Why We Need Judas

Speaker : Craig Martin

Topic : Repentance

Judas’ life reveals the truth of Scripture, the danger of small compromises, and the difference between mere proximity and true surrender to Jesus.

Well, for those of you again that missed it, I am Pastor Craig Martin, one of the pastors here at Fellowship Missionary Church. And we are just in the middle of a glorious time here at Fellowship. God is doing so many wonderful good things in this place that I'm telling you if you missed it, you missed the treat because God is certainly passing them out like it's Halloween. So, I just absolutely love the fact that we are doing all that we're doing and I get to be a part of that. So, want to just say thank you to you guys for um the opportunities that have been afforded us as a pastoral staff. Um, Mory has certainly done a great job of leading us. And man, last week I was joking first service and said, I think I called somebody from 40 years ago and said, "I'm sorry." And they looked at me and said, "What you sorry for?" I don't know. I'm just sorry.

Cuz what a sermon on repentance and and helping us to reflect and to forgive um even though we know we don't have the ability to forget, but to extend grace. What a great message. And man, it just touched our hearts and certainly marked a time where we just told the enemy, we're not having it. And we are bound and determined to just follow what God has called us to do. And so, thank you for entering into that uh with Pastor My elders and us and um for allowing us to lead this place. And I believe God has some great things coming still. He's not done with us yet. And that's an exciting place to be. Well, listen, let's do this thing the right way before we get into scripture. Let's start off with prayer. Lord, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be on stage again and preaching your word. What a privilege and a blessing it is to do that. Help us, Lord, to take it seriously, to not get up here to um perform for anybody or to worry about the words we say, but to form the words that you have given. May they Lord reach the hearts of those that are around. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive.

And Lord, then once we've done that, we just again ask that we would leave this place different than when we came through the doors, Lord. that we would leave this place not being just hearers of your word but doers of your word. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, listen, humor me real quick here before we start. I want to ask you just an easy question. How many know anybody by the name of Jack? If you know somebody named Jack, raise your hand. All right. Very good. How many of you guys knowbody know somebody named Elizabeth? See your hands on that. Okay, we got some Elizabeth in here. How many know some people named Jennifer? I see you over there, Jennifer. All right, there you go. Yes. Oh, Jennifer, also there. How many know somebody named Dennis? Okay, good. All right, here's the last one for you. This is a good one. How many know somebody named Judas? Only one. One, two. Same as first service. Like two or three people. That's it. You know why? Because if you know anything about Bible, if you've been to anybody's Sunday school class, you have to ask yourself, what mother in her right mind with the father would name their kid Judas? And why do I say that? Somebody human be. Why would I say you don't necessarily think about naming your kid Judas? Why? Cuz what? Who? Who he was? Why? He was a man. What? What do you mean? Betrayal. Oh, betrayal. There we go.

it equals betrayal. And so, yeah, we we typically don't think about naming our kids Judas. And that's because his name is such a how do I say it nice? It's such a despicable name, right? I mean, this guy did such a despicable thing that, you know, 2,000 years later, we're still singing songs about this guy that isn't good, right? You know the song, Lord, I want to be more Christian in my heart. And we say, "Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart. Lord, I want to be more like Christ in my heart." You know what the last verse of that song says? "Lord, I don't want to be like Judas in my heart." 2,000 years later, we're still singing that. I want to be like anybody in the world but Judas, right? I don't want to be like Judas. Why? Because Judas was a betrayer of Christ. And his name is certainly synonymous with things that just aren't good.

And so as I was thinking about studying this sermon, I kept popping into Pastor Mury's office because all these thoughts kept flooding my head and I kept asking him different questions about this guy named Judas. And um I admittedly started to read about Judas and then it hit me, you know, but did Jesus just lack discernment? Is that why he chose Jud Judas because he didn't have discernment? Um you know, I I don't think that's it. I don't think he didn't have discernment. Surely being God, he knew who Judas was. He knows all things, but he knew who Judas was. And yet, he still chose him to be on his team. And then I sat there at my desk and it hit me like a boat from heaven. And here's the conclusion I came to. And what I realized, I realized this thought. We need Judas. We need Judas, right? And so this guy is somebody that's important. We need him. And now all of you are staring at me like, "Okay, Pastor Craig has finally lost mind because he's trying to convince us that Judas is a good person that we need." Yes, we do need Judas. Let me give you a little bit background on our story today.

