Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus is presented as a tragic example of a person who, despite immense privilege and proximity to Christ, ultimately succumbed to evil. The sermon details Jesus' foreknowledge and sorrow over the betrayal, highlighting the symbolic gesture of the sop given to Judas as a final offer of friendship. It emphasizes that Judas was never truly a believer, but rather an unbeliever possessed by Satan, leading to his eternal damnation and a life of infamy. The message concludes by contrasting Judas's choice with the salvation offered through Christ, urging listeners to accept Jesus and avoid a similar tragic end.
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verse twenty-one. When Jesus had thus said he was troubled and spitted, and testified and said, Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breath said unto him, Lord, who is it?
Jesus answered, It is he. He it is, to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot the son of Silan. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had a bag, that Jesus had said unto him, By those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor.
He then, having received a stop, went immediately out, and it was night. What a tragic situation we have before us in this character, Judas. A darker deed never stained the hands of a human being than what Judas Iscariot did. And it's not to think of what this man was and the privileges he had. And yet how he ended up is a tragic, melancholy story. A man guilty of the most horrible, diabolical times in the history of the universe.
Judas Iscariot. He was the devil's undercover agent. The devil had a front seat to look at the personality and performance of the Lord Jesus Christ. People generally want the front seat that there's going to be a big performance or an act. They want a close look at all the personalities. on the stage, and the devil had a front seat in Judas's scalp, watching and observing the Lord Jesus Christ and everything he did, and he found nothing in the Son of God, and yet he denied it.
He betrayed him. How's that, then how's that? Think of the stabbing page, what it must have meant to the Lord Jesus, when one he knew so well was going to the trail. Three times in your Bible the Lord Jesus was troubled in spirit. He was troubled in soul. There was a stabbing pain when one of his loved ones died, and that was Lazarus, for he loved Lazarus. When Lazarus died and the Lord went to the tomb, that he groaned and spit it, he was stabbed.
A painful stab when a loved one was dead. He also was troubled as he thought of the cloth. There he was to be stabbed again, in the brow by the thorn, in the hands and feet by the nails, and in his side by the spear. Stabbing pain, But he was stabbed here. He's troubled. Did we not read that? The Lord was troubled because it was right after supper, after it had the last Passover, and he introduced the Lord's supper, the Lord Jesus then, after the Passover, after the Lord's supper, he was troubled.
What stabbed him? A stab of pain. One of you is going to betray him. One of you is going to give me up to mine enemy. That was a sad thing, Lord. Then the searching perception we have in verse eleven says in verse eleven, For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, ye are not all three. He knew, he perceived, He knew among the twelve there was one who was going to betray us.
One could go into evidence in the Old Testament, we will before we're through, showing you how the Old Testament scriptures predicted what Judas was going to do. And the Lord Jesus knew the Old Testament of this. Thus you see the Lord Jesus and his searching for acceptance. The others didn't perceive anything about Judas. There he had gone with them for three and a half years, and not one of the other disciples detected anything. Judas was from Judea. All the other disciples were Galileans. And Judas was selected to be the secretary.
And none of the other disciples, none of them, respected Judas. But the Lord perceived something in Judas. was not true. What a searching perception. But then what a serious problem. How is the Lord? You have that in verse twenty-six. Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a soft when I dipped it. When he had dipped the soft, he gave it to Judas the scariot, the son of Simon. Now the soft was a gesture of friendship. He dipped a piece of bread into the vine, and he gave it to Judas, a symbol of friendship.
And yet the others didn't even know then, or realize, or believe, or perceive that Judas was a crook. The Lord had a serious problem. Can I expose them when none of the other suspicion them? How am I going to do this? After three and a half years, I'm vague, that in our midst has been a devil. A crook! The Lord had a problem. But he solved that problem, as these would be. When you stop to think of how, when he said, one of you shall betray me, and they all, even to John who leaned on Jesus' bosom, is it me?
No one respected Judas. No one pointed the finger at Judas. What an undercover man he was. How closely he must have walked every move and every word. Not one word, not one deed. And you remember they were sent out two by two. We don't know the one that Judas went along with. But even it's the one that he went with. He didn't perceive anything wrong with you. So the Lord had a problem. To reveal who it was that was going to betray him.
