How's your Heart?
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Hows your heart
Hows your heart
No one wants to let others down. We try our best to ensure we ar people of our word. Why? Because your Word/Reputation matters. No one sets out to betray or be a traitor. That name is so demeaning and derogatory. There is so much shame. When we think of the name Judas that is exactly what comes to mind: shame, betrayal, mistrust.
Tonight we will end our series on the apostles talking about Judas Ischariot. He is a very well known apostle but not for good. He is the most notorious and universally scorned of all the disciples - the Betrayer.
His name appears last in every list of the apostles, except for the list in where he does not appear at all. Everytime he is mentioned in scripture he is noted as the traitor. He is the most colossial failure in human history.
He betrayed the perfect, sinless, Holy Son of God for a handful of money.
Judas spent three years with Jesus but for all that time his heart was growing hard and hateful. Looking at his life makes me remember the importance of guarding your heart, heeding the voice of the Holy Spirit in keeping me on track and the importance of checking my spirit before God. This morning I urge you to keep this in mind especially when we see what the result was in the life of Judas.
The other eleven apostles are all great encouragement to us because they show how common peope with typical failings can be used by God in uncommon and remarkable ways.
On the other hand Judas stands as a warning about the evil potential of spiritual carelessness, squandered opportunities, sinful lusts and hardness of heart.
Here was a man who drew so close to the Savior as one could humanly possible. He enjoyed every privilege Christ affords. He was intimately familiar with everything Jesus taught, yet he remained in unbelief and went that way into a hopeless eternity.
Judas was as common as the rest of the apostles. There was nothing that made him stand out in the group. He began exactly like the others had but never grabbed hold of the truth by faith. Due to this there was no transformation like the rest.
While the other apostles were increasing in faith as sons of God, he was becoming more and more a child of Hell. Saying this words are so devestating this morning because I am not one that likes to concentrate on things so negative. But we need to be reminded that even though things can be really, really good, there is still evil, there is still bad in this world and yes there is still Hell. These things are very real!
The New Testament tells us lots about Judas - enough to show two things:
Judas reminds us that it is possible to be near Christ and associate with Him closely and yet become hardened to sin.
Judas reminds us that no matter how sinful a person may be, no matter what treachery he or she may attempt against God, the purpose of God cannot be thwarted. Even the worst acts of treachery work towards the fulfillment of the divine plan.
God’s sovereign plan cannot be overthrowneven by the most cunning schemes of those who hate Him.
His Name - Judas
His Name - Judas
Judas’ name is a form of Judah which means “Jehovah leads” which indicates that when he was born his parents must have had great hopes for him to be led by God. The irony of his name is that no individual was ever more clearly led by Satan than Judas was.
His surname Ischariot signifies the region he came from. It comes from the Hebrew word “ish” - “man” and the name of a town Kerioth - “man of Kerioth”.
This was a humble town in the South of Judea. He was one of the only apostles that did not come from Galilee.
There is no evidence that he was ever looked down on in the group or excluded, he may have thought of himself as an outsider which may have helped him justify his treachery.
The other apostles knew little about his family or background or even his life before he became a disciple. So it was easy for him to play hypocrite. He was able to work his way into a place of trust, which we know he did, because he became the treasurer of the group and used that positio to get funds.
He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Judas’ father was named Simon.
(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
This Simon is unknown to us. It was a common name but beyond the name we know nothing of his family or social background.
Judas was ordinary in every way, just like the others. It is significant that when Jesus predicted one of them would betray Him, no one pointed the finger at Judas.
They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”
Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.
Judas was so good at being a hypocrit that no one seemed to distrust him. But Jesus knew his heart from the beginning.
Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
His Call
His Call
The call od Judas is not recorded in scripture which is something that is very ironic isn’t it. It is obvious that he followed Jesus willingly.
He lived in a time of heightened Messianic hope and like most in Israel he was eager for the Messiah to come. When he heard about Jesus he must have been convinced that this must be the true Messiah - why else would he follow for so long?
Like the others he left whatever he worked at and followed Jesus full time. Judas even stayed with Jesus when the less devoted disciples began to leave the group.
John
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”
(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
Judas had given his life to follow Jesus but he never gave Jesus his heart.
