One Of You Will Betray Me

ONE OF YOU SHALL BETRAY ME

Matthew 26:20-26:23

Matthew 26:20-23, "Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me."

This scripture is very well known to anybody who has read about Jesus’ final hours upon this earth before his crucifixion. He was in the upper room, seated at the table with all of his disciples. They was celebrating the Passover meal together for the last time.

There was all the disciples that Jesus loved and had spent so many long hours with, trying to teach them the ways of God and praying that these men would stand the tests to come. There was Simon Peter, the big fisherman and the strong man of the group, and his brother, Andrew. There were James and John, the sons of Zebedee; Philip and Bartholomew; Simon, Thomas, Matthew, the converted tax collector, James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus and then there was one more whose name we would rather forget, Judas Iscariot.

They all sat there, just having a good time of fellowship and looking forward to the victory that was ahead. They was , convinced that the kingdom would be soon took from the hands of the Romans and Israel would once again become a great nation.

I ain’t never known fisherman who didn’t like to tell fish stories and so I wonder if the fishermen at this table were any different or if they were still trying to outdo one another with their fishing tales? There were a few of them who had a really hard time adjusting to being a part of this type of crowd. One of those was Matthew who had given up a “good job” as a tax collector for the Romans. He was one of those people who the Jews loved to hate.This kinda of reminds me of the church. Here we sit, with Jesus in our midst. Way too often we forget about the fact that Jesus is here with us. He has promised us that where two or three are gathered, he will be there too. Just like those disciples at the Last Supper, we tend to take him for granted so much...... It’s easy to get comfortable around Jesus, after all he is the Prince of Peace, the great God of mercy and grace, and his love knows no bounds. Who couldn’t feel comfortable around him and who couldn’t enjoy his presence?

But as we examine this time with the disciples I’m reminded that we, the church, are like those disciples at the Last Supper in a lot of ways too. Yes Jesus was there, the disciples were there; but somebody else was there too. Who else was there? It was the devil himself, and he was working

overtime as usual.....

How many of you believe that the devil walks right into the midst of our church??? I can tell you that he comes in all the time. He comes walking on two legs wearing pants or a skirt, because he comes in with those whose minds, hearts and attitudes are not right with God.

He comes for three purposes – to steal your victory, to kill the moving of the Holy Ghost, and to destroy the work of the Kingdom that goes on in this church....... “Old Slew Foot” is right here, every time we come together because it’s his job to hinder the work of the kingdom of God in any way that he can.

As I think about the 12 disciples sitting around that table, with Jesus talking to them I can’t help but know that there’s one disciple who’s rather quiet and nervous.... He’s not joining in with the others. It’s as though his mind is preoccupied with something outside of the room. Could it be that his mind was filled with the things of this world?

There he was, sitting in the very presence of Jesus, hearing the audible voice of the Son of God, sitting in the middle of some of the greatest men of faith that have ever walked the earth, and still his thoughts wouldn’t on Jesus or on the work that he had been called to do. He was only thinking of what he would buy, where he could go, what a good time he would have, once he had completed the task that he had to finish later that night.

Judas had made a contract with the devil. He looked like a disciple. He acted like a disciple. He knew all the right moves, the right words, the right way to smile, the right way to pray, the right way to dress – in short, he had all the appearances on the outside of being a great man of faith, but his heart was as black as coal, and he was yet dead in his sin, and before that night was over, he would forever be in that prison called the Lake of Fire.