Looking Closer at Judas (John Part 42)
Text: John 13:18-30
We’re back in John’s Gospel this morning. Last week we took the opportunity to honor all the moms out there on Mother’s Day, and next Sunday we’ll try to honor those we’ve lost while serving our nation on Memorial Day… but today, we’re going to be looking at something that… in my opinion, is one of the most disturbing things in all the Gospels. The betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.
We’re in John chapter 13 and we’ll be reading through verses 18 – 30, and while you’re turning there, let me just remind you of what’s been going on: Jesus and His disciples are celebrating Passover. They were just about to eat the meal, and Jesus got up and washed the disciple’s feet. And in doing that, He was teaching a valuable lesson about serving and forgiveness. And if you remember, we talked about how if you’ve been washed by the blood of Christ, you are clean… you are saved, but from time to time we slip up and sin, and when we do that, because we have been made clean, all we need to do is “wash our feet”, or basically go to God and seek forgiveness. We have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, and His blood cleanses us from ALL sin.
So… here in our text, they’ve sat down once more and have begun to eat… so let’s go ahead and read it (READ John 13:18-30).
So how does a man who has spent nearly 3 and ½ years with Jesus, come to decide that he’s going to betray Him? How does a guy who has seen Jesus turn water into wine, walk on water, feed well over 5000 people (on more than one occasion), heal the sick, give sight to the blind, calm storms and raise Lazarus from the dead – How does he come to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to betray Jesus?
There have been some scholars who have said that Judas grew impatient with Jesus. They’ve said that Judas had initially bought into the idea that Jesus was some kind of revolutionary who was going to put an end to injustice, and an end to Roman corruption… Just like all the other disciples did… but after 3 years, he got impatient, and began to realize that Jesus wasn’t talking about over-throwing Rome, but was instead talking about changing peoples’ hearts, and setting them free from sin. And Judas didn’t really want to be free from sin. His idea of freedom was not only being out from under the authority of Rome, but also out from under the authority of God. And there may be some truth to that, but still… you’ve seen Jesus do things that only God can do.
We also know for a fact that Judas was enslaved to the love of money. He was the guy who was in charge of the money bag, and the Bible tells us that he was stealing from it… he was skimming off the top so to speak. And throughout history, we’ve seen a lot of people betray one another for money… How many times throughout history have we seen a C.I.A. or N.S.A. agent turn on his own country for money? And you guys know that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Or maybe… just maybe it came down to the fact that Judas was a coward. Maybe he had started to see the writing on the wall… I mean, over the last few days, Jesus has already told the disciples that He was going to die… that He would be crucified. Maybe Judas actually heard that, and was paying attention, and he was like, “I’m getting out while I still can, and I’m going to make some money to boot.”
It could have been any combination of these things that Satan used to tempt Judas… but ultimately it’s Judas’s own sin and hardness of heart. It takes us all the way back to the beginning of John’s Gospel, where John says, “Men love darkness rather than light.” And it takes us all the way through John’s Gospel, where we’ve seen crowds turn away from following Jesus over and over again… but now it’s hitting the inner circle… Now it’s going to be one of His disciples… and eventually almost everyone – except for His momma, and a few other women, and John.
So there’s an important warning here for John’s readers that I want you to see. And it’s vital that we see it and understand it.
So let’s break this passage down, starting with verse 18 – Jesus says it right off the bat, “I know who I have chosen.” Church – that’s the doctrine of election right there. And I know a lot of people hate that teaching. But if you want to get rid of it, then you had better get out your little exacto knife and be prepared to cut out literally hundreds of verses from the New Testament alone. Jesus is saying, as clear as day, “Out of you 12 men, I know who I have chosen. So I’m not speaking to all of you concerning being washed clean by My blood, and then by you coming and seeking forgiveness when you sin. Only to you whom I’ve chosen.”
And He goes on even further and says, “But the Scripture WILL BE FULFILLED. ‘He who ate My bread, has lifted his heel against Me.”
Now Jesus had mentioned that there was a traitor in their midst before. He mentioned it in John 6:71, and also in John 12:4… and even right after He had washed their feet, He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
And this is so cool… in verse 19 He says, “And I’m going to go ahead and tell you this now, so that when it happens you’ll believe Me, and you’ll believe that I am, THE I AM.” And then of course, He says it as clearly as possible in verse 21, “One of you will betray Me.”
Now there’s a couple of things here you’ve got to think through. First of all, Jesus already knows that it’s going to be Judas who is the traitor. He knows what Judas is going to do. So Jesus isn’t a hapless victim in all of this. This is actually WHY He came! He came to die for our sin. He came to be the sacrifice for our sin. He came to pay the price and endure the penalty of God’s holy wrath in our place. So it’s not like it’s coming as a big surprise to Him. He’s God the Son. He knows what’s going to happen. In-fact; where Jesus says, “But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate My bread has lifted his heel against Me’” -- that comes from Psalm 41 back in King David’s time. God knew it when He inspired David to write it. So Jesus isn’t being caught off guard by this, He knows it’s coming. But what really blows my mind here is that Judas has now been outed. Judas knows that Jesus knows.
