"Betrayed!" Series

"BETRAYED!!"

John Chapter 13:18-30

Aww praise the Lord people of God, come on & bless his name for he is WORTHY to be praised!! Hallelujiah, you may be seated in the presence of the Lord! Mmm.. I want to begin a series on today dealing with this particular passage & about 2 to 3 other ones, dealing with this disciple called Judas & his significance in the word of God to the crucifixion and the ultimate victory of Jesus the Christ... And I want to deal with this thing called Betrayal for the next few weeks and if I could put a tag or a title on this series I would call it "The Art or Act of Betrayal." And so for this first message if I could I just wanna kinda stick to the basics of this topic and individual, and I wanna talk for just a few minutes as the Holy Ghost shall lead & guide from the subject of "Betrayed!!" Turn to your nieghbor & tell ’em "Betrayed." Turn on the other side & tell them "Betrayed." Mmm, hmmm... I feel God in here already! Mmm.. Help me Holy ghost.

In this particular text of John chapter 13 Jesus has just finished supping with his disciples and washing thier feet, mmm, hmmm, and now he openly admits to the disciples that one of his very own is about to betray him.. Ahh, and his disciples look quizically at eachother wondering just who it might be... And so one of them leans up against Jesus & says "Lord, which one may it be." And Jesus replies.. "The one whom I give this piece of bread to once dipped in the dish." And so he dipped it and handed it to Judas, and the Bible says that when he ate of it Satan entered into him. And Jesus says "What you are about to do, do quickly." Hmmm, and this text strikes me and it strikes me because it wasn’t just an enemy that betrayed Jesus, no, it was at a whole nother level because, because it was someone who Jesus was CLOSE to!

Ahh, Can I take my time on this for a minute? I’ll talk about what I just stated in a few minutes but, hmmm, My Brothers & my sisters, I am convinced today beyond a shadow of a doubt that to be betrayed is a serious matter. Ahh and not just to be betrayed, but to be betrayed by someone CLOSE to you, mmm,hhmm. See it’s one thing to be betrayed by your enemies, I mean you kinda expect that. But to be betrayed by someone CLOSE to you, that’s serious. And that’s the kinda betrayal I wanna talk about. And Betrayal is serious for a few reasons. Can I let ya know? The first reason betrayal is serious is because it involves honesty. Ahh see if you betray me then you are not being honest with me and that means that we really don’t have any kinda a relationship because you have been dishonest with me and if there’s no honesty then there can be no real relationship. So it is serious because it involves honesty, but it also is serious because it involves this thing called trust. Yeah, I put my faith & trust in you and you broke it, yeah, you betrayed me. And how many people know once you’ve lost trust in somebody it takes a long time to get it back! Can I get a witness? But the third reason Betrayal is serious is because it’s painful and it hurts. Ahh, ha, I believe there’s no greater hurt or pain then to be betrayed by someone that you’re close to. Mmm.. I wish i had some help up in here!

And so what exactly is this thing called betrayal? Well, i’m glad you asked.. You see Betrayal means a few things in the Biblical conotation that I need to tell you about before I get to the text. First of all, Betrayal means "to give aid or information to an enemy of." Ahh, that’s what Judas did in the word, He went to the pharasees & told them exactly where Jesus was in exchange for 30 pieces of silver. Ahh, but can I bring that up to speed to today, that’s just like all the people you have Smiling up in your fface but talking about you behind your... Ohh I wish I had somebody who knew what I was talking about! You better be careful who you say your friends are, because not everybody that smiles up in your face or pats you on your back is your friend! As a matter of fact, those are the people I MAINLY WATCH OUT FOR!! Can I get an "Amen"?

But not only that, it also means, "To deliver into the hands of an enemy in violation of a trust or alliegance." Judas did that too. He was one of the trusted ones, verse 29 in the text says he was one of the trusted ones of the money. Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve REALLY gotta trust you to let you handle my money, can I get a witness? But he had a trust & an alligeiance with God & HE BROKE THAT! That’s like... How many people have you had in your life whom you’ve told something to in confidence & next thing you know the word was out to EVERYBODY?? They betrayed your trust!!