Lord, is it I?

Jesus Christ and his disciples
were sitting together at the Holy Supper. They were all there,
just the Master and the Twelve. There was Peter, James. There was John and Andrew. There
was Philip and Thomas. There was Matthew and there was
James, the son of Alphaeus. And then there was Bartholomew,
and then there was Simon Zelotes, and then there was Judas, the
brother of James, and there was Judas Iscariot. And our Lord
had talked to the disciples about his death. He talked to them about his sacrifice. He would be going away. And he pictured his sacrifice
and his death with the bread and the wine. He said, this is
my body, as he prayed over the bread and break it and distributed
it to them. He said, this is my body broken
for you. The wine, as he commanded them
to drink it, he said, represents my blood which is shed for you.
Glorious substitution. And John, the beloved, leaned
upon his breast, and they were all quite sorrowful, disturbed,
and I'm sure very quiet, as they sat about that table and looked
upon the Lord Jesus. This close-knit circle of men
who had been together for three and a half years, personally
chosen, selected by the Lord. They'd been with him when he
prayed, they'd been with him when he preached. They'd been
with him when he healed, they'd been with him when he was buffeted
and persecuted and hated and mocked and criticized. They sat
there around the circle and finally our Lord speaks as they did eat. And he said, one of you shall betray me. There were only
12 of them. One of you, one of you, shall
betray me." Don't you know that shocked them? Troubled them? David wrote about it over here
in the book of Psalms. If you want to look at a couple
of verses in the Psalms, it talks about this betrayal. In Psalm 41, verse 9, David said,
Yea, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did
eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." My friend. And then in Psalm 55, David again
writing about this betrayal, in Psalm 55 verse 12, David wrote,
it was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it.
Neither Was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against
me? Then I would have hid myself
from him. But it was thou, a man according
to my rank, my guide, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel
together. We walked unto the house of God
in company." The Lord looked around this circle
and he said, one of you, one of you, He didn't say, somebody's
going to betray me, somebody's going to sell me out, somebody's
going to turn against me. He said, one of you. And the
disciples all began to ask, Lord, is it I? Peter, James, John,
Bartholomew, Matthew, Lord, is it I? Now let the man here tonight
who cannot personally apply this warning and this message to his
own heart or the woman who does not understand or know the deceitfulness
of the human heart, take a lesson from Simon Peter. In John chapter
13, if you'll turn over there just a moment, in John the 13th
chapter, our Lord Jesus Christ, verse 36, was talking about his
death, his suffering, And Peter said to him in verse 36 of John
13, Lord, whither thou goest thou? And Jesus answered him,
Whither I go, you cannot follow me now, but you shall afterwards.
And Peter said, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I'll lay down
my life for your sake. And Jesus answered him, Wilt
thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto
you, the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me three
times. Now the second scene, the Lord
Jesus Christ and his disciples had left the supper, had been
sitting around there, and the Lord said, one of you, this select
company, these professed believers, these chosen of mine, one of
you will betray me. And then they left the place
where they ate the supper. Our Lord walked with the disciples
to the garden, and on the way, you'll read John 14, 15, 16,
and 17, took place between this time and the betrayal. And he
walked along with the disciples, and he said, let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go, but I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and
prepare a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto
myself. And then he said in John 15, I am the vine, you're the
branches, abide in me. The branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine. And then in chapter
16, he talked to them about persecution. He said, you'll be persecuted,
you'll be thrown out of the synagogue. The time will come when people
who think that they're doing God, that when they kill you,
they're doing God a favor, but don't be offended. And then he
went on and prayed that great prayer in John 17 while the disciples
slept. Our Lord prayed for them. And
then he prayed about the burden of sin. If it be thy will, let
this cup pass from me. And he came back from those prayers
and he said to the disciples, arise and let's go. They were
in the garden of Gethsemane. And they got up. They'd been
asleep. And they got up. And they started out of the garden. And out of the darkness stepped
a man. And he walked up to the Lord. He wasn't a stranger. He
was one of the inner circle. He was one of the twelve. He
walked up to the Master. He put his arm across his shoulder
and kissed him on the cheek. And he said, Hail, Master. And
the Lord Jesus looked at him and said, Friend, betrayest thou
the Son of Man with a kiss? What treachery, what hypocrisy,
what evil, and our stomachs are just turned at the thought of
it. Is it possible, is it possible the Son of God, betrayed by one
of his own inner circle, is it possible that one of the Lord's
own disciples would be standing off there during this holy hour
when our Lord was agonizing in the garden over our sins, praying
this great prayer of intercession. Is it possible he's standing
off there with the enemy, plotting and planting the betrayal and
denial of his Lord? Is it possible the Lord, betrayed
by a man who had walked with him to the house of God, arm
in arm and professedly heart with heart and mind with mind
and spirit with spirit, how frightening Lord, is it I? Will I deny thee? Will I betray thee? Peter said,
I won't. I'll lay down my life for you. He said, Peter, the
cock won't crow tonight till you've denied me three times.