You see there is a difference. There are those today who fool themselves into thinking that they can get by by going to church, doing good deeds, volunteering their time and the like. But at the end of the day what matters most is if you have a personal relationship with Christ. These others things don’t matter in light of eternity but asking Jesus into your heart and for His forgiveness that where it is at!
It was obvious that Judas was not attracted to Christ on a spiritual level. He followed out of desire for selfish gain, worldly ambition, wealth and material gain, and greed. He was interested in what he could gain and nothing else. Wealth, power and prestige were what fueled his ambitions. But he did chose to follow and Jesus did choose him.
The tension between divine soverenity and human choice is exhibited in Judas’ calling.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
Judas’ role of betrayal was even prophesied in the Old Testament.
Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.
“I am not saying these things to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But this fulfills the Scripture that says, ‘The one who eats my food has turned against me.’
This was quoted by Jesus in and it was fulfilled in His betrayal.
Psalm 55:
If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide.
But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.
I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.
Zech. 1
Scripture says that when Jesus chose Judas He knew Judas was the one to fulfill the prophecy of betrayal. But even here Jesus was obedient.
Judas did what he did because his heart was evil.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!”
His Disillusionment
His Disillusionment
No doubt at the start all the apostles thought Jesus was the Messiah and that He would defeat the enemies of Judea and rid Israel of pagan occupation and reestablish the Davidic kingdom in unprecedented glory. They knew Jesus was a miracle worker. But Jesus did not always fulfill their personal expectations and ambitions. Their expectations were not always spiritually motivated.
The other disciples begun to catch on to the fact that the Messiah was not what they first expected. The embraced a new understanding through their personal encounters with Christ. But Judas simply became disillusioned and hid his disappointment under hypocrisy because he was probably looking for a way to get some money out of the years he invested in following Christ. He never embraced the spiritual kingdom of Christ. He remained an outsider secretly.
As early as in , Jesus referred to Judas as a devil. Jesus knew no one else knew Judas was becoming disgruntled already. He was still unbelieving and unregeneate and was growing more hardhearted all the time. By the time of Passover in the last year of Jesus’ earthly ministry Judas’ disenfranchisement was complete. His disillusionment turned to hate, mixed with greed and turned to trechery.
His Greed
His Greed
One huge example of his greed was in the act of worship recorded in .
A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.
Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
The fact that Mary took such an expensive bottle of oil and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. This act was shocking with extravagance. It was an overt act of worship but some would see it as an appearance of wastefulness.
Perfume is designed to be used sparingly, even today it is not something you even want to use a lot of because the scent is overwhelming and also the cost. It is designed to be used in small amounts. Once poured out it cannot be reused. To pour out a pound of expensive oil and use it to anoint someones feet gave the appearance of gross excess.
:4-5
But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,
“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”
A denarius was basically a working man’s daily wage so 300 denari is a full year’s ages. That’s a hefty expesive bottle of perfume.
Judas’ response was a clever ploy. He pretended to be concerned about the poor. But his protest seemed reasonable to the other disciples. What an expert in hypocrisy. A later reflection in John showed that they did not see his deceit but saw it in retrospect.
He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
His motives were sheer greed.
Jesus’ response:
“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.
You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
This gentle repremand seemed to have made Judas resent Jesus even more. He did not repent. He did not examine his own heart. This incident seems to have been the turning point in his thinking.
Because Jesus was willing to receive such a lavish gift Judas missed a prime change to embezzle funds.
It was the last straw for Judas and immediately after this incident the book of Matthew records Judas seeking out the high priest to betray Jesus.
Matt.
Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests
and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.
From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
Thirty pieces of silver is all he could get.
If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.
According to this reference it was the price of a slave. But it was all Judas could negitoate.
The contrast here is staggering: Our Lord was anointed with overwhelming love by Mary and betrayed with overwhelming hate by Judas at the same time.
Up to this point Judas blended in perfectly and this experience made him speak out and then he received a rebuke and that’s all it took to provoke such betrayal.
His Hyprocrisy
His Hyprocrisy
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
This verse begins the apostle John’s account of what happened in the upper room on the night of Jesus’ arrest. Judas had already taken the money to betray Christ and came back to blend in the group and pretend nothing happened.