We can easily see why we need Judas when we look at the offerings that the Apostle Peter gives us in a passage that I think we kind of read through and skip over. But if we take the time to read this passage, we're going to understand this morning why Judas stands out as a central figure in the salvation story. We need him. Let me give you the background. The time and place of today's lesson comes just after Jesus ascends and goes back into heaven. And you remember that those disciples that watched them go back into heaven. Then they go back to a certain place, the Bible says just outside of Jerusalem. And there they gathered with about 120 different people. And they're there praying and they're there thinking about how they can replace Judas who is now gone away from the scene and is no longer with us. And um they're they're gathered and they're praying. And this story we can find in the book of Acts in chapter 1.

So if you got your Bibles, pull that out. We're going to be living in uh chapter one of the book of Acts this morning. Uh but I wanted to suggest to you something that's crucial to understanding uh uh the salvation story and that's why did Jesus choose Judas? I I want to share with you two or three reasons why I believe Jesus chose Judas. Because we after all need this guy. We need Judas. We need Judas to teach us lessons about what it means to be a true believer, right, of Christ. What what it means to be a believer, a true believer of Christ, and what it means when you're not a true believer of Christ. You know, we've been talking about our vision statement in the simple is we want to we want to we set down a path where we want to know Christ as he is and not as we perceive him to be, right? And then we want to learn how to walk closely with him. And then finally, how do we share him with everybody? Well, Judas gives us some lessons on how we do all of that and then what prevents us from doing some of that. Looking at the life of Judas gives us more answers than we've ever thought about.

And so, let's get to it. Why do we need Judas? Acts chapter 1, we're going to pick it up at verse 15-19. And then we'll jump to some other verses to support the thoughts. But let's start right there. It says, "In those days, Peter stood up among the brothers." The company of persons was in all about 120. It said, "Men and brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

For he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry." Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all of his intrails gushed out. What a picture, right? And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem. So that field is called in their own language a dama. That is field of blood. And so why do we need this guy Judas? Let me let me introduce you the first point to you. We need Judas because he shows us that the word of God is nothing less than the unadulterated truth of God and it proves that the Holy Spirit is God. You say, "Well, that's a strange thing to say." Well, I didn't say it. Peter's the one that said it. Look at verse 16 again. He says right there, brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning who? Judas.

So where did this thought come from? It didn't come from Pastor Craig. It came from the scriptures itself. From the mouth of Peter. Peter said the scripture had to be fulfilled about Judas. Peter stands up and he recognizes Judas was necessary. Why? Because the scriptures tell us he's necessary. So you say, "Well, what scriptures are you referring to, Peter? What did David say?" Well, in Psalms 4:19, here's what he says. He says, "Even my own friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." Uh Psalms 55:12-15. It was not an enemy that reproached me, for then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that magnified himself against me because I could have hid from him. He said, "But it was you, a close trusted friend. It was you a man of my equal, my companion, my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God. You had an intimate relationship with me. You were not a stranger to me. you were one of my very best friends, my my acquaintance, somebody that I chose to pray and worship with. It was you that betrayed me.

Then that's fulfilled when we get to the New Testament. Matthew 26:47 says, "And while he was speaking, behold, guess who? Judas, one of the 12, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people, and they arrested Jesus." John 13:18, Jesus says this. I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that, here it is. But that what scripture might be fulfilled. He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. He goes right back to Psalms 55 and he quotes that Psalm saying, "The guy who's dipping his bread with me, that guy, so scripture could be fulfilled, is the one who's going to betray me." verse uh Matthew 26:23. And he answered and said, "He who dips his hand with me in the dish will betray me." We need Judas because it was this same Judas that was marked out even before his birth and who was identified, get this, not by name. Do you notice even in the New Testament, Jesus doesn't call Judas out? He doesn't call him out by name. He says, "The person, the person, the person."