How shocking, how sobering, how frightening, how heart-searching.
But the Word of God is full of warnings about this. Let me read
you just a few. If you'd like to and have a pencil,
you can jot these references down and go back to them later.
But listen to some of these warnings. All of them begin with, Take
heed. Listen. Exodus 34, 12. Take heed to thyself, lest thou
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you go. Oh, how easy it is to get out there
among those folks and make a covenant with them, enter into alliances
and agreements and partnerships. How easy it is. Take heed. Take
heed. Deuteronomy 11 16. Take heed
to thyself that your heart be not deceived and you turn aside
and serve other gods. Joshua 23 11. Take good heed
to thyself that you love the Lord your God. Matthew 16 6. Take heed and beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees. Matthew 24, 4, take heed that
no man deceive you. Luke 11, 35, take heed therefore
that the light which is in thee be not darkness. First Corinthians
10, 12, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall. Hebrews 2.1, therefore we ought
to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've heard,
lest at any time we should let them slip. Hebrews 3.12, take
heed brethren, brethren, lest there be found in you an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. The Master sits with the faithful
few. Not the 120, not the 70, but
the 12, the inner circle. And he says after they fellowship a little while, one
of you will betray me. And a little while later, even
in the holiness of that hour, in the sacredness of that moment,
out steps one from the darkness, trusted friend, and kissed him
on the cheek. and sold him out. Now, five points
to this message. Number one, who was Judas Iscariot? Number two, the warning he received. No man ever fails of the grace
of God or falls into apostasy or departs from the living God
without being duly warned. Nobody. Thirdly, the price that
he received. And fourthly, the betrayal. There's something very significant
about the way he betrayed the Lord. He kissed him. And then
last of all, the sad ending. Now I'll try to be brief tonight,
but let me first of all identify this man. Who was Judas Iscariot? Who was Judas Iscariot? Well, everybody answers immediately.
He was the betrayer of our Lord. Well, that's true. But have you
forgotten that he was also a preacher? Have you forgotten that he was
also a minister of the gospel? Yes, he was. In fact, over here
in Acts chapter 1, when Peter was talking about Judas, he said
in the first chapter of Acts, verse 17, he was numbered with
us, and he obtained part of this ministry. Judas was a minister
of the gospel. He wasn't just one of the disciples
that followed the Lord. He wasn't just one of the seventy
sent out. He was one of the choice twelve. He was one of the original twelve. No doubt he had preached. No
doubt he had healed. No doubt he had prophesied. No
doubt he had been acknowledged as a prophet among the people.
Acknowledged as an apostle. Acknowledged as a prophet. Acknowledged
as a man who walked with God. Now, my friends, that ought to
warn all of us, beginning here behind this pulpit and out there
in the congregation, that a knowledge of doctrine and ministerial gifts
and success does not give a man life in Christ. It's possible
to fall from the highest position and fall terribly. The angels
which kept not their first estate have been reserved in chains
in everlasting darkness. And here is an apostle who betrayed
his Lord. Not only was he an apostle, but
turn to John 13. He was a trusted officer of the
Church. He was a preacher. He was an
apostle. He was one who was sent by the
Lord to proclaim the gospel, and then in John 13, listen to
this, he was a church officer. Judas was the treasurer of the
group. He was a trusted officer of the
church and enjoyed the confidence of all these men. In John 13,
verse 29, listen. Some of them thought because
Judas had the bag, that is, he had the money, he kept the money.
