WELCOMING BETRAYAL MORE THAN A MAN SERIES

Transcription

1 I was thinking about the idea of betrayal this past week. And I thought of all the emotions that a human being can experience perhaps betrayal is the most cutting emotion known to mankind, outside of the guilt that we feel when we realize that we have sinned against a holy God. Have you ever experienced the feelings of being betrayed? I have heard it said before that betrayal can feel worse than losing a loved one when you are married. Suppose you were married and your spouse died, but they had also been unfaithful, the pain of their death could be less than the feeling one feels when a spouse was unfaithful. Betrayal cuts deep. Have you ever felt the blade of betrayal in your own life? Perhaps you have experienced betrayal by having a spouse have an affair. Or perhaps you have experienced someone telling a lie about your character. Or maybe someone revealed a secret about you. I have shared with you before the story about the three guys who went out golfing together. They were good friends and they got together often to play golf. After they finished their golf time on this particular day they came into the locker room and one of the guys said, You know I knew to confess something to you. I am a closet alcoholic. One of the other guys said, You know what you need to understand I struggle with pornography. And then they looked at the third guy and asked him if there was anything he wanted to confess. And he said, Yes, I am an incredible gossip and I can t wait to get out of here. Revealing a secret makes you feel betrayed by someone that you love. If you have ever felt that in your life you know that that emotion of betrayal is tough to recover from. Maybe you have felt betrayal from a parent that abandoned you. Maybe you have felt betrayal from a spouse or a child that seemed to continuously rebel against you. Maybe you have felt betrayal in a friendship when you thought you had a good friend until you realized your friend had betrayed you. Well today we are going to come to a story in the Bible that captures the greatest scene of betrayal in all of history. There is no greater story of betrayal than the one we are going to look at today. All other stories pale in comparison. You can learn about Lago betraying Othello. You can learn about Nero betraying his mother, Agrippina. You can learn about Robert Hanssen betraying the United States. We can talk about Delilah betraying Samson or Joseph s brothers betraying him; or even worse yet David s betrayal of Uriah. But no betrayal in all of God s Scripture compares to Judas betraying Jesus. And in all happened in a Garden. Now when we step back to the two greatest betrayals of Scripture they both happened in a Garden. In the Garden of Eden we got into this whole mess called sin because Adam and Eve betrayed God s Word. But then in the Garden of Gethsemane the Word Himself, Jesus Christ, was betrayed by Judas. Page 1 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

2 We are coming today to Chapter 18, and we will be going into a new section. We just finished up the farewell address in John Chapters 14 through 17. And starting here in Chapter 18 we are coming to a brand new section, where we come to the betrayal and arrest of Jesus. And this will take us from Chapter 18 and verse 1 through verse 16 of Chapter 19. We are going to look at this idea of betrayal. And what you are going to see today is not only was Jesus betrayed, but He welcomed betrayal. Now let that soak in for a moment. Jesus welcomed betrayal. I don t know about you, but when I think about betrayal I think I am running as far as I can to get away from it. I am going to resist it. In fact I am convinced that there are some of you in this room who have probably never been able to capture a deep relationship because you were betrayed in your past. And like a turtle you have gone into your shell. And you are afraid to bring your head out of the shell because you do not want to be betrayed again. Isn t that true? Get betrayed once or twice in your lifetime, and you will look at relationship a lot differently. But we cannot truly love someone without the potential of being betrayed. Even Jesus had a Judas in His midst. And if we are really going to love others, it means that we must risk the potential of being betrayed in our lives. If you are married, you risk being cheated on. Why? It is because you are married to a flawed individual. And we all have that potential in our lives to not only be betrayed by others, but also for us to betray others because we are not God. And so we come to this passage and let s pick up in Chapter 18 where it says in verse 1, When Jesus had spoken these words. And that begs the question what words? Well we would have to go backwards to find the answer to that, but the words that are being spoken of here are the words of Jesus farewell address that were spoken in Chapters 14 through 17. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden which He and His disciples entered. Now to the east of the Kidron Valley was the Mount of Olives. And on the slopes of the Mount of Olives was the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane is a word that means basically oil press. And in the Garden of Gethsemane there were lots of olive trees that blanketed that garden. And it was a place that Jesus would go to when He needed to get Himself refreshed, to rest, as well as to train and to mentor His disciples. So just envision this Garden in your mind. The Mount of Olives is a wonderful place and the Garden of Gethsemane was where Jesus would go to train His disciples. He would invest in his disciples. He would spend time with them there. In fact I have been dreaming for years to be able to go to Israel. And this May I am planning to go on a trip with Doctor William Lane Craig. His group is taking a tour and going to Israel, and I Page 2 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

