"To Love, Honor, And Betray!"
John 13: 18-30
Praise the Lord all up in this house... He is worthy of the praise, the honor, & the glory!! Hallelujiah! Glory to God! Amen... You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Hmmm, I’ve been dealing for the last few weeks on this subject & series of "The Act Or Art Of Betrayal." And I want to kinda wrap this series up this week & hopefully bring closure to it. If you will recall we started out talking about betrayal & it’s basic definitions & what it meant to be betrayed or to be a betrayer... Ahhh, then we talked about "How To Treat Your Betrayer!" and we concluded that we should ultimately treat them with love, compassion, mercy, & grace... Then on last week boy if the Holy Ghost wasn’t all up in here with, "The Demise Of A Betrayer!" Talking about how we don’t have to worry about getting our betrayers back because ultimately they’ll hang themselves. Ahh, and on this week I want to even yet challenge you the people of God a little more and go a little bit deeper. I want to talk today from mainly verse 18, which says... (Read Scripture.) And I want to talk for at least a little bit of time from the theme or subject as the Holy Spirit shall lead & guide, "To Love, Honor, & Betray!" Look at your nieghbor & say "Nieghbor, to love, honor, & betray." Y’all ain’t coming with me already Well I guess it’s just you & me Holy Ghost, mmm, hmmmm.
This particular scripture bothers me on today and it bothers me because it’s one thing to be a betrayer, or to betray somebody, or to be betrayed, but it’s a whole nother thing to betray that which you say you love and honor, meaning Jesus. And the truth be told we’ve all betrayed Jesus in one way or another at some point in time in our walk. We’ve all done jesus wrong & turned our backs against him at some point in time. And if you haven’t well then baby just keep on living & someday you will. But my brothers and my sisters, I am convinced today beyond a shadow of a doubt that to betray Jesus is a whole nother thing.. It’s one thing to just betray your fellow man but to betray the very one who came to this world & died a cruel rugged death on the cross and who shed his blood for the remission of your sins, who went to Hell & back to get the keys of Hades, who got up early on the 3rd day morning just for you & I, that’s taking betrayal to a whole nother level!!! And my Brothers and my Sisters I am convinced that sometimes we betray Jesus without even recognizing what we’re doing or thinking about it... But this text bothered me because I’m trying to figure out how this man Judas can be soo close to Jesus, love him, honor him, revere him, take care of his money, and still YET betray him.
And so I asked the holy ghost, "What would make somebody who loves you and honors you and reveres & worships you betray you like that?" And "How exactly then do we betray Jesus?" And i’m sure many of you are asking the same questions and i’m so glad you asked because I need to lay it on you before I can get to the text, preach, and go on home. Can I keep it real for just a minute? One of the first reasons or ways as to why or how we betray Jesus is by putting our trust in other things or people besides him. Mmm, hmmm. Not too many amens today. Yeah, we initially place our full trust in him and then we betray Jesus by letting it falter & allowing it to be put in other things or people that we trust more NOW than we trusted Jesus. We put our trust in him & then take it back, and we betray him that way. Does not the Bible say, "Trust in the lord with ALL thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding?" And so we betray him by taking our trust in him back. But not only that we betray Jesus through our disobedience. Yeah, y’all getting real quiet up in here. We betray Jesus every time we know his word & what it says, and we attest to following it but yet still don’t do what it says. When we say we’ll listen to God & his word & we committ wholeheartedly to what it says and yet still do not follow the commandments in his word we are in a way betraying him.
