So Close But So Far Away-Mark 3:13-19

(Please note that much of what is included in this morning’s message was taken from John MacArthurs’ terrific book: “Twelve Ordinary Men” published by Thomas Nelson)

Last Sunday morning in our journey through the Gospel according to Mark we continued our closer look at the men whom Jesus chose to be His disciples. We looked at 5 disciples: Matthew-The Tax Collector, Thomas-The Twin, James The Less, Judas Not Iscariot & Simon The Zealot. We discussed how Jesus did not dwell on their many blunders during their time with Him, but saw in them the potential they would obtain if they simply chose to yield completely to Him and allow Him to work through them. He is desires to do the same thing with us and to thus change this world we live in as He did their world. That is the reality of what He did in 11 of the twelve He chose. This morning we will look at the remaining disciple: Next Slide

Judas-The Traitor.

From the time I was a child, my mealtime habit was always to save the best for last. This went beyond just dessert, it also included looking over my plate at meal time and make a decision on what on the plate I liked the most and that is what I determined to eat last. That’s just how I’m wired. Unfortunately, that it not the way I handled the 12 men Jesus called to be the 12 Disciples. Had I done that I would have likely ended with Peter. I mean he was the one who ended up being the dominate leader of the 12 once Jesus had ascended into heaven. Or maybe I would have ended with the Apostle John, he was known as John the Beloved and is widely believed to be Jesus best friend among the 12. He’s the one chosen by God to pen the Book of Revelation and is the only one of the 12 not to die a martyrs death. Instead, we are ending this morning with Judas Iscariot.

To be honest with you, I have been dreading this weeks message for a while and would have just as soon completely ignored Judas. But one of the drawbacks of preaching through individual Books of the Bible systematically is, if you ignore a tough passage or an unsavory character, people know. This morning we come to an incredibly unsavory character!

THE MOST NOTORIOUS AND UNIVERSALLY SCORNED of all the disciples is Judas Iscariot, the betrayer. His name appears last in every biblical list of apostles, except for the list in Acts 1, where it doesn't appear at all because when it was compiled, Judas was already gone. Every time Judas is mentioned in Scripture, we also find a notation about his being a traitor. (In my eyes he is the most colossal failure in all of human history! That’s quite a statement when you consider Hitler is credited with killing 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Joseph Stalin is blamed for at least 3.3 million deaths.) What makes Judas such a solitary figure in his wretchedness is that for three years plus he was under the direct influence of Jesus Christ. The story of Judas is so dark because he failed so miserably even against the background of the brightest light that ever shone in the face of the world, and that is the light of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. And because of the brilliance of Christ, the darkness of Judas is clearly seen. His is the foulest deed ever done by any human being. His is a treachery beyond comprehension.

The other eleven apostles are all great encouragements to us because they exemplify how common people with typical failings can be used by God in uncommon, remarkable ways. Judas, on the other hand, stands as a warning about the evil potential of spiritual carelessness, squandered opportunity, sinful lusts, and hardness of the heart. Here was a man who drew as close to the Savior as it is humanly possible to be. He enjoyed every privilege Christ affords. He was intimately familiar with everything Jesus taught. Yet he remained in unbelief and went into a hopeless eternity. (MacArthur, John F.. Twelve Ordinary Men (pp. 181-182). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)

While the remaining 11 should be the source of great encouragement for all of us because in them we learn that Next Slide

Any tool in the Hand of the Master Craftsman, can be used to create a Masterpiece.

Judas demonstrates the opposite. We will look at this in a more detail later, but before we do, let’s take a look at his name and the little we know of his background. Next Slide

Judas Name and Background.

Both of our children were adopted so Pam and I didn’t get to choose their names, although we did change their middle names. That being said, we know that for some people, a lot of thought and even prayer goes in to name selection. That was especially true for Jews during the Old and New Testament period. Rest assured Judas parents had high hopes when they gave him his name.

Judas's name is a form of Judah. The name 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 the name is that no individual was ever more clearly led by Satan than Judas. (MacArthur, John F.. Twelve Ordinary Men (p. 182). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)

He is the only one of the 12 not from Galilee. He is known as Judas Iscariot, Iscariot was not a last name or the name of his father. We find out in another passage that his father’s name was Simon. Iscariot identifies where he is from. It basically means “man of Kerioth” and indicates he was from a small farming community about 23 miles south of Jerusalem. This meant that very likely the remaining disciples knew virtually nothing about him. “Although there is no evidence that he was ever excluded or looked down upon by the rest of the group, he may have thought of himself as an outsider, which would have helped him justify his own treachery.” (MacArthur, John F.. Twelve Ordinary Men (p. 183). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.) It also likely made his incredible hypocrisy a lot easier to hide. If you play the role of a hypocrite, it’s very difficult to hide that from people you know well, from those you’ve known all your life. That wasn’t the case for Judas, having been raised in the southern part of Israel, far away from Galilee which is where the other 11 were raised, they knew nothing of his past. From day one he was very adept at pulling the wool over their eyes. In fact he was able to move into a role of one of the most trusted of the 12 because we find out in John 12:6 that he was put in charge of the money bag for the disciples.