3 am planning on going with them for nine days. And I plan to do a little thing for the church called In the Footsteps of Jesus. And what I am going to do is Facebook you guys from different sites by leading you in devotions from the Garden of Gethsemane, or the Jordon River, or the Dead Sea or other places that I will be visiting. Hopefully you will be blessed being able to see that. And I can t wait to go there. I can t wait to see these olive trees. I can t wait to see this Garden where Jesus went to sort of relax and maybe get some R and R. So the Garden of Gethsemane was where Jesus spent time with His disciples, Where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. Verse 2, Now Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with His disciples. So why would Judas choose to betray Jesus in a garden? Perhaps it was to avoid the mobs that followed Jesus, and perhaps to avoid a riot from breaking out. We know that Judas was very familiar with this garden because Judas was one of the disciples. And so he obviously had spent time there with Jesus and when it came time to betray Him for 30 pieces of silver, he knew where to find Jesus. He knew that Jesus would be at this garden, at this place where they could relax and be refreshed, and where Jesus could teach them. Think about this most intimate place Jesus would take His disciples, and it would have been the Garden of Gethsemane. He would invest in them there and He would teach them there. Judas was part of that. He would learn insights from Jesus there, and then he would betray Him in the most intimate setting that Jesus had had with His disciples. It would be kind of like a spouse who has an affair on his wife in their master bedroom. It cuts extra deeply because of the setting. This garden was a place of intimacy. It was where Jesus would go to spend time with His disciples alone. And Judas shows his lack of appreciation for all that Jesus taught him, and he is going to betray Him in that same place, in that Garden when he often was instructed by Jesus. Judas knew that place well, because it says, Jesus often met there with His disciples. Verse 3, So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priest and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. We know when we look at other places in Scripture in the other gospels that Jesus was blown away. Hey what is the deal with you bringing out all these people? Why are you bringing all these soldiers out? Why are you bringing all these out against me? What are you trying to prove here? Just come, I am here by myself. And we know that Jesus said He could call on legions of angels if He wanted to in this moment. But Judas comes out with a band of soldiers and some officers. And the reason we believe that Judas came out with all of them in place was in case there was a riot that would break out. Page 3 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