Now, if you were sitting at that table, and I might be jumping ahead here, but it just hit me. If you were sitting at the table and Jesus said to everybody, "The person who dips that bread with me is the person that's going to betray me, and you saw Judas dip that bread, wouldn't you think that they would have grabbed Judas by his throat and drug him out with clubs and beat the just beat him down? Judas, come with you. Who? How dare you, right? Just beat him down." Jesus never calls him out by name. He speaks directly to Judas. He speaks around Judas, but he never calls Judas out by name. But make no mistake about it, he was marked before he was even born. He was the one who would betray Jesus, making the Holy Spirit to be the true God who prophesied through David way back year thousands of years before it actually happened. uh uh spoke through his word and proved that his word is true. Not by only prophesying about the betrayer, but then he went a step further and he actually in the New Testament for us identified the betrayer as being Judas, right? And then the betrayer fulfilled the prophecy. I've said it a thousand times to people and you have friends like this as well who want us to believe that the scriptures is just a book of fairy tales. The scriptures is just some made of stories by a bunch of men who got together in a room and they just put the scriptures together. They even go so far to tell us that there's no such thing as a Holy Spirit as God. He's an energy. Jehovah Witnesses would say he's a power. Some would say, but he's not God. Well, hang on one second. As Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast, my friend." Right? Somebody caught that. Not so fast, my friend. Let's go to the scriptures and see what the scriptures say about the scriptures. Second Peter, we're going to be in chapter 1. Let's go to verse 16.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you uh the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from the father and the voice was born to him uh by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. We ourselves heard this very boring from heaven. For we were not with him only for we were with him, sorry, on that holy mountain, the mountain we call the mount of transfiguration, right? And we have have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you would do well to pay attention to uh to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the dawn day dawn and the morning star rises in your heart. And here it is right here guys on the screen for me. Verse 20. Knowing this first of all now I said it earlier. You know when you're having an argument with somebody, husbands, wives, you know when you're in trouble, when your spouse or your friend or whoever your argument with starts off with, first of all, you know you about to get told off, right? You about to get some truth. When I look at you, well, first of all, I'm about to tell you something that probably you ain't going to want to hear, but it's got a lot of truth in it, and you need to hear it anyway. Well, this is what Peter saying here.

Well, first of all, let me set something straight for you. First of all, you should know this. No prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. In other words, people aren't just sitting in a room writing down a bunch of thoughts about who they think God who they perceive God to be. No, that's not what happens here. No scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. Well, if it wasn't produced by the will of man, how was it produced? But men spoke from God as they were carried alone by guess who? The Holy Spirit himself. And only God can give the word of God. And so yes, Judas proves two things to us. One, the scriptures is the unadulterated truth of God. Why? Because it comes from God who's the Holy Spirit. And so, no, it's not just some fairy tale or some madeup thing. And Judas stands because we need him in this salvation story because he fulfills the prophecy and he bears out just what Peter said. The Bible prophesied it and it happened just like it was supposed to happen. That's why we need Judas. He proves the word of God. That is true. And his actions even without knowing it shows us that the Holy Spirit is God. But here's another reason why. Here's another reason why we need this guy. We need Judas because he shows us how sin starts. Watch this.

How sin starts by joining hands with the world but ends ultimately because you end up joining hands with Satan. Can I say that one more time? It starts when you start making friendships with the world. You heard Mory preach about that a few weeks ago. Friendship with the world is immity with God. You start by making friends with the world and then next thing you know you've entered into a pack with the enemy. That's how it starts. And it always starts off really small and then it grows. Because listen, here's a thought for you. Here's the scripture. Notice what Peter says. He says that it was Judas who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. Did you notice that a Judas that Judas apparently didn't always have it in his heart that he was going to betray Jesus? I don't think he did. I think he started off with small sins and then it escalated to this. Stay with me. I haven't lost my mind. I'm going to prove it to you here in just a second why I believe this. Apparently, it wasn't always in his mindset that he wanted to betray Jesus because Peter doesn't say he was a guide to those who arrested Jesus. Did you catch that little nuance he put in there? He said he became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. Became here means this. It means that the action had no prior thought to it but happened in a certain space and time. So you have to ask yourself when was the certain space and time that Judas got this in his heart that he was going to do it? Well, here it is.