that Jesus had said unto him, buy those things that we have
need of against the feast, or that he should give something
to the poor. Judas was a treasurer. You know,
I thought about this. Here was 12 men chosen. He was
12 apostles. One of them was appointed to
be the treasurer of the group. He took care of the needs. He
was the person who took care of buying their food and and
taking care of all of their physical needs and material needs, and
he was really the only officer in the group. He was the only
trusted officer in the whole group. Perhaps, perhaps, the
Lord chose him on purpose that we should not be surprised if we find such a man today in
the ministry, in the Church, in a high office as a church
officer, suppose that none of the apostles had denied the Lord
and none of the apostles had fallen, and something happened
like that in the church following our Lord's crucifixion and resurrection,
It would be upsetting, wouldn't it? It's upsetting anyway, but
it would be devastating because we'd have no example. We'd have
noâ€”the Lord left us an example. He left us a warning here. He
said, have I not chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil? These are solemn things and ought
to lead all of us to ask the question, Lord, is it I? Is it
I? This man was a preacher. This
man was a trusted church officer. And the Lord Jesus, for his own
purpose and according to his own will, made Judas the treasurer,
the chief officer in the group. He took care of the needs of
the group. And when he failed, it ought to be a warning to us,
but it also ought to show us that such a thing can and does
happen. And the Church is not to go out
of business when such a thing happens. The Church is not supposed
to throw up our hands and say, well, if that's Christianity,
I quit, those kind of things. Yes, it's going to happen. All
right, thirdly, he was of a high moral character. Look at John
13 again, verse 27. He was a preacher. Who was Judas?
He was a preacher. He was an apostle. He was a church
officer, and then he was of the highest moral character outwardly,
because even when the Lord, he said, is it I? And the Lord said,
thou hast said, and the Lord gave him the sop, and Satan entered
him, and he went out. Now listen, in verse 27, John
13, and after the sop, Satan entered into Judas, and then
Jesus said to him, that thou doest do quickly, No man at the
table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. It still
didn't dawn on them. This troubles me about preachers
and soul winners who are always talking about, I know who's saved,
you know. I can talk to a man a little
while and tell you whether or not he's saved. Now, my friend,
that's utter foolishness. Because even when our Lord, sitting
about this table, and they began to ask, is it I? And Judas, point
blank, asked the Lord, is it I? And the Lord said, thou hast
said. And he said, the one to whom I hand the sop is the one
who will betray me. And he dipped the sop and gave
it to Judas. And Satan entered Judas, and Judas got up to leave.
Christ said, that thou doest do quickly, and went out and
stealed the disciples. It didn't dawn on them that this
man was the betrayer. They had too much confidence
in him to believe such a thing of him. He had good reputation,
he was high of a high character, and he was held highly in regard
among these men, and they still, it didn't dawn on them that he
was the one. The man who says we have no Judases
among us just might be one himself. That's the tragedy of it. Well,
that's who he was. Now, secondly, the warnings that
he received. Now, I want you to listen to
this. Those who depart from Christ, those who deny Christ, those
who depart from the faith, and those who, like Demas, forsake
the word of God and go back into the world, and those who leave
the Savior and his gospel, they do not do this unwarned. Christ warns us. Judas had many
warnings. We have many warnings. I read
Jude 10 or 12 a moment ago. Those are all warnings to me.
And they're warnings to you, Bob. They're warnings to you,
Jack. They're warnings to you, Jim. And they're warnings to
every person here. God's warning us. And Judas was
warned. Our Lord said to him, he heard
Christ in John 6. He said, have I not chosen you
12 and one of you is a devil. That just rolled right over him.
That just rolled right over it. He never sat down and thought
about it, and wept over it, and prayed about it, and begged for
the mercy of God, and asked God to keep him, and give him security
and confidence. No, he heard it. And then when
the master washed their feet, he warned Judas then. There were
the twelve disciples there, and the Lord came in and took off
his robe and got a big towel and put it around him and got
down and washed the disciples' feet. And Peter said, you're
not going to wash my feet. And he said, well, if I don't
wash you, you have no part with me. And Peter said, well, I'll
wash my feet and my head and my hands and everything. And
the Lord said, you're clean, you're clean. But he added this
statement, not all of you. Now that should disturb a group
of men, just like the message tonight. It ought to disturb
me. It ought to disturb you who feel
so secure, who feel so confident, who feel so certain about this
thing of life eternally. It's too big to take for granted. I don't know what it holds, I
don't know how many rivers I've got to cross, or mountains I've
got to climb, or deserts I've got to go through, and the Lord
said to the group, He said, you're clean, but not all of you. And
then at the supper, when He looked around that group, He said, one
of you will betray me. That's a warning. Now I want
you to look at verse 24 of Matthew 26. This is most significant. In verse 24, and our Lord added
this, He added this, the Son of Man goeth as it's written
of Him. In other words, the purpose of
God is going to be accomplished. It was decreed and designed and
purposed that Christ should come into this world, born of a virgin,
made in the likeness of human flesh, as the second Adam, the
Lord from heaven, to be born under the law and to meet the
law for us. It was decreed in God's word
that he should be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief, that men would spit upon him and buffet
him and say all manner of evil against him and call him a winebibber
and a gluttonous man and a son of Beelzebub. It was all decreed
that they should arrest him and throw him into the soldier's
hall and put a crown of thorns on his head and lacerate his
back and nail him to a cross. That was all in God's purpose.
