My text this evening is Matthew
26, verses 14 through 25. These verses record one of the
blackest events in human history. There is not a greater evidence
of the wickedness and depravity of man's heart than that which
is revealed in the character and conduct of Judas Iscariot. Our text tonight contains some
things that we obviously would prefer not to think about, actually. But they are written here in
the scriptures for our learning, and if God the Holy Spirit will
be our teacher, there are some things contained here that will
be for our comfort as well. If you're taking notes, my subject
is Lessons from the Betrayer. Let's read these verses together.
Matthew 26 and verse 14. But then one of the twelve, called
Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priest and said unto them,
What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you? No instigation. Just in his animosity and envy
of the woman who had been so generous, who had been so thoughtful,
so careful, so caring, so grateful, and her display of love and goodness
and gratitude to the Savior, Judas was filled with envy. And
he goes right away from Bethany to the chief priest in Jerusalem,
to Caiaphas' house, where they were meeting, consulting, wondering
how they might take the Lord Jesus. And he said, what will
you give me? And the first offer they made, he took it. They covenanted
with him for thirty pieces of silver. He said, that's enough.
pieces of silver. And from that time he sought
opportunity to betray him. Now the first day of the Feast
of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him,
Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And he said, Go into the city
to such a man, and say to him, The Master my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at thy
house with my disciples." And the disciples did as Jesus had
appointed them, and they made ready the Passover. Now when
the evening was come, he sat down with the twelve, and as
they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you
shall betray me. one of you is going to betray
me. This is exactly what has been ordained, and this is exactly
what will come to pass. And they were exceeding sorrowful,
and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He
that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray
The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto
that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been better,
it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then
Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master," he said, he
said unto him, Thou hast said." Now, I want, if God will enable
me, to show you five simple but needful lessons from this passage
of Scripture. I want you to understand at the
outset that even Judas is an instrument in the hands of our
God for the accomplishment of his gracious purposes of redemption
and grace to his That was such a good point Rex brought out
Sunday afternoon to us, that mortals are immortals here until
their work is done. And the fact is, every man's
life has a purpose. Even the lives of the wicked
and the reprobate have a purpose. And that purpose is the saving
of God's elect for the glory of his name, and God will use
them for that purpose. He will use them even in their
vile wicked deeds which arise from their corrupt hearts, but
he will use even the base deeds of men, the basest deeds of men,
to accomplish his purpose." All right, now let's look at the
first thing. These verses clearly establish the fact that the Bible
is the inspired Word of God. Now you might be thinking to
yourself, when I say that, where is that taught in this passage?
The inspiration of Scripture is established by the precise
fulfillment of the prophecies of the scriptures. In other words,
if the book says something is going to come to pass, and it
comes to pass precisely as the book of God says it will come
to pass, then you must recognize that the scriptures are validated
by the accomplishment of prophecy. Now, I know that there are many
these days who claim to be fortune tellers, and they claim to see
into the future, and they claim to tell you things that will
come to pass. But you will observe that they about always tell you
something good's going to happen. And they about always give it
to you in the most vague of terms, so that if you just kindly happen
to stumble and fall and don't break your neck, you say, there,
it came to pass. And that is certainly not the
way we look at Scripture. I challenge you, open the Word
of God, find any prophecy given in Scripture, and see if the
prophecy is accomplished to the letter. To the letter, as the
Scripture said it would be. I mean, to the letter. So that
if there is anything written in prophecy that is not fulfilled
to the letter, then this book is not the Word of God. It is
not the Word of God. Now let's look at this passage
here. And look at the prophecies contained in the Scriptures that
are fulfilled here. The Scriptures clearly predicted
that our Savior would be betrayed by one of His most intimate companions,
one who even ate bread with Him at the same table. Let's look
in the Scripture. Turn to Psalm 41, verse 9. Psalm
41, verse 9. The Lord Jesus is here speaking
by spirit of prophecy through his servant David, and he says,
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, in whom I
confided, mine own familiar friend, the one to whom I opened up myself,
the one around whom I let down my hair, mine own familiar friend,
which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
Our Lord Jesus says, "...he that knitteth his hand
with me in the dish, the same shall betray me." You see that?
