to be the greatest. Undoubtedly they're arguing. And then Luke 9, an argument arose among them of this, which would be the greatest. Luke 22, a dispute also arose among them. They were always talking about this. You know, both sought to be the greatest. Both were guilty of unbelief and hardness of heart. We know that happened. Jesus knew from the beginning who those were that didn't believe, who would betray him. But you know what? In Mark 16, Jesus appears to the 11, including Peter, as they were reclining at table and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. There was unbelief and hardness of heart on Peter's part and on Judas's part. So what's the critical difference between these two? Certainly there is a difference. We know this difference right here from John 13. What's the difference? You know what? You guys are clean, but not every one of you. Judas wasn't clean. They were clean. That's, that's one thing. How about this? Jesus specifically said, Simon, Simon, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I prayed for you. Jesus prays for Peter. He prayed what? That your faith may not fail. He had faith. You know what? You know what the big difference between these two guys? Judas, he looked at all this and he didn't say anything special in Christ. He sold them for 30 pieces of silver. Yeah. He, he regretted it in the end. We'll talk about that in just a second. But the thing is, Peter was legit. You guys want to go to Lord? Where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal life. Hey, what if, what do men say that I am? Who do they say that I am? Who do you say that I am? You're the Christ. You're the son of the living God. You know what? You know what Peter said after the rich young ruler walked away? We've left everything and we've followed you. You know what? Even after Peter denied him and he wept bitterly, he says, I'm going fishing. And they're out there fishing. And you know what? When Jesus shows up on the beach and John says, it's the Lord. What was the first thing that Peter did? He threw his clothes on and he jumped in the water straight to Jesus. You know what Judas did? He turned his back and he didn't weep bitterly and repent and go back and seek Christ. He went and he hung himself. There's a big difference. Listen, Peter, with all of his impetuous moves and, and the things he did and the denial and get behind me, Satan, in the end, where are we going to go? It's like with all of his defects, Lord, you can't shake this off. I'm not going anywhere. And even in the end, even though he has to shake his head, Peter, do you love me? Just hang his head. He's like, Lord, I do love you. I've been a fool, but I do love you. He believed. He received. You know what Jesus said to them? I've given them the words that you gave me and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you. And they have believed that you sent me. They believed, they believe. Now here's, here's the last lesson. And just very quick, you want to grab this. Judas went out. It was night. What a picture, just a man who had been exposed to so much truth and he disappears out that door from the upper room and he goes out into the dark. What a picture, the prime example of what it means to have the greatest opportunity in the world and then lose it. He's the one who sat under the greatest truth. And now what is he doing? He's walking out the door away from Christ out into the darkness. What a picture of people. And I warn you, there are some, some of you children, some of you young people, you sit here, your parents bring here, you really would rather not be here. And you know what? You sit under the light. You know what kind of privilege it is to hear this? There are Muslim countries where you wouldn't hear this. You are hearing the way to glory. You are hearing the way to escape hell. You are hearing the greatest truths imaginable being taught in this place. Can you imagine more, something more? It's the worst possible thing you could imagine of all men most to be pitied. It is who? Those that have the greatest light, the greatest privilege, and then perish. Oh, you better hear this. Jesus said to those 12, if you go out there and preach the gospel and they reject you, it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah. You know what? It would have been better for this man to have never been born. You can come into the church. You think the blessings that you're offered in this place are a trivial thing? You better not think that. You attend the place where Christ is lifted up. Is it, is that a privilege that you have? Do you have parents? Did God give you parents, saved parents that pray for you? Is that what you have? Do you come in and see that you're able to behold as we take the Lord's Supper, this blood soaked cross? And what happened there? This is lifted up before you. You weren't born in a Muslim country. You weren't born where they don't hear about this truth. You've heard about the blood. You've heard about what it's accomplished. You see these truths put up here on the screen. Do you realize if you go to hell, you'll be trampling the blood of Christ to get there. That's what it means. You just count it a small thing. You know what happened in the book of Acts? There were certain people and it said to them, you don't count yourselves worthy of eternal life. That's what happens when you hear and you're just like Judas. You realize you want to be careful of committing Jesus' sin. You commit Judas' sin, you will end up in Judas' place. And what Peter said as he went to his own place, what place? The place it would have been better to have never been born than to go to that place. Oh, it comes so close. Can you imagine? Well, the other 11 are learning about Jesus. They're trusting. Oh, they're slow. Yeah, they're hard. There's pride. But you know, in the end, Jesus, when he praised them, he says, they have kept your word. He's praying to his father. They've kept your word. You look at him, it looked like pretty sloppy keeping of his word. But you know what? In the end, there was reality. There was intent there. They really did want, they were hungering and thirsting after Christ and after righteousness. And they really did want to please God. And they were seeing more and more. It was breaking in upon their thinking while these other disciples are learning and growing. What's Judas doing? He's progressively giving himself up as a tool for the devil. You can imagine him sitting there and