SERIES: Topical
– Special Days: Father’s Day
SETTING: North Kelso Baptist Church
SERVICE: Sunday AM
SUBTITLE: What Can We Learn From Judas Iscariot?
SCRIPTURE: Selected Scriptures (Matthew 26:20-25)
SUBJ: Lessons from a traitor
SUMMARY: I propose to you that there are lessons
taught by the treasonous actions of Judas Iscariot
SCHEME: The aim of this message is that the members of NKBC examine their
profession of faith in order to avoid the mistakes of Judas
What lessons or truths can we learn from Judas
Iscariot?
1A Having a
privileged position does not secure genuine faith
2A Performing
religious activity does not indicate genuine faith
3A Loving
money is destructive to gaining genuine faith
4A Living is
useless without genuine faith
5A Sinning
has destructive consequences on non-genuine faith
What Can We
Learn from Judas Iscariot?
Selected Scriptures
(Matthew 26:20-25)
INTRODUCTION
1.
At age 14 he ran away from home and fought in the French and
Indian War. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he joined the American
army as a colonel and in 1775 shared a command with Ethan Allen in the capture
of Ticonderoga. Later he led 1000 men into Canada where he fought in the battle
of Quebec. His courage in battle won him a promotion to brigadier general.
But something went wrong. Thoughts of compromise ate away at
his patriotic zeal. Soon the unthinkable happened. He offered his services to
the British, and in 1780 devised a plan to surrender West Point to British
control. Today, instead of being remembered as a national hero, Benedict Arnold
is synonymous with "traitor."
2.
Both world
history and US history is littered with notorious traitors. You can google the
word “traitor” and find lists after lists. The worst traitor in US history was
probably Benedict Arnold. Today, instead of being remembered as a national
hero, his name is synonymous with the word “traitor.”
The
church throughout history has known of men and women who have seemingly
submitted to Christ, served admirably, sacrificed much only to turn away from
Christ and their faith. Some have been come atheists, some have joined
non-Christian cults, and some have even left their families and turned to
homosexuality.
The worst
traitor of all times is probably Judas Iscariot. He was a disciple and later
selected as an apostle and was a close companion of Jesus Christ.
3.
We don’t know
why men and women choose to betray their country, their friends, or their
families. Sometimes money plays a vital part. Often extortion or blackmail of
some sort forces some to turn traitor. I am sure that most instances of treason
are prompted by more than one reason.
4.
As horrific
and mind-bobbling as the actions of Judas seem, they are not as severe as the
number of lessons that can be learned from his actions. We as Christians need
to learn from this episode in order to ensure that we are not deceived causing
us to miss out on salvation. We need to learn from these mistakes to help
others from being deceived which would result in their eternal damnation.
5.
What do we
really know about Judas? We know very
little about Judas
·
– he is mentioned
20x’s in bible
·
He is mentioned
twice in Acts
·
He speaks or his
words are recorded on two occasions
·
His name appears
last in every biblical list of the apostles
·
His name doesn’t
appear at all in the list of apostles in Acts
·
Each time his
name is mentioned he is mentioned as a ‘traitor”
·
His name “Judas”
is a Greek form of Judah, meaning “Jehovah leads”
·
He is named for
Judah the son of Jacob, father of the largest tribe
·
His father’s name
was Simon
·
Judas was the
only one of the 12 not from Galilee
·
Judas was the
treasurer of the little band of disciples (John 12:6)
·
Iscariot is
debated –
o
Some think it
comes from ‘ish scarii’ – a group of dagger carrying assassins who were also
known as Zealots
o
Some think is
comes from a Hebrew name for the family name
o
Some think it was
given to him after by Christian tradition
o
Some think that
is refers the city of Keriot in Judea (‘ish’ (man, Kerioth, the town –Judas,
man of Keriot. Keriot was a small farming town 23 miles south of Jerusalem
o
What we can know
for sure is he was Jewish man who betrayed the Christ
o
His call to
discipleship is not recorded in Scripture. It seems that he was a willing
follower of Christ. He probably looked for a Messiah like the rest of his
countrymen. He left whatever job or enterprise he had and followed Jesus full
time. And in John 6, when many disciples abandoned Jesus, Judas stayed with
him. (It seems he never surrendered his heart to Jesus)
o
He probably
followed Jesus for political and possibly monetary reasons. He looked for Jesus
to overthrow the Roman authority and to restore the kingdom to Israel. He saw
that Jesus had “powers’ or abilities that no other man had. Judas was attracted
to Jesus.
