Two Paths

45 weeks. We have come to the end of our journey through the Gospel of John. It is my prayer that you got something out of these sermons. I have truly enjoyed studying it all and diving deeper into who Christ is.

Let me give you a preview of what is coming up in the next few months and the new series we will be going into for the new year.

First after today, we go into our time of thanksgiving. I will be going into a 4 week sermon series that will bring us into a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving, all ending on our traditional Wednesday night service before Thanksgiving where we say what we are thankful for and have the Lords supper together.

Then we will go into another 4 week series going through The Identity of Christ in Christmas.

Then starting right after that the new series for next year will be called “The Traveling Soldiers” . This series will show us where Peter and Paul traveled, the letters they wrote, and the culture they encountered. This series will give us a better understand of the who, what, where, when and the why of Peter and Paul and their writings.

Today, we will end this series with my favorite apostle Peter. And we will be looking at Judas the betrayer.

There are many lessons we can learn from these two and how they approached faith.

Peter was known for his impulsiveness; he was a fisherman who jumped out of boats and walked on water, if only for a moment! In contrast, Judas was the treasurer, probably meticulous and calculating. When it came to faith, Peter’s hot-blooded enthusiasm often got him into trouble, yet it was that same passion that led him to become a leader in the early Church. Meanwhile, Judas, who had every opportunity to witness miracles, chose betrayal instead. The fascinating difference lies in their responses: one took risks, while the other hoarded riches. Are we willing to leap wholeheartedly, like Peter, or do we cling tightly to worldly things, like Judas?

Both go on a path of rejection, but one chooses the path of redemption, while the other chooses a path of destruction.

Normally, I would give you the verse that we would be focusing on, but today, we will be back and forth between several chapters.

My suggestion is write these verses down and go back and read those chapters on your own. There is so much richness and beauty that I can not express just on a Sunday morning.

Let’s pray then dive into this message.

Judas: Path of Destruction

Betrayed for Gain

John 12:3–8 CSB

Then Mary took a pound of perfume, pure and expensive nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray him), said, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it. Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

Loyalty to or betrayal of Jesus is not primarily about doctrine, denominational affiliation. how well you adhere to religious observances or the money you put into the church purse...it is about the methods we practice in how we live and treat others.

Christ was very aware of this and taught this, even unto his death

John 11:50 CSB

You’re not considering that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”

This biblical account of Judas contains such a powerful message for us today.

Judas’ betrayal of Christ wasn’t over list of doctrines. It wasn’t over his method of truth, love, or freedom. It wasn’t over his compassion, his grace. his forgiveness, his healings, or his observance of the Sabbath. It was over greed and his desire to held higher than those around him. He wanted more.

Today’s church goer is no different. If they do not get exactly what they wanted, they move on to the next thing that will give them what they want. We live in a society of the excess. We live in a society that betrays Jesus because He doesn’t give us what we want, he only gives us what we need.

Judas: Path of Destruction

Guilt That Leads to Despair

His guilt was a crushing, worldly guilt that lead him to a self-destruction because he could not bear the shame.

Matthew 27:5 CSB

So he threw the silver into the temple and departed. Then he went and hanged himself.

Let me ask this question that has plagued scholars for centuries.

What if Judas, after all he had done, had went to the Lord and asked for forgiveness?

I know the Lord I serve, and I can say without a doubt, he would have forgiven him and welcomed him back. No matter how far he fell, all he had to do is ask for forgiveness, but he chose the path to destruction.

Pride, shame, guilt, ego...we have no idea how these four things drive our decisions.

I know that when these four rear their ugly head in my life, I can hear Christ ask me, “David do you love me? My answer is always Yes, Lord. It is then I am off the path of destruction.

Please understand this point out of all of them today, worldly guilt and despair is not true repentance. It is at best remorse. It is a remorse that says “I wasted my life” while repentance says, Lord I give you my life.

Judas: Path of Destruction

Finality

Judas’s story ends in destruction, a fatal footnote in church history, a tale of finality, to never be reconciled with Christ.

John 17:12 CSB

While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.

The name Judas is ranked as the 25549th best name for a boy. Only 190 boys have been named Judas in the past ten years.

There was a few different tiktoks that was going around about Judas.

The one where Jesus says the one who will dip his bread will be it. Explain it.

Or the one that went Judas No!

He has become the fatal footnote in our church history, a cautionary tale, that unfortunately has become just a joke and not the instruction the church needs today.

Peter: Path to Redemption

Betrayed Out of Fear

Peter denied Jesus out of fear for his life, not out of malice or for gain.

John 18:15–27 CSB

Simon Peter was following Jesus, as was another disciple. That disciple was an acquaintance of the high priest; so he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard. But Peter remained standing outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper and brought Peter in. Then the servant girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” “I am not,” he said. Now the servants and the officials had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold. They were standing there warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, warming himself. The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered him. “I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews gather, and I haven’t spoken anything in secret. Why do you question me? Question those who heard what I told them. Look, they know what I said.” When he had said these things, one of the officials standing by slapped Jesus, saying, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” “If I have spoken wrongly,” Jesus answered him, “give evidence about the wrong; but if rightly, why do you hit me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said to him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” Peter denied it again. Immediately a rooster crowed.

Show the Foxes book of Myrtars

This book is filled with men and women that faced death because of their faith.

As I said we will look at Peter in the upcoming new year, but it begs the question...

What if Peter admitted he was a disciple?

Today, there are churches around this country that will betray Christ by not speaking about sin because they are afraid they will lose what they have. They are afraid not to lose the soul, but the paycheck that is attached to that soul.

Peter: Path to Redemption

Grief That Leads to Repentance

Peter's grief was a godly sorrow that produced repentance which in turn led to salvation.

Luke 22:62 CSB

And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Now I asked the question earlier and I want to pose the opposite here.

What if Peter just left and never saw Christ again?

What would have happened to the early church?

We don’t really have to dwell on that question because we know that Peter ran to Jesus, confessed his sin, and was restored through forgiveness.

John 21:15–19 CSB

When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Feed my lambs,” he told him. A second time he asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Shepherd my sheep,” he told him. He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. “Truly I tell you, when you were younger, you would tie your belt and walk wherever you wanted. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”

Christ not only forgave Peter but set him on the path that the early church needed.

Repentance, forgiveness, and restoration and finally Redemption.

Peter: Path to Redemption

A Lasting Legacy

After his restoration, he became a powerful leader, strengthening his brother and helping to build the church, fulfilling Christ commission to feed my sheep.

We will get more into that this when we go into the new series.

Something we need to learn today is this.

The crucial difference between Peter and Judas was not the sin itself, but how each man responded to it after the fact

Judas’s story is a warning about resisting God’s love, while Peter’s is a comfort that even after a great fall, there is hope for repentance and restoration in Jesus Christ.

When we fall, not if, we are called to a Peter-like response: repent, confess our sins, and turn back to God...the Path of Redemption, and to steer away from the path of destruction.