My familiar phrase. The Word of God specifically
prophesied that the Lord Jesus would be betrayed for thirty
pieces of silver, and that the silver would then be brought
back into the house of God, into the temple, and cashed down in
the house of God, and being cashed down in the house of God would
then be used to buy a pot of steel. Now, the Lord Jesus gives
us this word very clearly in His Word. Turn back, if you will,
to the book of Zechariah, and I'll show you. Zechariah chapter
11, verse 12. Zechariah chapter 11, verse 12. When Judas had betrayed the Lord
Jesus, he apparently was paid in advance for the betrayal,
He had the 30 pieces of silver in his hand, and he said, I have
betrayed innocent blood. And he went back into the temple,
and he took the money and cast it down at the chief priest's
feet and said, I have betrayed innocent blood. I've done an
abominable thing. And they looked at him and said,
well, what's that to us? That's no concern to us. That's no concern
at all to us. So they took it. It wouldn't
be righteous for us to take this money back into the treasury
of the temple again. Now listen to what the Lord said in Zechariah.
Zechariah chapter 11, verse 12. And I said unto them, If ye think
good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed
for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto
me, Cast it into the potter, a goodly price that I was prized
of them. And I took the thirty pieces
of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Now
let's look what happened. Matthew chapter 27 and verse
3. Then Judas, which had betrayed
him when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself. That is, he
was terrified. It doesn't mean he had a change
of heart. It means simply that he was sorry
for what he did. He wished he hadn't done this
because he knew what was coming. He repented himself and brought
again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priest and elders.
and that I had betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is
that to us? See thou to it. And he cast down
the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged
himself. And the chief priest took the
silver pieces and said, It's not lawful." Isn't that the utter
height of hypocrisy? It's not lawful. Now, we have
managed to get a fellow to betray an innocent man, that he be murdered,
that he be crucified as though he is the vilest of men, and
now they, in the name of uprightness, in the name of the law, in the
name of religion, basically, it's not lawful for us. It wouldn't
be right for us to put them into the treasury, because it is the
price of blood. And they took counsel and bought
with them the potter's field to bury strangers in. wherefore
that field is called the field of blood unto this day. Then
was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet,
saying, And they took thirty pieces of silver, the price of
him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did
value, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord
appointed me." Now, I stress this fulfillment of prophecy
because I want us ever to reverence the Bible as the inspired Word
of God. This book alone is the Word of
God. There is no other. There is no
other book in all the world that can claim such fulfillment, such
precise, accurate fulfillment of prophecy written and given
to us by God Himself by divine inspiration. This book alone,
then, is authoritative. for the church and kingdom of
God. It alone is our rule of faith and practice. This book
alone is able to make us wise unto salvation. So if you care
for your soul, treasure this book. Seek to know this book. Don't be satisfied with just
a casual knowledge. This is the Word of God. It's
got something to say to us. Maybe one of these days we'll
let us. Seek to know this book. Believe this book and obey this
book. make certain that you do, that
your life is governed by the Word of God in all its details. Secondly, we learn by the example
of Judas Iscariot that a person may enjoy great religious privileges
and make a very impressive show of religion, and yet be an unregenerate
reprobate. Judas had the highest possible
attainments and the highest possible privileges of outward religion. He was a chosen apostle of Christ,
a companion of the Son of God. He was an eyewitness of the Lord's
miracles. He was there when the Lord Jesus
healed the sick. He was there when the Son of
God caused the blind to see, when the Son of God raised the
dead. He was there when the Lord Jesus multiplied the loaves and
fishes and fed 20,000 people. was among those who sat at the
table with the incarnate Son of God. He heard the gospel preached
from the lips of the Master himself. Judas sat at the table and heard
the Savior plainly warn him with his own lips of his betrayal. He heard it from the lips of
the Master. Judas saw things that Abraham never saw. He heard
things that Moses never heard. He beheld and experienced things
that Isaiah and David could not behold and could not experience.
This man lived in the society of the Lord Jesus and his apostles
for three years. He preached with Peter, James,
and John, and yet Judas was a lost man. He had perhaps the greatest
reputation of all the apostles, at least among the apostles. a fairly quiet, unassuming boy. We read very little that Judas
ever said or did, but he was trusted by all the apostles.
He was trusted by all the disciples to be the treasurer of the first
church. You take care of the money, Judas.
You take care of the money. You dispense it. You take care
of those things. We trust you implicitly. When
the master said, one of you shall betray me, No one looked at Judas
and said, die. No one. No one. That ought to
tell us a lot in these days. Men and women today say, I know
so and so said it. You don't know any such thing.