4 Verse 4 says, Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to Him, came forward. I love that, Knowing all that would happen to Him, came forward. Jesus has been prophesying over and over again, and now His disciples will see that He really has been telling them this would happen. In the last 24 hours of this life Jesus was to live here on earth, Jesus had told Peter he would deny Him, he told Judas he would betray him, and He said, This is the cup of my new covenant. All of these things Jesus had previously told them would be happening. Jesus knew what was going to happen. And knowing that He was going to be betrayed, He came forward. He welcomed betrayal. He comes forward and welcomes it because he understands that this is the means to the greater end, for what He came to do, to die on a cross and to shed His blood for our sins. It was to actualize what we call as Christians, the gospel. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to Him, came forward and said to them, Whom do you seek? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am He. Judas, who betrayed Him, was standing with them. Can t you feel the pain of that moment? Judas who betrayed Him, was standing with them. He has already betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. It is one thing to betray someone behind their back; and it is an entirely different thing to betray someone to their face. And that is what Judas is doing. You would think there would be some shame in him, right? Like, Here is 30 pieces of silver, Judas. And we would think that Judas would say, Here is where you will find Jesus. Go, I don t want to see Him. I can t bear to look at Him. But instead Judas goes along with them. And not only will he betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, not only will he betray Jesus in the Garden, in that place where Jesus invested in him, but he will betray Jesus with a kiss - with a kiss. He will walk up unapologetic, shameless, and betray Jesus with a kiss. And we don t get that in this gospel, we have to go to the synoptic gospels to build out the context of all that is transpiring here. Just to remind you, when you come to this place in the gospel of John, we miss the whole moment where Jesus is praying to the Father, Let your cup pass by me. We miss that moment here, and we have to go to the other synoptic gospels to see that. But we know that at this time Jesus has already been wrestling with the Father in prayer. Judas who betrayed Him, was standing with them. Judas was no longer with Jesus and His disciples. He was with those who were against Jesus. Isn t it amazing how fast we can turn? Judas, that same night was in the upper room, hanging out there with Jesus. And Jesus calls him out, he leaves, and now he is in the enemy camp. Maybe you feel that way in your own life. You come to church on a Sunday morning, and then Sunday night you are out drinking and drugging, or sitting in front of pornography on Page 4 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

5 Sunday night. How does that happen? How are you so loyal with your hands raised Sunday morning and then Sunday night you are out getting wasted? You are looking at pornography, or you are out doing things that are hidden. Things can change on a dime if our natures are not submitted to God. So Jesus looks in the face of betrayal. What did he feel? We know that the Bible teaches that Satan entered Judas. He became a possessed man, completely shameless. But what do you think Jesus felt? Were there tears in His eyes as He looked at Judas? Did Judas have any remorse whatsoever at this moment? Jesus even said to him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? He is asking Judas if that is how shallow their relationship was. Have you ever looked into the face of a betrayer? I know I have. Several years ago I had someone in my life who betrayed me, and boy did it cut. It hurt so deeply. At a time when I was going through one of my most difficult challenges, I saw this person walk away from me. I remember hugging this person as I was finishing off our time in this relationship, and I said, I feel like I am hugging a Judas. Maybe you can t believe I would say that. But I was just being honest. It was my way of saying that I felt like I had been completely betrayed. And if you have ever experienced the blade of betrayal, you know that it cuts deeply. If Satan was going to get you to betray someone, how would he do it? With Judas it was with money. He had a money problem in his life. He wanted cash, and 30 pieces of silver wouldn t go very far. Think about it. He was trading God for silver. Who was Jesus? Well, our series is called More than a Man. Jesus is God in the flesh. How would Satan work in your life? Would it be for fame that you might consider betraying Jesus? If Satan came along and said he would make you the most famous person in all the world, the most successful businessman ever, how would you respond? Or would it be for money like Judas? Or would it be like the story I came across this past week. Years ago the story goes a San Diego bank hired a private investigator to track down a bank robber and retrieve stolen funds. The search led to Mexico. The investigator crossed the border and then realizing he would need a Spanish interpreter he opened up the telephone book and hired the first interpreter listed in the Yellow Pages. After many days he finally captured the bandit, and through the interpreter asked him, Where did you hide the money? In Spanish the thief replied, What money? I have no idea what you are talking about. With that the investigator drew his pistol and pointed it at the suspect and said to the interpreter, Tell him that if he doesn t tell me where the money is, I will shoot him where he stands. Upon receiving this message the bank robber said to the interpreter, Senor, I have hidden the money in a coffee can under the fourth floorboard in the second Page 5 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

