The Betrayal Series

The Betrayal

CCCAG December 9th, 2018

Scripture- John 18

Intro:

A little bit of history quiz for us this morning. Can anyone tell me what happened on May 15th in the year 44 BC?

I know none of you are around then.

A little hint, May 15th is the ides of March. Does it ring a Bell yet?

May 15th 44 BC was when Julius Caesar was assassinated. Many of us had to read dramatic portrayal of that in high school by William Shakespeare.

A little background to why Caesar was assassinated

Rome had a similar government to the one that we enjoy here in America and that they were a Republic. A Republic is a form of government in which elected officials make the laws and govern by the will of the electorate. At the time of Caesar’s assassination, Rome was still a functional Republic with an emperor who was elected by the Senate.

Julius Caesar was a very famous general in the Roman Empire who eventually rose to be the emperor. Because of his incredible popularity with the people and citizens of Rome he was named emperor for life. Several in the Senate grew very concerned that he would become a dictator and dissolve the Senate. This paranoia grew to a point that several of the senators formed a conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar on the 15th of May. A few of the conspirators were actually very close friends with Caesar including a man named Brutus.

During the assassination attempt, Caesar was unarmed and actually holding his own against several men with daggers. Remember he came up with in the Roman legions and was a general, so he knew how to fight & defend himself. However when he saw that his close friend Brutus was among those trying to kill him it is said that he drew up his cloak over his face in despair and said the famous words at Et Tu Bruta? which is Latin for and “you too Brutus?”

Seeing the depth of the betrayal he was facing, all the fight left Caesar and he was stabbed 23 times and died.

Has anyone hear ever been betrayed by someone? Someone you thought was a close friend suddenly turns their back on you, or you learn that they are the source of gossip or anonymous attacks that have been coming against you?

There's something about betrayal that just knocks us flat on our backs.

The reason is, in order to betray someone, you would've had to first gain their trust. Trust and love come hand in hand, so it is a very difficult and emotional event with that love and trust is broken.

Jesus knows how you feel.

John chapter 18 describes the betrayal of Jesus. When we think about everything that went into his betrayal, we automatically think it starts and ends with Judas.

But as I was studying to prepare to bring this teaching to this morning, I realized that Judas was not the only betrayer of Jesus in John chapter 18. There are actually 4 different betrayals of Jesus in this chapter that I want to look at this morning.

These four examples we see are still relevant to us today because they are still the ways that people betray Jesus, His Mission, and His Kingdom.

Before we break this down, let’s ask God to bless our time together in His word.

Prayer

In John Chapter 18, we see there are Four ways or Four reasons that people still betray Jesus and His mission, and/or his Kingdom today-

The first reason that people betray Jesus is because of

I. Unmeant Expectations (Peter)

In the original outline of this message I had actually put cowardly in the place of unmet expectations in regard to Peter's actions during the events immediately leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus.

As I meditated on that I realized it was a little harsh and too simplistic a way to describe Simon Peter’s responses during these few hours. It's really easy to pick on Peter for his actions but I don't think he was a coward at all.

After all he stood alone between Jesus and the entire temple guard armed only with a sword. He had no armor, he had no backup, and really had no training and how to use that sword but yet he swung at knowing that he would probably be killed in order to defend his friend. That's not the actions of a coward.

So if it wasn't cowardice that led Peter to deny Jesus, what was the motivation?

I submit to you this morning that it was unmet expectations.

It's been said over and over during the Gospel of John series that his disciples have an Old Testament way of looking at Jesus as Messiah.