The additional proof of how good he was in his hypocrisy is seen when Jesus made it clear to the 12 that one of them would betray Him. Not a single disciple pointed a finger at Judas, and keep in mind that by this time Jesus had already sent the disciples out on 2 different missions. One was when he sent the twelve out 2 by 2. Keep in mind, here Judas was on a missionary journey with just one other disciple. During this time they were together 24/7. Walked together, talked together, worked side by side, ate together, probably even prayed together! On this journey they taught, they cast out demons, they were able to heal the sick, literally work miracles! Had Judas not been able to perform all of those things himself while on this missionary journey, that disciple that went with him would have surely pointed a finger squarely at Judas when Jesus made it clear one of the 12 would betray Him. Jesus sent 72 disciples out later on for a similar missionary journey with the same miraculous results, again, had Judas not been able to do mighty works the height of his hypocrisy would have been made known. Every indication is that Judas was highly respected and highly trusted, again, trusted enough that he was chosen of the 12 to carry the money bag for the entire group.

We’ve looked at his name and background, now let’s look at: Next Slide

Judas in the Old Testament. Psalm 41:9; 55:12-14; Zechariah 11:12-13

While Judas isn’t specifically named in the Old Testament, his role in the betrayal of Jesus was very specifically detailed.

In Psalm 41:9 we read: Next Slide

Psalm 41:9 ESV

9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

This passage was used by Jesus in John 13:18 when he was talking about His betrayal. It was fulfilled vividly at the Last Supper when Jesus dipped His bread in the bowl and handed the bread for Judas to eat. In those days sharing bread with another was an indication of a deep friendship.

Then in Psalm 55:12-14 we read: Next Slide

Psalm 55:12–14 ESV

12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him. 13 But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. 14 We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.

Which is another passage that also foretells of Judas treachery. Then we read in Zechariah 11:12-13; Next Slide

Zechariah 11:12–13 ESV

12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.

From a human standpoint, the specifics with how this was fulfilled was amazing. Of course for the Almighty God this was nothing. Let me take a moment to give you some specifics.

As most of you know, Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, which by today’s standards is about $20, back in those days it was the price of a slave. We read in Matthew 27:3-7 that shortly after Jesus went before Pilate, Judas was overcome with guilt, keep in mind this guilt was nothing more than remorse, but it was not repentance, there is a huge difference between these 2 words! As a result of his remorse he went to see the chief priests and elders in the temple. He tried to give the money back to them but they refused to take it. Then Judas threw the money down where? In the temple. Since in their own words the money was “blood money”, they determined it could not be placed in the temple treasury so they took that money and purchased a potters field that became Judas’ burial place. God saw to it that this prophecy was fulfilled to the very last detail!

Oftentimes when people see prophecies like this about men like Judas, they are led to believe that Judas was not responsible for his actions, after-all, this was foretold hundreds of years earlier. But that is simply not an accurate statement.

Right now I am going to take just a brief moment to talk theology with you, I will make it brief so I don’t have too many fall asleep on me! There are 2 theological terms that many of you may be familiar with, the terms are: Next Slide

Predestination and Freewill.

A simple definition of predestination means that God determines that something is going to happen. As the eternal, sovereign, immutable God, once He makes that determination, nothing can stop it from taking place. This is clearly taught in Scripture, but Scripture also teaches that man, and this includes Judas, has been given a “freewill”.

A simple definition of freewill is that mankind has the power to make our own choices. Both are at play here with Judas, as they are in our lives as well, and the truth is, none of us really knows how the 2 work together, as they appear to be somewhat contradictory. This is one of the mysteries in Scripture that we won’t fully understand this side of heaven, but both are true of Judas.

In looking through the Gospel accounts specific to Judas, we see he is given multiple times to stop before the betrayal. In every case he refuses to change course. Before the betrayal: “Judas had every opportunity to turn from his sin—as much opportunity as was ever afforded anyone. He heard numerous appeals from Christ urging him not to do the deed he was planning to do. He heard every lesson Jesus taught during His ministry. Many of those lessons applied directly to him: the parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:1-13); the message of the wedding garment (Matthew 22:11-14); and Jesus' preaching against the love of money (Matthew 6:19-34), against greed (Luke 13:13-21), and against pride (Matthew 23:1-12). Jesus had even candidly told the Twelve, "One of you is a devil" (John 6:70). He cautioned them about the woe that would come to the person who betrayed him (Matthew 26:24).Judas listened to all of that unmoved. He never applied the lessons. He just kept up his deceit.” (MacArthur, John F.. Twelve Ordinary Men (p. 186). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.) Perhaps the most compelling opportunity to change course came the night of the betrayal. There Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane with the disciples. After He had finished praying, Judas shows up with a large detachment of soldiers and guards with him, probably 200 or more. The signal he had given them was that whomever he kissed was the one they were to seize. As they approached Jesus, Jesus asks them “Whom do you seek?” when they answered “Jesus of Nazareth.” He responded by saying “I Am He.” In the original Greek the word “He” does not appear. Why is this important, because that means Jesus is holding Himself out as being equal with God, because He is using the “I Am” statement. This goes all the way back to the Book of Exodus when Moses is charged with God to free the Jews from their slavery in Egypt. God instructs Moses to let the Nation of Israel know that he had been sent by the great “I Am” in other words God Himself has sent him. Jesus is using the same statement. To add power and validity to this “I Am” statement, the moment He said this, Judas and the entire army of 200+ fell back and too the ground.

