[0:00] Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn with me to the book of Mark, chapter 14. We are in one of the most horrific stories in the Bible. Well, you just finished the story where a lady loved Jesus so much, she walked in and broke the alabaster box and worshipped him as she anointed him.
[0:17] And now we are to a guy who has spent over three years living with Jesus, walking with Jesus, hearing every sermon he has preached, listening to every lesson, gone out and been used of God to do a work when they were sent forth to witness.
[0:38] Very likely God allowed miracles to be worked by his hands. There's no indication that he didn't. And yet this man will die and go to hell.
[0:48] The verse will end, the story will end with, it would have been better for this guy if he had never been born. By the way, that statement can be made about anybody in this room who doesn't get saved.
[1:00] If you don't get saved, it would have been better for you that you had never been born. When I think about Judas, I think about a guy who's walking with Jesus for three years, the greatest preacher who ever lived, the greatest person who ever lived, the greatest teacher who ever lived, the greatest lover who loved and cared for people and met their needs, and yet he went bad.
[1:20] So I want to go over seven things I think that you can look at in his life that just might be in your life. Let me just be blunt, honest with you. The very first thing, and the thing that worries me the most of all, would be that you would be a part of a church that tries its best every week in Sunday school and all the church services and foundations or discipleship to teach you the Bible, and you would be here and hear it all and not get saved.
[1:50] That scares me to death. That is horrific. You say, how could that be possible? It was possible with spending seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with Jesus to die and go to hell that close.
[2:06] I think maybe there's some problems that we can see in his life that might lead to that. I just want you to look at them with me, and I want you to examine yourself. I want you to make sure you're saved.
[2:16] And then if you're a Christian, you're born again, and you know you're going to heaven, I want you to avoid everything that Judas does that's so wrong that easily leads Christians away.
[2:29] The truth is that many of us that are saying we wouldn't betray him, we won't lose our salvation, it will never get to the point that it was better that we were never born, but we might be like Peter and deny him.
[2:41] We might walk away from him. I quite often see people that for some reason backslide and go away from the Lord, so I want to help you with that today. Go with me if you would to Mark chapter 14 and verse 10.
[2:53] The first thing I believe is covetousness, idolatry. He allowed the idolatry of covetousness in his life. He had personal ambition.
[3:05] He was looking out for number one. He was thinking about number one. The Bible says in Mark 14, 10, And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priest to betray him unto them, and when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.
[3:24] You should underline that. They promised to give him money, and so he said, I'll find a good convenient way to betray him. It's possible that Judas' desire for money could have started him down a path that will lead him to betray Jesus.
[3:42] His desire to be somebody could have started him down that same path. Judas saw Jesus come along. Jesus working miracles. Jesus looking like he could be the Messiah.
[3:54] And all of a sudden, Judas is thinking, I need to hook on to that guy. I can go places. I can be somebody. I can accomplish something. But he was a thief. Judas was a thief.
[4:06] The whole time he's with Jesus, he's a thief. Look at the Bible says in John chapter 12 and verse 4, Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot.
[4:17] Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot. That's who we're talking about. Simon's son, which should betray him. Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pits to give to the poor?
[4:29] He didn't care about the poor people, it says. Look at the verse. But because he was a thief, and he had the bag. He was the treasurer. He carried the money, and he buried what was put therein.
[4:40] He was like, we need that money put in the bag. And Peru, where I lived for 18 years with my family, we didn't use bank accounts because they charged you to have a bank account.
[4:51] And often the charge to have a bank account was so much, unless you were pretty wealthy, that charge was more than you could really afford to put in there. And so we literally had men with bags. I got them like a money bag from the bank, and they could put the money in it.
[5:05] And so at the end of church, treasurer came up. Two men counted it, put the money in there. Everybody signed off. They had the money. And then they walked out with the bag. And you just had to, I mean, you really got to trust a guy because he's got the bag.
[5:17] One of the men one time, the bag got stolen, and all the money was gone. And all of a sudden, he comes back to the church, and he says, you know, I was robbed, and they got the bag.
[5:30] Well, there's always a lingering doubt. Did the bag get stolen, or did he say it got stolen? Well, anyway, old Judas, the Bible, God just makes it clear out up front.
[5:40] No, he's not making that one up. He stole the money. He doesn't care about the poor people. He's a thief. He wants money. When he goes in to see the high priest, chief priest in Matthew 26, 15, he says, what will y'all give me?
