[0:00] Well, I don't know how it ever got to that. He was one of the first apostles. He was the treasurer of the group.
[0:11] He knew Jesus well. He listened to all of his preaching. He watched all of his healings. He'd seen God work. But by the story we're in today, he is now going to kiss the very door of heaven and go to hell.
[0:28] And so I would like you to think through with me some things this morning about Judas that you might consider and see where you are and make sure that's not your story.
[0:40] How could it be with the greatest pastor who ever lived and the greatest congregation it ever was, how could it be that a person would get so bad off that they would die and go to hell after all of that?
[0:54] Let's bow our heads forward in prayer if you would. Father, I pray that you would work today I pray that you would save those that are religious but not saved.
[1:04] I pray God that you would shake people to look and examine themselves and make sure they're on their way to heaven. And I pray dear God that you would get us ready to see you and to Lord not fall into this trap and I'll give you honor and glory for all you do in Jesus name.
[1:24] Amen. I'm going to give you seven things today. I'm going to give them all to you right now and then we'll go back through them with you. There's seven things from the life. This is Judas. You know his story. Judas.
[1:35] He's one of the twelve. By the way, you probably think he was a devious looking, ugly guy but he was totally the opposite of that. If you had seen the apostles, you would have ranked Judas as being one of the most important.
[1:48] He had the job of carrying the bag. He was the treasurer of the group. And so you don't give the money to the shifty eyed guy. You don't give the money to the guy that looks like he might going to be run off with the money.
[2:02] You kind of look for a guy you kind of think you can trust and that's the guy you give the money. By the way, on the night that he will betray Jesus and Jesus says, I'm about to be betrayed when he says that nobody goes, oh, it's Judas.
[2:16] We know it's old Judas. We've been watching him for three and a half years. That guy's a scumbag. Not a one said that. Instead of saying that, they went, could it be me? Am I the one?
[2:27] Is it I? Am I the one that's going to do it? That's what they were actually saying. I think this is like the most tragic story you could ever read. Jesus said, it would have been better for that guy if he had never been born.
[2:39] There's seven little things I wish you'd take home with you out of his life story, I think. Number one, he was so close to the truth, but so far away. So close to the truth, but so far away.
[2:52] Number two, you can be wrong in the right environment. You can be wrong in the right environment. Number three, you can be respected and lost.
[3:05] You can be respected and go to hell. Number four, you can know the truth and still go to hell. You can know the truth and still go to hell.
[3:17] How about this one? You can repent and not be forgiven. You can repent and not be forgiven. You never expect sin to be so bad.
[3:34] But if you keep slipping and giving in to sin, finally Satan will take full control. And that's what happens in the story. So go with me if you would.
[3:44] Look, the first one I said to you was so close to the truth, but so far away. Judas was a disciple of the Lord Jesus. He's one of the apostles. He's one of the twelve.
[3:55] He's heard all the teaching and the preaching that Jesus has done. Jesus called him and all the other apostles his friend. He's gone out with the other 69 guys.
[4:05] The 70 have gone out to witness. He's one of those guys. He's gone out to witness. There's a very good chance he has been convicted of his sin. He has felt like I have sinned.
[4:16] I am wrong. He has sat through some of Jesus' preaching and very likely he's thought, man, I need to make a decision. I need to do something. I mean, how could you see every miracle and hear every message that Jesus preached and stay the same?
[4:30] How could he see such love manifested and not yield himself to it? He was trusted. He's a trusted guy in the group. Never one negative word is said about him.
[4:40] Now when you're reading the Bible and you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, every time his name's mentioned it's going to say Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus. But that's what they write after the fact when they know who he was.
[4:52] But all through the story they don't know who he is and they have no idea. At supper, no one questions Judas, that it'll be him that will betray Jesus. Did he just get used to the truth and ignore it?
[5:06] Did he just get used to the truth and ignore it? See, you can be so close to the truth. You can be so close to the truth but still be so far away. My fear today for you is you live in the southeast part of the United States of America.
[5:22] You know all about Judas. You know all about Jesus. You know all about the cross. You know all about salvation. You know all about baptism. In fact, you know as much as I know about almost anything I'm going to say to you. In fact, you sit there in judgment and say, well, he's pretty good.
[5:34] He's not so good. Others are better because you can really sit in judgment because you've been in church that much. But could it be you're that close and still so far away?
