[0:00] continue with kind of the other side of the coin from what we looked at. What we studied was Judas Iscariot when he left that room that night and went out to go meet with the chief priests. In chapter 13, it was verse number 30, where it says he then received the sop and went immediately out and it was night. And so that night, Judas Iscariot walked away from Jesus Christ. He walked away from a meeting with Jesus and his other followers, those disciples, and he made a choice to leave. He walked out the door and I brought out some things from Matthew 27 in that passage that showed us what he received that night by walking away from Jesus Christ. The first thing we saw was that he encountered company that didn't care about him. And those were those priests and those ones that in Luke 22, they were glad when he showed up. They were glad to be able to speak to him. They were glad to be able to covenant with him 30 pieces of silver for an opportunity for him to betray Jesus Christ and lead them to where he would be in a place obscure perhaps where it was low key. And so they were glad to meet him and to see him. But then when he came back, when he saw that he was condemned, he repented himself and he showed up with the money. They said, what is that to us? See thou to that. We don't care about you, Judas. Get lost. We just used you to take what we wanted from you and now you're on your own. And he found out that when he left Jesus Christ and when he left the followers of Jesus
[1:53] Christ, the company that he tried to get along with didn't care about him. They didn't care a bit about him. And it led me to say that the best people in the world are God's people, Bible-believing, born-again Christians that'll love you and take you in and minister to you and care about you.
[2:09] Even when you mess up, they still want to see you get right. But the company that he was trying to keep or found out there away from Christ was nothing of that sort. Then we saw also that he not only encountered the company, didn't care about him. Also in Matthew 27, we noticed that he exacted money that he couldn't take with him. He got a hold of some money, but it was money that he'd only have in his possession for a mere hours, maybe days. I haven't studied that out to see when he killed himself exactly. But at the, I said last week, maybe 12 hours tops, but it could have gone a little further. I have to look into that. It struck me today that I didn't really study that out to see if there's any evidence of when he killed himself. But it was after Christ was killed, I believe, that he went, when he saw that he was condemned, that that money that he got a hold of couldn't go with him. And not only could he not take it with him, that money that he chose to leave that room where Jesus and the disciples were meeting at, he decided to go covenant with his, with some other people for cash. Kind of reminds me of Christians going and covenanting with their boss for a wage so that they can work when they should be in church, or going and covenanting with a client so they can get some money out of them when they should be in church. Instead, he went and got a hold of some money that he couldn't take with them. We recognized in Mark 4 that Jesus Christ warned them about the deceitfulness of riches. It'll call you and call you and call you, and you'll do anything to get your hands on it, but then you just find it's not even worth it. It's never worth it. And you can't take it with you like Judas found out quite quickly. Not only that, but that price of that money that was a price of betrayal, it turned out to be the price of blood. And that's not what Judas was counting on. It's not what he was expecting that night. He thought he was just going to make a quick buck, and it turned out he had the blood of Jesus Christ on his hands, and he realized he's condemned, and he wanted to get it off of his hands. He wanted to make it right, but it was too late. And it was too late, and I showed you from 1 Timothy chapter 6 that the love of money brings on far worse things into your life. You'll pierce yourselves through with many sorrows. And that's what Judas Iscariot found out that night.
[4:28] The price of betrayal turned out to be the price of blood. And moving past that, we also learned that leaving Jesus Christ and leaving those followers of Christ, he earned a blot that he could never wash away. In Matthew 23, it calls him the one that betrayed him. And all the gospel writers refer to Jesus as the one also, or him also that betrayed Jesus, or betrayed the Lord, the one that betrayed him. Over and over again, they keep pointing out he got a blot on his name, and nobody wants to be Judas Iscariot. Nobody names their kids Judas for very good reason. And so he's got a reputation now of being a betrayer of Jesus Christ. And the last thing we saw was that he ended his life early. In Matthew 27, verse 4, he ended, or he went out and hanged himself. And having nothing to live for, finding himself in a bad spot, Judas Iscariot killed himself. Not what he thought he'd get when he was walking out the room that night. Not death on his mind, money on his mind. And it turned out to be the thing that took him. And the last thing we did in concluding was look at John 6, verse 66 through 68, where there's some disciples that walk no more with him. And Christ said to Peter, will you also go away? And Peter replied, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And what Peter recognized was, what Judas should have recognized was Peter realized, I'm not, where am I going to go outside of being with Jesus Christ and God's people?
