What’s good for the twelve is good for me. (wk. 4)

James Byrd

Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

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Good morning, CHURCH!

Welcome to FFM where we love God and love people.

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Let’s Pray

Lord, help us to see you as new and fresh through your word today?

Lord, help us to see truth where we have believed lies?

Lord, speak to us through your word today.

Most of all, help us to love you and others more.

Let’s go to the book of 1 John 1:9 NIV for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

Today’s opening shot of wisdom is this.

The price that Jesus paid on the cross to cancel the penalty for sin for those who would believe and follow him is the greatest single event that has ever taken place in my opinion.

It is undeniable that it took place.

and it is amazing that anyone could know this and not simply love him and follow him.

Look at what the scriptures tell us about this.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

1 John 1:9 NIV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Because of this the proper Christian attitude to sin should not be to deny it but to admit it, and then receive the forgiveness which God has made possible and has promised to us.

1 Jn 2:12 NIV

I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

The overwhelming thing about this is that it’s not just talking about your past sins. It is also including your future sins.

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Now, depending upon how much you love God for this and are grateful will determine your inner thoughts to this.

If you truly love him with all, this is just something that makes you want to follow him more.

If you are just looking for a get out of Hell free card, this is something that makes you think you can still sin as much as you want and pull this card out of your back pocket on the day of judgement.

But if the second one is where you live, listen to this.

1 Jn 2:1-2 NIV

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

What is he saying?

He is saying that if in your attempts to be holy and obedient and follow God, you commit a sin all hope is not lost for you.

We have someone in the heavenly courts who is advocating on our behalf.

Today we’re continuing the series:

What’s good for the twelve is good for me.

We are finishing up our focus is on the original disciples.

Each one of them was changed because of his association and time spent with Jesus.

They were the ones first responsible for carrying out the spiritual movement of Christ that we all are aware of today.

As we’ve studied this, we’ve seen that they’re everyday ordinary people just like you and me.

Our biggest takeaways have been:

-It doesn’t matter who you are when you come to Jesus.

What matters is that you spend enough time w/him and that you allow that time w/him to transform your life.

-Once timid personalities can become a bold outspoken witnesses of Jesus’ redeeming grace.

-There mission was not about becoming rich and famous, but about Christ redeeming mankind.

-That our association, and our time spent with Jesus should produce similar fruit.

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These should be our expectations:

1. As we study the word of God we grow as disciples.

2. As disciples we follow Christ whole-heartedly.

3. And as whole-hearted followers of Christ we go out into the world to make other disciples.

Finally, it was the testimony of these former faithless, ruthless, and fearful men that led us to believe today.

And it should be our testimony that leads someone else to believe.

Today’s message title is:

The Judas’, the other Simon, and the other James

Let’s study the twelve.

Judas Iscariot

Have you ever had a friend or colleague that appeared to be loyal, but in the end was a betrayer?

Or maybe they were a friend at one point but some event happened and they went from friend to betrayer?

This was Judas Iscariot.

The most notorious of all the disciples.

The one universally scorned.

Judas the betrayer of Jesus.

His name appears in every list of the apostles (except in Acts 1), and it always appears last.

Judas’s name is derived from the Hebrew name Judah.

His surname, Iscariot, means “man of Kerioth” and probably points to the town of Kerioth Hezron in Judea as Judas’s hometown.

Judas was the only one of the apostles who did not come from Galilee in the north.

Judas must have been trusted and well-liked in the group since he carried the money that paid for the disciples’ food and expenses.

Judas’s call to follow Jesus is not recorded in scripture, however he did give his former life up to follow Jesus.

But he never gave Jesus his heart.

The other eleven apostles are an encouragement to us because they show how common people can be used by God, even with all their failures, and still do remarkable things.

Judas, on the other hand, stands as a warning about the power of spiritual carelessness and pride, which can drag us away from loyalty to Christ.

There have been debates for thousands of years about whether Judas was ever truly a believer.

I can’t prove that either way, however, we are told when the beginning of the end was for Judas.

Luke 22:1-4 NIV

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the twelve.4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.

**Pay attention closely to what just happened here**

Here was a man that was following the Christ and was clearly on team Jesus.

At least it appeared that way.

Then suddenly, he is going to disgruntled people having negative discussions about the one he had been following.

Question?

What happened that caused him to start having these unhealthy conversations about his leader?

The bible tells us that Satan entered him.

So, you know you’re not being led by Holy Spirit when you start having or entertaining unhealthy conversations about your leader.

Luke 22:5-6 NIV

They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

-If you are entertaining that foolishness, you’re probably not being led by the Spirit of God.

-If you find yourself having a critical watchful eye, you’re probably not being led by the Spirit of God.

Judas was once as close to Jesus as humanly possible for three years.

He heard every teaching; he saw every miracle.

But in all that time his heart eventually grew harder.

-The other disciples were being transformed by Jesus into passionate followers.

-Judas was being changed into Satan’s instrument of deceit and betrayal.

And then we know that eventually it all came to an end for Judas.

Matthew 26:47-49 NIV

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

48 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.”49 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

Judas went up to Jesus like, “Hey Pastor, how are you doing today? That was a fine sermon you preached. I was truly blessed by it.”

All along his heart was now against him.

If you are anywhere in the midst of this place of negativity, criticality or have been poisoned by a friend, it’s not worth it.

Repent and confess your sins to God because it doesn’t end well.

#2

Judas Thaddaeus, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot

The Gospel writers give us the names of these three other disciples, but not much more.

There was not much mentioned in the scriptures about them ever asking Jesus a question or having an extended conversation with him.

This James was mentioned in:

Mark 15:40 NIV

Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome.

Some might call him little James.

You had Simon the Zealot.

Indicating that he at one time had been a member of the political movement known as the Zealots.

The Zealots hated the Romans, and their single objective was to push the roman overlords out of Israel.

That was this Simon’s background.

But encountering Jesus transformed him.

Simon’s zeal became focused on a different kind of kingdom, a kingdom of justice and righteousness.

And Judas Thaddaeus was briefly mentioned asking Jesus a question in:

John 14:22 NIV

Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

(And not that it is the point of this message but, Jesus was telling them that those who love me will obey my commands and the Father and Jesus will love them and make a home with them.)

So, not much on these three disciple.

But we do know that they were chosen by Jesus to be in the group of his closest followers.

And like the others, these three had left their old lives behind to follow him.

They served, went out and preached, and witnessed Jesus’ miracles just like the others.

They were faithful to Jesus without having to be major players in the Gospel recordings.