I would argue that it was always brewing under the surface. However, there was a specific point in time that you see in scripture when this happens. So, go back to the the last supper, right? Remember, they're all sitting around the table and Judas has a prominent seat. He's sitting right by Jesus. And that's when Jesus makes the statement. And here it is. He says this. He says, "He that dips his bread in the dish with me is the one that's going to betray me." Right? And so, why didn't the other disciples hear this? Because Judas is sitting right here. I don't know if Jesus said it out loud in front of you. I have no proof of any of that. But there is another piece of this that that nails this point for us. It says there was a point in time when he dips his bread in the dish and Jesus makes that statement and it says a thing happened in this point in time. Then Satan entered into him. Bingo. You see how it goes? He starts flirting around with the world just playing right with sin. And then next thing you know, before you know it, the enemy comes in like a flood and bam, he's got him. He enters into Judas.

And from that moment on, Judas has in his heart, I'm going to betray Jesus. I am going to betray Jesus. And I didn't say this this morning, and I'm going down a rabbit hole here, but I think it's an important point. I was talking to somebody this about this after first service. You got to understand something about Judas. Judas comes from what we believe a place called Sakari. The people of Sakari had these Jewish assassins. Judas would have been part of those assassins. So, he hated the Romans. He absolutely hated them. And me and Mori was talking about this week. Could it possibly been? Now, I don't have proof for this, but it could have possibly been that Judas is so mad at the Romans and he's so mad that Jesus has all this power and he's not coming to be the Messiah who's going to deliver us from the Romans. So, I'm going to make him deliver us from the Romans by turning them over to the Romans cuz I know he can call down fire from heaven and kill them all. Now, that's a stretch. I get it. But it is an interesting thought because if he was part of that sakari, then he could have very well had that thought in his head and Satan could have played on that thought and caused him to do what he did. But let's go away from Judas for just a moment. Isn't that how sin is for me and you? You know, we say stuff that we would never do, right? I'm never going to do XYZ.

And then guess what happens? You find yourself doing it. The very same thing you said you weren't going to do, you find yourself doing it. James says it this way. This is how sin can lead us down the wrong path of betraying Jesus. He says, "God doesn't I'm in James chapter 1. He says, God doesn't tempt anybody with evil. Neither can he be tempted with evil." Right? He says, "But this is how sin starts." It says, "But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed." So all of us, this is why we prayed last week, "Lead us not into temptation." All of us have temptation. Paul says, "There's no temptation that's not common to every man. My temptation may not be your temptation. Your temptation may not be my temptation." For instance, I don't have a I don't know why it's tempting to go stick a gun in somebody's face at a bank and rob it. I don't have that temptation. Right? You know, part of the reason why I don't have is because everybody that do that end up in jail for a very long time and I don't want to go there. So, that's not a temptation for me. However, I got my own temptations. I got my own things that you might look at and go, "Well, that's the dumbest thing in the world. Why would that tempt you?" I don't know.

It's part of my sinful nature. I It's my temptation. You got yours. I got mine. Right? But here's what happens. You get drawn away and enticed by those temptations. Then here's the result. He says, "Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin." And then when sin is full, I love the way James paints this picture. He says, "When sin is full grown, so you ain't no baby. It's full grown." Oh, it's deep in you. It was deep in Judas. It was full grown. And guess what? It bought forth death. Isn't that exactly what happened to Judas? That's exactly what happened to Judas. He started getting these little temptations going on and then next thing you know he becomes a guy to evil. Ain't that what Ain't that what Peter said? He became a guide to the Romans who led him right to to Jesus. God here simply means literally he was a leader on the way. He stopped being influenced and started leading things. He started calling the shots. He was a leader on the way, a conductor, a guide. Judas was someone who showed the Romans the way to Jesus. And so he became a blind spiritual guide. And this is exactly what happens when we allow ourselves to enter into sin. This becomes the result. Instead of being a guide to people for salvation, being a city on the hill, being a light shining in darkness, you know what we become? We become a God that leads people away from Christ. And then we betray Christ and ourselves. That's what sin does to us. This is why we got to be very careful not to engage. And this is why we pray, lead us not in temp into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. That was not Judas's prayer.

He allowed the enemy to take over him. And the result of it was death. Because here's the power of sin. R. Zachchariah said it this way. Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. And how many of us can testify to that? We thought that thing was going to be some small minuscule thing that we did, and next thing you know, it's out of control. We we're we're prone to wonder. He already told us, "You're like sheep. We're the dumbest thing in the world sometimes, right? We see five go over the cliff, we think, "Oh, that's a great idea. Let me go over there too. Right? Remember when your mother used to ask you that dumb question? Well, if you saw such and such dude jump off a bridge, would you go do it? You know what your answer should have been? Probably, right? Cuz guess what? You jumped off the bridge, too, right? We all have done that. But how is this even possible? Think about this. Judas was not a stranger to Christ. We read the story of Judas and we act like he just met Christ and then went and found some guys and they betrayed him.