6 floor in the men s room of the Palico Hotel on Via Del Rio. The investigator asked the interpreter, What did he say? The interpreter said, Senor, he says he is prepared to die like a man. He betrayed the investigator in that moment of need. Why? It was for money. Would you betray for money? Would you betray for power? Would you betray for that right Mr. or Mrs. Someone that your mind thinks about in the secret place of your thought life? Judas betrays God in the flesh, in a Garden, for 30 pieces of silver, with a kiss. Jesus says in verse 5, I am He. We are going to see that phrase again in verse 6. When Jesus said to them, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground. Now I don t know if you have ever seen these weirdos on the Christian television program that slap people across the head and they fall over and shake like crazy. But then they just get back up and do it again. They just keep doing it over and over and they call it being slain in the Spirit. And it is over the top. Like, sometimes it is amazing because they will just tap their head and they will fall over and then other times it is like a real hard slap or like they are being pushed down. And you watch that stuff and you just wonder what is going on there. Well, did you know that people who are a part of these movements, like the Prosperity Gospel or the Health and Wealth Movement, have a verse that they will use for slaying in the Spirit. And it is this verse 6, When Jesus said to them, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground. The problem is these people are going to encounter God, not like you see on television. They are coming to arrest Jesus, who was More than a Man. And it is a horrible use of Scripture interpretation. But it does beg the question why do they fall back to the ground? The other gospels don t record this. Think about this moment. It said that were all sorts of them. You have officers of the chief priests and you have the soldiers, and they all come, and then Jesus asked them who they are seeking. Now Jesus knew who they were seeking. It already said that He knew all that was going to happen. So why does He say that? Perhaps He just wants to get in their heads. Do you really know who you are coming after? Who is it that you seek? And He says, I am He, and then boom they fall to the ground. I have a couple of suggestions. Perhaps they all fell back because remember when He was praying, we don t see it in John, but it is in the synoptic gospels, which is Matthew, Mark and Luke. You see it in those gospels and what happens is we know that when Jesus was praying to the Father He was sweating great drops of blood. Perhaps when Jesus walked up to them and said, I am He, that He was a bloody mess. And scientists will say that under great stress your capillaries can burst and you can sweat Page 6 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

7 great drops of blood. So perhaps He was just a bloody mess and they all fell back in astonishment. That is one suggestion. But I don t think we have to go there. Though I think that would contextually fit, it could be a combination of that and what else I am about to say. But I think what is really taking place is in the name. Verse 5, They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am He. Judas, who betrayed Him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground. So He asked them again, (like, are you sure you know who you are coming after?) Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 8, Jesus answered, I told you that I am He. Now we have talked about the seven I am s that are listed in John s gospel. He said, I am the light of the world. I am the way, the truth and the life. And he gives these different descriptions. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. And right here He doesn t qualify the I am by using an adjective, or another type of statement. He just says, I am He. But we know when we look at Exodus Chapter 3, that this is the sacred name of God. And God says, I am, meaning the self-existent one. And perhaps they were rendered powerless under the matchless name of God in that moment and they fell back to the ground. Who knows? But it did happen. They drew back and fell to the ground. Let s read verse 8 again. Jesus answered, I told you that I am He, so if you seek me, let these men go. What men? It would have been His disciples. Verse 9, This was to fulfill the word that He had spoken, Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one. Judas was meant for what he did. Verse 10, Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest s servant, and cut off his right ear. (The servant s name was Malchus.) John is the only gospel where we learn that it was Simon who cut off the ear of Malchus. Neither Simon nor Malchus name are mentioned in the other synoptic gospels. But it is mentioned here. And you think, Isn t that just like Peter? That is so like Peter. All these people are around, they are coming after Jesus, and Peter gets overly zealous, We can take these guys, and he goes after this one man and whacks his ear off. And you know he had to have been taking a direct shot for the head. But as I was meditating over the Scripture this morning, I had this thought that went through my mind, and it was this. Isn t it amazing how fast we can go from being courageous to fearful? Some of you don t know where I am going with this. Others might. Peter is so courageous in this moment when he whacks the ear off of Malchus. Peter still hasn t figured out that Jesus must die; he still wants Jesus to set up the kingdom here on earth. He doesn t realize that Jesus didn t come to overthrow Page 7 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