[5:59] Where would I go? Why would I leave this? This is the greatest thing there is. Thou hast the words of eternal life. And if you get a hold of the words of eternal life, I believe it, that if you get a hold of them and they'd rather get a hold of you, it gets inside of you, you won't want to walk out there anymore. You won't leave church. You won't walk away from Jesus Christ when those words get inside of you. And if they haven't done it yet, then spend some more time in them and pray to God that it'll get a hold of your heart because those words can do it. Now, back in John 13, I want to look at the other side of this, not just what he received, but then what he missed out on when he left, when Judas took off. He got a lot of things he wasn't bargaining for, but there's some things that he left behind when he walked out on Jesus Christ. And so let's take a look at that here tonight. And before we do, let's pray. God, please now we ask that you'll help us to understand these truths that we try to just uncover and pull out of the scriptures. Help us to be applicable to each one. And I pray that we'll get something from being here. I pray you'll strengthen each one and convict us all, Lord, where we need it. And may we never be like Judas Iscariot. May we learn from his choices and his mistakes. And we ask this in Christ's name. Amen. So when you walk away from
[7:19] Christ, what you miss and what you lose out in, look at verse number 30 again. It says, he then having received the sop went immediately out and it was night. Therefore, notice this carefully, verse 31. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, the next thing that happens when the door shuts, when he was gone out, then the Lord Jesus Christ opens his mouth and out comes the words of God in the flesh. A few chapters that follow are words that Judas Iscariot never heard. You can skim. I don't know if you have red letters. If you have a red letter edition, you'll see an awful lot of red in the next couple pages. And it's not that you need them to be read, but that just is an indicator that it's most likely the words of Jesus Christ. And you've got 14, 15, 16, even chapter 17, an entire discourse of Jesus Christ that Judas missed out on. Words that he could have heard, but he chose to leave. And he missed out on hearing the word of God. Now, I'm not going to outline all of what he missed. I'm not really even going to analyze it to the detail, but this discourse contains teachings. It contains doctrine that these men, some things they have never heard yet. Up to this date, it was only spoken one time in these four walls. They learned of new doctrine, new teachings. They learned of promises from the Lord Jesus Christ himself, personal promises that he had for them.
[9:01] They got assurances about some things as well as they got some cautions about what's coming and necessary. And we'll talk about that here shortly. But Jesus missed all of, Judas missed all of that when he walked away. He missed out on the word of God. And I'll apply this to every single one of us that's here tonight. You might think this applies to the people that aren't here tonight, but it'll apply to you just the same. Every time you don't come to church, you miss out on hearing the word of God. You do. Every time. And I know some of you might think, well, I've heard it before.
[9:35] And maybe you have heard it before. But there's something about the way God wrote this Bible that apparently he thinks we need to hear things more than once. And there's not just one verse on peace. Or there's not just one verse on God making a promise that I'll never leave you or I'll be with you. You'll see this over and over again. I mean, you could, if you really got on a hobby horse as a preacher, you could preach the same message probably about 15 different ways from different stories, from different books of the Bible. Because, why? Because God wants you to get some things. And I think, and this is just the way I look at it, I think through some experience as well, that the more you're in the word of God and the more you're around the word of God, that there's layers to this thing. It is not just like, okay, I read it. Genesis to Revelation. Okay, I read it.
[10:29] You know, I got it. And yes, you did. But you're just getting like these little crumbs that are there on the surface. And as you go through it again, as you begin to learn it, get more and more familiar with it, even on topics, I'll just say, pick a topic of suffering. Like, you'll read of people that suffered. You'll read of verses that are driving at suffering directly. But then as you're in it more and more and you can start putting it all together, it's like there's layers to that.