[5:45] The second thing, I'd like you to go with me if you would to John chapter 12 and verse 1. In John chapter 12 and verse 1. You can be wrong in the right environment. You can be wrong in the right environment.
[5:57] I think sometimes people like us, us old-fashioned southern independent Baptist type of people, we're like, if you can just get them in the right environment, they'll do okay. Make sure they don't have any bad friends.
[6:08] Make sure they don't see any bad stuff and they'll do okay. But Judas is in the right, he's in the right environment, but he's wrong. In John chapter 12 and verse 1, Jesus had been, then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
[6:25] There they made him a supper and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them. So this is a wild story. Lazarus has been dead. Jesus has raised him from the dead. And they're at Martha and Mary and Lazarus' house and everything's going on.
[6:39] And in verse 3, Mary takes a pound of... Very expensive and anoints the feet of Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair and the house is filled with the odor of the ointment.
[6:52] And one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, the one that's going to betray Jesus, said, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?
[7:03] Now, can you imagine this? We're in the middle of like the most exciting worship service. I mean, if we were all sitting around here and your brother who had been dead for four days was raised again and you're sitting in the room and the guy who raised him from the dead is sitting there with you and the family's having a supper and everybody, I mean, you can imagine the joy.
[7:19] They're jumping up and down. They're excited. Lazarus is alive. Jesus is the one that raised him from the dead and here comes Mary and she pours that ointment on his feet and she's wiping his feet with her hair and everybody's worshiping and everybody's excited but Judas is over going, huh, that's a lot of money right there.
[7:38] That's a year's salary in that ointment there. We could have given that to some poor people. They are surrounded by love. The family's excited and blessed. Everyone else is serving and loving.
[7:48] They spend their lives serving. They're in the middle of a worship service but Judas, is not worshiping. Being in a perfect environment is not enough. Judas lived and walked with Jesus for three years or over three years.
[8:04] Over three years and he will go to hell. Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. Paradise. You couldn't have been in a better environment than Adam and Eve had to begin the story of the Bible.
[8:17] You couldn't have been in a place any better than that but they still fell in sin. You could have a good family, a good church, and a good pastor and you could still go to hell because you choose whether you will obey or not.
[8:31] You see, Judas heard every one of those messages and every time Judas made a small little decision about what he was going to do, every time he rejected the message, every time he said, that's not for me, every time he said, I'm not going to go along with that.
[8:46] Your parents can't choose for you, your friends and your church can't choose for you. Do you need to understand something? If you don't accept Christ as your Savior, if you don't accept your condition as a sinner and trust Christ as your Savior, you can blame no one but yourself.
[9:03] So when you look at Judas today, you might be thinking, well, poor guy, sorry, a lot in life, God picked him to send him to hell. That's not what the story says. See, the story is that Judas was there and Judas heard the preaching and Judas could have accepted the Lord.
[9:15] And look in James chapter 1 with me, if you would, in verse 13. James chapter 1 and verse 13. Look what the Bible says. In James chapter 1 and verse 13, the Bible says, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God.
[9:29] For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man. Now look at that verse and make sure you take that home with you. When you get tempted to do wrong, you can mark one thing down, it's not God doing a tempting.
[9:40] When you decide not to accept Christ, it's not God helping you decide not to accept Christ. When any man is tempted, he is not tempted of God because God can't be tempted and God doesn't tempt people.
[9:51] Look at the next verse and you'll figure out what happens. Verse 14. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust. You got your Bible open there? Underline that. Every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust.
[10:04] It's what I want. It's what Judas wants. It's what the plan is that Judas has when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And this story is going to end in death. Just like James wrote right here, verse 15.
[10:15] Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth when desire and hunger for doing wrong is conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it's finished, brings forth death.
[10:27] You can be wrong in a right environment. Do you know people are going to go to hell from Baptist church chairs or pews? Do you know that people have been baptized and every religious denomination in the world can go to hell?
[10:39] It's not about where you go to church. It's not about did you get baptized as a baby. It's not about did you have good godly parents. It's not about did you have a good church.
[10:50] If it was, oh, Judas would have been okay. If it was, Adam and Eve would have been okay. Third thing I want you to look at. Go with me to John chapter 13 and verse 29. You can be respected and lost.