But woe unto the man by whom these things take place. That's
what he said. Talk about balanced preaching,
that's balanced preaching. God has decreed it. My father
planned it all. Turn to the book of Acts just
a moment, if you will. Chapter 2, I believe it is. Acts
chapter 2. Acts the second chapter, verse
23. Acts 2, 23. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. God's purpose was done, but that
doesn't take the blood off your hands. That doesn't take the
responsibility off your shoulders. That doesn't take the guilt off
your soul. You did it. You did it. You did
it as a free agent. You did it because you wanted
to. Look at Acts chapter 4. The fourth chapter of Acts, verse
26. Now watch this. The kings of
this earth stood up. Acts 4, 26. And the rulers were
gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ for
of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, who were enemies with one another,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, who were enemies to
one another, but they were gathered together against a common enemy,
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." And this is what our Lord is
saying in Matthew 26, 24 to these disciples, one of you will betray
me, one of you will deny me, one of you will forsake me, one
of you'll walk away, one of you'll turn from me, one of you'll turn
on me. And the Son of Man goeth as it is written of him. It's
all been written back here in the Old Testament. You'll find
it all prophesied where he was born, of what tribe, of what
nation, of what family, family of David, Jesse, Judah, that
he would be spit upon, that he would be denied, that he would
be sold out, that he'd cash lots for his garments, that he'd pluck
out his beard, all of that, that he'd be crucified, that he'd
rise against all here. He went as it was written. But
woe to that man by whom he goeth. It'd been better for that man
if he'd never been born. Our Lord warns us and he gives
us space for repentance. God makes no man sin. Men sin
because they want to. God forces no man to do evil. Judas sold the Lord because Judas
found it in his heart to sell the Lord. Judas departed from
that circle because he wanted to. And he left under the warning
voice of the Master. Now the third thing, the price.
This is the most ridiculous thing. In Matthew 26, 14. Now listen
to this. Then one of the twelve. Matthew 26, 14. One of the twelve. called Judas Iscariot, went to
the chief priest and said to them, what will you give me? Isn't that an amazing question?
What will you? Judas left the source of all
good things. He left the fountain of living
water and went to this dry, parched desert and wondered what they'd
give him. He left the giver of every perfect
gift and came over here to these who had nothing. What could they
give him? What on earth could they possibly
give him? They didn't have anything. You
say they had money. Money's nothing. There'll be
a time when the paper money of this world will be like scraps
of paper blowing down the street. There'll be a time when the diamonds
of this world will be worth no more than pebbles on the beach.
This is all temporary. If the world could lay at your
feet all the wealth and pleasure and possessions and fame and
comfort and power, it couldn't give you anything. It could lend
them to you, but it can't give you anything. This is all temporary. The world can't give you anything.
Now you stop and think about that a minute. The world cannot
give you... Judas went to these priests and said, what will you
give me? They can't give him anything.
They can lend him something. They can let him have something
for a while, maybe five minutes, five years, or five decades.
They can't give him anything. Only Christ can give. The scripture
says a man can receive nothing except it were given him from
heaven. Only Christ can give me anything. And he gives me
hope, he gives me love, he gives me life, he gives me forgiveness,
he gives me pardon, he gives me wisdom, he gives me righteousness,
he gives me sanctification, he gives me redemption. Every good
and perfect gift comes from him. This poor fool, what shall it
profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his soul? And this is so shocking to me,
it's so difficult to understand. Here Judas, sitting in the presence
of the King of Kings, could be an heir of God and a joint heir
with Jesus Christ, could be the heir of all things. The scripture
says, in Christ all things are yours. And he walks away from
Christ and goes over here to beggars, paupers, poverty stricken,
peons of a fallen race and says, what will you give me? What on
earth is a man thinking about? And this is what I can't understand.
