I Have Seen What Grace Can Do Series

I just heard a beautiful song this week… and I wanted to share it with you. Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1zXR79segI (beginning at timestamp 0:0 thru timestamp 1:01)

I’ve seen what SIN can do. It can drag you down and bury you. And I’ve seen what SHAME can do, it can tell your heart you’ve fallen too far away. But I have felt how it feels to be forgiven and made new. Hallelujah, I’ve seen what grace can do.

And that’s why Jesus came. He came to break the chains of SIN, and to heal the damage of SHAME

Here in Luke 22 we see TWO men who betrayed Jesus. TWO men who felt the shame of their sin. And these TWO men who had to make a decision about what to do with Jesus.

We’re going to start with Judas - the betrayer. By the time the Gospels were written, his name was so disliked that one passage tells us about another disciple named Judas… and says this: “Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?’” John 14:22

Apparently, John wanted to make sure that we understood that this Judas was not the same man who betrayed Christ. But, among the apostles, Judas had been the one man that everybody trusted. I mean - he held the moneybag - the common purse, and he collected all the donations and paid all the expenses. He seemed to be a very trustworthy individual. Nobody would have ever thought that Judas Iscariot would steal from them. BUT HE DID.

In John 12:3-6 we’re told that “Mary (the sister of Martha and Lazarus) 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 Jesus), 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.”

Judas loved money - and that’s why he betrayed Jesus. Luke 22:3-5 tells us “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.”

For 30 pieces of silver, Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss.

But, wait a minute? Didn’t Jesus know what kind of man Judas was? Well, yeah. In his final prayer in the garden (John 17:12) Jesus prayed: “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” (Psalm 41:9 or Psalm 109:4-13)

Why had Jesus chosen Judas to be the betrayer? Well 1st, Judas was chosen to fulfill prophecy, and secondly, Judas was chosen because of the kind of man was. Long before Jesus ever chose him for an Apostle, Judas was not a nice man, and he made bad choices because he liked bad choices.

In II Thessalonians 2:9-12 we’re told that “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO LOVE THE TRUTH AND SO BE SAVED. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

You see, God gives people what they want. If they WANT truth, He’ll give them truth, but if they want lies… He’ll give them lies and delusion. And, once certain people prefer lies and delusion they’ve already decided to reject truth. So, at that point, if God needed a job done (like being the betrayer of Jesus) those are the kinds of people that God would tap.

So, Judas was chosen by Jesus to be the one who’d betray Him. But I don’t really think Judas had intended for Jesus to be crucified. I suspect Judas believed Jesus might spend a night or 2 in jail, and that he might even be scourged a little and let loose, but he hadn’t realized Jesus was going to killed. And once he DID realize that – his reaction was complete horror.

Matthew 27:3-5 tells us “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, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." They said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.”