[5:58] I'll betray him. How much can I get out of it? Now, I know what you're thinking. Okay, Judas is a bad guy. He loved money. He loved personal ambition. He was trying to be somebody.
[6:10] Do you know that one of the things that the Lord Jesus warns us as believers about is covetousness? Did you know we live in the middle of the, I mean, this is like a lap of luxury where we live.
[6:23] One of the most expensive cities, one of the most expensive areas. The same house that you live in right now, if you just put it in another part of the country, would be half as much value. And money can start to have a hold on us.
[6:37] The Bible says in Colossians 3, 5. Listen to what the Bible says. Mortify, therefore, your members. Put to death your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence.
[6:51] And it's written right here behind me, but you ought to look it up in the Bible. And covetousness, which is idolatry. Money.
[7:02] Wanting. Hungering for position. For money. The job becomes more important than principles or character or God.
[7:13] All of a sudden, covetousness. I need money. No, I don't love money. I just love what money will do for me. Judas joined to be part of the Messiah, the leader who would free Israel.
[7:26] Judas was able to get money. I just want to say this. It's pretty obvious if you read the story that Judas had a money problem, and that definitely didn't help him want to serve God.
[7:41] Yesterday, I had a personal conflict. A money conflict. I went and I bought some dog food, and I bought a pallet of dog food.
[7:54] So I bought this dog food. I took this dog food home, and I paid for 13 bags. Because that's what they said they were. I got home, and it was 16 bags. Now I'm a preacher and a Christian.
[8:06] But I'm thinking, they loaded it. They put it on the trailer. They counted the bags. I drove home.
[8:17] And my covetous meter was going, that was a good deal. I'd already gotten like a 15% discount. And now I was thinking, phew, it's even better than that.
[8:28] I mean, it's like a, I don't know, it's like a budget discount. So I was counting them. Maybe I'm counting wrong. But I counted them like four times. You ever had a covetous moment? And then I said, okay.
[8:39] So I called them, and we drove down there. And I paid for nothing as I walked out. I walked in, and I said, I need to pay you for three bags of dog food. They said, where are they? I said, I already got them a thousand. Y'all didn't count them right.
[8:51] They didn't say thank you. They didn't say, what an honorable man. They didn't say, you must be a Christian. They just said, thank you very much. I need money. Stick your card in that little thing right over there.
[9:02] But we all got a little covetous meter. Come on, tell the truth. We got a little covetous meter. And that covetousness can lead us to not be who we ought to be and live up to who we ought to be.
[9:14] Let me give you the second thing I think is horrible about Judas. When you think that knowing the truth is the same as being saved. When you think that knowing the truth is the same as being saved.
[9:26] Look at Mark 14.10. In Mark 14.10, the Bible says, Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve. You should underline that phrase. And it's used with his name almost every time.
[9:38] He's one of the twelve. You understand what that means? And all of those are going to follow Jesus. And all the people that belong to Jesus. He's not one of the bunch. He's not one of the seventy. He's not one of the crowd.
[9:49] He's one of the twelve. He's an apostle. He's as high up there as you can get. He's one of the twelve. He heard every sermon.
[10:00] He listened to every lesson. He knew Jesus intimately. When everybody went home, Judas and Jesus and the other eleven guys were there. Around the campfire, in the living room, wherever they were, they were together.
[10:12] He spent a great time, a great deal of time with Jesus. He knew everything. If you'd have walked up to him and said, hey, Judas, what's Jesus preaching? He's heard those messages.
[10:24] You don't know this, but since you're such a missionary church, I'll tell you that missionaries that travel on the road, like all of our guys, we've got like twenty families right now out on the road somewhere preaching. And they're going to preach this morning what they preached last Sunday morning.
[10:37] And last Wednesday night, and last Sunday night, and last Sunday before that. And so when they preach, it's because they got one message, buddy, and they got that one good. And they only got to show up one time and preach one time, and they're going to preach that message, and they can bring the house down with that message.
[10:53] I used to be, when I was a missionary, I'd be traveling. I'd walk out of the church, and I'd get in the car, and Chris, my oldest son, was like twelve, and he'd go, Dad, you forgot point two, letter C. Sometimes we get in the car, and he'd say, I've been thinking about your message, Daddy, and I can help you improve it.