He was not a stranger to Christ. Let's think about Judas for a moment. He had exposure to Christ. Deep exposure. How do we know that? Well, first of all, he was chosen by Christ. And did you know this? Luke 6:13-16 tells us that Jesus prayed all night before he selected the 12 disciples. Well, Judas was among the 12 that he chose. I didn't know that until I just found that in the scripture. probably read it a thousand times but didn't realize he prayed about this and yet he still chose Judas. How is that possible? Well, it reminds us that even those who are chosen for ministry can still have hearts that's not surrendered. What? What? You've been blind. You've been reading about the mega pastors who have been falling like blocks like like what's the little domino user line? If you hit one, they all just start going. Well, that's been Christianity for years. People have been falling like that. They come in, they look good, they sing good, they preach good, they talk good, they do all this good. And what does Jesus say? You did all this in my name, but depart from me, I never knew you.

How is that possible? You know why? They're too busy doing stuff in the name of Jesus and not for his name's sake. You know what I want to do? I want to do it for his name's sake. Because there's some enemies out here that do a whole lot in the name of Jesus, but it ain't for the kingdom and for his name's sake. And Jesus was chos um Judas was chosen by Jesus. Judas walked with Jesus, but guess what? I'm not sure he belonged to Jesus. He walked with Jesus, but I'm not sure he witnessed all the miracles. He was there when Lazarus was raised. He was there when Jerus's daughter was healed. He was there when the 5,000 was fed and then again 6,000 and on and on it goes. Judas saw that. He sat down and ate fish with Jesus. He knew who Jesus was and yet he still betrayed him. His heart was moved. His heart was not moved by truth. And this story only proves to us that eternal closeness does not equal internal conversion. Just because you have internal eternal uh external closeness doesn't mean you have internal conversion. Many people come today and attend church.

Many people sing in choirs. Many people preach. Many people do all kinds of things for Jesus, but don't mean they know him. Judas though always had sin in his heart. Because here's the reality. You remember the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Well, guess what? Judas said started with money. He had a heart that valued money more than he valued the master. And this is why I say you start flirting with sin and then next thing you know it gets out of control. How do you know he had this problem? In John 12:4-6, I think I preached this a few weeks ago. You remember John when when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and they all go back to Mary and Martha's house and they're having that party, right? And then Mary comes out with that expensive oil and she pours it on Jesus's feet. What is Judah's attitude? He was feeling some kind of way. Judas says, "Well, you could have saved that and used it for the poor." But John gives us a little picture inside of that. He says, "That's because Judas was the treasurer. He always stole money. Be careful what you do in the dark cuz it will come to the light.

He was always built that way." And because he was a thief, in the end, he sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver. His downfall wasn't a sudden downfall. It was the result of slow erosion. a slow erosion of loyalty. He had a divided heart, material gain over spiritual truth. Which one? And here's one other thing that I heard a writer say, and I like this. He said, "Judas fulfilled prophecy, yet he still bore the responsibility of his actions." Just because you fulfill something that God has already prophesied you will fulfill, don't don't expound you of your actions. We all have to give an account for the deeds done in this body. And this is the other side of God's purposes will always prevail even when humans rebel. His actions didn't stop what Jesus needed to do. And so this is why we need Judas because his life shouts a warning to every single generation. It brings me to my third point. Here's the warning. Proximity to Jesus does not equal a relationship with Jesus. Just because you hang around Jesus things doesn't guarantee you a relationship with Jesus. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can come to church every Sunday of the year. It does not mean you automatically get a relationship with Jesus.