Then you have the sad party in verse thirty. It says in verse thirty, He then having received the shop went immediately out. And it was Night. Now what a sad, sad night that was. There was a night without a dawn when Judas went out. It was night. Judas had turned his back on the light. And now it was night, eternal night. But Judas and Jesus will meet again. For what we have here is not the end of the story.
not the end of the story. Was Judas a Christian? Some people will try and tell it yet. He was a Christian. No, he never was. A prejudiced mind will ignore all the evidence in the Bible that Judas was never a Christian. I remember when I first came south up in North Carolina and Winston Singleton. I met a preacher, he was a very nice fellow and a good preacher, and there were only four in that huge worldwide denomination that held the office that he had. The other is beside himself, and I went to hear him preach.
And he preached, a man could be saved and lost again. And his argument was, Judas Iscariot, that Judas was once a Christian and he lost his salvation. That was one of his arguments. The other was his own experience as a preacher. So many people had professed under this preaching and were so bright, and they went back. And these were the two points that he labored to try and prove his argument that people could be saved and lost. Well, as to the first one, we can dissipate that.
And I told... He was wrong. Jesus was never at the start. Never. But on the other point, he had had lots of experiences about people who made a profession who went back. How did he know that they were saved? All preachers are evangelists who do a lot of evangelistic work, and others who do even personal work have seen people make pretty good professions. I'm not stand up. I can tell you a dozen of them. At the time I thought they were genuine, but they went back. They turned out to be false because they were false all along.
They turned out to be hypocrites because they were hypocrites all along. Though some real Christian, new bachelor, there's no question. And the Lord in his grace will restore them if they want to come back. But a whole lot to make professions were never born again to begin with. And yet this man used that argument that so many people had professed in his meeting, and he said, I know they were saved. And he said, they lost their salvation. So he used Judas and his experiences to try and back up his points. Well, his points can...
be proven false, his whole doctrine was false. And the argument of Judas is very clear. Judas was never a born-again child of God. And as to the other that he knew that those who professed his meaning were Christians, no preacher can say that. The Lord knoweth them that are his. And I read in my Bible some go so far as to say, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in my name. In thy name we've done many wonderful works. We've cast out devils. He says, depart from you. I never knew. A lot of people make professions, and they're not gentlemen.
I haven't seen the books up in heaven. So when a person professes to be saved, I can't be too dogmatic, unless years prove. But a lot of those this brotherly referred to, they had faded out like a firecracker only a few weeks after they made a profession. There's a big difference between a star and a firecracker. A star is permanent. Firecracker flares up, fades out, falls back down. Man-made a firecracker. God makes a star.
And the star, he speaks of his own as the star. The star that he shines forever and ever. All man-made converts are going to come back down. Clear them. Fade them. Fall back. They never had the life of God in them to begin with. This is a serious solemn deal. When you start to think of Judas, just look at Judas, what the scriptures have to say about this betrayer of the Lord Jesus. He was an unbeliever. All you have to do is read John six and six before, I'll read it for you.
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. Christ knew from the very beginning that Judas was an unbeliever, that he had never been saved. That's what your Bible says. And I'll prove later on what the Old Testament has to say about that. Yes, here we find the Lord declaring from the beginning Judas, believe not. And also Christ said he hath a devil. In John six and seventy, Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil.
He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he was that should betray him being one of the twelve. And that was a year before Judas. betrayed the Lord. And the Lord says, These are devils. There's none of these. Judas was never called a saint. He was unregenerous. As we have in verse ten, we spoke on that last week, the two vases referred to in deepwashing. They that are being born again. They need not say to wash the whole body a second time.
They are converted once. But he suggests to keep their feet clean, a clean walk. A clean walk. But here's Judas. They never were vain. The Lord said that. He was never born again. And this was a year before he came out and betrayed the Lord. Unregenerated. He said, you are clean, but not all. Judas was an unclean man. For the more he was a thief. The Lord says that. Not that he cared for the poor, but that he was a thief when he had the bag, and he spared what was put there.
He couldn't say the enemy of the other eleven were thieves, and Judas called worship waste. No child of God would do that. Only the devil would do a thing like that, and that's exactly what he did. And also Judas was possessed by the devil. Verse twenty-seven of our chapter tells you that, and after the throats Satan entered into him. That's a sad thing, isn't it? And over in Luke twenty-two, three says this, Then entered Satan into Judas. surname Descartes being the number of the flesh.
You know, this is a serious thing. Satan entered India. There was a time when he had a demon, but there was a time when Satan took over. When a Christian is born again, When a child of God accepts Christ, it simply means this, that Christ enters into that Christian. And Christ stays in that Christian. That Christian has eternal life. When Christ enters a human heart, when that person by faith receives the Savior, it's Christ in that person, the hope of glory.