o
He was not
attracted to Jesus for spiritual reasons. He didn’t want the kingdom for salvation
or for spiritual reasons. He wanted the kingdom for all of its blessings,
promises, benefits, and the abundance promised as part of the kingdom.
o
Judas at some
point became disappointed and disillusioned. Jesus did not fulfill the
individual expectations of the disciples. He continually pointed things to God
and to spiritual things rather than physical things. So Judas became
disappointed and as a result, lived as a hypocrite. He never conquered the
worldliness in his heart. He never submitted to spiritual things.
Our theme is: lessons from a traitor
This is a good reminder
for us all to examine ourselves making sure that we are in the faith so that we
never stand before the Lord and hear him say, ‘depart from me…I never knew you.
Interrogative Sentence: And so, we have to ask ourselves, what
valuable lessons can we learn from this traitor, Judas Iscariot?
Transitional Sentence: Today’s topic suggests five
(5) valuable lessons that we need to learn from the actions of Judas Iscariot.
[So, without further delay, let’s look at the
first lesson that we can learn from Judas, and that is...]
1A Having a privileged position does not secure genuine faith
Judas stand as living proof that having a godly
heritage is not enough to save a soul. We can never take for granted nor can we
really know the true condition of the hearts of those around us who say they
are Christians.
Many people take for granted that they are actually
believers. They depend on or rest on a number of privileges. Such as:
·
Religious background or upbringing
·
Baptism or confirmation
·
Church membership
So, they live for themselves according to the
principles and philosophies of this world, believing that they will be OK when
they do finally die. They think that these privileges will be sufficient
grounds to God to look favorably on them on the day of judgment.
The trouble is that they have never experienced
genuine faith for themselves. Outwardly they have accepted some or all of these
so called privileges but inwardly they are still lost, living in darkness and
deception, bound by sin, and under the wrath of God.
What is sad is that many of these people are in good
solid churches. They often are leaders, Elders, Deacons, Sunday School
Superintendents, Sunday School Teachers, and etc.
Turn to Matthew 7:21-23
First of all – the “faith” that “says” and does not
do anything is really empty and useless faith.
Second – Jesus not suggesting that works or actions
or even activities can or will save anyone. What he is saying is that true
faith, real salvation will not fail to produce good works through the life of a
genuine believers.
Thirdly – remarkable works or miracles, activity,
and privilege does not secure nor guarantee salvation. Look at where these
people placed their confidence. They placed their confidence in their good
works.
So, not everyone who has great privilege or privileges
will be saved.
Some polls taken in our country show that as many as
50% of Americans consider themselves Christians. Can you imagine what this
country would be like if that were true. What kind of influence do you think
that we could have if half of Americans were really Christians?
The bible gives very strict and high standards for
judging what true Christianity is.
You would think it would be impossible to have or
hold high privileges and still be lost wouldn’t you? Why do some people think
that they are Christians when in fact they are not?
·
False assurance based on bad theology of real salvation.
·
Failure to examine their lives/actions against sin revealed in
Scripture
·
Focusing inordinately on religious activities
Look
again at Matthew and see what is in store for those who are hypocrites, who
have made false professions, and who are trusting in privileges”
I new knew you. “To know” is Hebrew word that
represents intimate relations or relationships. It is used in the bible to
describe marital intimacy. It is also used of God’s intimate relationship with
His people, Israel and the church.
What Jesus is saying, leave here, get out, you don’t
belong here because I never had an intimate relationship with you. I have never
been your Lord and you have never been my subject. I have never known you as my
disciple.
It
is possible to be near Jesus and to associate with Him even closely and still
be hardened in sin.
So,
have a privileged position does not guarantee that one has true or genuine
saving faith. Or that one is immune or exempt from sin.
Our theme is: lessons from a traitor
This is a good reminder
for us all to examine ourselves making sure that we are in the faith so that we
never stand before the Lord and hear him say, ‘depart from me…I never knew you.
[There is a second valuable lesson that we can learn from
Judas, and that is...]
