Good Friday 2026 (2)
Notes
Transcript
Thank you Colten,
Tonight we’re talking about truth. Not opinions. Not preferences. Truth that does not change. And here’s the danger: You can be near the truth, hear the truth, even walk with the Truth (Jesus Christ) and still reject Him. Jesus didn’t just speak truth, He said, ‘I am the truth.’ So to reject Him is not just to misunderstand something, it is to reject reality itself.
Judas Iscariot was an apostle, the son of perdition. The one whose betrayal Scripture says was foreknown and included in God’s plan. In Luke 22 we read this about Judas:
1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
Judas was not a Pharisee. He wasn’t a Roman. He was close with Jesus. For three and a half years Judas has sat under the Master’s teaching. He saw Christ’s power. Imagine what it would take to see Jesus calm the wind and the waves or feed the 5,000 or raise Lazarus from the dead and still reject Him?
This should make every one of us uncomfortable because it means you can be incredibly close to Jesus and still be lost.
Judas: Close to Truth, But Rejected It
Judas: Close to Truth, But Rejected It
Judas wasn’t an outsider. He wasn’t a Greek or Roman. He was chosen by Jesus to be a part of the Twelve. He heard every sermon, saw every miracle, walked with Jesus all over Galilee and Israel. He saw the power of Christ over sickness and demons. He saw Jesus conquer death.
Judas became an apostle the same way all the others did. Luke 6:12-16
12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
But Luke tells us something pretty shocking in chapter 22, “Satan entered into Judas.” How does that happen to someone who was near to Christ for years? Listen, it doesn’t happen to a friend of God’s or a lover of Christ’s. Scripture tells us that Judas looked like a disciple, talked like a disciple, had power like a disciple, but wasn’t a disciple.
In John 12, Mary worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ and took expensive perfume and washed Jesus’ feet with it.
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Scripture tells us, Judas loved money. He loved money so much that he was stealing from Christ. He was hiding his sin well, but what is hidden always comes out. But the point is that you can be near to Jesus and still not belong to Him. You can serve in church, hear great sermons, sing songs, teach, be well respected, and still be lost.
Judas didn’t collapse suddenly by making a mistake, he drifted away from Jesus slowly and gave himself over to sin. He didn’t look like an enemy of God. He looked like a follower of Jesus and that’s what makes him so dangerous! So let me ask you this: Are you following Christ or are you just around Him?
The Power of Sin and Satan
The Power of Sin and Satan
Luke says, “Satan entered into him.” Please, don’t misunderstand this. Satan didn’t force Judas to do something against his will. He worked through what Judas loved. That’s how sin works.
You might be tempted to believe that your sin is small, or manageable, or private. That it doesn’t hurt anyone, but sin is not neutral. Sin opens doors that God wants to remain closed.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
So what we see is that before we trust in Christ we are a follower of the prince of the power of the air. Judas loved money and Satan used it and he sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. You need to know this: Whatever you refuse to put to death will eventually take hold of you.
The Betrayal Was Evil But Not Outside God’s Plan
The Betrayal Was Evil But Not Outside God’s Plan
Now here’s the Good Friday connection because we have to ask: Where is God in this moment? Judas betrays Jesus. Satan is at work. Evil is unfolding its plan. Is God absent? No.
Everything happening here was foretold. Jesus said it would happen. Scripture said it would happen. Even this betrayal was part of God’s good plan.
That does not make Judas innocent. He is fully responsible for his actions. But it does mean is that even the darkest sin in history was not outside God’s sovereign rule. And that matters.
Because if God is not sovereign over this moment then the cross is just a tragedy. But if God is sovereign, then the cross is salvation.
Judas betrayed Jesus and meant it for evil. The religious leaders who paid for the information meant it for evil. Satan who knew there was no way to thwart the plan of God meant it for evil. But God meant it for good.
It was in the Garden that Judas betrayed Jesus Christ into the hands of wicked and evil men. These men put Christ on the cross. At the cross God laid our sin on Christ as the sacrificial Lamb. As Jesus hung on that cross, God poured out His judgment on His Son and crushed Him as He died in our place so we could experience full forgiveness!
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Don’t miss that! The cross is not just something done to Jesus. It was something God was working out through Jesus. This is why we call Good Friday, “good”. It’s not just a sorrowful day, it’s a glorious day because it was the demonstration of God’s love for you!
So what will you do?
Two Responses to Truth
Two Responses to Truth
When you look at Judas, you’re meant to ask an introspective question: Am I really a follower of Jesus Christ or have I just been near Him?
Judas felt remorse at his actions.
3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
This change of mind is different than what we understand godly repentance to be. This is weaker and means that he saw his sin, regretted his actions, but didn’t go to the Lord for forgiveness. 2 Corinthians 7:10
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Judas felt bad. He confessed his sin. He even tried to make it right. But Judas never went to Jesus. The kind of sorrow that the world offers is, “I hate what I did, I’ll try to make it right.” but godly sorrow says, “I am a sinner and I need Christ!” Judas ran from Jesus in his guilt, but the one who is truly repentant runs to Jesus in their guilt. It’s easy to be hard on Judas, because His betrayal led directly to Christ’s crucifixion, but we must remember that it was for our sin that Christ was crucified.
Tonight, don’t just feel bad about your sin that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, turn from it. Run to Jesus. There are many in the church who are almost Christians. You’re almost saved but you’re still completely lost. Run to Christ! Trust in Him completely! Because the same cross that exposes sin is the cross that saves sinners.
Judas shows us the danger of a false heart but the cross shows us the grace of a faithful Savior. Even in the midst of betrayal, Satan working, and the worst sin in human history of killing God, nothing could stop God’s plan to save. And that means that there is hope for you.
Another disciple also failed that night. He didn’t run away forever, he came to Christ and that’s the difference between life and death.