When someone leaves the fountain of living water for leaking cisterns,
when he has over here Christ the fountain of water, the artesian
well, the well of living water springing up, Christ said if
you drink of this water you'll never thirst again, eat of this
bread and never hunger again, believe on me and never die,
a joint heir with Christ of all things, And to see a man turn
his back on that and go out into this empty, pagan, famine-infested,
dry, arid, parched desert of human flesh and go to asking
those folks, what on earth will you give me under God? I don't
understand that. What will you give me? They can't
give you anything. And the true marks, the true
mark of apostasy is this right here. When we start
looking for something else besides Christ. That's the mark of apostasy.
Because a man who really knows Christ knows he has all things
and he's looking for nothing. He doesn't tremble before the
world because the world can't add anything to him. He doesn't
bow before the world because the world can't do anything to
him. He doesn't covet the things of this world because he knows
that heaven and earth shall pass away. Any of you folks out there,
you go by a little boy building a sandcastle on the beach and
he got that thing fixed up pretty good. Do you covet that? Would
you like to move into it? Well, I know you know next morning
it'll be gone when the tide comes in. Well, why don't we ride by
all of this flesh and wealth and materialism of the world
and covet this junk? Tomorrow it's going to be gone.
God's going to send the tide of His wrath over this world
and take it all away. They can't give me anything,
nothing. Christ can't. Why on earth would he do such
a thing? Go to those people and say, what will you give me? Judas,
they don't have anything to give you, you poor blind fool. All right, watch verse 49. Turn
over there to Matthew 26, 49. And he came out of the darkness.
The Lord with his disciples were walking there, and Judas came
forthwith to Jesus and said, Hail, my staff. and kissed him. If you don't know this already,
this may come as a shock to you, but I think most of you know
it already. This is always the way that apostates and false
prophets and hypocrites work. They do it with a kiss, always
with a kiss. This idea that the devil comes
with a sword and a pitchfork and a red underwear and clothing
hooves and horns on his head and fire breathing out of his
mouth is not according to the book. He comes with a kiss. Now
let me give you some examples. Did you ever read a book, a God-denying,
grace-denying, truth-denying, gospel-denying book, did you
ever read one that did not begin with a preface claiming a search
for the truth? claiming a concern for the good
of all, and bragging on the love and the mercy of God. They all
begin that way. All infidelic books, all compromising
books, always begin with a kiss. Did you ever hear a false prophet
who did not come to you with an oozing sweet smile talking
about brotherhood, the brotherhood of all men and the fatherhood
of God? and oozing and talking to you
about God's love, and talking to you about morality, and talking
to you about feeding the hungry, and taking care of the poor.
And then they deny substitution, they deny God's sovereignty,
they deny man's fall, they deny the need for Christ, they deny
the blood atonement, they deny the inspiration of the scripture,
they deny the virgin birth, but they always come with a kiss.
Every time, Charlie. Hey, old master, kissed him on
the cheek. Did you ever meet a man who denied
the sovereign grace of God, denied it, hated what we call redemption
and election and invincible grace, in particular redemption? Did
you ever meet one contending for work for salvation and merit? Did you ever meet one who didn't
spend his whole time fighting election and sovereignty with
this argument? That's not fair. I think everybody
ought to have a chance. That's right. That's the kiss.
That wouldn't be right, to choose some and pass it by others. Well,
I believe in being fair. I believe in universal love.
God loves all men. Christ Jesus died for all men. You see that? It always comes
that way. Hail, Master, and kisses him. Old Peter's standing over
there with his sword out. He's wanting to fight. When that high
priest servant came to him, he whacked his ear off. He wanted
to get this thing over with, you know. But Judas, he's oily
and smooth, satin smooth, and he comes up, he's the devil.