2A Performing
religious activity does not indicate genuine faith
Matthew
13:24-30
Jesus
taught us in this parable that we call the Parable of the wheat and tares is
that sometimes it is very difficult to tell the wheat from the weeds.
First
of all, this parable is not a viable defense for refusing to enact church
discipline when a member is involved in unrepentant sin. The gospels and the
parables do not concern the church age. They speak to the coming millennial
kingdom of God.
Second,
we cannot simply ignore these parables and the principles that they teach. We
need to learn the valuable lessons that they teach.
So,
what can we learn from this parable and does its truth relate to our point?
The
tares were a weed called the bearded kernel. In the early stages of growth they
were almost identical to the wheat that the farmers had planted.
Sometimes
the most knowledable or experienced farmer could not tell the tares from the
wheat.
After
the heads on the wheat developed the difference could be seen and you could
tell the weed from the wheat. The problem with the weed was that it was toxic.
It was poisonous to both man and animals.
A
farmer could harvest his wheat around the tears if he was careful. Usually, if
he tried pulling the tare out of the ground, he pulled up the wheat with it.
There
were at three ways he could try to harvest his wheat:
·
Harvest his wheat
that stood above the tares and then burn the tares up
·
Sometimes he
could harvest the wheat next to and around the tares
·
Sometimes he
could pull the tares out – but usually with the wheat
This
practice of sowing tares in a neighbor’s field was considered so bad that even
the Romans made a law against the practice.
The
reason for the parable is that as Jesus preached and healed, and performed
miracles a great number of people attached themselves to him. Some were
dedicated and obedient, some were not
dedicated and were only there for what they could get.
The
disciples at times got angry at the type and kinds of people that crowded
around Jesus. We know the Pharisees really got hot under the collar. After all
Jesus was eating with sinners – prostitutes, wine-drinkers, and etc.
The
Pharisees and even the disciples could not tell real followers from the false
in some cases. So they were not to try in their own judgment to get rid of the
bad people because they might hurt the good people. God will “sort” them out.
The point that I want to make
is that Judas did everything that the other 11 disciples did. He was involved
in religious activity. He offered prayers, alms, sacrifices, and ministered
just like the other disciples.
All of the religious activity
that Judas saw and participated in did not change his heart. It did not save
him.
We cannot trust in church
attendance, teaching, serving, giving, leading, singing, praying worshipping
and any other “religious activity to save us.’
Our theme is: lessons from a traitor
This is a good reminder
for us all to examine ourselves making sure that we are in the faith so that we
never stand before the Lord and hear him say, ‘depart from me…I never knew you.
[There is a third valuable lesson that we can learn from
Judas, and that is...]
3A Loving
money is destructive to gaining genuine faith
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of
evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith
and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Timothy 6:10, ESV)
Did Judas really love money that much?
There are very few words of Judas actually recorded
in the Bible, but the ones that are recorded, are bone chilling:
“What are you willing to give me to betray Him to
you?”
He betrayed the Lord Jesus for a payoff of 30 pieces
of silver. We know that this was the price of a slave. It wasn’t very much.
It seems that Judas love of money was the open door
that Satan used to influence his life.
“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 to,
and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought and opportunity to
betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.” (Luke 22:3, ESV)
“Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered
into him.” (John 13:27, ESV)
It seems that Satan knew his love of money and that
it was a weak area for Judas. It was an area in which he could be easily
tempted.
You remember when the woman broke open her alabaster
box of pure nard, some of the disciples became angry. But it was Judas who
voiced their anger when he asked:
“…why was this ointment not sold for three hundred
denarii and given to the poor? He said this, not because he cared about the
poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the money bag he used to
help himself to what was put into it.” (John 12:4-6, ESV)
Loving money and loving what money can buy or do can
be devastating.