[10:58] There's more in-depth stuff, material for you. And maybe you don't need that when you're just learning the beginning, the first fruits, the milk of the word. I think you need to be in church every time you have a chance to hear the word of God. You say, well, I've heard it before. Well, you need to hear it again. We were down at Bayview the other week and Pastor Andrews got up near the end of the meeting and they had just had several preachers throughout the meeting. And one thing he said was that, he's like, you know, everything that's preached, you've heard it before. You're hearing it again. And the reason you say amen is because you know that it's true. And you know it's true because you heard it before. And that reminds me of just how this book's laid out and how preaching is. It's reminding you and it's reinforcing and it's repetitive and it needs to be that way. And that's the way you learn. And that's the way you retain by hearing it over and over and over again. Now, I know that if you heard the same message every Sunday, you'd get pretty tired of hearing the same message every Sunday. I get that. I would too. I'd get tired of saying it. But nevertheless, there's enough in this book that over time we need to hit it again and hit it again and hit it again. There's probably some things, some certain things that need to be hit more than others, but that just might depend on who you are. Sometimes when you need it most, you've already heard it and you already know it. But when you need it and you hear it, that's when it lands and that's when it sticks. And that's when you can grab a hold of it. Sometimes you leave church and you're just like, man, I was glad I came tonight because I got help. Because I just heard a verse, I heard a thought that just the Lord just pricked my spirit. He helped me and he strengthened me and I can go on that for a little while. That'll get me through. But Judas Iscariot, he left that night and he missed out on the word of God. He missed out on teaching, on revelation of truth. And the others got it.
[13:05] Something else I want you to see here in this chapter, John chapter 13. In verse, just after that section there, when Jesus is teaching and talking, Peter pipes up in verse 36, and Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? And notice the next three words, Jesus answered him. Come to chapter 14 and look at verse 5. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest. How can we know the way?
[13:32] Jesus saith unto him? Jesus saith unto him. To Thomas, individually, unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. A little bit later, look at chapter 14 and verse 22.
[13:47] Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? Notice the next two words, Jesus answered. Jesus answered. You know what you'll get when you stick around with Jesus Christ and his people? You'll get answers to your questions.
[14:04] Peter has a question. Thomas has a question. Judas, the one that's also named Thaddeus, Lebeus, he has a question. And Jesus Christ answers the questions. And come look to the end of this area here. Look to chapter 16. And skip to the end of this discourse here before he starts praying in chapter 17. And look at verses 29 and 30. And coming to the end of him teaching and saying all these things. Verse 29 of chapter 16, his disciples said unto him, Lo, thou speak, now speakest thou plainly and speakest no proverbs. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask thee? By this we believe that thou camest forth from God. They got some light.
[14:51] They got their eyes opened when Jesus Christ started teaching them and declaring things to them. You get answers to your questions. Everybody on earth has questions. I have questions. I have lots.
[15:05] More. I think I have more questions in the last few months from doing some of the studies that we've been doing in Sunday school that I started a little log on the side, a little notebook that I started writing my questions down because they were getting to be too many. And there's things I haven't taught or even said from this pulpit because I don't know what in the world I'm talking about in some of the things with our Sunday school studies and even in Genesis chapter 3 in that area. But everybody has questions. You ought to have questions. If you're around the Bible, it ought to make you ask more questions. And you know what I believe? You stick around church. You stick around the Lord and his people. And eventually, sooner or later, you'll get your answers. You'll get your answers. The longer I live in this world, though, it's more evident to me that the world has no answers. They have no idea what they're talking about. So you leave these doors. You go out into the world. You leave Jesus Christ behind. You're not going to have answers for your questions because they don't know what they're talking about. I don't even bother wasting my life watching the news or listening to it on the radio at all. I've learned already it does nothing for me. What I've noticed in my own self, my own spirit, is anytime I listen to it, I get a little agitated. I just get a little angry about the Democrats.
[16:24] I get angry about the liberals. I get angry about the way it is. The big, like, and the more I think about it, and then I just, you know what? Shut that stupid nonsense off. It hasn't done anything for you or me for the last 30 years. 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, and in this last year, all that gas has done nothing for you. It hasn't helped you at all. It hasn't answered your questions. It hasn't given you peace in your heart. All it's done is just made you frustrated, given you anger issues.
