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The Life of Christ Message 162 The Death of Jesus, Betraying Him 162.w#text file Luke 22:3-4 3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. 4 And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him --------Matt. 26: 15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? ---------Luke 22:5-6 5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money, (30 pieces of silver.) 6 And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. (KJV) The event that we have before us today is one of the most famous of all betayals of history. People have attempted to imagine for centuries what must have prompted this man to betray the lovely Son of God to such a horrible death. But there were other betrayals that happened that same week and the in the years which immediately followed. The eleven betrayed Him by running away at His capture. Peter betrayed Him at His trial while he warmed himself by the soldiers' fire. Thomas betrayed Him when he refused to believe the resurrection. Annanian and Sapphira betrayed Him by lying to the Holy Spirit. John Mark betrayed Him by abandoning Paul and Barnabus on the mission field. The man at Corinth betrayed Him by living in an immoral relationship and claiming to be a believer. The church at Corinth betrayed Him by allowing Satanic ministers to masquerade as ministers of the truth. The churches of Galatia betrayed Him by allowing another gospel to be preached. I want to pull all these betrayals together in this message to give us all a sense of how and why men and women betray the Lord Jesus Christ. I. But let us return to the text to think about Judas for a little while. We know some things about Judas. He is the last one mentioned in the list of the twelve by Matthew, 10:4, Mark, 3:19, and Luke, 6:16. This may mean that he was the last one chosen or that he was the least esteemed by these writers. Probably he was the last chosen. We know from John 12:6 that Judas carried the money for the group and was a thief, stealing from the gifts given to Jesus. We surmise that Judas was a lover of money, the root of all evil, and that the devil used that love to entice him to betray Jesus. There are some mysteries about Judas. How could he betray Jesus after seeing His miracles? Why would he betray Him for such a small sum? What did he think was going to happen? Did he not consider the day of reckoning with God? A. Betrayal of Christ is often more a matter of simply not restraining our impulses than a deliberate act of treason. We have very little information about what went on in Judas' mind, but it does seem that there was not the intent to betray Jesus until the devil entered him. And the devil entered through the one avenue that Judas had not surrendered to God, his love for money. B. Any sin that is not repented of before God becomes a device in the hands of Satan to bring us to a place of betraying Him. During the Feast of Passover, the Orthodox Jewish home is not allowed to have any yeast (leaven) in the home at all, lest it contaminated the Passover bread. At the beginning of the time of preparation for the Feast, the head of the family goes through the house with a candle, searching for any remain- ing leaven in the home. The act is ceremonial, of course, but makes the point that any leaven remaining is a contamination of the home during this special time. Paul dealt with this issue when he wrote to the Corinthian church concerning the man living in adultery. 1 Cor 5:7-8 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (KJV) Jesus is our Passover. We celebrate that fact in the Lord's table. We prepare for that event by purging out the leaven, all malice and all wicked- ness, which is true repentance. Judas' failure to put aside all his sins left an avenue by which the devil could access his heart and mind and bring destruction to the cause of God (so he thought). My failure and yours' to put away all sin leaves the door open for Satan to destroy our lives, our families, and our church. I know that there are arguments which say that Judas was Satan incarnate, but we will not go into those here. He was a man. He had the opportunity to be saved by casting himself upon the Lord Jesus for mercy. He had made a show of repentance, else he would not have been one of the twelve. He did not lay aside his love for money, which is the root of all evil, accord- ing to the scriptures. But Judas is not the only one who has betrayed Jesus. II. The eleven in the garden and then Peter by the fire denied Him as well. They surrendered to fear, just as many of us have done. When surrounded by people who do not love God who are acting out their rebellion against Him, many Christians are overwhelmed with a fear of being rejected and either avoid the opportunity to speak, run away, or join the crowd in their blasphemy. We are warned by Jesus of being overly concerned about what people can do to us. Matt 10:24-33 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. (KJV) I must tell you that I fully understand this pressure. Many times I have avoided speaking the truth in a crowd of people because I was afraid. Then, one day, I do not even remember the specific day, I stopped for long enough to consider what it was that I was afraid of. These people were not going to kill me. They were not even going to beat me up. The worst that was going to happen was that they would think that I was some religious person. I realized that I did not mind being identified with Jesus Christ in the minds of those people. And I stopped being afraid. Failing to speak up when it is proper to do so is a form of betrayal. III. It is a betrayal of Jesus Christ to fail to uphold truth and believe His revelation. Thomas first erred on this point when he refused to believe the testimony that Jesus had risen from the dead. This was a betrayal of the revelation and teachings which Jesus had given as well as the trust of his friends who would not have lied to him on such an important matter. Jesus made an important statement concerning this when He confronted Thomas. John 20:24-29 24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. (KJV) It is ‘faithlessness' or betrayal to refuse to believe the testimony of the men of God concerning the realities of the Work of Jesus Christ. These men would not have lied and God would not have permitted the world to have a false hope of salvation. The stubborness with which men demand further proof is nothing more than a betrayal of all that God did in Jesus Christ. It is saying "all this work is not enough, I demand more." If you are in that place, you have one thing to consider, a sign from God. Matt 12:39-41 39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. (KJV) The church at Corinth allowed Satanic ministers to take charge of their church. This was a betrayal of their identity as the body of Christ and a betrayal of the labor that had been bestowed upon them by the apostle of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 6:1 1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (KJV) The believer in Jesus Christ must take particular care in who he gives the place of ‘minister of Christ' in his life. The failure to be careful and to demand scriptural proof of every doctrine is a betrayal of the precious truths delivered to us by Jesus Christ. It says that such things are not important enough for us to give our attention and effort to them. The ultimate betrayal of that practice is demonstrated in the churches of Galatia who not only allowed demonized ministers into their pulpits but followed them into a critical error concerning the gospel. Gal 1:8-9 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (KJV) IV. And it is a betrayal of Jesus Christ to claim Him as Savior and yet live in sin. We want to be careful to affirm that no one lives sinlessly. At the same time the scriptures are clear that believrs put the practice of sin behind them. The man at Corinth who was living in adultery brought Paul's attention to focus in real clarity on this issue. Twice within just a few words he affirmed a principle which deserves our close attention. 1 Cor 5:9-11 9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. (KJV) 1 Cor 6:9-10 9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor ex- tortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (KJV) It is clear that the person who claims Jesus Christ but lives as an un- believer with open sin in the life is a betrayer of that faith and the Savior Whom he claims. Immorality, vile speech, theft, drunkeness, and covetousness idenfity the professing believer as a traitor to the cause of Christ. So, let us not be too swift to judge old Judas. True, his crime was second may only to the original betrayal of God by Adam, but we all have betrayed our Lord. One thing which may be said in the favor of Judas was that he recognized his crime and was remorseful. He was so overwhelmed by his sin that he committed suicide. Peter recognized his sin and wept bitterly, the scrip- tures say. But we live in a time of ‘cheap grace' in which people believe that they may have the forgiveness of sins with no felt remorse for them. How much remorse should a person feel who has betrayed the Son of God? How much remorse do you feel for traitorous behavior? Are you living as a traitor now?