8 government. Peter has not grasped Christ yet. And so here in this moment he acts courageously. And then what happens in just a few hours? Who is going to deny Jesus? It is Peter. This very night before the rooster crows, you will deny three times you even know me. And we think - how can that happen? But as I was meditating this morning and trying to piece the different stories together, I thought this: Peter had to have been haunted in this moment thinking about Jesus words. That had to have been driving Peter crazy. You know how obsessive compulsive Peter was. So Peter was probably thinking, Now is my chance to show Jesus that I will never betray Him. And he steps up with his sword and whacks off an ear, probably really intending to cut the man s head off. Why? Because Peter wanted to show Jesus he was not going to betray Him. He wanted to show Jesus that He really didn t understand Peter s character. And then just in a few short hours Peter will betray Jesus by denying Him three times. I wrestled with that this morning. I thought, God, this is one of those moments that doesn t seem to make sense. How does someone do that? How do you go from such courage that you are ready to take on an army, and then you deny Jesus three times in just a few hours? But in just a few hours that is what happened. But here is what I thought. I think Peter was able to be very bold and very courageous in front of Jesus, when the presence of Jesus was with him. But when Jesus was out of the picture, Peter became a coward. And I thought about our Christian life today, and I realized that we can do the same thing. When we sense the presence of God in our lives we are so courageous, we are so much bolder. But when we feel like God is being shy, when He seems shrouded, when He seems distant from us, we lose that boldness, we lose that fire. Perhaps Peter thought since Jesus wasn t around that He would not know if he denied Him. We need to be careful in our Christian walk that we don t think that God doesn t see what is going on just because we don t feel His nearness. All the ways of mankind are before the eyes of the Lord. Now how does Jesus respond to this? Verse 11 says, So Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword into its sheath. In Luke s gospel it tells us that Jesus healed the man s ear. Isn t that astounding? It would have been hard to walk Jesus off after that moment because Jesus had just healed the man s ear. It must have been hard to arrest Him after seeing this miracle. I wonder if Malchus didn t just want to get out of there after having his ear cut off, and then being healed. Surely he wouldn t want any part of Jesus arrest after that. But the Bible just leaves us hanging here, like in a good suspense story. We will have to wait until heaven to hear how the story finished itself. That is one of those questions I will have when I get to heaven, God, whatever happened to Malchus after Page 8 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

9 Peter whacked his ear off, and Jesus healed it? Is he up here? Because it would be really depraved if he didn t believe in you after that. That is depravity. Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword into its sheath. That was not Jesus purpose. He came to die as a substitute on behalf of humanity. And then Jesus asks, Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? He was saying that he needed to welcome this betrayal in this moment in order to take on the cup that the Father had given Him to die for the sins of the world. When we see a passage like this, we should pull back and think about a few comments that I have here. Here are a few observations when it comes to betrayal. The first one is this: Welcoming betrayal is not an instantaneous act; rather it is a painful process. Jesus welcomed betrayal, but even Jesus didn t welcome it immediately; it was a process. In the Garden of Gethsemane, while the disciples were sleeping He was sweating great drops of blood knowing that He was about to die. He says, Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass by me. What cup is He talking about? The cup that He talked about in John Chapter 13, the cup of the New Covenant, the fact that His blood was going to be shed on behalf of all sinners. He was asking the Father if it was possible that He wouldn t have to die on the cross; if there could be another way. And then He says, Nevertheless, not my will but thine, be done. So what we understand when we look at the Scriptures is it was a process. Jesus came to the place of surrender. And then when we read verse 11 in light of what we read in the synoptic gospels, it says, Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? Jesus embraced the Father s will in that moment. He realized that this was the path to take. And a great question comes out for us: How do we welcome betrayal in our own lives? How do we process it? The answer is - through prayer? Jesus was in the Garden with the Father and He was praying, and that was the place where He was able to say, Nevertheless, not my will but thine, be done. We have to assume that the Father said He must go, so then Jesus walks out and asks, Whom do you seek? Jesus of Nazareth. I am He. The Father has spoken. And Jesus was able to embrace it. Some of you have felt the feelings of betrayal. Betrayal, and recovering from it is always a process. It takes time and it takes prayer, which leads me to the second point: Welcoming betrayal can only be achieved by seeing how it fits into God s overall sovereign plan. The betrayal of Judas against Jesus was basically the initiation of Jesus achieving His ultimate purpose of dying on a cross. That is why He came, and that betrayal would start that whole process in place. It was part of it. I look back in my life where I have felt betrayal, and even though the emotions were raw and painful, much good came out of my life as a result of that. And it was Page 9 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

