• The name Judas Iscariot is one of the most famous in the Bible, for all the wrong reasons. Judas is synonymous with betrayal.
Back in 1986 the footballer Mo Johnston was called the greatest Judas in Scottish football because he made the unthinkable switch, moving from Glasgow Celtic, and all it stands for, to Glasgow Rangers and all it stands for. For many passionate Old Firm fans, that is a divide you simply don’t cross.
But Mo Johnston did cross it, and became the first catholic to ever sign for Rangers. I was reading an article about Mo Johnston in the Daily Telegraph recently where he said that it’s only now, 29 years after he made his fateful decision to switch from Celtic to Rangers, that he feels safe to walk the streets of Glasgow.
Now of course that’s only betrayal in football terms, albeit with deeply sectarian underpinnings. The real Judas story is a much darker version of betrayal. Not moving from one football team to a near rival, but betraying the Son of God. Judas’ story is very dark indeed. So dark in fact that I have been puzzling about exactly how to preach it.
Why is this passage in the Bible? What are we meant to learn from Judas? Well, it’s here to warn us that we cannot trifle with the person of Jesus. That betraying Jesus is the worst possible thing we could do.
But we also find in this passage, not just a warning, but also an antidote to betraying Jesus. What are the attitudes of Judas that led to him betraying Jesus? What are the attitudes we need to adopt that will keep us from betraying Jesus.
? And I want to pick out 4 attitudes from this passage, that we need to adopt, that will keep us from betraying Jesus. Firstly
• A readiness to repent (21)
• A few times already in this passage, Jesus has dropped a hint that one of his disciples will betray him. But now Jesus spells it out (v.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.’
? He didn’t actually name the perpetrator, he just announced that someone would betray him, which led to a lot of soul searching among the disciples, and soul searching itself can be a positive thing.
o And of course Jesus also wanted to prepare his disciples for the trauma they would go through in the next few hours as they watch their Lord being taken away in the Garden through a betrayer’s kiss, and nailed to a cross.
o The disciples needed to know the trauma was not an accident, that Jesus knew all about Judas’ treachery in advance.
But the main reason Jesus announced the betrayal publicly was to give Judas the opportunity to repent. Both Jesus and Judas knew the plans in Judas’ heart, and this was one last chance for Judas to change his mind, to come clean, to turnaround from his road to destruction, and rethink his calamitous decision.
And Jesus offers all of us the chance to repent of whatever sin or sins we have committed. Even if our sins are on the most grievous scale. You can’t get much darker than being willing to betray the Son of God. That takes a particular kind of dark heart.
But as the hymn says ‘there’s a way back to God from the dark paths of sin.’ But we need to have a readiness to repent.
We don’t know if Judas ever thought of repenting. After he had done his dastardly deed, he was full of remorse, and threw the money back at the Chief Priests who had concocted the plan with him. But his remorse wasn’t repentance. It was a kind of fatalism. And he went and hanged himself.
It was a tragedy, but that tragedy could have been avoided at any point if Judas had been willing to repent.
Jesus’ forgiving arms would have been more than ready to welcome him.
He forgave tax collectors their fraud, he forgave prostitutes their immorality, he forgave Paul his murders, he forgave Peter his denial, and Thomas his doubting.
And throughout church history, there have been many scoundrels who have discovered the overwhelming mercy and grace of God. St Augustine had fathered several illegitimate children, and abandoned his girlfriend before God’s grace caught up with him.
John Newton was a slave trader who had even been involved in rape before he found Christ and wrote the world’s most sung hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’. Many of you will have read the stories of Nicky Cruz the violent gang member in New York converted through David Wilkerson’s courageous evangelism.
Or Jacky Pullinger’s unique ministry among drug addicts in Hong Kong, and some of the incredible conversion stories there. We recently mentioned Charles Colson, sent to prison for abuse of power in the Watergate scandal, who repented in prison, and became the head of Prison Fellowship, reaching millions of prisoners for Christ.
Jesus’ biggest problem was not forgiving the darkest souls who came to him in repentance, but convincing outwardly religious people that they needed to repent.
And the supreme irony is that some of the worst people who have ever lived, will end up in heaven, while some of the best will end up in hell.
But you need to know today, that Jesus is ready to forgive you and welcome you and make you his son or daughter, no matter who you are or what you have done, if you are ready to repent.
Perhaps there are things you are deeply ashamed of, that you try to keep hidden in your own conscience, but they keep you awake at night. Perhaps you are living a double life right now – having an affair, or thinking of having one, or doing some kind of dodgy business deals. Perhaps you’re addicted to pornography, and you’re in denial. Or something worse.
No matter how deeply we scrape the barrel of our sinfulness, we will not reach a deeper level than Jesus is willing to forgive. Even as Jesus was hanging from a cross, with spiteful religious leaders mocking him, and gloating over their victory, he still cried out ‘Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.’