You don't know any such thing. We look at outward things and
we judge things outwardly. We say, now that person's a child
of God. This is not because of what we see outwardly. Anybody
looking at Judas, anybody looking at Judas, would say that man
is an eminent saint of God. Anybody except God. Anybody except
God. Like Lot's wife, Judas Iscariot,
is held before us as a beacon. Think of this base, vile man
often, but do not ever imagine that he was outwardly a base
and vile man. He wasn't. Outwardly, He was
an example of what men look at and call purity. He was an example
of what men call holiness. He was an example of what men
call godliness. I read some of the old biographies
of some of the viewers as well, and they talk about men and say,
he was such a godly man, he was such a holy man, he was such
a man of purity. But what they're doing is they
are judging a man to be holy, godly, and pure based on what
they see. And rest, we can't do that. We don't dare do that. We don't
dare measure those things that are inward by what we see outward. We can't do that. Judas was outwardly
what men would call pure, holy, and godly. But Judas was a devil. Whenever we think of this man
Judas, we ought to pray like David, Search me, O God, and
know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting." Don't be content. I know who I'm talking to tonight, and I speak to you as my friends.
I speak to you as men and women, young people about whose souls
I'm deeply concerned. Don't be content with a mere
outward form of religion. Don't ever be satisfied merely
to have the approval of men. Make certain that your religion
is a matter of the heart, a union of your very soul with the Son
of God. And thirdly, the Holy Spirit
shows us a very vivid picture of the fact that the love of
money is the root of all evil. I can't conceive of a clearer
proof of this fact than Judas Iscariot. The wretched question
that he asked the chief priests and the Pharisees and the scribes,
what will you give me? Betrayed the evil that ruled
his heart. What will you give me? Preachers, determined where they'll
go, ask him, what will you give me? What will you give me? You fellas came up to sit down
and talk with me, look out, about coming here as your pastor. If
I had asked you, what will you give me? That ought to tell you,
you don't want me. And the next thing you call, when I'm dead
and gone, if he asks, what will you give me? That ought to tell
you, you don't want it. You don't want it. What will
you give me? Betrayed what was in his heart. It betrayed what
motivated him. It betrayed what caused him to
do what he did. Judas had given up much outwardly
to follow Christ. Outward sacrifices he was prepared
to make, and make quickly. But he could not and would not
give up his covetousness. Money was his God. Money motivated
him. Money ruled him. Money was what
he thought about. Money was what he talked about.
Money was what he pursued. And we have many illustrations
of this in the Scriptures. It is not the lack of money that
is the root of all evil. Judas didn't need anything. He
had everything the Master had and more. He had plenty of food
to eat. He had clothes on his back. He
had shelter for his head. He had much more than the Master
did. He didn't lack for anything. It is not the lack of money that's
the root of all evil, and it is not the possession of money
that's the root of all evil. Judas had the bag as the treasurer,
and he pretty much was capable of doing what he wanted to with
the money he had in his hand. So it wasn't the possession of
it or the lack of it that's the root of all evil. Rex, it's the
love of it. It's the love of it. Oh, the
love of money. That's what sold Joseph for.
That's what persuaded Delilah to betray Samson. That's what
caused Gehazi to deceive Naaman and lie to his master, Elisha.