When the devil takes over, And when the devil enters a person, it's damnation. He's an apostate. There's no further hope. He's a child of the devil. And for him there is no hope. That's an apostate. In other words, Judas sold out to the devil. Up till now the door was left open. Up till now he had a chance. If I see anything in this study, it's the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For three and a half years, Judas was under the surveillance of the Son of God. And as Christ was under the surveillance of Judas, of the angel, Judas would say, I betrayed the innocent blood. But Christ said of Judas. You're a devil. You're a thief. You're an apostle. Oh, the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ. What patience he waved to the Lamb. He gave Judas every opportunity to confess what he walked and to receive Christ of his faith.
You know, he's called in your Bible the Son of Provision. That means after destruction, the son of eternal damnation. Christ says in John seventeen, all that my father has given to me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, save the son of perdition, that the scriptures my people did, and it occurred to Satan or to Judah. You know, only once you find that It's over in second testimonies. And it refers to the man of sin, the son of perdition.
And it refers to Judas. Some try and tell us that Judas is going to be raised up and will be the coming man of sin. I don't believe it for the minute. It means that Judas was taken over by the dead. Just like that coming man of sin, Satan, the dragon, will give all his power unto that coming beast. He's going to be taken over by Jesus. And that's what happened here relative to Judas. The devil took over. Judas, you had your chance. I left the door open. Finally you made your choice and that's it.
And instead he went to his own place. In Acts one twenty five. He went to his own place. He was out of place among the disciples, especially when you come to the account in Acts one, after the Spirit of God came and the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit. Judas was certainly out of place there, out of place among the disciples, out of place in heaven. Friend, if you were to go to heaven, or if you could, you would not go to unless you're born. But if it were possible for you to go to heaven without the new birth, you'd be out of place. You wouldn't be happy in heaven.
You've got to have a nature to fit you for heaven. That's why Christians will be at home in heaven. Can I prove that? Yes. You don't like a good spiritual atmosphere very much. You're a little uncomfortable, aren't you? That's a good way. Real Christians like it. a spiritual atmosphere. They like to hear the Bible, the sinner says no. It's so much. You know, it's very significant. We noticed last week how the disciples were calling among themselves, who should be the greatest they wanted position. But John leaned on Jesus' bosom on this occasion.
I don't find them striving for that position that John held on Jesus' bosom. Oh, yes. That's intimacy with Christ. I don't think John had much competition. But, friends, there's not much competition today for someone who wants to be as close to the Lord as he can get. Oh, yes, struggling for place and common among men. But how many are seeking to be as close to the Lord as possible to get? Like John! just like God, who leaned on Jesus.
Judas, he fell from off and didn't fall from grace. He was never in grace, and grace was never in him. Teach of what he saw. He saw the Lord perform miracles. He saw a lot of things in his life. He did not. He heard the Lord preach the gospel. And he himself undoubtedly preached John's gospel, the gospel of the coming day. The Bible says that. You say, how could the Lord use an unsaved man like evidently Judas? What about Balaam's ass?
The Lord used it to speak, speak. What about the raven that brought food to a life? God can use even animals and birds if he wants to. And undoubtedly, Jesus did some of the things he held the disciples did in the way of service. But he wasn't a child of God. Yet we have committed many things in our lives on many wonderful works, casting out devils. I never knew. Not that I knew you once, but I don't know you enough. Think of the privileges of Jews on paralleled opportunities.
Mixed, mixing with the favorite Jews around the Bible. Why was in a select circle, wasn't it? Some people mixed with real Christians. A favorite Jew. God told us, or those who were really born again. He could find, is it? He could find it. Judas did that. And I think too that Judas was called by Christ as the prophet. He witnessed the power of Christ. He saw the Lord perform miracles. He heard the invitations of Christ and the warnings of Christ.
My, what a warning he got on this occasion in Matthew, And truly the Son of Man go as it is determined. But woe unto that man by whom the Son is betrayed. Good were it for that man if he had never been born. And Judas was listening. Woe be unto that man who is going to betray me. It's been better had he never been born. And he heard that a year before he betrayed the Lord. He got a severe warning. When I became of age, then I knew I was old enough to be saved.
I had been under conviction. I knew what the gospel was. I laid awake at night wishing that I'd never been born. I wished I'd never been born, or died as a child. Now I'm old enough to understand I'm responsible. I'm faced with Jesus Christ. And I've got to do something with it. I've got to accept them or reject them. I can't use the fact I'm young. I had many times wished I'd never been born. Because I'm faced with something now. I've got to do it. I've either got to say, yes or no.