[11:10] Because I've got a better illustration than the one you're using. Don't you think Judas heard that? If you've read, I remember we were preaching through the book of John. You know, we go through the Bible, and we do chapter after chapter, and I was preaching through the book of John, and somebody came to me, and they said, your messages are very repetitive.
[11:27] It's kind of like what you said last week. I said, is it what the text is saying? They said, yes. I said, so the text is saying what it said last week. They said, yes. And they were kind of like, can't we just put all these together and move on?
[11:38] I'm like, he must have wanted it said a bunch. Amen. He kept saying it a bunch. He must have wanted it said a bunch. Don't you reckon old Judas could have gone, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, whosoever believes in him shall preach, but have everlasting life.
[11:49] For all that sin comes short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. You know, he knew it all. Twelve apostles, twelve patriarchs, sixty-six books in the Bible, thirty-nine old, twenty-seven to new. He'd been to vacation Bible school.
[12:00] He had all the little Sunday school ribbons. He'd been there so, y'all don't know about that. Back in the old days, when I was a kid, you used to get a little pen, and every year you went, they'd give you a little thing. I've seen people that had those things to hang all the way to the floor.
[12:12] They never miss a day of Sunday school all their life. That's Judas. That's Judas. He knew, but he didn't know. He knew, but he didn't know.
[12:23] He knew all the facts, but he'd never accepted that. You could be a person attending a church like Vision or another church like ours that teaches you the Bible. You know about sin.
[12:34] You know even that you're a sinner. You know that Jesus died on the cross. You know that Jesus is buried. You know that Jesus wrote us again. You know all the things you're supposed to know, but they have never become reality in your life.
[12:46] That's what happened to Judas. He knew, but they weren't real. Go over to Mark chapter 14, verse 17. Mark 14, 17. Third thing, you'll betray him if you think you can fake it and be a hypocrite.
[13:05] You see, a true hypocrite is a guy that's acting like he's saved when he's not saved. That's what a hypocrite is. Look at Mark chapter 14, verse 17. And in the evening, he cometh with the 12.
[13:15] Jesus came with the 12. And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said to them, hey guys, one of you which is eating with me right now is going to betray me. And they began to be sorrowful.
[13:25] Everybody's like, what? There's no way. And then they all started going, Lord, tell me, is it me? Is it I? Am I the one that's going to betray you? And if you look at verse 19, he said to them one by one around the room, around the room they're going, am I the one that's going to betray you?
[13:46] Matthew's asking. John's asking. Peter's asking. Thaddeus is asking. Everybody around the room is asking the question. And one of the, verse 20, and he answered and said, it's one of the 12 that dips with me in the dish.
[14:02] That's the verse of 21, the guy that's going to be betraying me. You know what's so impressive about that? If you know what we know, because history's already been written and we know the story, we all think that when he said, one of y'all's about to betray me, everybody went, Judas, your number is up.
[14:21] He caught you, buddy. But that's not what they did. They didn't know. He was so good at acting the part when it wasn't real that they didn't know.
[14:34] They didn't know. He was the treasurer. You don't get to be the treasurer unless you're trustworthy. You don't get to be the guy that carries the bag unless when you say you lost it, we think we can believe you.
[14:50] He's the treasurer. He's one of the 12. He's been out doing the preaching. He fakes it so much that it's hard to tell that he's not one of them.
[15:00] He was one of them. He had sweet talks with Jesus. In fact, as the Bible says in Psalm 55, 12, it was not an enemy that reproached me. Then I could have borne it.
[15:11] Verse 14, we took sweet counsel together. We walked in the house of God in company. Nobody pointed a finger at Judas. They were afraid it might be them.
[15:21] Judas even stayed when all the people walked away. You remember there was a time in Jesus' ministry when the crowds are following hundreds, maybe thousands of people are following.
[15:33] He goes walking us everywhere. He goes. The whole city comes out. And one day he preaches and everybody leaves. And nobody wants to follow Jesus anymore. That story's in John chapter 6 and verse 66 where it says, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
[15:50] And Jesus actually looked at the 12 and said, y'all going to go away too? But Judas didn't go away. I mean, when the attendance got down and when nobody else showed up on Thursday night, Judas was there.
[16:04] You could fake it. Are you faking it? You've been baptized.
[16:18] You give your offerings. You may teach a Sunday school class. You may be doing any of that. And you know it up here, but it never got down here. And you're just role playing. You're just playing a game.