That's what made Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit. And that's what caused Judas
to betray the Son of God. Be warned now, the love of money
will destroy your soul if it ever gets hold of you. It will
harden paralyze, freeze, and sear your heart and your conscience. It destroyed Judas, and it will
destroy you and me if it gets hold of us. What shall it profit
a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? We would be wise to daily pray,
give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient
for me. Give me not poverty, lest I should
steal, and give me not riches, lest I should forget God." They
that will be rich in this world, they that will be rich in this
world, will, like Judas and Esau, discover when it's too late that
they've made the worst bargain possible. Beware, then, of the
love of money. It is the root of all evil. Having said that, it must be
recognized that many have betrayed the Son of God at a far lower
price than Judas did. Judas betrayed Him for thirty
pieces of silver at the price of a slave. I have known many,
and know many this day, especially those who claim to be preachers,
who have sold Him for no more than the smile and approval of
another man. These verses give us a very clear
revelation of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
is the sovereign God of the universe. Now, notice the language our
Savior used to speak of Judas' betrayal of him. He speaks not
as one who is somehow alarmed or even slightly disturbed by
the things that he knew were about to transpire. but rather
as one who is in total control of everything, of all the circumstances
and of all the events, even the people and the deeds of the people
that were around him. This man who was about to be
betrayed was and is God Almighty, who made, ruled, and disposed
of his betrayer and all other things. In these verses, we see
at least these three things. First, our Savior's divine Our
Master knew what His disciples would do. He knew how that they
would all depart from Him, how that they would all forsake Him,
as He discussed this later on in the chapter. He knew what
Judas had done, and what Judas was about to do. He knew all
things concerning all the events that were taking place, all that
had happened, all that was transpiring, and all that would yet come to
pass, because He's the omniscient God. God knows everything. Our Savior is Himself God, before
whom even darkness is light, and the secret things are plainly
revealed. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew all
things, for He is God who predestined all things, and brings all things
to pass by His own sovereign will. Secondly, there is clearly
a demonstration here of His divine dominion. Look where our Lord
speaks to His disciples. said, where should we prepare
the Passover? And in verse 18, he said, go into the city to
such a man and say unto him, the master sayeth. Now you try
to picture this. You just try to picture this.
You, you go over to Lexington, by the way, and go down to, give
an address. I don't know where it is. Some
of you probably do. Go down to Victor Kingham's house. And tell
him, the master said, the master said, I'm going to come to your
house and bring my disciples, and I'm going to go eat supper,
and you go up in the upper room of his house and prepare a table.
They'll send you to the funny farm. They'll send you to the
funny farm. But the Lord Jesus did exactly
that. He said to his disciples, you
go into this town, and you tell this man, the master said, I'm
coming to your house with my disciples, prepare my supper
right here." And they did. How can that be? He is the sovereign
God who rules even the thoughts of men, even men who don't know
anything about Him. He rules everything. Go into
the city to such a man and say to him, the master said, and
understand he's the master, say to him, my pride is at hand.
I will keep the Passover at thy house." And then our Lord speaks
here plainly to reveal His divine purpose. He said, My time is
at hand. And in verse 24, He says, The
Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him. You see, everything and
everyone in this world, everything and everyone, I'm pausing deliberately, I want
to sink in. Everything and everyone is moving by divine arrangement,
exactly on schedule, to a predestined end. Everything and everyone. Nothing's out of your control. I read the paper and I think
sometimes Boy, everything's out of kilter. Now, I come back and
I read the Bible, I say, no, everything's moving exactly as
I'm supposed to. Everything's coming to pass exactly as God's
purposed. I look over my life sometimes,
and I see things that seem to just be totally out of control.
But things that are out of my control are out of God's control.
Understand that? Things that I can't do anything
about are things that He brings to pass. Nothing's out of control.
everything and everyone is moving exactly according to schedule,
to a predestined end, by the hand of God. Everything. Everything. Even the actions of wicked men,
even the very demons of hell and the devil himself, do nothing
to thwart or even to disturb God's purpose. there only His
service, used by Him to accomplish His sovereign purpose. Let's
look at three texts of Scripture. Turn to Psalm 76, verse 10. I
know these three texts, you can put in there, quote them by memory,
but turn and look at them. Psalm 76, verse 10. In Judah, God is known. His name
is great in history. And this is one of the things
we know about him. Surely the wrath of man shall precede them. The wrath of man. That which
wicked men do, in their vile, immaterial, to godly man, surely
the wrath of man shall precede them. The remainder of wrath. That is what you don't allow
men to do. what's in man, but you weren't
allowed to burst out of man. Thou shalt restrain. Look in
Romans chapter eight. Romans, the eighth chapter. Verse twenty-eight. We know that
all things, and we recite it, we say it,
we quote it, we sing about it, I wonder if we know it. We know that all things, all
things, in heaven, earth, and hell, good and bad, the kiss
of Judas as much as the confession of Peter, everything, the fall
of Adam as much as the resurrection of our Lord, all things work
together, together, not isolated. Don't try to read God's providence.