[11:04] I think somewhere along the way we kind of got this idea in our heads that sinners look like Syria. We kind of got this idea in our head that sinners look like devious shifty eyed drug addicts meth addicts.
[11:17] We got this idea that these sinners these people they're the really bad people but most of us good common people like us we're not that bad. That's kind of the attitude we kind of develop along the way.
[11:29] But in the story in Judas you can find this out you can even be respected and lost. You can be respected and still go to hell. The Bible says in John chapter 13 and verse 29 for some of them thought because Judas had the bag that Jesus said unto him buy those things that we have need of against the feast or that he should give something to the poor.
[11:51] They're at the last supper. Judas is just he already has a contract to get Jesus arrested and they're at the supper and they're at the supper right there and when Jesus looks at Judas and says go and do what you gotta do quickly they never even thought he was gonna go do wrong.
[12:06] They thought he was gonna go buy some food. They thought he was gonna go give something to the poor because he was a respected guy. He had the bag. He had the bag. Look at it.
[12:16] Judas had the bag. That's like the guy who carries the money in the church. So no one even considered that Judas was about to do what Judas was about to do.
[12:28] I think sometimes we look at sinners and we don't want to say I have sinned. We want to say I know what sin looks like and it's not me. When you look up sinner in the dictionary it's a drug addict.
[12:39] It's a thief. It's a murderer. It's a rapist. It's a terrorist. But it's not a guy like me. But Judas if you'd have seen Judas that day in our terms he would have been in a suit and tie.
[12:52] He'd have looked like the most honest man you could have ever met. None of the apostles none of the apostles when Jesus said go do what you gotta do they didn't go yep it's him he's going to get him killed right now.
[13:03] They didn't even do that. Look at the story they did not do that. He was respected but he was lost. People had high opinions of him but he was lost. He was a thief.
[13:15] Look in John chapter 12 and verse 6 Then he said not that he cared for the poor this he said not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and he had the bag.
[13:27] At the last supper now no one's questioned that it's him. Now listen to me quickly doing right has never been enough. Doing right has never been enough.
[13:40] You need to understand this salvation is not by works of righteousness which we have done. Titus chapter 3 and verse 5 It's not by something I've done.
[13:53] Salvation's always by grace. The Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. Judas could have easily walked around in the room saying I'm the treasurer.
[14:07] I'm one of the main guys. There's Peter, James, John and Judas. Hey you don't see Bartholomew getting mentioned as much as you do me. You don't see the other guys I am one of the main guys.
[14:18] I'm the guy they gave the money to. I'm the guy they trusted to be the CFO of the apostles. I'm a respected guy. But Judas isn't saved. You see pride is the greatest hindrance to getting saved.
[14:31] And sometimes we get really big on ourselves. And man when you live in a place like Alpharetta when you live in a place like this corner of God's paradise your fancy car you drove up and the clothes you're wearing and the house you live in and the job you have and everything screams I'm somebody.
[14:50] I'm somebody. That's what Judas could have thought. but Judas died and went to hell. This morning don't compare yourself to others but to Jesus.
[15:03] See your sin and repent. Realize you've sinned against the Holy God. It doesn't matter if you got money. It doesn't matter if you're somebody.
[15:15] It doesn't matter if other people respect you. It doesn't matter if you're the head of your HOA in your little neighborhood. It doesn't matter if you are the leader at the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.
[15:27] It doesn't matter. There's only one person you can look at and compare yourself to. That's Jesus. And we have all sinned and we have all come short of the glory of God and we can't go to heaven.
[15:38] You see you can be so close to the truth but so far away. You can be wrong in a right environment and you can be respected and lost. You can be respected and lost.
[15:50] I want to show you the next one. You ready? This is terrible. You can know the truth and go to hell. You can know the truth and go to hell.
[16:01] Who knows the truth better than Judas? He calls Jesus master. That word really if it were more in a word that we use it wasn't like he was his owner it was his teacher.
[16:12] It was a word that was like prof in Spanish it would be profi. It's a sweet word for you're my teacher. You're the guy that's teaching me. You're the guy that's showing me things. Who heard him preach more?
[16:24] Who's seen more love expressed? You know Jesus didn't leave people sick. Jesus walks into a town Judas is with him. They get into a town and somebody comes up and says I don't feel good Jesus and I'll take care of that.