Because you know the reality and this just hit me too. The reality of that is it's so much more important. Not what you do between, okay, let me pick on next Sunday because we got an hour and 15 minutes next Sunday, right? Doesn't matter what you do between 10:00 and 11:15. You know what it matters? What you going to do Monday through Saturday? That's what I want to know about cuz that's where the rubber meets the road. What do you do in your private life with Jesus? If all you do is meet Jesus at that door on Sunday morning, you are missing it big time. Your proximity doesn't mean you have a relationship with Christ. Look at Judas. He walked with him. Somebody wrote this and I love the way they they put it. Here's what they said. Jesus uh Judas walked with Jesus and he still didn't know him. He heard his words and he still didn't believe. This is the one that gets me. He carried the message and still did not love him. Obviously, how is that possible? You can be around all this Jesus stuff and you still ignore him. I can't do it. I can't do it. But here's a lesson that's clear from Judas. Jesus is not looking for a proximity. He's looking for a surrender. He wants a surrendered heart. When next time you open your mouth to sing all to Jesus, I surrender.

I surrender all, you better mean it. Otherwise, it's just empty words. Dr. Dr. West used to say, "We sing every Sunday when we sing that song." Remember that when Gret Dr. West said, "We sing every time we sing that song cuz we don't mean it." We say, "I surrender all to Jesus and go right out the door sing." You know what he used to tell me? The Holy Spirit leaves you at 55. Did I tell y'all that story? The Holy Spirit leaves you at 55. Speed limit used to be 55. He said, "When you do 56, don't call on God to save you because he ain't going to end your sin." So, I'm driving home from college doing 50. God ain't going to leave me. I'm doing 50, right? My family's mad at me like, "Can you go a little faster, man? They take us four hours to get to a three-hour trip." But that's what happens, right? That's what happens. So Judas saw Judas's own eyes saw the clearest evidence. His ears heard the finest teaching. His own feet followed the greatest example. And yet he still betrayed Jesus. And here's the here's the final thought I want to share with you. We need Judas because this is what all this comes down to. It shows us and reminds us that remorse does not in does not necessarily lead to repentance. Remorse is not repentance. It's just not. So you say then what is remorse? Let me tell you a few things. First of all, let me give you the scripture. Look at what Judas does. Here's how his story is. It says this man purchased the field with the wages of iniquity. Man, that's a great illustration.

The wages of iniquity and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his entrance gust out gushed out and it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem. So that so that field is called in their own language a dama the field of blood. Here's what remorse does for us. That repentance that here's what remorse does but repentance does even more. So here it is. Remorse causes you to seek that which does not heal. Remorse causes you to seek that which does not heal. You feel sorry for what you did, but it doesn't necessarily change you from what you did. Right? Because look at what he did. He took this money and he purchased a field. And when he got that money, no doubt Judas was thinking, I'm going to finally get to live. He was a thief already and all he cared about his money. I'm going to finally get to live the life. I went to the Jews. They promised me to in fact there's a scripture I think it's the Zechariah and then later on in the scripture it talks about how he even bargained for the 30 shekels of silver right so he's bargaining for this he has it in his mind and he's about to live the life but you know what he found out it didn't bring him any peace and that leads to the second thing of remorse so he goes and and betrays Jesus Jesus dies and then he goes back to the Jews with the 30 pieces of silver because now he's feeling remorseful and he realizes, hey, I put an innocent man to death. And he goes to the very people that he thinks is gonna have sympathy for him and he says, I feel bad that I did this. You know what they said to him? Stinks to be you. We don't care. What you coming to us for? We could care less. And that's our problem when we sin and we only feel remorse instead of repentance.

Remorse makes you run back to them same dastardly people that got you in the mess you in in the first place. and you're constantly looking to them for peace, but they're not even at peace. So, how can they offer you peace, right? Because, haven't you heard, misery loves company? They're miserable and they so don't want you to not. It's the crab mentality. You trying to climb out the bucket, they pulling you right back down into it. And that's Judas. He goes to these people and all they say is it stinks to be you. And why is that so? Isaiah said, God said in the book of Isaiah, why is it that you keep working for that which for bread which does not satisfy? Why do I keep doing that? Well, why is why do I keep returning to my same vomit? Why do we do that? It's because we don't do what the scripture says. If you make your calling and election sure in Christ, you will never fall. And so we keep going back to the same old stuff, thinking the definition of insanity, keep doing the same thing, hoping for a different result. There's no different result with sin. The wages of sin is still death. You don't believe it? Look at Judas.