If this wasn’t an opportunity for Judas to change, then I don’t know what an opportunity looks like. Here Jesus is, making the declarative “I Am” statement, followed by enough power that more than 200 armed soldiers fell on their backs before Him. Judas had to know at that point that he had made a huge mistake, but rather than stop in his tracks, He stands to his feet, dusts himself off, and then walks up to Jesus and prepares to kiss Him. But Jesus gives him one last opportunity to stop. Right before he kissed Him Jesus said to Judas “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” This is key because there was no human way that Jesus could have known that Judas was going to betray Him with a kiss! So, here we are in a matter of less than a couple minutes, Jesus gives Judas the opportunity to change. Judas refuses, all this for $20! And let’s not forget that earlier that night, after Judas had already received the 30 pieces of silver, that he watched as Jesus lovingly washed his feet! If you read through all that took place that night in the Upper Room, you will see that Jesus gave Judas multiple other opportunities to change, Judas ignored all of them, his mind was made up.

Next Slide

I want to close out our time this morning with 3 very important lessons from the life of Judas for us to consider. These lessons are important because I believe that the vast majority of individuals that walk into good Bible believing churches week after week are a lot closer to Judas than they are to the remaining 11!

There are 3 very important lessons we learn from Judas.

1. Judas reminds us that it is possible to be near Christ and associate with Him closely (but superficially) and yet become utterly hardened in sin.

Judas is a tragic example of lost opportunity. He heard Jesus teach day in and day out for some two plus years. He could have asked Jesus any question he liked. He could have sought and received from the Lord any help he needed. He could have exchanged the oppressive burden of his sin for an easy yoke. Christ had given an open invitation for anyone anyone to do so (Matthew 11:28-30). Yet in the end Judas was damned because of his own failure to heed what he heard....He was given the highest place of privilege among all the Lord's followers, but he squandered that privilege—cashed it in for a fistful of coins he decided he did not really want after all. What a stupid bargain!...Judas exemplifies the ugliness and danger of spiritual betrayal. Would that Judas were the only hypocrite who ever betrayed the Lord, but that is not so. There are Judases in every age—people who seem to be true disciples and close followers of Christ but who turn against Him for sinister and selfish reasons. Judas's life is a reminder to each of us about our need for self-examination (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:5). MacArthur, John F.. Twelve Ordinary Men (p. 197). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

I am reminded that Judas was present when Jesus was delivering the Sermon on the Mount. Which meant he heard Jesus say the following from Matthew 7:21-23

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Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

The next important lesson:

Next Slide

2. Judas is proof of the patient, fore-bearing goodness and loving-kindness of Jesus.

"The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Psalm 145:9). He even shows His loving-kindness to a reprobate like Judas. Remember, Jesus was still calling him "Friend" even in the midst of Judas's betrayal. Jesus never showed Judas anything but kindness and love, even though the Lord knew all along what Judas was planning to do. In no sense was Judas driven to do what he did by Christ. (MacArthur, John F.. Twelve Ordinary Men (pp. 197-198). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)

and lastly:

3. 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.

Judas demonstrates how the sovereign will of God cannot be thwarted by any means. His betrayal of Christ seemed at first glance like Satan's greatest triumph ever. But in reality, it signalled utter defeat for the devil and all his works (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8). (MacArthur, John F.. Twelve Ordinary Men (p. 198). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)

The lessons we learn from the life of Judas are so important to us, he was given so much, as the title of this mornings message states, “So Close, but so far away!” In reading through all of Judas’ verbal encounters with Jesus, he always addresses Him as Rabbi, but never as Lord. One title shows a great deal of respect, the other shows an attitude of surrender. For all of us, we need to make sure that we move beyond respect, and into complete and total surrender, and that surrender is seen through transformed lives. We need to examine ourselves closely and accurately, if we are not living transformed lives, we are in danger of following in the tragic footsteps of Judas. May that never be! If that is you this day, now is the time of complete surrender, that Jesus may be your Lord.