My eternal destiny rests on me. Many a time I wished those that were born. All the better. Died. Now, I'm responsible. Friends, you're responsible. You make a decision in this all-important matter. Think of his bargain. What did he get? Thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave, according to the Old Testament. He got the name of a traitor, the dying justification of all men, undying justification of all men. A traitor. thought on dying from death due has been held by the human race since he was betrayed with the Lord.
Years ago when I was up in Chicago having meetings over forty years ago, I was taken to the huge stockyards in Chicago. I wanted a Christian. He said, I want to show you some. Mine, they killed thousands of sheep there every day as well as cattle in other days. He took to me where they took the sheep in. And about a hundred sheep were driven into this yard. And there was one goat. And when they got their quota of sheep, that goat went through a door. A gate there was. And all the sheep followed that one goat.
And up he went. And up he went. And up he went. And when he got up next to where they were going to slaughter the sheep, he ducked through a door and slammed behind him. And the sheep couldn't follow. And then they were slaughtered. And he was back on down, and later on took up another one. You know what they call that goat Judas? He betrayed those sheep to death. They even called a goat Judas. That's the reputation of the man who betrayed Moses. He's lost the respect of the man.
That's what he got there. And he's going to get hell and its heart. That's what he's going to do. Couldn't pay, didn't it? Poor Judas. He made an awful decision. That's what he lost. He lost the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's got there. Now what he lost? He lost the Lord Jesus Christ. He lost salvation from sin. He lost peace with God. He lost everlasting life. He's going to lose heaven and glory. He didn't get much. He threw the thirty pieces of silver away when he saw what he had done.
Whatever you're taking today, the devil's offering you instead of Jesus Christ. Time will come when you'll throw it away. It don't satisfy you. a half of the Jews, and listen to the name he got. What he lost? Oh, yes, he lost the Lord Jesus. He lost these wonderful things he treats, the book of salvation, Jesus, God, everlasting life. But the awful deeds in the upper room, the betrayal. The Lord had been in Gethsemane's God, and now he's going to the cross. A band meets them, headed by Judas.
Judas had given them a side. When I kissed that man, that's him. Unlikely, it was a knife, it was a knife. He didn't want to make a mistake. He didn't want the crowd to apprehend the wrong person. They got back in those days. They said, that's very much of them. Judas says, whosoever I shall kiss, that's him. Yet. And Judas walked up with the Lord Jesus, and he kissed. Just before he reached Christ, Christ said, Judas, friend, betrayeth thou the Son of Man with a kid?
Was ever heaven and hell so close together? Jesus, the Son of God, Judan. He kissed the very door to him. I meant the hand. He kissed the Lord Jesus. How is that? That one about is the law. Yes, he saw what he had done. And it was true that. Did he think somehow the Lord Jesus was going to wiggle out of this situation? He'd get the money in Christ by one of his miraculous escaped, like on previous occasions when they tried to kill him, he escaped out of the hand.
It was Jesus, hoping that he had pulled one of those again and he had the money and Christ wouldn't die. But now he finds out that he made it. And he takes the money and throws it down and he ran out and committed to it. What was this confession? I'm going to read you some verses in the New Testament over in Acts one. Now notice this. In Acts one, sixteen men and brethren, this scripture must need to have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David, this is one thousand years before Christ, the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.
For he was numbered with us and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity, thirty pieces of silver, and falling headlong he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers of Jerusalem, in so much as that field is called, and of their proper tongue are seldom, that is to say, the field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate, unless no man dwell therein, and his discipline or office let another take.
One thousand years before Judas denied the Lord, the Bible recorded it. Isn't that something? And exactly came the fast, just the way the Bible says. Jesus was prophesied, and so is yours. Judas is going to be entailed because of what he did. The Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why so likely millions have gone to hell. Since Judas. Because they rejected Jesus Christ. You may not go the far.
And do what Judas did. But you've got a subtle heart. The same voice that said to Judas. That's right. as we read in our text, Satan said unto Jesus, now is the time. The same voice, Satan's voice, is saying unto you, don't you accept Christ. Put it off, post, post, post, and you're obeying. My Bible says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that hath not the sun shall not see light, but the wrath of God abided from him.
As the Old Testament scriptures prophesied this concerning Judas, his very death, and how he committed suicide, evidently the rope broke over the hill, and down he went and split his body open. Yes, the same book that predicted Judas's death one thousand years before him, predicting your end if you reject Jesus Christ. Take them hand on foot, side them, take them away and catch them and out of stock as we speak daily passionately. That said about all who die without Christ.