Please know, whatever you have done in the past, or whatever mess you might be stuck in today, or whatever evil you might be planning, it is never too late to repent. You just need to be ready to humble yourself and come to Jesus who is always ready to forgive and renew you.
That is the first attitude that will stop you from betraying Jesus. A readiness to repent. The second attitude is,
• An awareness of our weakness (22-25)
• As soon as Jesus announced that someone was going to betray him, the disciples started questioning themselves. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. (v.22) ‘the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
? One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning against Jesus, said to him, ‘Lord, who is it?’
The great irony of this passage is that no one has any idea who the betrayer could be. Even when Jesus hints at it being Judas, they still don’t get it. They all looked like solid disciples. It seemed unthinkable that one of them – one of these 12 who walked closely with Jesus and saw everything he did - could possibly have it in their heart to betray him.
It’s easy for us to think that we couldn’t possibly betray Jesus. We would never turn our backs on him. But there are too many sad stories of those who have passionately followed Christ for a time, and looked every inch a true disciple, who then walked away, give up any belief in the Gospel, and live as though they had never experienced Jesus.
Hebrews 6, that sobering passage, speaks about those who ‘have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God’ – in other words they have looked every inch to be true disciples in a lively Xian community, and yet they walk away, give up the faith, never to return.
? If we want to make sure we don’t betray Jesus, that begins with being aware of our weakness. Knowing we could walk away. Within a few verses Jesus tells Peter he will deny the Lord, and Peter thinks that is a ridiculous suggestion as they gather round the communion table, and he swears allegiance to the death, to Jesus.
But within 12 hours he was denying Jesus, while under pressure at his trial, swearing just as passionately that he never knew the man. Brothers and sisters we need to be so aware of our weakness, of our ability to drift from Jesus, to become insensitive to the things of God.
Let him who stands, take heed lest he falls. What will stop you from falling, is being fully aware that you have it in you to fall, and letting that frightening thought keep you close to Jesus, close to the Bible and prayer and Christian fellowship, and holy living.
Backsliding doesn’t happen in a day. No one suddenly renounces their faith. It’s a gradual process of slackening off, stopping reading your Bible, stopping being accountable to other Christians, thinking you can skip devotionals, you can skip prayer times, you can skip home group and Sunday evenings and even every other Sunday morning, and you’ll still be able to pick up the pieces at a later date.
And then perhaps a relationship with a non Christian starts in the middle of this barren spell – Satan is the ultimate opportunist when he spots a weakness in us. And you get hooked to this relationship, but every moment you are being pulled further away from your first love, until he stops being your first love.
Let him who stands take heed lest he falls. Have an awareness of your weakness. Be frightened of what your fallen nature is capable of.
It could be a hobby, it could be a relationship, it could be a satellite TV package, it could be a new group of friends, or the kind of company you keep. But that thing, that idol draws you away from Jesus, from church, from fellowship and encouragement and accountability, and you’re like a frog in a pan full of water, not knowing that the water is boiling up all around you.
It’s interesting, in the other Gospels, it’s not just John asking Jesus ‘who is the betrayer?’ Each disciple asks Jesus ‘is it I Lord?’
They were aware of their own weaknesses, their own ability to fall – even when they were in the full flight of Christian ministry.
Stay close to Jesus, brothers and sisters, by being what Paul calls in Romans ‘sober minded', having a realistic opinion of yourself, and the depths not just to which you have fallen in the past, but to which you could yet fall. Stay in the orbit of committed Christians, lively worship, Bible study and prayer.
Illust DL Moody once visited a pair of sisters who had stopped coming to church. He sat in their living room and listened as they told him about the worship they were having at home, their heritage from a long line of believers, and the fact that they felt they didn’t really need church anymore – they could get on fine just the 2 of them.
Moody didn’t say anything, but instead he went over to the fire, and took out a piece of coal, and left it on the hearth. And they sat and watched as this piece of coal went from being red hot, to fading away and looking cold and grey.
Moody didn’t need to say anything. The point was made. Remove yourself from the fire of God’s presence and his people and his word and corporate worship and encouragement, and very quickly your fires will fade, and your faith will be cold and grey.
These are the attitudes that will keep us from betraying Jesus. We need a readiness to repent, and an awareness of our weakness. Thirdly we need
• An appreciation of God’s love (26-27)
• The love that Jesus shows to Judas here, knowing what was in Judas’ heart, is remarkable. When John asks ‘who is the betrayer’, Jesus replies (v.26) ‘It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot'.
It was a sign of friendship and honour to give someone the sop at one of these Passover meals. It meant choosing a particularly juicy bit from the common bowl out of which they ate, and handing it personally to the one you wanted to honour.
o Some commentators suggest that Judas must have been sitting close enough to Jesus for him to give Judas the sop. We know that John was on Jesus’ right, and it could have been that Judas was on Jesus’ left, which was the place of highest honour in that culture.