Jesus is teaching. I can just imagine the making eye contact. What will a man give in exchange for his soul? And you can imagine sometimes Jesus was probably just trying to catch Judas's eye. Judas, disciples, don't give yourself to the deceitfulness of riches. They choke the word, proves unfruitful. Hey, look at them. You can't serve God and mammon. And here's Judas just pulling coins out of the bag for his own purposes. What do you think is going to happen? You know what? I heard this, that Ian Paisley, that Irishman, he preached a sermon one time and he called it the man who kissed the door of heaven and went to hell. And I Googled that. A lot of people have called Judas by that name, not just Ian Paisley. The man, will you be that person? Kissed the door of heaven. He kissed Christ and he went to hell. He came so close as to actually live in the same time period that the Messiah lived. He came so close as to touch him with his lips. And then he went to hell. How close will some of you in this room come? And then that, that, you better beware when the Lord gives you warnings and the Lord gives you truth and the Lord challenges your conscience and he proclaims to you that he's willing to save you. And he says, behold my son to receive God. I thought, listen, if you sit there and take that into your ears and then you harden your heart, you shake it off. You don't want to hear you go out of this place. You just, you don't want to hear the voice of God shutting your heart from Christ. You know what's going to happen. You throw your heart wide open to the devil and you know what's going to happen in the end. The night is going to swallow you. Judas. Oh, what lessons we get from it. Light. Oh, it's so much light, light. And when Judas, his betrayer saw that the Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind. He brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders saying, I've sinned. I betrayed innocent blood. They said, what does that toss? Oh, you got young people. Mark this. If you go to the hell in the end, the hell of scripture, you know, people that go there with you, you see what they're like, you see what they're like, your partners in crime. They don't care for your soul. You see, once they got out of Judas, what they want, what's that toss? Get out of here. We don't care about you. We don't care that you did our dirty work. You know what? That's how the world is sin. And they'll use you up. And in the end, your crimes and partner, those going to hell with you, they don't care. They just walk away. And you know what happens to, he went on and he hung himself. How do you figure, you know what happened? You know what, you know, what's happening in his conscience. He was feeling, he was having such thoughts after, after all of this. And he went through the coins. He was going through such guilt, his conscience, you know, you know what the devil will do. He baits you. Go, go do this. Just unbelief. Don't call upon the Lord. That sin over there won't hurt you. Just a little, just a little, it's a little sin. Just enjoy it. But you see what happens in the end, the very devil that filled your heart and led you down that path will suddenly turn on you with a vengeance. And then he'll scream, go kill yourself. There's no hope now. And that's what happened. There it is. He'll come in and he'll fan the very flames of the hopelessness, the helplessness. Think of Judas, what loneliness, what emptiness, where his great friends, the priests and the elders, they're gone. Devil's screaming at him, put an end to your misery. But you know what? It didn't put an end to his misery. He thought I just got to end it. I just got to get these thoughts and the devil is now screaming. His conscience is on fire and it's, and it's all hopeless. You know what? The time to believe came and went, and now the consequences of his sin, and it goes out and he hangs himself. And he thought he was going to put it all to an end, but you know what? It didn't put it all to an end. There's only the beginning, only the beginning of being in that place where it would have been better for him to have never been born. And listen, this is no fairy tale and this is no myth. We all are faced by this. You know what? Judas was there. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. And you know what? Now he's in a place, there's no rest. He's just screaming. Everything in him is, is not at rest. He's got to kill myself. Apparently that didn't even work out in the best way. He hung himself. And then Peter also says his bowels gushed open. So what happened in the midst of all of it? We don't exactly know, but you know what? Well, he's out hanging himself. His life came, his life went, his life came to an end and now there's hell. I mean, he had the greatest opportunity, the greatest privilege in the world and he wasted it. And if you come to this place, think about what judgment day will be like. The vast majority of people in Manchester are not hearing this truth. And you came here and you got this close to the truth. This close. In a sense, you kiss the sun. You kiss the truth. You kiss the gospel. You've heard it. It's there. The people most to be pitied in all the world are going to be those people that just came. So they came right up to the door and then they turned their back on it. And you know, Bunyan wrote this. There's a doorway to hell right at the gate of heaven. And he wrote about it in Pilgrim's Progress. Listen, Jesus is sincere. Come unto me. I'll give you rest. And you just think, Peter, everything in Peter, he's out of that boat. I'm coming to you, Lord. Was he messed up? Yes. Just like the rest of us. Jesus saved sinners, backward people like Peter. But the one thing in Peter, I got to get to him. I got to get to him. He just wanted to be with him. Lord, why can't I be with you? Look, he was boastful, yes, but he was sincere. He wanted to be with Jesus, even if he had to die. And he would die in the end. Oh, folks, there it is. And I know that was longer than it needed to be, but Judas leaves us an example. And it's a warning. Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Father, I pray. Lord, may there be a real seriousness in the hearts of the young people who are just grappling with the cost of Christianity and the narrow way. May you have mercy. Oh, in Christ's name, we most ardently plead for our children, our grandchildren, our young people. Lord, mercy. Just like you have on Peter. I pray in Christ's name. Amen.