Sinners Selling Sinless Saviour

LUKE 22:2-6

SINNERS SELLING SINLESS SAVIOUR

I. SELLER:

A. Simpleton.

B. Savvy.

C. Selling.

II. SHAME:

A. Sorrow.

B. Suddenness.

C. Sustaining.

III. SAINTS?

A. Superior?

B. Sedulousness?

C. Sobriety?

When President Roosevelt spoke to the nation following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he said that that day would, “Live in infamy.” How true he was. The context of that statement was made conderning the attack by the Japanese on our slumbering Pacific Ocean fleet. The attack came without warning and it involved a misguided nation into thinking that it was doing something brave and courageous by destroying a nation who was at peace with it. The American armed services eventually won the day but it was a long time in coming and the days between the attack and the final surrender of the Japanese forces were often dark and foreboding. Finally the light shown clearly and America rose to the occasion and won her respect around the world.

Centuries before the attack to which I am referring, there was a misguided man in Israel who really thought he was doing something great for his nation and he sold the Master for thirty pieces of silver. This action caught every one by complete surprise and the days following the infamous deed were dark indeed. But, Jesus came back and is now alive and He has won the respect and allegiance of millions around the world because He overcame the debacle which Judas foisted on Him.

Judas really thought he was doing right-but he was so wrong. He was misguided, rebellious, and self-seeking, and he cared for no one except himself and what he wanted. He was used by the religious leaders of his day for their means to capture Jesus and to do away with Him. Yet, He survived and arose from the dead while Judas hung himself. Judas thought he would be honored for his deed, but he has been the epitome of nefarious, diabolical means to destroy One who was at peace with him and with all of mankind. Instead of Judas going down in history as a great man, his name is forever linked to a misdeed so terrible that he his remembrance lives in “infamy” and will do so forever.

As I study the text of my sermon, I draw three interesting insights from these verses about Judas and maybe even we who now call ourselves Christians. I note the SELLER of our Lord-Judas. I then turn my attention to his SHAME, and then I think of we SAINTS of today who name the name of Jesus. Are we any better than Judas? Stay with me as I develop my sermon to see if we are any better than that traitor of years gone by.

I. SELLER: I cannot help but note that Judas was many things and one of them was that he was a business man who became the most famous seller in selling a human being which the world has ever seen.

The first part of his acumen of being a trader in humanity was the fact that Judas was a Simpleton, a dupe, a misguided patriot, a blinded zealot, a man of little to no comprehension of the situation in which he lived. He was a Hebrew, of the first order, and he was one who was held in captivity-like millions of other Hebrews of his day-by the hated Romans.

Rome came on the heals of the disintegrating Greek empire and found easy pickings for its vast army in the part of the world known as Palestine. Its mighty army literally overran the tiny country of Israel and once it gained the area-it would not loosen its vice like grip on Israel for many, many years. Israel ,as well as other countries under Rome’s rule, would do as Rome dictated without any interference from the captured nations. Israel was no different than any other country where Rome planted its heavy foot and ruled with its iron maul. Yet, in spite of this knowledge, there were some who thought that they could dislodge Rome from its hold in various places on the Earth and return to normal living without being held subjects by a nation located so far away. Judas was one of those misguided people. Only people with limited outlook could ever believe that they could set themselves free from Rome. These people I call Simpletons. I do not use this word in a pejorative manner; I use it to state that any one who had such a myopic view was not looking at the all of the facts of what their hopes were telling them. It would be impossible to do as they wished. Yet, Judas was of that ilk. One of the reasons he joined up with Jesus was with the misguided hope that Jesus would set Israel free. When it dawned upon him that this was not to be, Judas began to plot ways to disengage himself from Jesus. When the moment came he moved with rapidity and set in motion events which spun quickly out of control.