"Judas Betrays Jesus"

Transcription

1 Rev. Terry Breum St. Mark Lutheran Church, Lindenhurst, Illinois First Sunday in Advent November 30, 2014 "Judas Betrays Jesus" John 13:18-38 (ESV) I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, 'He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.' [19] I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. [20] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." [21] After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." [22] The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. [23] One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, [24] so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. [25] So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is it?" [26] Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. [27] Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." [28] Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. [29] Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. [30] So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. [31] When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. [32] If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. [33] Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, 'Where I am going you cannot come.' [34] A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." [36] Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward." [37] Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." [38] Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Amen. One of the highlights I experience in my study of the Scriptures is how we see Jesus in the Old Testament. I remember the first time I learned that Genesis 3:15 predicted the battle 1

2 between Satan and Jesus during the days of his ministry and that Satan would be defeated by Jesus. Genesis 3:15 points to Jesus and his victory over Satan on the cross. When I first learned this I asked the question, Is Jesus really in the Old Testament and the obvious answer is yes. In Genesis 12 God speaks to a man named Abram whose name was later changed to Abraham. God covenants with Abram that through Abram all the families of the earth will be blessed. When you rightly interpret this promise it means that the Messiah, who would save us from our sins, would be born through the family line of Abram who we know better as Abraham. The Passover and the entire sacrificial system was set up to point to the final sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Without Jesus the entire sacrificial system is meaningless for it is not the blood of a tiny lamb that saves us but the blood of the True Lamb of God, Jesus the Messiah. The entire Old Testament speaks of, points too, and foretells the coming of the Messiah including how much he would suffer, die an excruciating death to take away the sin of the world, and rise from the dead. The Psalmist speaks how the holy one will not see decay foretelling the resurrection. We have the advantage of being able to study the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. I hold here a pamphlet entitled, 100 Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus Messianic Prophecies Made Before the Birth of Christ. It is Jesus Himself who gives true meaning to the Old Testament. And without the Old Testament we would not nor could we understand the depth of truth in the New Testament. What a wonderful gift God has given to us, his Word from heaven. On this first Sunday in Advent we thank the Lord God for revealing Jesus to us from Genesis to Revelation. I give the first part of our text today this heading, The Anticipation of the Betrayal by Judas. Last week Pastor Shields read the verse speaking of Jesus, He loved them to the end. Friends, the love of Jesus was and is perfect. Jesus loved all twelve disciples with a perfect love. His love for them lacked nothing. Jesus truly loved Judas which makes his betrayal more painful for Jesus than we can imagine. Judas heard all of Jesus teachings, saw all of the 2

3 miracles, and even participated in the ministry, but Judas was not a believer in Jesus. Judas s heart was hardened toward Jesus even though Jesus gave him every opportunity to repent, believe, and experience new life in Jesus Christ. Judas chose to reject Jesus, betray Jesus, which ultimately led to the death of Jesus on the cross. To put it bluntly Judas sold his soul to Satan for money, for 30 pieces of silver. His rejection of Jesus means Judas did not go to heaven when he died such a horrible death. He had every opportunity to be close to Jesus but chose to follow Satan instead. How dangerous it is to say no to Jesus. The battle for every soul is very real. Friends, Judas had God s perfect love right there to touch, feel, see, enjoy, and understand. He could not fault Jesus for being a hypocrite for Jesus never sinned. Jesus lived out his message without flaw. But Judas would not let the love of Jesus sink into his soul. He was cold toward the Lord Jesus. Little by little Judas s heart hardened toward the Lord Jesus until it was wide open for Satan to move in and take over. It is true that when Judas betrayed Jesus, Jesus knew it was coming, Jesus was not surprised, but it hurt Jesus to the core for Jesus truly loved Judas. In my own life, I have been deeply hurt at times by people but I have never up to this point felt the pain of betrayal. I cannot speak personally of the pain of absolute betrayal. In the Sudan, there are Judas s. Church members align themselves with the Islamic people in power and through a series of events work it out for churches to be burned or bulldozed down and the land given to the government. Yes, there are people like Judas today whose hearts are given over to Satan for the destruction of the church. May God spare us all. There are Christians serving Christ all over the world whose very lives are on the line and all it takes is but one Judas to turn them in and their lives will be over or they are put in prison and badly treated. No one understands this better than Jesus. They are serving Jesus because of his perfect love for them. It is His love that motivates them to serve the Lord wherever God 3