This is how Jesus responds to the treachery in Judas’ heart. He has already washed his feet, he then places him at the seat of honour at the last supper, and gives him the sop as a display of love and friendship.
And how does Judas respond to this act of love? (v.27) ‘after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered him. Jesus said, ‘what you are going to do, do quickly.’ The highest moment of love occurred at the same time as the deepest moment of treason, showing how calloused Judas had become to the love of Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, here is the strongest antidote to betraying Jesus. Focusing on his love, growing in appreciation of how much he loves you. Judas had become so hard hearted he couldn’t see the love that Jesus was offering him.
What about you and me? Jesus left heaven to rescue me. He set aside the glory he had as the eternal Son of God, to become an ordinary man, born in poverty, the son of a carpenter, despised and rejected by the people he loved, and ultimately tried, beaten, and nailed to a cross.
Don’t become so familiar with the love of Jesus, that your heart grows cold to it. No one has loved you like he has loved you.
He chose you before the world began to be his son or daughter. The church is the bride of Christ. The Father sent his son across the stars to a cross so that he could claim a bride for himself, and love her, and wash her from her sins, and present her to the Father as radiant and glorious.
‘We love him because he first loved us’ and loved us not with empty sentiment, but with his whole body and soul, as he exposed himself to the wrath of God on the cross, and expended every ounce of energy he had to take the beatings, the nails, the thorns.
He had given his all before the soldier stuck the spear in his side. No one has ever loved like this.
? May we never lose our wonder at the deep, deep love of Jesus. It’s much harder to betray him when you know he gave everything to save you. And he places us on the seat of honour, and washes our feet, and saves our soul, and prepares us for glory.
There are 4 attitudes that prevent us from betraying Jesus. A readiness to repent, an awareness of weakness, an appreciation of Jesus’ love, and fourthly
• A healthy fear of judgement (28-30)
• (v.30) is one of the most chilling verses in scripture. ‘So, after taking the morsel, he immediately went out, and it was night.’ We know by now in John’s Gospel, he wasn’t just saying ‘it was dark outside’. He was saying it was 'night' in the deepest sense of the word.
? Night had eclipsed Judas’ soul. He had chosen to betray the Son of God. He was now easy pickings for Satan, and as he left that Upper Room, where Jesus would continue to teach his disciples, he was walking straight towards judgement.
o And while we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past where preachers used to carry placards round the streets which read ‘prepare to meet thy doom,’ we also need to be deeply aware that we are all headed for final judgement.
o Hebrews says, ‘It is appointed to men once to die, and after this the judgement.’ We need to live each day knowing that there is a great day of judgement coming.
o God will sit on his glorious throne and judge every man and woman for they have lived. The NT speaks about 2 specific judgement seats. There’s the Judgement Seat of Christ for believers, where we will be judged according to how much we have made of this Gospel we have received. The American pastor Warren Weirsbe, who died last week, said ‘I fear the fires, but not of hell. I fear the fires of heaven.’
We will stand in front of King Jesus, and he will assess whether our lives produce gold, silver and precious stones, or wood, hay and stubble. How much we have grown in holiness, how passionate we have been to reach lost men and women for Jesus? Whether we have lived for the trappings of this world, or the glory of God. ‘I fear the fires, but not of hell. I fear the fires of heaven.’
Every Christian needs to have a healthy fear of judgement. But of course there is also the Great White Throne judgement, depicted at the end of Revelation. ‘I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the Great White Throne and the books were opened, and another book was opened which is called the Lamb’s book of Life.
And whoever’s name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the Lake of Fire.’
Now there is a lot of picture language there. But the picture language is depicting something very real and terrifying.
What happens to men and women who reject Jesus’ offer of salvation, and die as rebels against their Creator? Whatever picture language is used – fire and gnashing of teeth and all of that – the greatest need in life is to be saved from the judgement of God.
We need to recover a healthy fear of judgement. If the joy of heaven doesn’t win you, if the love of Jesus doesn’t draw you, then let the fear of judgement make you run into his arms.
Charles Spurgeon said, ‘It is a very remarkable fact that no preacher of whom we have any record ever uttered such terrible words concerning the destiny of the lost as our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Matt 10:28, ‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.’
There is a hell, and millions of souls will end up there, and if we are wise we will recover a healthy fear of judgement, that will stop us from walking out into the night, as Judas did.
Thankfully not every week is a sermon on Judas. But we do need to hear about him, so we develop these attitudes that will keep us from falling – a readiness to repent, an awareness of our weakness, an appreciation of God’s love, and a healthy fear of judgement.
May we stay close to him this week, and always!