The bible is filled with many stories of terrible
things done for the love of money:
·
Joseph was sold for money as a slave by his brothers
·
Sampson was betrayed by Delilah to the Philistines
·
Ananias and Sapphira lose their lives over a few dollars
·
Achan and his family were killed for the love of silver & clothes
·
The Ephesians rioted, beat and jailed Paul when they lost their chief
sales rep –the demon possessed girl and the income she produced
·
Felix hoped he would get a bribe from Paul and kept him imprisoned
·
Balaam preached or prophesied for hire, for money
Jesus asked a very good question with very sober
warnings when he asked:
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole
world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)
The bible is
filled with examples of warnings and admonitions about loving money:
“He that is greedy of gain, troubles his own house…”
(Prov
15:27)
“He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with
silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase…” (Ecc 5:10)
“As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them
not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of
his days and at his end shall be a fool.” (Jeremiah 17:13)
There is no good or benefit to a bird who sits on
dead eggs or eggs that will not hatch. There is no good or benefit to the
person who lies, cheats, schemes, manipulates, or obtains money in a morally
wrong way. Many of those people who do will die in early or mid-life and then
the money they go will be lost. When he stands before God he will be a fool
because he exchanged his soul for money.
Judas loved money. He was a thief. He robbed money
from the money bag of the disciples for his own use. He never understood that Jesus
knew every time he dipped into the purse. Each time he added sin and judgment
upon his soul.
Listen, what is the antidote to loving money? What
should your attitude be?
We find it in a prayer that was prayed by Agur:
“Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before
I die; remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor
riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny
you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the
name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:8, ESV)
Don’t
love money. Don’t love what money can buy. Don’t love what money can do. Ask
God to give you just what you need at the moment.
The
love of money is destructive to genuine faith.
·
Some love money
and never come to salvation because they love money more than their own soul.
·
Some make a
“profession” of faith, a decision, but the love of money and things choke out
any desire to follow thru
·
Some are
absolutely shipwrecked their faith
“It
is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced
themselves with many pains.” (1
Timothy 6:10, ESV)
This should serve as a
warning to our hearts today! Be very careful who we follow. There are some
people who love material things more than they love Jesus. There are some who
live to get their own way more than they desire God’s ways.
Our theme is: lessons from a traitor
This is a good reminder
for us all to examine ourselves making sure that we are in the faith so that we
never stand before the Lord and hear him say, ‘depart from me…I never knew you.
[There is a fourth valuable lesson that we can learn from
Judas, and that is...]
4A Living is useless without genuine faith
I know that there are some who will take issue with
this statement and will want to argue the opposite. I can’t see no reason to
live if you were to died and spend all of eternity in hell.
There is no amount of pleasure, no amount of money,
no amount of things that I can see trading for the pain of hell.
Even if you are a genius, Nobel-prizing winning
doctor who discovers the absolute cure for cancer and wipes it out of
existence. It is still is a worthless life if you just end up in hell. Listen
to the words of Jesus:
“The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but
woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better
for that man if he had not been born.” (Matthew 26:24, ESV)
Even Jesus would agree with me – it would have been
better if this man, Judas, had never even been born!
How dismal is a life that is lived without meaning
and without the hope of an eternal future with God, through Christ.
We were created to glorify God and live life to the
fullest by walking with Him as our faithful Lord, Master, and friend.
David knew how important it was to know God and how
useless a life would be without God, listen:
“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand
elsewhere, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in
the tents with wickedness.” (Psalm 84:10, ESV)
Sadly, many people live their lives as if it is
written this way:
For a thousand days doing what I want is better than
one day with you God, and I would rather be in a mansion with everything my
heart desires than to live in a tent with nothing but you.
We don’t have the time to look, but if you want to
know what life apart from fellowship with God really is, read Ecclesiastes
carefully.
See how work is useless. See how accumulating wealth
is useless. See how possessions is useless.
We learn from Judas just how useless life really is
apart from true saving faith. We see this lesson best from his death.
What did Judas do? He tried to return the money he
loved and coveted and then he hung himself.
“Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was
condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of
silver…saying, I have sinned…and throwing down the pieces of silver, he
departed, and he went and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:3-5, ESV)
He was cut off from Christ forever. He knew it. He
knew his life was useless and meaningless and so he hanged himself.
He wasn’t interested in repenting, he was not
interested in salvation. He didn’t want to get right with God. He just wanted
to end his life.
We learn from Judas just how useless life really is
apart from true saving faith.
Our theme is: lessons from a traitor
This is a good reminder
for us all to examine ourselves making sure that we are in the faith so that we
never stand before the Lord and hear him say, ‘depart from me…I never knew you.
[There is a fifth and final valuable lesson that we can learn from
Judas, and that is...]