[16:59] But if you hang out with Christ, you hang out with his word, you get answers. You get light. You get understanding. It comes off of the page that David prayed, open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. He'll do it. He'll absolutely do it if you stick around. I don't know about you, about these ministries out there. They're okay. These ministries, what am I trying to think of the word? Apologetics. There's a bunch of ministries today of apologetic creation, Noah's flood, all of that. And I like some of it. Some of it's kind of good stuff. I think it's kind of good. But what I've noticed with a lot of them, I've heard it from at least three different ones that I know of and have been involved or listened to. I'm sure probably they all do it. But what they do is what they build up this, it's kind of like they call it a straw man. They build up this thing and then they attack it and it gives them something to talk about. But what they do is they've accused local churches of not teaching a biblical worldview, which is nonsense. They've accused pastors of not preaching apologetics, or in other words, their ministry.
[18:19] And that's why all the youth are leaving. This is their statements. You go look on any other website, you'll probably find, if you peruse around a little bit, you'll find somebody saying that the youth are leaving churches by the masses and the droves because they're being taught evolution, but in the church they're not being taught how to refute it. And now they don't know what to do and then they leave. And then they give a testimony of two kids that say that and that's what they believe.
[18:40] And I think that's nonsense. I think it's just a bunch of blah, blah, blah so that they can have a ministry and back it up. And again, I'm not really attacking them, but they're attacking me a little bit. So what I think is that the reason people leave church is because they're not being taught the Word of God and they're not being trained in the truth to believe the Word of God.
[19:02] And even those ministries themselves don't believe the Word of God. They correct the Bible. They teach you things that aren't true. They do. Every one of them, they teach something that's not biblically sound doctrine. And anyway, I don't want to get off on that too far, but what I'm trying to say is the answers to the questions of man or of Christians, it's not science and it's not debating and it's not apologetics. It's the Bible. It's always the Bible. It's the words of Jesus Christ. It's the Word of God. Get in the book. Study the Bible. Teach the Bible. Preach the Bible. Read the Bible. Have your devotions with the Bible.
[19:36] You won't have so many questions. Not about that stuff. So you'll get answers to your questions. All right, let's move on. Number three, something else that you miss out on when you walk away from the Lord Jesus Christ. You miss out on really what this entire theme of what these chapters are for these men. It's preparation. It's preparation because in these chapters, Christ issues to these men words of comfort, words of strength and preparing them for what they're about to face. It's like arming the soldier and equipping him. It's like training and the athlete and getting them prepared for the race. And look at chapter 13 again and look at verses 34 and 35. Christ says this, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
[20:37] What's this all about? It's a new commandment because there's going to be some new tests upcoming. There's going to be new trials and they're going to be pretty hard for you boys. And he gives a new commandment. Think of this like this way. Christ is going away. He's letting them know under no uncertain terms, I'm out. And you're going to have to love one another. And you're only going to have one another. Up to this point, Jesus Christ was kind of the glue that kept them all together.
[21:04] There's times where they were bickering and arguing about who's going to be first and all that. And Jesus Christ is not going to be present. And he's given them a new commandment. But it's time to love one another as I have loved you. Now you're going to have to love each other and stay together. What's he doing? He's preparing them. You're going to have to stick close together.
[21:26] Things are going to get different pretty soon. Look at chapter 14. I will skim a few of these thoughts that he puts into these chapters. The first three verses of chapter 14, let not your heart be troubled.
[21:38] He's preparing them.
[22:08] Hear him say, don't let your heart be troubled. It's going to be all right. And if I go, listen, I'm coming back. I'm going to come back and get you. You're going to be... So that's serious. There's meaning to that. That's not just comfort to make my heart feel better. It's a promise. It's a pledge that they're going to have to hold on to that one because it's going to get ugly for them. These men are going to have their heads cut off.
[22:34] Some of them hanged upside down. They're going to get tortured. They're going to have the world hate them. Jesus Christ is preparing them. Look at verses 16 through 18. He promises something here.
[22:45] I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.
[23:01] I will come to you. These are words they need to hear because it's about to drop. Look at verse 27. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
[23:16] Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Sounds like he cares for these men. Sounds like he understands what they need. Look at chapter 15. Just skimming a very few things here. Verse 9.
[23:31] 15, 9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Because he's going away.
[23:44] Men, he's telling them, continue ye in my love. He's getting them ready. Look ahead in this chapter to verses 18 and 19.
[23:57] If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you're of the world, the world would love his own. But because ye are not of the world, I have chosen you out of the world.