I wonder what was going through his head… I was trying to think of what that might have been like, or sounded like and wrote down how I think it might have gone. Maybe something like this:
“Oh, no, Jesus knows. Maybe I shouldn’t go through with it? But man, I could sure use that 30 pieces of silver… How in the heck did Jesus figure it out in the first place? I mean… He’s obviously got some kind of powers, I’ve seen Him heal the sick and even raise the dead, but here we are… three years into this thing, and there are still people who are sick, and there are still people who are hungry, there’s still injustice, and the Romans are still in control, and every single time we’ve gotten enough people together to raise an army, He’s run them all off with His talk about taking up their crosses and being willing to die. Yeah… I’m going for it. Even if He knows, I’m going for it. I’m going to get mine, and get out of this while I still can.”
Now look at verses 26 & 27 with me (READ John 13:26-27).
At the beginning of my sermon, I said that this is one of the most disturbing things in all of the Gospels, and here’s why I says that.
Jesus is in this room with His 12 Disciples… at this point in time, not a single one of them is saved. How do I know that? Because of what the Bible tells us in Romans 10:9-10 that “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Now what does a person have to believe in order to be saved? That Jesus was raised from the dead… Why that? Because if you believe He was raised from the dead then you believe He died in the first place… and if He died, and was raised, that means that He accomplished what was intended by His death, namely paying for our sin, and satisfying the justice of God… So how are we justified? By faith!
So what would these disciples have to have done in order to be saved? Believe that Christ died for their sin, and was raised up because of their justification.
Not a single one of these guys – at this time, believed that.
In-fact; most of them, at this point in time, didn’t even believe that Jesus was GOING to die… Just a day or so prior to this, Jesus had told them He was going into Jerusalem and would be killed, and Peter, tried to rebuke Him for that, and do you remember what Jesus said in response to that?
“GET BEHIND ME (Who? Not Peter) SATAN!”
So who filled Peter’s mind to try to get Jesus to resist, or go against the Father’s will? Satan? And who is sitting in this room with Jesus and these 12 men, waiting to see which one he gets to use like a glove for his diabolical plan? Satan.
Now the thing is – Jesus has chosen 11 out of the 12… they have been elected… they aren’t saved yet, but they will be… but the devil doesn’t know… he’s waiting to see who it is. Is it going to be Peter… You know Peter seemed pretty open to him just a few days earlier, until Jesus rebuked the devil and Peter at the same time. Maybe it will be James or John… they’ve had their momma try to get Jesus give them a seat at His right and left hand, so power and authority might sway them.
And they tend to be reactionary. Once they wanted to call fire down on ignorant people. Or maybe it’s Andrew… he’s always struggling to believe how Jesus is going to provide for the crowds, and he always need to see exactly how things are going to work out instead of just trusting Jesus like a little child. Or Thomas? Thomas struggles with his faith too. Thomas is the kind of guy who needs to see it before he’ll believe it… maybe it’ll be Thomas.
Jesus says, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” Oh! And there’s the answer – it’s Judas! Of course, the guy who loves money… Perfect! And that brings us to verse 27 “Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him (that’s to Satan just as much to Judas) ‘What you are going to do, do quickly.’”
So Church, I really want you to hear what I’m about to say…
2 Corinthians 13:5 says… “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves...” So I examine myself. Does my life line up with my profession? Can I see the fruit of the Holy Spirit, is there evidence of saving faith in my life? Am I growing in grace and being sanctified? Who or what has my heart? Is it Jesus or the world? What do I love most? Does my life, my words, my thoughts, and my spending give evidence to that?
Because here’s the thing… I bet, had you been able to talk to Judas a year prior to this night, and you asked him, “Judas, are you a committed follower of Jesus?” He would’ve said, “Yes.” But then if you had challenged him, and he truly examined his life, he would’ve seen that he was stealing from the money bag, and he would’ve seen little fault lines in his life that betrayed his confession. And he would’ve seen that he was only willing to follow Jesus as long as Jesus lined up with what he thought Jesus should be… but ultimately; Judas followed his heart, and it was desperately wicked above all else. Just like everyone else’s is before they come to Christ.
But here’s the Good News… Jesus is in the business of giving heart transplants. He’s in the business of saving the lost. He’s in the business of making us a new creation in Him. He’s in the business of taking us, and transforming us. So if we examine ourselves and we see where we fall short, if we see that our faith is superficial, the solution is to throw yourself at the feet of Christ, and call out to Him in faith and repentance. To trust in Him and receive Him as Savior and Lord. If you’ve never done that, I pray that you would today. I pray that God would show you grace and draw you to Himself.
CLOSING