10 because I was able to depend on God more. I was able to seek God more. I was able to realize that God is the only one who would never betray me. And you can begin to see that God is even sovereign over betrayal. And that He can work through even that. I want to give you just a few cautions to think about. Beware of this betrayal always, always appears better than it tastes. It appears better than it tastes. It looked so good to Judas, didn t it, those 30 pieces of silver? And that is just like Satan. He will deceive you. And Judas goes about betraying Jesus for the 30 pieces of silver, even with a kiss. But after it happens Satan, Judas new best friend, ditches him and leaves him in the awfulness of his emotions. And what happened? Judas goes out and he hangs himself. Betrayal always tastes worse than it appears. That girl you are looking at that you think might just fix some of your urges that you have in your imagination. It might seem good, but when it happens you will want to vomit afterwards with a sense of, How did this happen? And it is because Satan never shows you the consequences, he only shows you the luxuries of sin. A second caution we need to know is: No one is above betrayal. No one. Because of our humanity, because we are flawed, none of us are above betrayal. The Bible says, Take heed when you think you stand strong, lest you fall. Don t ever think that you are above it, because in the moment you think you never will, you will. Peter, even though it was a different kind of betrayal, (it wasn t the kind where he walked away from his faith), he couldn t even imagine denying Jesus. I ll never do that, and then on the same night he said he never would, that same night he did. Human nature can get us. In his fictional book, Sophia House, Author Michael O Brian tells this story. I don t usually read you a story that is this long, but I want you to listen to how we can all become a Judas. In the Middle Ages a famous young painter was hired to create a mural above the high altar of the great church in Paris. The subject was the life of Christ. The artist labored with persistence for many years, and his mural became known as the marvel of its time, yet it remained incomplete. The artist, try as he might, could not complete two of the faces for the mural the Christ Child and Judas Iscariot. Whenever he attempted to fill in these empty spaces the results were out of harmony with the rest of the work. The artist was greatly dissatisfied with the situation, and could not understand why, despite his talent, he was unable to bring the mural to completion. Page 10 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

11 He prayed for inspiration daily, and not long afterward while walking on the streets of the city, he happened upon a group of children playing. Among them was a boy who had the face of an angel, and who radiated goodness. The artist invited him to sit as a model of the Christ Child. With his parent s permission the child did, and the finished image was considered a masterpiece. Yet the artist could still find no model for the face of Judas Iscariot. The story of the artist s quandary spread far and wide throughout the country, and many people who considered themselves the possessors of wicked, deformed or corrupt faces offered to pose as the betrayer. (Imagine that: Hey, I look like evil. Paint me. ) But to the artist none of them seemed quite right for the part. He wanted a face so twisted and ruined by its surrender to depravity that all who gazed upon it would see sin incarnate. Years passed, and the artist would often go to the church to pray for inspiration. He longed to complete the mural, yet in his heart he hoped that the face of Judas would forever allude him, that no human soul would ever be so deeply sunk in sin that it would provide a perfect model. Then one afternoon as he sat in the church, a beggar staggered down the aisle and knelt at the steps of the altar. He reeked, and his clothing hung in rags from his haggard figure. He was not an old man, but he was hunched over as if he was weighted by an immense burden of dark memories. His face was exactly what the artist was looking for. He took the broken man home with him, fed him, washed his diseased flesh, clothed him, and spoke to him warmly as if with a friend. He instructed his children to treat the visitor with the greatest respect. His wife, a kind and devout woman, prepared fine meals for him as well. But the poor man dwelt in their midst as if he were made of stone. He was completely unable to speak. He was, however, willing to sit as the artist s model of Judas Iscariot. Weeks went by and as the work progressed the beggar would look from time to time at the image of himself materializing on the canvas. A curious grief and horror would fill his eyes. One day seeing the model s distress, the artist paused in his labor, laying down his brush, and said, My friend, your heart is troubled. What is it? The man buried his face in his hands and burst into tears. After a long moment he lifted his eyes to the old artist and said, Do you not remember me? Years ago I was your model of the Christ Child. The Christ Child in the mural had become the Judas. Life has a funny way of working, and if we are not careful, and we don t keep an eye on our faith, could it be that we turn out to be a Judas as well? Keep a close eye on your doctrine and on your life. Make sure that Jesus is King of Kings in your heart. Page 11 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