4 calls them. Today, when they read John 14 what Judas did to Jesus could happen to them and they have a deeper understanding of this passage than we who are spared such betrayal. Anticipating the betrayal that Judas was about to do, Jesus speaks these words and when he speaks these words Jesus quotes a passage from Psalm 41:18b, But the Scripture will be fulfilled, He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. To lift your heel against a person is to be deceptive in a way that brings great harm and it also means to kick someone when they are down. Jesus says, I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I AM he. Friends, Jesus is anticipating the treacherous betrayal and does so for the sake of his true disciples, the 11 others, so they will not become discouraged, lose heart, and be overcome with the betrayal by Judas. He did not want the actions of Judas to defeat the other eleven. Jesus is also speaking directly to Judas to warn him of the consequences to come of his actions. Jesus says, and I quote, that you may believe that I Am he. The term he is not in the Greek. Here is another time Jesus refers to Himself as the Great I Am, the name given to God in the Old Testament. Anyone who says that Jesus never claimed to be God is absolutely blind to the truth. It is as clear as crystal. Jesus calls Himself, I Am. This is absolute claim to Deity. In Psalm 41 that Jesus quotes David is speaking of being betrayed by a person whose name is believed to be Ahithophel. Judas heard these words of Jesus and probably knew the Psalm from which Jesus quoted. After Ahithophel committed treason against David, he died a horrible death, the same death that Judas will pick after he betrays Jesus. In other words I hear Jesus saying to Judas, If you betray me like Ahithophel betrayed David you too will end in an awful way just like he did. Judas don t do it. Repent and stay with me. Jesus gave Judas every opportunity but Judas would have none of it. Jesus concern was for Judas and the other disciples. Jesus does not want the actions of Judas to stop the other disciples from carrying on 4

5 the ministry after Jesus ascends into heaven. Jesus loved Judas and even washed his feet in the foot washing ceremony Pastor Shields mentioned last week. Jesus loved them to the end. Zechariah 11:12-13 predicts the betrayal of Judas even giving the exact amount of money he would receive and what he would do with it afterward. So much of the Old Testament finds itself in the New Testament. Jesus was not surprised when the betrayal happened nor was Jesus caught off guard. True prophet that he was, he saw it coming. God was able to take the actions of Judas and use Judas s treachery to lead to the greatest act of love all for all time, Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. God is so powerful that God can use evil for his purposes. That does not excuse the evil but there is no power that can thwart the activity of God, God s direct and perfect will. Verse 20 is Jesus telling the disciples that in spite of Judas betrayal Jesus was still sending out the other 11 as his representatives on earth, ambassadors for Christ. The work of Judas will not take away their credibility as followers of Jesus. The apostles would be sent out with the authority of Jesus. The next verse begins my second section, The Betrayal Announced. Verse 21, After saying these things Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testified, Truly Truly I say to you one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. Friends, I am certain the disciples did not fully understand what Jesus was saying. How could anyone of them betray Jesus after all that they had been through together? You can hear their minds racing, Lord, is it I. They may have even looked around questioning who it would be. Peter saw John sitting close to Jesus and motioned for him to ask Jesus who the betrayer would be. Let me remind you the men were not sitting at a table. They were reclining on the floor in the upper room for this last supper. This is one of the reasons having clean feet was significant or the odor could be obnoxious. Jesus answered the question. It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped the 5

6 morsel he gave it to Judas. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into Judas. Jesus said to him, What you are going to do, do quickly. The disciples had no idea what has happening. The Bible says Jesus was troubled in spirit. Friends if Satan was to enter this room right now many of us in this room would feel the presence of pure evil and be very troubled in spirit. In Satan is pure hatred. Satan opposes everything of God and directly opposes God. When you feel the presence of Satan it is absolutely awful and it saps you of all your energy and vitality. It is like trying to run a mile under water. It is a feeling so bad it is not healthy or good to even describe it. It drains you of everything. Fortunately most are spared this experience. Dr MacArthur writes about being troubled in spirit, It is a strong word used figuratively to speak of severe mental or spiritual turmoil. All of the insides of Jesus were churning. Jesus was sensing the very presence of hell that Judas would descend into upon the death of Judas. I quote, In the present passage, Jesus emotions are shown to be in a state of turmoil, his whole inner self convulsing at the thought of one of his closest followers betraying him to his enemies (John MacArthur, John 12-21, pg 78. I rely heavily on Dr MacArthur on this passage). Dr Hughes writes, With Judas gone, it seems that our Lord felt somewhat relieved. We have all experienced something like this. There have been times we have been in the presence of someone who has not liked us and we felt stifled. But when the person left, then the conversation flowed. Now, even though Jesus spoke of the cross the conversation was brighter as he addressed his purified flock (R Kent Hughes, John pg. 324). The final section of this text is the command of Jesus to love one another in the same way He loves us. I quote, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. Our passage ends with Jesus predicting that Peter will deny Jesus three times. 6

7 It is absolutely impossible to love one another without God s love being poured into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our best of efforts to love will always fail. God s love has never failed. Friends, if all of us in this church were filled to overflowing with the love of God, there would not be enough room in this church for people to sit and worship. God s love is so powerful and so wonderful and God wants us to love one another with his perfect love. Love is patient and kind. Love is never rude or demanding. Love is committed to the truth and does not lie or deceive. Love never gives up. Once again it is humanly impossible for us to do this especially when we know too much about each other. We see each other s foibles and sometimes we really do not like each other very much. I so want that to change. For this church to move forward in Christ we are going to have to give over to Jesus our sinful attitudes we have developed toward those sitting in the pews. Love keep no record of wrongs for love covers a multitude of sins. I wanted to end this sermon on a high note but Advent is a time inner examination and repentance. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father please fill our lives with your perfect love every day. Empower us to love each other in the same way you love us. Forgive us for our long held grudges, bitterness s, and unhealthy attitudes. Help us to die to ourselves every day and be raised anew in the power of your love. May your love be poured forth in abundance in this place and in our community. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. 7