He went out and hung himself. Now, there's some little bit of controversy about one scripture says he hung himself, right? And the other scripture says he fell headlong into the field. Well, which of of it is? It's a simple answer for me. He hung himself and people were so disgusted with him. They let him hang up there to the point where he rotted so much the thing breaks and he falls down and if your body's that de uh decayed, guess what? All your insides are going to come busting out, right? That's what I believe happened. There's no controversy there. Because here's the last thing. Remorse only leads us to one thing, destruction. He hung himself in the same field that he looked for comfort for because he couldn't find from the same dashly people any kind of comfort. And then out of his despair, he did just what Jesus said. It'd be better for that man if he wasn't even born. And he went out, hung himself, and killed himself. And it makes me ask this question. What would have happened if Judas just repented? I mean, we see Peter who's writing about this, he denied Jesus three times, but we don't see him doing this. You know why? Peter repents. You go to the end of John and and Jesus asked him, "Peter, do you love me?"

remember he asked him that three times probably because he denied him three times and give him three times to say yeah I do love you Lord you know I do right and he he goes on and he writes in uh two wonderful epistles and we see Peter rise up to be a leader in the church the woman at the well who had all these different husbands and was an outcast she finds Jesus how about the thief on the cross he repented did he not say hey when you get to your kingdom remember me but here's our problem Guys, the reason we don't come to repentance is the enemy has fooled us into thinking when we commit sin instead of coming to Jesus, guess what we do? We run from Jesus. That's exactly what the enemy wants you to do. The same Jesus God who says to us in his word, "Come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, I can make them white as snow." And we still don't believe that. Come unto me all you who are laboring and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.

Confess your sins. He is faithful and just to forgive. And not only does he forgive, he cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The Bible says the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us from all unrighteousness. So why do we run away? Don't run. Come to him. He first of all, he's not surprised by what you did. Can I just tell you that? Can Can I blow your bubble with that? No. Yeah, I think God is disappointed. But if he's disappointed, he ain't God. Because disappointment happens when you have an expectation that doesn't turn out the way you want it to. God doesn't have expectation. God already knows the past, present, and future. So get over it. He's not disappointed in you. You can be disappointed in yourself, but God ain't disappointed in you. So stop running away from him and start coming bold. Not this way. Come boldly before the throne of grace. Why? There you find grace and mercy to help you in your time of need, not condemnation. If any man comes to me, I will let no wise cast him out. So here's the conclusion of the matter. To be a true disciple of Jesus, it just simply demands one thing and that one thing is called surrender. Give your life to Christ. Cuz if your life is hidden in him, everything else immediately becomes better. It's not proximity. It's not profession. It's not even position that saves us. It's the posture of a heart that belongs fully to Christ. There's a character in the Bible by the name of David. David was probably known as one of the greatest kings to live. But two things attached to David. Basheba, which caused him to write two psalms of repentance. But every time you hear about David in the New Testament, you know what the Bible talks about? It doesn't talk about Bath Sheba. Doesn't talk about his sins. You know what it says? He was a man after God's own heart. You know why? He had a surrendered heart to God. And that's all you have to have. And David had a prayer that I absolutely love. Not Psalms 51. It's Psalms 139 23- 24. I'm going to read it to you.

We're going to end by I want you to just hear the words and then I want you to do this in your own heart and ask God for this. Because here's the reality. When we are unfaithful, he remains faithful. He cannot deny who he is. If anybody comes to him, he won't cast you out. Return to me and I'll return to you. Come, let us reason together. I gave you the scriptures. Here's what David said. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Let me do that one more time. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. On three, I want us to pray this prayer together. One, two, three. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Can I just set you free with something? Because you're in the flesh. There is a wicked way in you somewhere. And the enemy wants to pounce all over it. But I'm reminded of what he told Peter.

The enemy wants to sift you as we prayed for you. He is there mediating for us and praying for us. So this week when you find yourself in a position where you think you're going to betray yourself in Jesus, pray this prayer. Focus on this prayer this week and pray this prayer. Lord, I'm so grateful for my brothers and sisters and for your word. Thank you for hiding your word in our hearts that we might not sin against you. May we leave this place this week and focus in on your word. Father, give me some Berean Christians in this place that'll go back and read this message, read your scripture, and then hide your word in their hearts in Jesus name. Let your word richly dwell within us. Amen. Have a great week, guys. We'll see you next week at 10:00.