12 Another caution I would say is: Make sure Jesus always remains your ultimate. Have no other ultimate. Because when you have other idols in your life that serve as your gods, be it money, sex, fame or power, you are being packaged by the devil for a Judas-like moment. Always be on guard with your eyes open, keeping Jesus as your ultimate. It is the only way to guarantee that we will not become a Judas and betray. As we wrap up and the Worship Team comes, I want to ask you a question. Are you hurting this morning from betrayal in your life? Have you experienced the deep raw cutting of betrayal, where you were paralyzed emotionally? Can I tell you what is so amazing about Jesus? People may betray you; but Jesus never will. He said, Never will I leave you nor forsake you. He was so loyal that He made His way all the way to the cross to die for our sins, to shed His blood for every sin we have every committed. And three days later, He rose from the grave. When we believe in Him, we can have the hope and the confidence of knowing that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ this morning? Do you have the confidence that He has forgiven you of your sins? Have you trusted in Him? Did you know that every person has betrayed God with their sins? Would you ask Him for forgiveness this morning? Would you ask Him to be your king and your Lord? And for those of you that are hurting this morning because you have been betrayed, would you be willing to risk loving people again? Even Jesus included Judas in His circle. And if you try to live your life to guarantee a betrayal free life, you will be the most isolated of all people. God will never betray you, and we are still commanded to love and give ourselves to others even though they might betray us. It is our opportunity to love as He loved us. Let s pray. Father, thank you for your Scriptures. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on a cross for our sins. Lord Jesus, thank you for not running from that moment that night in the Garden, and for welcoming it, because you realized the big picture of a sovereign plan. I pray for those in our church family this morning that are hurting because of betrayal. Would you please touch them and help them to love and help them to give themselves to people. Jesus, you commanded us to love people who could potentially betray us. And we can t use that as a trump card for not giving ourselves to others. We can t use that a trump card and become a turtle in our lives by going into our shells. Jesus, you modeled perfect love. You modeled grace. I pray that we will model that as well. For any person in this room who is without a relationship with you this morning, I pray that they would move in their heart and think, Wow, Jesus went through all of that to go to a cross and die for the sins of the world, including my sin. Why would I not want a relationship with Him? Page 12 of 13 pages 2/20/2011

13 If that is you, and you want to be forgiven this morning, and you want to give your life to Jesus, I want to encourage you in the quietness of your heart to just say this: Jesus, be my Savior, be my Lord. Forgive me for my sins. I give you my life, and I ask you to help me to walk with you from this point forward and forevermore. In Jesus name. Amen. The preceding transcript was completed using raw audio recordings. As much as possible, it includes the actual words of the message with minor grammatical changes and editorial clarifications to provide context. Hebrew and Greek words are spelled using Google Translator and the actual spelling may be different in some cases. Page 13 of 13 pages 2/20/2011