[16:30] Well, here's what the Bible said about that. It said in Mark chapter 14 and verse 21, the last part, good were it for that man if he had never been born.
[16:45] Buddy, he's about to betray Jesus. How do you go from one of the 12 to betraying Jesus? How do you go from one of the 12 to a betrayer?
[16:57] How do you go from an apostle to a betrayer? Because you're faking it. No one knows that but you. No one knows that but you. Let me just say to you, it said here, it would have been better for him never to be born.
[17:10] Can I say to you, if you're not saved today, it would have been better if you would not be born than for you to die and go to hell. The Bible says in John chapter 3 and verse 36, it says, He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life.
[17:22] He that believes not the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him.
[17:35] Are you faking it? Are you faking it? Do you just come and try to be the Christian because that's good for morality and business and ambition and your wife and keeping the peace with the in-laws?
[17:50] Do you know it up here but you don't know it down here? Are you faking it? Are you faking it? I need you to understand, you're not going to get away with blaming anybody for your not getting saved.
[18:04] You're not going to get away with blaming God for not getting saved. You can't believe anybody else for your failure to believe. It's not your mother or brother or the church and it's not even God.
[18:19] In John 2.25, the Bible said that Jesus knew what was in man. He chose Judas. He brought Judas close to him.
[18:30] He let Judas live with him for three years. In John 6.64, the Bible says, But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him.
[18:45] But you need to understand, God, Jesus loved Judas. Jesus loved Judas. He didn't want him to go to hell.
[18:56] In Psalm 145, the Bible said, The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his work.
[19:13] Jesus never tried to hurt Judas. He just tried to love him. In Matthew 26.48, it said, And he that betrayed him gave him a sign saying, The guy I kissed, that'll be the one. And in verse 49, he came to Jesus and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him.
[19:28] You know how Jesus responded? He knew. He knew. He knew it was Judas. He knew Judas was going to betray him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, why'd you come?
[19:41] Friend, why'd you come? And they took him away. I just want you to understand, Some of you aren't saved. You've not been saved. You've not put your faith in Christ, but you're faking it.
[19:52] You know all about it. But you never really trusted Christ. And some of you want to come up with an excuse that it's not your responsibility to trust Christ. That if God wanted you to save, God would do something.
[20:04] He has done something. Jesus died on a cross for you to be saved. And you have a free gift being offered to you. And all you need to do is accept that gift.
[20:15] Amen. Amen. The next problem. Go with me if you would to Luke chapter 9 and verse 1. The next thing that I think is a big problem for us is somehow we begin to think somewhere along the way that if we do ministry, we're saved.
[20:28] If we do good stuff, we're saved. If we're good people, we're saved. And Judas could easily have claimed that one if he'd have wanted to. I mean, if anybody can say, if anybody can say, I'm doing, it's Judas.
[20:42] In Luke chapter 9 and verse 1, then he called the 12 disciples together, and he gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. And he sent them, the 12, to preach the kingdom and heal the sick.
[20:55] You understand what happened? Judas is in the middle of it. He's helping take up the offering. He's helping count the money. He's the treasurer. He's going out on evangelistic campaigns. He's being sent to preach the kingdom.
[21:07] He's being sent to heal the sick. There's no distinction made. There's none. Oh, y'all go, but Judas, you're not real. Judas is doing everything. You need to understand clearly this morning that what you do doesn't take you to heaven.
[21:26] It's what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary that takes you to heaven. The little boy came running in at the end of the service, and he said, he said, pastor, pastor, I know the invitation's over.
[21:37] The church service is over, but what can I do to be saved? The pastor said, sorry, son, it's too late. Nothing you can do. The little boy hung his head, and tears came to his eyes, and the pastor said, it's already been done, son.
[21:49] All you need to do is accept this free gift. And that's all you've got to do to be saved. Trust Jesus. One of the most horrendous passages of Scripture in the Bible to me is found in Matthew 7, verse 21.
[22:02] And it comes right to good church people like us because we tend to think what we're doing means we're saved. We also tend to think what we're doing makes us better than other people.
[22:13] In Matthew 7, verse 21, the Bible said, not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But who gets in? He that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
[22:27] Many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?
[22:38] And then will I profess on them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work iniquity. Let me tell you what Jesus wants you to do. You've got to do the will of his Father. You know what the will of his Father is? Believe on him. In John 5, 24, the Bible says, verily, verily, I said to you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life.
