Road To Redemption - A Traitor’s Trip - 2/10/08
Date: 2/10/08
Sermon Series: Road To Redemption
Sermon Title: A Traitor’s Trip
Text: John 12:3-7; Luke 22:3-6; John 13:21-30;
Theme: This message will deal with the character issues involved in Judas’ deceit and the incredible power of God who uses not only the good but also the bad to accomplish the ultimate working of His will.
Introduction: He was a man of many accomplishments. No one doubted the fact that he was a brave man. He entered the armed forces at the incredibly young age of fourteen. He had earned several commendations and his actions in five different battles won him the rank of Major General. His family is a prestigious one. From his maternal grandmother he was descended from John Lathrop who was an ancestor of four American Presidents. He was named after his paternal great grandfather, a man who was once governor of Rhode Island.
It seems odd when you glance at this man’s life you would never believe that his name would become synonymous with someone who would sell out his reputation, his honor and his legacy. His name is Benedict Arnold the fifth.
Transition: Today we are going to take a look at a few days in one man’s life. These days not only represent the defining event in this man’s life it is also the end of his life. Last week we examined Jesus’ coronation parade into Jerusalem. That event would have occurred on Sunday of the Passover week,
1. A Day of Detestation
a. The Dinner at Bethany (Saturday)
b. A solitary walk
c. “Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”” (John 12:1-8, ESV)
d. Application: Where anger leads us
e. What scripture says about anger –
i. James 1:19-20 – Our first response should be to listen, anger does not justify our actions in God’s eyes.
ii. Col. 3:1-11 and Eph. 4:31 both are passages which teach us what a life looks like that has put on the new nature of Christ. In both passages anger is to be “put away from you”. The verb used is in the middle case, that means that dissuading anger is something we are supposed to be active in doing ourselves.
2. A Day of Disloyalty
a. A walk to the Chief Priests (Tuesday/Wednesday)
b. “Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.” (Luke 22:3-6, ESV)
c. The opening of ourselves up to the work of satan
1. There are two people in the New Testament to which we see Jesus tell that they are a tool of Satan. John 6:70-71 Judas; Matt. 16:23, Luke 22:31 – Peter.
2. In Peter’s case, he was sifted like wheat and came back to be one of the pillars on which the church in Jerusalem stood.
3. In the other case Judas, succumbed to sinfulness that totally engulfed him.
ii. Don’t give Satan all of the credit – James 1:14-15
3. A Day of Deceit
a. A walk to the garden (Thursday)
b. 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. (John 13:21-30)
c. 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. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.(John 18:1-3)
d. Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:47-48)
e. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” (Matt. 26:49)
f. A lot of us kind of meddle in a duplicitous lifestyle. It is not that we are really dishonest to the others around us we just try to straddle the line. We try to be one person when we are around our non-Christian friends and somebody else when we are spending time with our Christian friends. We are bit embarrassed to admit that we believe in Christ as Lord and savior and we definitely will not be seen talking about Him in our ordinary life. I sure hope that Jesus is not embarrassed about us when we appear before the Father.
g. It seems apparent to me that Jesus gave Judas chance after chance to back away from the path he chose. I think He is patient with us as well.
4. A Day of Despair
a. Finding death in the field (Friday)
b. A walk of disgrace
c. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.” (Matt. 27:3-10)
d. You know as we look at the Passion Week sometimes we forget that two people died upon trees that week. Jesus went to the cross in the supreme act of cosmic self sacrifice, taking all of the sins of the world and washing them away in the release of blood and life on the cruel Roman cross. And southward across the city of Jerusalem, probably on the same day we find Judas’ lifeless body hanging from a tree, extinguished in an act of pure despair, never knowing the forgiveness that flowed from the veins of the man that He had helped nail to the cross.
i. Two deaths, one marking the successful, incredible mission of grace by the Son of God toward the sinners of the world.
ii. The other marking the despair of a life lived never understanding that Jesus blood came to wash away even his own sins.