[16:37] In fact when they take care of that when everybody else in the town comes Jesus can't walk by a funeral without fixing it. He walks by a funeral he's got to raise the guy from the dead. Judas has seen all of that.
[16:48] Judas has heard all the preaching. See it's not knowing truth but acting on truth. It's not knowing truth but acting on truth.
[16:59] It's not knowing that Jesus loves you. It's not knowing that Jesus died for you. It's not knowing that there's a heaven. It's not knowing that you're a sinner. It's that you personally not your mama not your daddy and not somebody else but you personally looked at yourself and said I have sinned against the holy God and I'm going to confess my sin and trust Jesus.
[17:18] Knowing truth and not obeying it can sear your conscience. Look if you would with 1 Timothy 4 verse 2. 1 Timothy 4 verse 2 it uses the term a conscience seared with a hot iron.
[17:33] Did you know a person can get so bad they just don't feel conviction anymore? Did you know a person can get so bad they just don't feel bad about their sin anymore? A person can get to the point that they can do wicked wrong and when they do wicked wrong and they know they've done wicked wrong they don't even feel it.
[17:50] They don't even get it. They don't understand. See can you imagine Judas when he first got called to be an apostle when he first started following Jesus maybe he heard the messages and maybe his heart trembled a little bit.
[18:03] Maybe he saw all that was going on and felt the Lord dealing with his heart and maybe Judas could have gotten saved but every day Judas held back took him one step further down that path.
[18:14] The Bible says in Matthew chapter 23 and verse 28 the Bible says even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men. He's talking about the Pharisees but he said within you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
[18:26] Judas you look good man. You got on your three piece suit you got that nice briefcase you're carrying where you got all the church's money in it you're the guy that goes and gives money to the poor you're the guy that counts the offerings when it's all said and done boy you are somebody buddy.
[18:41] You look good on the outside but on the inside does the truth no longer touch you? You come and hear the story of Jesus and how he died on the cross but you've been in church so much it's like you can tell me that story all you want it doesn't touch me anymore.
[19:02] Fifth thing I want you to see you can repent and not be forgiven. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 27 and verse 3 See you can be sorry for your sin you can feel bad about what you've done you can realize what you've done you can admit what you've done and not get saved.
[19:24] Did you hear that? Look at what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 27 and verse 3 Then Judas which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned repented himself underline that he repented and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and our elders saying I have sinned I have betrayed innocent blood and they said we don't care what's that to us?
[19:55] See thou to it and he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and he departed and he hanged himself If you have your Bible open I need you to underline some things because I want you to face up to something I want you to face up to something Judas was sorry for what he did He repented Judas brought the money back Judas said I have sinned Judas said I have betrayed innocent blood Judas threw the money down at the priest's feet Judas has done everything it looks like to say I'm really sorry but by the end of the story he's hung himself he realized he'd done wrong he was sorry he took the money back he admitted it but you see there are two kinds of sorrow for sin and I want you to just check yourself out this morning the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 9 you need to look that up you really need to look this up you need to make sure I'm saying what the Bible says and not what I'm saying in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 in verse 9
[20:56] Paul's writing to the Corinthians he said now I rejoice not that you were made sorry but that you sorrowed to repentance for you were made sorry after a godly manner that you might receive damage by us in nothing look at verse 10 godly sorrow works repentance to salvation godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world works death I'm sure this never happened to any of you but I used to get in trouble when I was a boy and when I got in trouble when I was a boy and daddy would come grab me and he had a belt that was 250 miles long and could wrap around my entire body and he'd grab my hand and I would run in circles while he painted the flag on my backside and I'd say daddy I'm sorry I'm sorry he said are you sorry that you did it are you sorry you got caught I'd be like well you know you ever been speeding and a cop pulls you over you say I'm sorry you know what you're really saying you're not saying
[22:00] I'm sorry I was speeding you're saying I'm sorry you caught me and see Judas was sorry he got caught Judas was sorry he got caught he heard the truth he knew the truth he saw Jesus was dead and he broke his heart and he was sorry but he wasn't the right kind of sorry in verse 9 there's godly manner in verse 10 there's godly sorrow see old Peter's going to deny Jesus three times and Jesus is going to look at him and Peter's going to go running out and find a place and he's going to cry but when he gets through crying he's going to come back and say I was wrong and I'm sorry please use me and Judas is going to run out and say I was sorry there's no hope for me and kill himself which sorrow did Judas show the godly sorrow or the sorrow of the world which sorrow do you show do you honestly see your condition before God are you ready to turn from your sin and submit to God in everything here's what you need to remember sin leads to death or true repentance you can repent really you can say hey I have sinned