[22:54] It's believe in what the Father said, believe in what Jesus said. That's what he wants you to do. But these people are like, hey, I have preached the messages. I have taken care of the sick. I have helped the lepers.
[23:05] I have helped the widows. I have helped the orphans. I've been a good person. But you don't go to heaven because of what you do. If you did, Judas would have gone to heaven. Judas did everything.
[23:17] He's the treasurer of the church. He's a part of the 12. He's one of the deacons. He's not just a deacon. He's a deacon that carries the purse. He's somebody.
[23:28] But you don't go to heaven for what you do. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works. If you're here this morning and you think that what you're doing will get you to heaven, you need to wake up.
[23:46] You need to wake up. My wife was christened as a baby, baptized or sprinkled again at 12 when she got into the church. And when she heard the gospel the first time, she had never even known how to be saved.
[23:59] But her family was doing all the right stuff, taking her to all the right places, doing all the right stuff for her to go to heaven. And a girl walked in the room while she was in college, opened the Bible and showed her how to be saved.
[24:09] And she immediately knew. That's what she had to do. It's not about what you do. It's about knowing Jesus. Now let me give you another. What's really bad that could lead us to betray the Lord, that could be a step to betrayal, is how we let other people influence us to our detriment.
[24:34] See, it's easy to get caught up in the moment. It's easy to let the flow carry you. It's easy to let what mom and dad and brothers and sisters and wife and children and neighbors and friends and everybody else thinks affect what you do.
[24:46] But you stand or you fall before the Lord. The Bible says in Exodus chapter 23 and verse 2, Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.
[24:59] Don't follow the crowd and do wrong. But there's something about human beings that you need to listen to what I'm going to tell you. There's something about human beings that will let the worst guy speak up and we'll all go along with it.
[25:12] We'll let one person try to make us doubt God and we'll go along with it. We'll let one person throw up a flag and try to make us doubt what the Bible says. And we'll go along with it without thinking, without praying, without searching the scriptures, without knowing God.
[25:26] John 12, 4. John 12, 4. Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him.
[25:37] Why was not this ointment sold? And what I want you to notice is this. So here's the real story. The story right before we hear about Jesus being betrayed by Judas is a story about the woman breaking the box and pouring the ointment on Jesus' head.
[25:53] She also does several other acts of worship there to worship him. And one guy in the room goes, I can't believe it. They took the money that could have been used for that perfume and we could have given it to the poor.
[26:08] That was Judas. The Bible tells us that in John 12, verse 4. It was Judas who said it. But you know what the rest of the apostles did? They said, Amen.
[26:20] Look at this. Look at your Bible. If you would. In Matthew chapter 26 and verse 8. When his disciples saw it, they had indignation.
[26:31] Saying, to what purpose is this waste? So here's old Judas. Judas goes, I don't appreciate that. Hey guys, look at that. We've got to have that money. You know, we've got that ministry.
[26:43] We've been trying to get that done. Hey guys, you got that. And the whole crowd rose up. They listened to the wrong guy. And they stood against the lady. And Jesus rebukes Judas.
[26:55] And he rebukes the apostles. And he said, hey, that's enough. What she's done is good and right. You always have the poor with you. You don't always have me.
[27:06] Don't allow others to do your thinking. Don't allow the crowd or the God haters or sinners or slackers and people that don't want to carry their weight.
[27:19] Do your thinking. Think for yourself. And avoid being led down a path to betrayal and destruction. I just want you to realize something. The second you decide to serve Jesus, people are going to do everything in their power to get you to not serve Jesus.
[27:33] And if you get saved, and if you get saved, and you trust Jesus and you're on the road, then they will do everything they can to get you off the path. They don't want you saved, but they definitely don't want you sold out.
[27:49] And you know what we're real good at? We're real good at being halfway in and halfway out. You know what we're real good at? What's the least number of services?
[27:59] What's the least I've got to do? What I've got to do because everybody's doing that. And so churches all over the place are following suit. Let's cut all the services. It works good for preachers, by the way.
[28:10] You get paid the same amount, work half as much, third as much. But don't listen to the wrong crowd. Don't listen to the wrong person. Do your own thinking. Last one I want to show you.
[28:21] Go with me to John chapter 12 and verse 4 if you would again. I want you to realize that sin gains momentum in your life.
[28:34] And it goes faster and faster and farther and farther. You know, if we go back to the very beginning of Judas' story, you've got to wonder, was he close?