[24:08] Therefore the world hateth you. So there's a couple things there. The one is obviously the world's going to hate them and they're not going to fit in. But on top of that, he's reminding them, reinforcing them that you don't belong in that world.
[24:21] I've chosen you out of the world. You don't go back to that world. They should hate you. That's a good sign. You're doing right. Look at chapter 16, the first three verses.
[24:33] These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you. I wonder if that perked any of their ears up.
[24:46] Whosoever killeth you. Do you understand he's telling them? You guys are signing your death wish here. Whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service.
[24:59] And these things will they do unto you. Because they have not known the Father nor me. I mean, that's kind of like gird up your loins kind of stuff. I can see these guys.
[25:11] This will put the test or put them to the test. I just thought of a line. Well, never mind. But it will put you through it and see what you're made of.
[25:22] And I don't know. I mean, if I was telling that to you tonight. Saying it's going to get ugly really quick in this land. And when they kill you for standing for Jesus Christ, they think they're doing it for God's sake.
[25:37] And you could sit there and think, seriously? My life is in danger? You've never thought that a day in your life. You never felt that. You've never felt that. Those men felt it right there.
[25:48] My life's in danger? Going out, you're going to leave? And now we're all in danger? Yeah. Look at chapters. Come to the end of chapter 16, verse 33.
[26:00] These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
[26:11] Now these are words of comfort. They're words of caution. All of it is preparation for what lies ahead. Now, practically speaking about Judas Iscariot and considering him tonight.
[26:25] Him walking away from Jesus Christ and from that service, that church service that they had. When Judas hung himself, he did it because he saw that he was condemned.
[26:36] He saw that he had betrayed and the blood of the Messiah was on his hands personally. Nobody on him. He did this. And he tried to get it off of his hands.
[26:47] It was the price of blood. He threw the money down. He went out and hung himself because he had nowhere else to turn. He couldn't turn to Jesus Christ because he's dead.
[26:59] He can't turn to the other apostles, his brethren, the ones he's walked with three and a half years and ministered to all the... He couldn't go to them. Well, they'd surely hate him. He could never explain himself to them and justify himself.
[27:12] That bridge is burned. He can't go to the priests. They don't care for him. He got no love from them that night. What's left? He's all alone and nowhere to turn.
[27:25] So he gives in to the pressure and kills himself. He was weakened by walking away. He was weakened. The strengthening was in that room that night.
[27:38] The preparation was the words of Christ to his men preparing them, getting them fitted for the battle. And Judas Iscariot left it.
[27:49] And when life got tough, he couldn't take it. Why? Because he wasn't ready. He walked away. And that's something that's so, so important. You walk away from Jesus Christ, you're just going to be left to flounder out there in the world.
[28:04] I know you think you're tough enough. I know you think in your mind, I can handle it. I won't do this. I won't do that. You have no idea what you'll do if you get out there. The further you get, the harder it is to get back.
[28:15] The further you get, the more sin gets a hold of you and just gets in there and just holds on tight. It's hard to get it off of you. There is a thing I can remember moments in my stupidity of just thinking I'm just going to go this way, go this way.
[28:31] And then fast forward five years and I look back and think, oh my goodness, I never thought I'd be this far away. Never did I plan or intend to go this far.
[28:41] That's the way the world goes. You're not strong enough for it. The strengthening is by staying close to Christ. You get out there in the world, you search for acceptance, you find misery.
[28:55] You search for joy, you end up reaping the wages of your sin. So Christians, stay with Jesus Christ and stay with his followers. Oh, if I could just get it into your hearts, stay with Christ.
[29:09] Life only gets harder without him. The Bible says the way of transgressors is hard. One more thing I want us to consider about Judas, something else that he lost.
[29:24] Look back at Matthew this time, chapter 19. Something else that you miss out on when you walk away from Christ. You miss out on the words of Christ, on revelation and on truth and on light.
[29:43] You miss out on answers to your questions and a greater understanding. You miss out on strengthening and preparation for what lies ahead in life.
[29:54] God, even coming to church on Wednesday, you don't know it, but maybe in a subconscious or maybe spiritual is a better way to say it. A spiritual sense, you're getting strengthened.