looking at this little picture, that little picture. Don't try
to do that. You'll be confused all the time. But all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called. And this is how it all works,
according to His purpose. That is, to bring us at last
to be conformed to the image of His dear Son. Look at Romans
11, verse 36. for of him. Of him. Where'd that come from? Of him. But you don't know. You don't
know what I'm talking about. I know where it came from. Of
him. That's the word. The word of has the idea of original
source. Of him. Well, how'd it come to
pass? Through him. Do you see? Through him. But what about the
devil? Through him. But what about this
man? Through him. But what about this
nation? Through him! Through him, as
to the means of its accomplishment. And to him, in its ultimate end,
are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Does that mean
that a man evil deeds or things for which
he's not responsible, if you dare think like that, go to hell
and ask Judas. Go ask him. If you dare think
like that, go to hell and ask Pilate. Go ask him. If you dare
think like that, go ask the sons of Paul. Absolutely. Men are
totally responsible for everything they think and do. Men are totally
responsible for their deeds. Judas did exactly what he wanted
to do. Because he was a covetous idolater,
he wanted the 30 pieces of silver, and he was envious of that woman
and the blessings of God upon her. And he did exactly what
God's maternity and men's ordained must be done. He came and betrayed
the Son of God with a kiss. Clearly, in all the events surrounding
the betrayal and crucifixion of our Lord, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, with
your wicked hands, have taken and crucified the Lord of Glory."
They read the Scriptures, and the Apostle says, after they
had fulfilled all that was written in the Scriptures, that our Lord's
enemies took Him down from the cross. So they have everything
written in the scriptures, not because they wanted to fulfill
the scripture, but because of their pride of Jesus. They beat
him, and they plucked out his hair, and they pierced him with
a spear, and they nailed him to the tree, and then they took
him down because they despised him, and they're totally responsible.
And yet, God Almighty fully accomplished His purpose. One last thing. Our Lord Jesus here teaches us
that it would be better never to live at all than to live and
die without Christ. I want you to write that down,
and I want you to get it. It would be better never to live
at all than to live and die without Christ. See if this is not what
verse 24 means. The Son of Man goeth as it is
written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man
is betrayed. It had been good for that man
if he had not been born. But if Judas stands before us
as a glaring warning He would, this day, give anything. Tonight, Judas is in hell. He lived and died without Christ
as an unbeliever, as an enemy of God, and now he suffers the
wrath of God in hell as the enemy of God. And so too shall you. and I, should we live and die
without Christ. Some of you here are without
Christ. Maybe some of you who have thought long ago that you've
got this manifestation, but you're without Christ. And if you are
without Christ, you're just exactly like Judas. Now listen to me,
listen to me. Your heart is exactly the same
as Judas' heart. Exactly the same. You may be
taken captive by Satan at his will. That's exactly what the
Apostle says in 2 Timothy 2.26. He says, he says, to the servants
of God, be patient, laboring and menacing to those who may
be taken captive by Satan at his will. What on earth does
that mean? a wicked man, an unbelieving
man, a man into whose heart the devil entered, and he went and
said, what will you give me? I'll betray him. If you could have asked
him 24 hours earlier, Mark, what would it take for you to betray
the Son of God? He would have stood back and been ready to
fight you in a moment. What are you talking about? I'd
never do that. And he would have been deadly sincere. I'd never
do that. I'd never do that. Now you listen to me, my friends. Those who are without Christ, it may be at any moment should
God leave them to themselves. Taken captive by Satan, and led by sin to do abominable
things that they never dreamed they were capable of doing. Many examples of that. Many examples. I know our society across the
world has gone crazy, lost its mind. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I don't know. My first cousin, her husband
one day walked in. Man's always been sane, good
husband, good provider, as far as anybody knows. Walked in one
day and killed her, just like that. Just killed her. Taken captive by Satan at his
will. Why'd you do that? I don't know.
And you know what I think? I didn't tell them the truth,
I don't know. Jews, why'd you do that? And unless you repent, unless
you look to Christ by faith, you shall be with Judas forever,
in hell, suffering the terrible wrath of God Almighty. And should
that come to pass, bring to mind in the church of Fairmont several
years ago. Her father, who hated God, got sick after a long illness.
He died. She was standing at the coffin
at the funeral home. Folks came by, and she heard
it one time too often. Somebody said to her, said, well,
he's better off now. And she looked right square in
the man's face. and said he's in hell, is that
better off? He'd live and die without Christ.
It'd be better if he could never be informed. God help us say,
look, amen. Our Father, bless your word to
the hearts of these whom you have ordained to hear it, and
grant that it may bring forth fruit to the glory of your Son
and the good of their souls. For Christ's sake I pray, Amen. God bless you.