[28:49] Was he that close to being saved? Was he that close to being right? The Bible doesn't tell us anything about it. But Jesus calls him. Now, I don't think the Bible anywhere teaches that he was forced to deny Jesus.
[29:03] I don't think the Bible anywhere teaches that he was born to deny Jesus. He wasn't born a devil. He took steps that led that way. And he had a chance that he steps in. But what ends up happening, he's right there with Jesus.
[29:16] He's right there in the middle of all the preaching. He's right there in the middle of all the teaching. But I don't know. Was it, I want to be a disciple so I can gain some notoriety, so people know who I am and people watch me.
[29:28] I can be a leader in all the crowds that come along. I can steal the money out of the purse. What happened? But sin kept pushing him, and it became a fast-moving train he couldn't stop.
[29:42] And by the end, it'll be a horror story. He had the same opportunities to be saved, to serve Jesus as the others. He had followed Jesus willingly. Instead of believing, Jesus fakes the life of a believer.
[29:55] He wasn't a believer. He just fakes it. And his greed grows to the point that Jesus rebuked him. In John 12, verse 7, Jesus said, Let her alone.
[30:06] Verse 8, The poor always you have with you, but me you have not always. You see, Judas had his priorities out of order. Judas didn't realize it was Jesus and not the money.
[30:19] Judas only sees this present world and this present situation and not what was in the future. By the end of the story of Judas, in Luke chapter 22 and verse 3, the Bible said, Then entered Satan into Judas.
[30:38] Look at that. Satan wasn't in him back there. Satan wasn't in him all this. Satan wasn't in him. Satan wasn't in him. Satan wasn't in him. Satan wasn't in him. It wasn't Satan's fault.
[30:50] And then right there at the last, he'd give in, give in, give in, give in, give in, taking wrong steps, taking wrong steps, taking wrong steps. And now he's here and Satan has entered into him. That's what the Bible says.
[31:05] You know, he regrets what he did. The shame and the failure. In Matthew chapter 27 and verse 3, Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, repented.
[31:16] And he went and hung himself. That's at the end of verse 5. He went and hung himself. I walk with Jesus. I walk with Jesus.
[31:26] I know I hadn't been fully in. I know I've been faking it. Probably tomorrow I'm going to get my life right with God. Probably tomorrow I'm going to go ahead and pray. I've been thinking it's time for me to quit playing games. I've been thinking it's time for me to get right with God. But sin kept taking more and more and more control until by the end the devil's got him and it's over.
[31:43] So he betrays Jesus for money. And he's sorry. And he goes and hangs himself. But by now he's such a failure, he even botches his suicide. I don't know if the rope broke or the tree broke.
[31:59] But he hangs himself out over some kind of cliff evidently. And he hangs himself. And then his body falls and his guts bust out. Acts chapter 1 and verse 18.
[32:10] Now this man purchased the field with the reward of iniquity and falling headlong he burst asunder in the midst. And all his bowels gushed out. What a sad story.
[32:24] But a story so true. If you're faking it, it's true for you. Not the suicide part. Not the hanging yourself part. But you're going to die and go to hell.
[32:37] And the sad truth is you know. In India, they don't know. In China, they don't know. In other countries, they don't know.
[32:47] But you know. You know he loves you. You know he died for you. You know you can be saved. You know it's a free gift. For the wages of sin is death.
[32:58] But the gift of God is eternal life. But you keep faking it. You wouldn't want anybody to see you admit that you'd sin. And you're going to die and go to hell.
[33:08] The very first time the Holy Spirit dealt with your heart about your sin. In a service, you almost went forward. You were sitting there thinking.
[33:22] That's me. He's talking to me. The Holy Spirit is talking to me. But you were able to calm it down and say no. And every service you've gone to since then, it's just a little quieter. A little quieter.
[33:32] And some of you have already reached a place. Not one word. The Holy Spirit doesn't. But you know you're not saved. You know you never trusted Christ. Don't play this game. And Christian.
[33:44] Let's be real. And Christian. Let's not let money govern our lives. And Christian. Let's don't think that doing ministry makes God love us better than he does anybody else.
[33:57] For God so loved the world. Now, this morning, if you're here and you're not saved, you can be saved. Right now.
[34:09] He loves you. Resist what everybody's going to think. Resist the desire to wait till tomorrow and say today, I trust Jesus.
[34:23] I trust Jesus.