[23:18] I have failed I am sorry I want to get my life right with God and mean business and God will save you but if you're just sorry you got caught if you're just sorry people saw you do it if you're just sorry you got a ticket number six you never expect sin to be so bad how do you go from an apostle twelve men in all the story of the Bible you're one of them three and a half years of walking with light on the earth in darkness three and a half years of walking with God three and a half years of seeing people's lives changed sick people healed poor people fed dead people raised did he ever plan for his life to end like this you see we underestimate the power of sin there's no telling how many of you right now they're sitting there going he's right he's right I know I'm not really saved I know I'm not going to go to heaven but I am not about to embarrass myself and let anybody know that's probably what Judas thought that's probably what Judas thought you're sitting there right now saying
[24:22] I know I need to get right with God and I plan on doing it tomorrow I plan on doing it another day but not today you see we underestimate the power of sin we underestimate how sin hurts others and every time we sin it makes it easier to sin again story starts off Judas is a good guy no bad words then later on we find out he's a thief and then later on we find out he's trying to make a bargain to see how much money he gets to turn Jesus in we deny the seriousness of sin we say I'll quit I'll change but most often it's too little too late last thing I want to show you if you keep slipping and give it into sin Satan will take full control that's what happens in the story of that's what happens in the story of Judas I don't know how it goes I don't know what it's like the first time they're at the wedding at the king of king of Galilee I don't know what it's like when they when they see Jesus walk on water
[25:22] I don't know what it's like I don't know what's going on I don't know how Judas just keeps being so hard I've known a lot of church people I think they were church people not God people so in the story here he didn't start out it seems with that bad attitude but slowly it became one it's not what he thought maybe not what he thought maybe the money got to him since he stole from the treasure and he wanted more money I don't know but whatever happened Satan was at work in his heart look at John chapter 13 and verse 2 and supper being ended the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot so he has slipped and slided all the way down to where now the devil puts it in his heart to go and betray Jesus he gave him the thought he gave him the desire and before the story is over
[26:23] Satan has entered into Judas' heart and it's too late look at John chapter 13 and verse 27 and after the sop Satan entered into him and then said Jesus unto him whatever you're going to do do it quickly I'll ask you a simple question will you continue to play with sin until it's too late will you ignore all the warnings will you die and go to hell because you refuse to say no to Satan and no to self it is really time to surrender to the Lord Jesus and be saved it's a tremendously horrific story I'm sorry not enough jokes not enough laughing not enough sweet stories but it's not really I don't know how you get sweet with this I don't know how you tell a nice funny story with this Judas kissed the door of heaven and went to hell the fact is when he turns Jesus in he says watch and the guy I kissed that's him take him and Judas is standing there and Judas walks up to him and gives him a kiss of love and a kiss of respect that's what it usually means
[27:30] Jesus is the door to heaven if anybody could have gotten saved if anybody could have gone to heaven if anybody could have known the truth Judas was the guy please don't be religious and lost please don't depend on what mama and daddy told you they brought you up in a good environment kept you away from bad stuff like my wife you got baptized when you were a baby and then baptized when you were 12 sprinkled when you were 12 sprinkled when you were a baby then you got older don't trust that stuff examine your heart today do you know that you've seen yourself as a sinner and you've trusted Christ this is no game this is no laughing matter because sooner or later we'll stand before God and he knows if you sincerely from your heart have trusted Christ or not he knows would you today trust Christ we love you
[28:31] I want to help you no one here looks down on you no one thinks less of you and no one you should you have no reason to be embarrassed I'll even give the invitation in such an easy way that you don't really have to be embarrassed just a second I'll have some people standing at the back of the room that'll take you and they'll go to some part of the building they'll get an office a man with a man a woman with a woman and they'll open the Bible and answer your questions no pressure no pushing we just want to help you know know him this is not a game this is for real this is for eternity this is for eternity you can be saved today simple truth is the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God the Bible said there's none righteous none perfect none right no not one the Bible says the wages of sin the payment for sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord you can be saved today you can be saved today you can know the free forgiveness of your sins today I ask you to trust
[29:38] Christ you you