John says it was the devil who put it in the heart of Judas to betray Jesus.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
Judas acted willingly and was not forced to betray Jesus. But he heeded Satan’s plot and tempted Judas to do this thing and planted the seed of treachery. Judas’ heart was hostile to the truth and so filled with evil that Judas became a willing instrument of Satan.
Church we need to pause here this morning because there is a point I need to raise here. It is so vitally important for us to let go of things in life because that root of bitterness, that seed of anger takes root and overthrows our lives.
More than ever before I implore you to forgive to ask for forgiveness, to fix broken relationships because if not the result can be deadly! I don’t want that for you or for our church! Do not allow yourself to be used as an instrument of Satan.
Jesus took time to give the apostles a lesson in humility and this morning we need to be reminded too. He washed their feet. He washed the feet of the twelve apostles, which means he even washed the feet of Judas! Talk about a hard thing to do and we think it is hard to forgive someone. He forgave, He endured and He blessed even those of great betrayal all with humility!!!!
Judas sat there and let Jesus was his feet and remained utterly unmoved! Talk about a hardened heart. The world’s worst sinner was also the worlds biggest hypocrite.
Peter was deeply move and was at first ashamed and refused to let Jesus wash his feet.
But Jesus responded:
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
John 13:
May we hear this with the heart of Peter and allow our heart to be saturated with His glory and blessing.
“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.
“I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
“I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.
Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
This scripture brings me to an important question: How’s your heart?
All the disciples except Judas were perplexed and deeply troubled by this. They examined their own hearts and asked this question:
They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”
Then Judas joined in:
Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?” And Jesus told him, “You have said it.”
As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”
Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.”
Matt. 26:
He raised the question because he needed to be like everyone else, but there was no sincere self examination. He asked the question only because he was worried about how other would perceive him.
We are all too often too worried about how the world perceives us or how others perceive us but my friends this morning you need to be most worried about how He perceives you.
How’s your heart? Where do you stand? Musicians can come.
Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.
Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.
“Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came!
Father, bring glory to your name.” Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.”
When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him.
Then Jesus told them, “The voice was for your benefit, not mine.
The day of salvation closed for Judas. Divine mercy gave way to divine judgement. Judas was handed over to Satan. Sin had triumphed in his heart and Satan moved in. Don’t let that be you!
Notice that even though Jesus had spoken of the betrayer and had given Judas the chance to identify himself it still did not compute in the minds of the apostles. No one seemed to anticipate that Judas would be the traitor.
He had become such an expert in hyprocrisy that he fooled everyone but Jesus right to the end.
This morning you may feel you have fooled everyone you may have but you cannot fool Him! Don’t even mess with your eternity because you think you can play that hand so well, you will loose. Embrace His grace and mercy.
Jesus sent Judas away. Jesus is pure, sinless, spotless and holy. Here was a man who was wretched, evil and filled with the devil. Jesus was not about to have first communion with the devil therefore he was cast out!
So this morning as we enter our time of communion I urge you examine your heart. We are always told to do this because of this example alone. We are told to examine ourselves before the Lord lest we come hypocritically to the table and bring judgement upon ourselves.
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.
For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.
Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
At the very moment Jesus was instituting that first communion in the Upper room Judas was making arrangements for His capture. He knew Jesus took time to pray in Gethsemane regularly and thats where he arranged to do the deed and sealed it with a kiss.
Even when the betrayal happened Jesus addressed Judas as friend. Jesus had always been friendly to Judas but Judas was nothing of the sort to Him. Judas was a betrayer and deceiver and his kiss was the worst kind of treachery.
Judas sol Jesus for a pittance. But as soon as the deed was done reality set in. This is how the enemy works, he makes you believe the lie then leaves you with the guilt and pain of the reality in the aftermath. Do not allow him to do that to you and your life. Don’t sell out your eternal relationship for a moment of short satisfaction. It is not worth it. Examine your heart and make it right today!
Judas remorse was not repentence. He was sorry not because he had sinned against Christ but because his sin did not satisfy him the way he had hoped. Judas was living in a hell of his own making. He did not seek the forgiveness of God. He did not cry out for mercy. He did not seek for deliverence from Satan. He tried to silence his conscience by killing himself.
This morning there is hope, there is a way out of all the hurt, anger, bitterness and pain. His name is Jesus and He is here! Come examine your heart before Him today!
Search me O God.