I know we've all been acquainted with the crash of that big plane recently. out of Chicago. I've often thought of reading this incident this past week. What a relief it was to the other eleven when Judas was exposed. For at the table there were suspends. When the Lord said, One of you will betray them. The disciples all began searching their hearts. Is it me? Is it me? And they said, Lord, is it me? He's the one to ask. Don't go to your preacher and ask him if you're saved.
Don't go to any relative and ask them if you're saved. These disciples said, Lord, is it me? Am I on? Ask the Lord. He'll let you know. Simply this. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that set me past everlasting life shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death on to life. He'll let you know. And what was condemnation that Judas was salination to the others in the sense their doubts fled. What a relief. When the cook was discovered, the others, what a relief.
This brings me to what I want to say. What a relief it is that one is saved. Now some of you remember this D.C. accident. You likely probably saw this in the Alvarez paper. The last words of the pilot on that fatal flight. The last word was Dan. I don't think that pilot was a Christian. He never would have used that word. A Christian would have said, Lord. But here's a man at the controls of a plane loaded with human beings and He danced and he walked.
Something happened, said an instant. Me, and I cut another sleeper. One night, Porter, in her sixties, was to have gone on that flight. Because she'd been doing it for years, and wrote that she's some of her relatives out in California, she's gone on that same flight Friday night. But her travel agent called her up and said, listen, it'd be a lot better for your relatives out there if you take the next flight early Saturday morning. Your family will get in there, and they don't have to work on Saturday. They'll be able to meet you.
Furthermore, you'll save eleven dollars. And she said, I talked to my travel agent, and I didn't have any idea. that I changed my mind. And she's all of a sudden, I did. There she sat with her baggage already. An hour and a half later, the news flashed. The plane crashed and everybody killed. There's the picture of it sitting there with all her luggage packed. And you tabled it up and you'd say, what did she do?
She went with her phone, or rather when she heard the news, she said, Oh, my God, oh, my God, I thought I was saving eleven dollars. I saved my life. And that's what she said. She called her cavalier. This is what she said. She said, I am so glad I listened to you. She said, I am so glad I listened to you. If she hadn't listened to her parodies, she'd have been with all those other charged bodies.
Friend, you're on a flight, a more serious flight, on the devil's earth planet. And you are trying to go to heaven by your good work, your good night, church members. Let me tell you one thing. That travel agent didn't know that plane was going to crash. She liked it did it out of good faith. Not that she loved that person. He didn't. But I'll assure you one thing, your plane's going to crash. And he could crash any day. That little old clipper stopped. And the devil's going to crash. And he's hoping you stay on board until you do crash.
And you'll be with the devil and it ain't. What I say this morning, have no connection with this. I'm saying to you out of love, you better cancel the flight you're on and take another. With Jesus Christ the pilot. I'm saying it out of love, that Christ was going to die. I wouldn't preach as I do if I didn't love your soul. And I would beg God that some of you would come up after their meeting in faith. Brother Wilson, I'm glad I took your advice.
And on mine saving eleven dollars, I, my soul saved. Will you take my advice? Will you get on this plane of going to glory with Jesus Christ the Father? There'll be no crashes when you have Him as the Father. If you take my advice, my advice is based on the Bible. I trust you'll be like that lady in Chicago. All the relief that will come over your heart when you know your city. Those disciples where I disturbed for a few moments until Judas was exposed and then they were relieved.
Is it exposure of your hypocrisy that you're going to face in the crash? Or are you going to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior? And oh, the relief, my sins under this, I have peace with God. I have everlasting life. This is my whole heart and advice to you this morning. Out of pure love, I would say nothing more, nothing less, if you were able to give me a million dollars. I'm not innocent. I want to see you saved and placed on the way to heaven before I hear of your crash.
Will you accept Christ? Will you receive him now? You've got a heart just as treacherous as you. Don't let it deceive you. Come to Christ. He loved you. He died for you. Accept him now. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come before thee. We ask thy blessing on thy precious holy word. May hearts today receive the Savior. How the devil... makes himself known in meetings like this and he whispers to human to human heart like he whispers to people to Judas to betray the Lord that same subtle sinister voice is here today telling men and women to put it up don't do it now hoping the crash will come and they're unsafe all that thy holy spirit voice may be heard heart will yield to Christ, they'll have that divine relief that assurance I'm saved.
I'm on the way to the Lord's gratitude for Christ's sake.