Did Judas Believe In Jesus As Lord?

DID JUDAS BELIEVE IN JESUS AS LORD? Judas refers to Jesus as “Rabbi,” not “Lord.”

- Matthew 26:22, 25.

- It’s long been a source of contention what exactly the nature of Judas’ belief or disbelief in Jesus was. He was a disciple, saw the miracles, heard the teaching. Yet he ends up betraying Jesus before in sorrow committing suicide.

- Was he a true believer who then changed his mind? Was he never a believer?

- We do not have a definitive answer in the Bible. There is not a chapter titled “What was in Judas’ heart.” There are some clues, though.

- One thing that I think is significant is seen in this passage we just read. Two words give us some insight.

- First, notice in v. 22 that when Jesus tells them that one of them will betray Him that the majority of the group respond, “Surely not I, Lord?”

- But in v. 25 when Jesus is talking to the betrayer, Judas responds, “Surely not I, Rabbi?”

- It’s a small difference, but very important and insightful.

- “Lord” is not an empty title. It’s a significant statement. “Lord” means Boss, CEO. In this case, it also means Messiah.

- “Rabbi,” on the other hand, is a title with some honor attached to it but it’s not in the ballpark of “Lord.” It is publicly respectful but not devoted or committed.

- It points us clearly in the direction of Judas not having real faith. He saw it all, but did not in the end treat Jesus as Lord.

- Now, obviously Judas was in a unique historic situation. He was the betrayer of Jesus.

- I do think, though, that the “Rabbi”/“Lord” is instructive and applicable to a lot of people today.

- There are many people who have a measure of respect for Jesus. He’s an interesting person. He’s a great teacher. He was a sage.

- In fact, I would argue that this is one of the biggest problems among those who claim to be Christians today. Many people will claim to be saved but give absolutely no thought to treating Jesus as Lord. There is no thought of Him being in charge of their lives. There is no thought to submitting to His teaching. There is no thought of considering His teaching to be mandatory for their lives.

- They want to claim Jesus as Savior without having an intention of accepting Him as Lord.

- This echoes a little of what Judas does here. He doesn’t call Jesus by a rude name. He doesn’t say nasty things about Him. But he doesn’t call Him “Lord.”

- I noted a moment ago that it tells us a lot about what’s going on in Judas’ mind that he calls Jesus “Rabbi,” not “Lord.”

- It also tells us a lot about someone who claims to be a believer in Jesus when he or she won’t treat Him as Lord.

- Given the prevalence of non-Lord “believers,” I think it’s a worthy use of our time to spend the rest of the sermon unpacking both why you should consider changing from a fan to a follower as well as a brief description of what it looks like to start walking down that road.

- Let’s start with those who aren’t there but are open to the idea.

- I’m going to put it this way: why change from a fan to a follower?

- There are lots of people who are fans of Jesus. They have a positive view of Him. They like Him. But they aren’t followers of His. The problem with that, of course, is Jesus did not come to the earth to make fans. He came to make followers. He calls those who believe in Him to be His disciples, which is another word for follower. The Bible repeatedly calls us to obey His teaching.

- If you’re not familiar with that idea, here’s a brief overview of why that's a good thing to do.

WHY CHANGE FROM A FAN TO A FOLLOWER?

1. Jesus is actually the Lord.

- The first and most important reason to treat Jesus as Lord is that He really is Lord.

- Jesus is God Incarnate. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the second member of the Trinity. Jesus is the Creator. Jesus is Lord.

- Lord is both a word that is instructive in letting us know how we should respond to Him. (He’s in charge.) Lord is also a title. Jesus is Lord.

- If you’re going to believe in something or someone, you want to believe in something legitimate.

- Why did Jesus gather such attention during His life? Because He was actually Lord.

- How did Jesus do miracles during His life? Because He was actually Lord.