The Judas In All Of Us

Introduction: Many of us see The man Judas as a sinister precesence, someone who had an evil look or a devilish grin. In fact, as schocking as it seems, I believe that Judas was just an ordinary man who, because of some of the decisions that he made, missed the truth of who Jesus really was.

More shocking is that most of us as Christians have some of the same traits and make some of the same de-

cisions that Judas made.

I. Judas had a Plan with no Options. (Matt. 26:14)

"From that time, He looked for an opportunity

to betray Him."

A. Nothing that Jesus did, before or after his

agreement with the priests, changed his mind.

B. Jesus healed, preached, prayed and showed His

power over and over, yet Judas watched for an

opportunity to betray Him.

C. In our lives we see the Work, Power, and Love

of Christ everyday and yet do things our way

without allowing who He is to move us to do

things His way.

D. Even those things that are not sin; where we go

to college, our employment, who we date or marry

are never prayed over or given to Him. We make

our own plans without ever consulting with Him.

II. Judas had a Question, but no Sincereity. (Matt.

26:22)

"Surely it is not I, Rabbi?"

A. Judas knew his sin and still asked the question

B. As the Son knew everything, He knew Judas was

betraying Him.

C. Many times in our lives Christ convicts us of

our sin, our wrongdoing and we still pretend

we do not know that He is speaking to us, lead-

ing us.

D. It is as though we are asking "Surely You do not

mean me, Lord?"

III. Judas had a Kiss with no Love. (Matt.26:47-49)

"Greetings Rabbi." and Kissed Him"

A. One of the most beautiful means that we show

love to one another is kissing. We kiss friends,

lovers, our children, parents, etc.

B. Judas used this very familar gesture to betray

Christ and to show the soldiers who to arrest.

C. Many times our sevice to Christ is exactly like

that, a sign of love, but with no real feeling,

we go through the motions and do the work of the

gospel and the church, but forget the love re-

lationship that we are to have with Him.

IV. Judas Repented, but he did not Reconcile (Matt.27:

1-5)

A. Being sorry was not enough

B. Being caught bring on guily, but does nothing

about making the situation right.

C. When we sin,sorrow is only the beginning; we

must make thing right with Christ and to those

who we have sinned against.

I find these four things that were true in Judas’ life

are all too often true in ours.How will the world ever

see a difference if we do not choose to show them?