[30:05] You're getting prepared for tomorrow. You're getting something that will just be there for you for next week. You're getting it even more ingrained and your feet grounded deeper into the church, into the people of God and what's right.
[30:17] And then finally, you miss out on an inheritance when you walk away. In Matthew 19, verse 28, I'll start in 27.
[30:30] Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore? We being the apostles, Judas being one of them.
[30:42] Verse 28, Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
[31:00] And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
[31:15] Now Judas walked away from that inheritance that night. He walked out on an option or an opportunity to be on a throne and to judge a tribe over Israel.
[31:30] Now he gets replaced in Matthew chapter 1 with a man named Matthias, because that throne has to be occupied. But Judas walked out on an inheritance and an opportunity to be exalted with the Lord Jesus Christ, ruling over the kingdoms of this world, and ruling over a tribe in the greatest nation that would be in the kingdom of heaven, the nation of Israel.
[31:56] Think about, you do the math right now. A throne over a tribe in Israel, in that day the greatest world power that will ever exist, or thirty pieces of silver.
[32:12] The man's not thinking. The man's not doing the math. He didn't make the right choice in that moment. But what about you? What about you?
[32:24] Are you making the right choice? When it comes to what God has promised you, and offering you in the future? Look at Colossians. We'll be done with this. Colossians chapter 3.
[32:41] What about you? I'll start in verse 1. Colossians 3 verse 1.
[32:53] If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
[33:05] For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. And come to the end of this chapter now, and speaking of your service in verse 23, And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance.
[33:29] For ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong, which he hath done, for there is no respect to persons. I know you know the Bible, 1 Corinthians 3, and you know the passages there in 2 Corinthians 5.
[33:45] So what about you? The judgment seat of Christ as it comes, and the rewards are dealt out, and whatever Christ sees fit to give, and to lay before you as a reward for the service that you've done for him.
[33:58] It's mind-boggling to me. I can't, my mind can't focus on anything there. It's just a blur of what that's going to be.
[34:11] I can read the scripture, and I can't understand it. I can't understand what exactly all of that means. Ye shall also appear with him in glory. And whatever it is that God has for us, I know that it's better than what this world offers me.
[34:26] I know that it's going to be in that moment of time, if that's even an accurate way of saying it, in that time and standing before him and being judged, there will be only one thought that I have toward everything I've given to the world.
[34:40] It will be regret. I wish to God I never looked that way once. And then I'll just wish I did more for him. So what about you?
[34:53] You walk away from Jesus Christ, you're going to miss out on a reward. And 2 John says, Look to yourselves that you lose not those things which you have wrought.
[35:06] You don't want to lose that. You may not even understand it. I don't understand it, but I know it's better. I know it's worth striving for. I know I want to receive something.
[35:18] I know I don't want to be the last in line or the least among everybody in that day. I'm sure I'll be plenty in front of me, but I don't want to be the guy that everybody looks at and says, Oh, look how much he loved Christ.
[35:32] Look how much he loved the world and didn't love Jesus Christ. Because if you're a child of God, this has got your name on it. You'll stand before him.
[35:42] You'll give account of yourself to God. You'll receive what you've earned, good or bad, and we'll all see it. It'll be a spectacle.
[35:55] Now let's live for the glory of God today. Let's not walk away from Christ. Let's earn some things for the glory and praise of Jesus Christ. And he's a just God and a good God.
[36:07] And he doesn't reward us after our sins. He will reward us for our service. And my challenge to you tonight is to stick by Jesus Christ till the day you die.
[36:21] Get in both feet. Get in as deep as you can go. And it'll be worth it. Don't be a Judas. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you'll drive these thoughts into our hearts.
[36:33] and motivate us to serve you and to keep on. Lord, help us when we do get distracted or frustrated even, when we get tired of fighting.
[36:44] Help us to remember what Judas received and how it's not worth it. And I pray you'll give each one of us the grace to continue. You'll give us the strength and reassurance that we need in our spirits to move forward and to endure the afflictions and to press on.
[37:05] Thank you for the word of God, for the examples in this precious book that point us to a better life. Thank you for your promises of one day coming back and getting us. And even so, come Lord Jesus.
[37:18] It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. You are dismissed. Amen. You are dismissed.