But not only that, not only that, we betray Jesus when we are rebellious against him. Anytime God tells you to do one thing or the word tells you to do something & you don’t do it you are rebelling. Websters defines rebellion as "an act of defiance or carelessness towards an authority figure or convergent." Any time you defiantly disobey the word of God and it’s statuates you are rebelling against God, which in the same is just like betraying him, and I don’t know about you, ha, but I don’t want, ha, to be inrebellion ha, against God, ha, or his word, for the Bible says, that rebellion, ha, is as witchcraft, ha, and I don’t know about you, ha, but I don’t ha, wanna be no witch, ha, I feel like preaching, ha, can I go ahead, ha, & keep it real with you, ha, for about five more minutes, ha, and then i’m going on back to my seat, ha, I told you, ha, that we betray God, ha, by not trusting in him, ha, I told you, ha, that we betray God, through disobedience, ha, and lastly, ha, I told you, ha, that we betray God, ha, through rebellion, ha, well now, ha, look at the text, we find ourselves landing, ha, in the gospel according to John, capter 13, down around verse number 18, Jesus, ha, has just finished washing the disciples feet, ha, and is now supping with them, ha, and verse 18, "I am not referring to all of you, ha, but he who shares my bread, ha, has lifted up his heel against me, ha, ain’t it funny, ha, how qwe come & sup in communion, ha, but we still are rebellious, and we still are disobedient, ha, and we still, ha, lift our heels up, ha, against God! I ain’t gon’ get no amens here, ha, that’s quite alright, ha, it’s just you & me holy ghost, all the way, look at, ha, verse 21, it says Jesus, ha, was troubled, in spirit, and he says, "I tell you the truth, ha, one of y’all is going to betray me, ha" I feel like somebody here today, ha, is about to betray Jesus, ha, don’t do it! Don’t do it!, ha, seek God, turn from your wicked ways, ha, humble yourself, ha, and pray, ha, well, I gotta go now, it’s late, but look at your nieghbor, & say "Nieghbor, don’t betray jesus!" Can I get a witness? Look at the text, ha, verses 22 through 27, ha, his disciples now, are all wondering, ha, who it might be, and so Simon Peter, ha, tells who we believe to be John, to ask Jesus, ha, who it is, ha, that’s going to betray him, ha, and so he asks him, and Jesus says, Ha, "To the one that I dip this piece of bread in the hysop and give it to, ha, Jesus, ha, dips the bread, ha, and hands it to Judas, ha, and verse 27 says, "That as soon, ha, as Judas partook of the bread, ha, Satan, ha, entered into him, ha", Can I put a tack right there? The enemy, ha, wants nothing more, than for you, ha, to betray Jesus, ha, for you, ha, to turn against him, and some of y’all been falling, ha, right into, ha, his traps, ha, but I dare you, ha, have a little talk with Jesus, ha, ask him to help you put your spiritual eyes on, ha, and then tell that dirty, rotten, bastard the devil, "NO MORE! NO MORE!!!!! I WON’T LET YOU, HA< FOOL ME, HA NO MORE!!!!!!! I see your attacks, ha, I see your traps, ha, but i’m walking on with Jesus, ha, and as long as I do that, ha, alllllllll will be well!!! Can I get a witness? Well, huh, i’m about to get outta your way, ha, but look once more, ha, at the text, ha, verses 27 through 30, ha, i’m about to go crazy, ha, and lose, ha, my mind, ha, Jesus says, "What you are about to do, do quickly," And the word says, that nobody understood what he meant, ha, but Jesus knew, ha, what time it was, ha, and so the word now says, huh, in verse 30, he went out, ha, and when he went out, ha, it was night, ha, but don’t we all know, ha, one thing, that Jesus, ha, does his best work, ha, at night, I’m going back to my seat ha, i’m closing, ha, the book, ha, but if you really love Jesus, if you really honor him, and if you’re sorry, ha, for betraying him, and you don’t, ha, wanna do it no more, ha, I dare you, ha, lift up holy hands all over this place, ha, shabock God, talk to him in your own way, ha, tell him you’re sorry, that you love him, you honor him, ha, you worship him, you extol, him, you exalt him, he’s worthy, he’s worthy, ha, he’s worthy, ha, when I THINK OF THE GOODNESS OF JESUS!!!!!!!!!! SHOUT GLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
Thank you God, hallelujiah. I’ve gotta close this thing. But don’t betray Jesus... The one you love honor, and give so much to, and if you have betrayed him, it’s never too late to come back home... God Bless you & may heaven smile upon you!.