5A Sinning has destructive consequences on non-genuine faith
·
1 Tim 6:10 tells us that many people have pierced themselves with great
sorrow and pain as a result of sin
·
James 5:3 says, “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the
rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as I were
fire.” (James 5:3)
Sin causes Separation
“But
your iniquities (sin) have made a separation between you and your God.” (Isaiah 59:2a)
This is by far the biggest consequence of sin. Every sin is an offense to
God, and God cannot be in the presence of sin. That is why if you choose
to keep committing the same sins without repentance, you will stop feeling His
presence in your life. The Holy Spirit will stop speaking to you if you
refuse to repent. “Do not quench the Spirit.” (1
Thessalonians 5:19) How do you quench the Spirit? The next 3 verses
indicate how to not quench the Spirit. “Do not despise
prophecies, but test everything; hold fast to what is good. Abstain from
every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-22) If you take
to heart and apply these 3 verses to your life, you will hear God speaking
through the Holy Spirit in your life.
Judas
was separated from Christ – “What you are going to do, do quickly…after
receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out.”
Sin
is a Catalyst for More Sin
As
believers, it is the Holy Spirit that convicts us when we do wrong (John
16:7-8), so that we can repent and be clean again. However, in the case
of unbelievers or believers who refuse to repent, sin can catapult us into
deeper sin. How does betrayal begin?
It doesn’t just happen; it is a
sin-by-sin process. It starts with a coveting and loving money, “How much
can I get to turn Jesus in.” If you feed that thought then it escalates,
“Talking to them isn’t going to hurt anything. Then Judas went to the
Pharisees and made his deal.
Sin
begins with a small thought and grows and leads to other sins. Sin will
overtake your without confessing and forsaking your sin.
Satan
knows how to reel anyone in. He has mastered it. If we don’t take
sin seriously, we will end up committing a multitude of sins that started from
only one thought.
Satan
reeled in Judas and mastered him. His love of money, led to acts of thievery,
led to betrayal
Sin
is an Eternal Death Sentence to Unbelievers
“For
the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) It is my prayer that this verse
really speaks to you. A true believer will repent of their sins, but
those who are rebellious are in serious trouble! Eternal death
(separation from God forever) awaits all who choose to not accept Christ as
their Lord and Savior. Christ, Himself, says in Matthew 25:41-46 what
will happen to those who do not show Christ’s
love to
humanity. Those who do not feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the
sick and in prison, or give a drink to the thirsty will be left alone in utter
torment for eternity. The self-seeking, proud, pompous, self-righteous
and greedy people will not be in heaven unless they repent.
Judas
love of money escalated to his suicide. He was eternally lost. A disciple and
an apostle with privileges involved in religious activities is lost for all of
eternity.
Sin
is destructive. We could list several more examples of how destructive it is.
Our theme is: lessons from a traitor
This is a good reminder
for us all to examine ourselves making sure that we are in the faith so that we
never stand before the Lord and hear him say, ‘depart from me…I never knew you.
[What do you say we wrap
this up?]
CONCLUSION
Although
Judas Iscariot did not actually betray a head of state or his country, the term
Judas has come to be synonymous with traitor. Judas was friend of Jesus, and
one of his twelve disciples. As Jesus spread his message, he lost favor with
the Jewish high priests, who considered his teachings blasphemous. When they
finally decided to arrest him, it was nearly Passover, which the high priests
decided would be incredibly unpopular, so they decided he should be arrested
the night before Passover. The priests, knowing Judas’ love of money,
approached him and offered 30 pieces of silver if he would deliver Jesus to
them. Judas obliged, and led the arresting soldiers to the Garden of
Gethsemane, where Jesus and the rest of the disciples were camped out. After
the arrest, Judas was so riddled with guilt that he returned the money and then
hanged himself. Judas’ legacy would live forever, though, as the word traitor
literally means “one who delivers,” as Judas delivered Jesus.
There
are several lessons that we learned today from Judas Iscariot:
·
Having a privileged position does not secure genuine faith
·
Performing religious activity does not indicate genuine faith
·
Loving money is destructive to gaining genuine faith
·
Living is useless without genuine faith
·
Sinning has destructive consequences on non-genuine faith
Exhortation: So, I exhort you to meditate on Judas’s life
and actions in order to learn from the life of Judas Iscariot.
Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:10, (ESV)
“Therefore,
brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for
if you practice these qualities you will never fall.”
Let’s
pray! J
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