Opener:
I remember growing up there was a Clint Eastwood movie called “ The good, the bad and the ugly”. No, I will not be showing that movie after church today. Today, we are beginning our Easter series and looking at three characters in the Easter story. Easter is time where we see a love story emerging along with that story there are subplots that include: lies, treachery, and pain.
When we read the bible, there are many names of the various people in the bible. These names are important. Many of the names in the bible have meaning and a purpose that God is conveying to us.
When my wife and I were looking at naming our son, we were praying and God gave us the name Jeremiah which means Yahweh will exalt. Of coarse, we know that Jeremiah was a prophet in the old testament.
This morning, we are going to be talking about the character that is not preached about very often. In fact, this is my first time preaching about this character. We are looking at the ugly character in our story who is none other than Judas Iscariot.
We are going to pick up the first parts of the Easter story which is found in the book of Matthew 27:1-10 (NKJV) 27 When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. 2 And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” 5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” 7 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, 10 and gave them for the potter’s field, as the LORD directed me.”
I. Judas name
A. Negative name
a. The name of Judas has a negative connotation with it. Not many parents name their kid Judas.
b. Not many buildings are named “The Judas Iscariot Center” or a business name “Diamond Judas Iscariot Cars” in partnership with “Do we cheat them and how credit”
They advertise, whether you have good or bad credit everybody rides. Because that is how we roll!
c. Typically when people think of the name of Judas, they think of it in a negative way. Yes, that is the guy that betrayed Jesus.
B. The treasurer
a. With the group, Judas was taking care of the finances. As the treasurer of the group Judas was overseeing the money bag.
b. While overseeing the finances of a growing group certainly brought a lot of responsibility and was one that the people thought Judas was credible.
c. The people were wrong, because Judas was a thief . So the fox was watching the hen house. John records an incident where Jesus was an honored guest at a feast.
d. Mary took a jar of a very expensive ointment and anointed Jesus feet with it. The only disciple that spoke against it was well you guessed it Judas.
e. The bible says in John 12:6 (NKJV) 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.
C. Judas in a new light
a. This morning, we are going to see Judas in a new light. We will be looking at the high cost of his deception.
b. Judas was close to forgiveness, however that forgiveness eluded him.
c. As we look at Judas, He is known as a bad character. I recon that you would agree, that we can learn not only from the good characters in the bible, but some of the bad ones as well.
II. Judas a disciple
A. Zealot
a. Judas Iscariot was known to be a part of a political organization called the zealots.
b. The zealots sought to incite people to rebel against the Roman empire at the time.
c. I would compare these Zealots to a terrorist organization.
d. It was known that the Zealots would typically be armed and should the opportunity present itself they would strike down a Roman soldier or what they deemed as a betrayer of their organization.
e. Judas embraced Jesus because he was hopeful that Jesus would bring down the Roman government.
B. A disciple
a. The question becomes was Judas a true disciple?
b. There are those that say that well Judas was unsaved.
c. There are people in the church that while they serve in the church they have never had an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ.
d. It certainly seems evident that Judas had an ulterior motive to following Jesus.
C. A heart issue
a. It may seem clear to us that Judas heart was not right, but to the people at the time seem to have been manipulated.
b. Judas was able to deceive those around him, in order to make them think that he was a disciple.
c. However, he was not a disciple, he was an actor.
i. An actor is one who pretends to be someone that they are not. They portray a character
ii. In this case, Judas was portraying himself to be a disciple of Jesus, however , he was just doing so, so he could in some way benefit.
D. Ulterior motive
a. There are theologians that take the position that Judas joined the disciples because he planned to deliberately betray Christ.
b. I believe that Judas had free will just like all of us. He had the ability to choose. Choose to follow Jesus or allow satan to come in.
c. The bible says John 13:27 (NKJV) 27 Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”
E. Sold out Jesus
a. Judas was willing to sell out Jesus in order to gain worldly wealth.
b. The 30 pieces of silver does not sound like a lot to us at this time, but in reality, that silver was valued around $10,000.
c. You can now see how this was a significant amount of money.
d. While Judas choose to betray Jesus, in the process was really betraying himself.
F. Judas temptation
a. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV) 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
b. Judas made his choice. He gave into the temptation.
c. You and I are tempted every day. Do we make godly choices or the opposite?
i. I trust that we make godly choices.
III. The Gospel message
A. Repentance
a. After Judas betrayed Jesus, he recognized that he made a big mistake and he wanted to atone for that mistake.
b. Sin is simply missing the mark. In other words, not following God’s standard.
c. Repentance is recognizing that you missed the mark, confessing as such, then accepting forgiveness.
B. True repentance
a. There are three things that must occur for true repentance to happen.
i. Recognize- you have to recognize that you have sinned.
ii. Confess that sin – I love what 1 John 1:9 says: (NKJV) 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
iii. Accept forgiveness – Many people stop at the first two steps, however, one more is needed. The third and final part of repentance is to accept forgiveness that God offers.
C. Judas confession
a. As we read our text earlier from Matthew 27, we see Judas confessing his sins to the priest and then throwing the 30 pieces of silver to the priest.
b. Notice, how Judas confessed to the priest not to God.
c. Instead of allowing God to judge him, Judas decided to take matters in his own hands and to end his own life.
d. He had forgiveness available, but he did not accept that forgiveness. He missed the peace that he could have had.
IV. The betrayer
A. Judas was the betrayer
a. Judas was known to be the betrayer, but he also was betrayed.
b. Judas thought that the money he was receiving from the religious leaders at the time would bring him happiness. He was wrong.
c. In fact, the ill gotten money that Judas acquired only made his problems worse.
d. Money, like anything, can be used for the positive or the negative.
e. The reality is that Judas had a hole in his heart and he tried to fill that void with money. It didn’t work for Judas and it will not work for us either.
f. Only God can fill the void in our hearts.
V. Satan
a. While we understand that Judas was the betrayer as we look closer there was another element that was working behind the scenes.
b. In fact, the ultimate betrayer is satan. satan was a powerful angel in heaven. It is said that he was the worship leader to heaven.
c. It was satan that betrayed our Heavenly Father as he tried to get all the angels to follow him.
d. While not all the angels decided to follow satan, one- third of them did.
Closing:
As we close here this morning, Judas Iscarot is no doubt an intriguing character in the Easter story. He is the villain of our story. He is the one that betrayed Jesus Christ which lead to His arrest and crucifixion. While Jesus had to be captured, He had to die on the cross, it did not have to come at the hands of Judas. Judas made that choice to betray the Savior. Judas allowed the enemies voice to grow louder and louder in his life until the day that he succumbed to the temptation. Judas was just a much a victim that he was a villain. He was a pawn, the true deceiver is satan himself. It was the father of lies that got into Judas heart. We have to guard our hearts and our lives. In fact, the bible says in Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV) 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Next week we will be looking at another character in the Easter story. You don’t want to miss it!