He's got evil in his heart. He's mercenary. He's making merchandise
of the Son of God himself. He's going to make a little money
on this cross. If there's going to be a cross, he's going to
get something out of it. That's like these sorry preachers that are
in the ministry for money and for gain. They're going to get
something out of it. And he came up and kissed the Master. Oh,
sweet Judas. If you had been standing there
looking at that situation, you'd have thought Peter was the one
that didn't have the grace of God in him, and Judas was the one
that had the grace. He is kissing the Lord, and Peter's
over there wanting to fight. He's got his sword out. He's
going to defend the Lord. He's going to prove the Lord
right, you know. All right, did you ever read
Matthew 7 real carefully, and you'll find those people who
are awaiting judgment saying, but Lord, devils in your name, and we did
many wonderful works in your name. Of course, we denied your
grace, and we denied your blood, and we denied redemption, and
we denied the sovereignty of God, and we denied your purpose
in grace, and we denied the very foundation of redemption, whereby
you get the most glory, but we served you, Lord. That's the way betrayal always
comes. That's the way hypocrisy operates. He says over here, I forget where
it is, but over in Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, he said, is
it any wonder, is it any wonder that false prophets and messengers
of Satan come to you as ministers of righteousness? Even Satan
himself is turned into an angel of light. Love, grace, mercy. And he came to the Lord and he
kissed him. And he kissed him. What treachery. Friend, friend, wherefore art
thou come? Betrayest thou the Son of Man
with a kiss? And then here's the sad ending.
Look at Matthew 27. When the morning was come, all
the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against
Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him,
they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that Christ
was condemned, he repented himself. and brought
again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priest and elder
saying I have sinned in that I betrayed the innocent blood
and they said what's that to us see thou to that and he cast
down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went
and hanged himself and he didn't do a very good job of it because
Peter tells us over here in the book of Acts chapter one that
when Judas tried to hang himself the rope broke and he fell off
a cliff In Acts 1 verse 18, this man purchased a field with the
reward of his iniquity and falling headlong, he burst asunder in
the mist and all his bowels gushed out. What a horrible ending. What a horrible ending. Judas
saw him the next morning. He saw Christ wasn't going to
get away. He wasn't going to walk through the mist like he
did before. He'd seen them pick up stones
to stone him. Christ walked right through them. He was with him
when they were going to throw him off the temple, and he saw
him walk right through. But this time, he was going to die. And
Judas was in bad shape, sorrowful. He'd betrayed the innocent blood.
He went back to the priest, he gave them their money back, and
threw it on the floor. And he said, I've betrayed innocent
blood. And they said, what's that to us? But see thou to it.
Well, let me ask you a question or two. Now, this is all supposition. I don't have any scripture for
this. But I think it's worth thinking about. Could Judas have repented toward
God? Could Judas have cried for mercy
and been forgiven? Could Judas have sought the Lord
and received his grace? I'd have to reply yes to those
questions for several reasons. Now, I know what the prophecy
is, but I'm talking about what Judas could have done. Was his
denial any worse than Peter's? There was some money changed
hands, but that's the only difference. Peter sat by the fire, and they
said, well, you're one of the disciples. He said, no, I'm not.
Well, they said, your speech betrays you. He said, I don't
know the man. And they said, well, you're one
of the disciples. And he began to curse and sealed it with an
oath. And he said, I don't know it. But now Peter's response
and Judas' response is different. Scripture said Peter went out
and wept bitterly. And Judas went out and hanged
himself. God's second thing. His denial no worse than Peter's.
Secondly, God delights to show mercy. God's plenteous in mercy. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. It doesn't say whosoever shall
call upon his name except for those who betray him, except
for those who deny him, except for those who sell him, except
for those... just whosoever. The scripture
says that God is able to save to the uttermost them that come.
Christ is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God
by him. The scripture says all manner of sin and blasphemy shall
be forgiven me. Judas' sins are no worse than
yours and mine. We denied Christ, we betrayed
Christ, we sold him out, but he didn't come back. He didn't
come back. He didn't confess his sin. He
didn't cry for mercy. He didn't seek the Lord. He didn't
lay himself before God in the dust. He didn't take hold of
the horns of the altar and plead through the blood of Christ for
mercy. He didn't! He went out and hanged himself.
His repentance was only because of the consequences. That's what
I believe. It says here in verse 3, Judas, which had betrayed
him, when he saw that Christ was condemned, that's when he
began to have second thoughts about this thing. He saw the
results of his sin. He saw the results of his sin,
and that's when he began to have second thoughts about this thing.
And I say to you, sin is never to be measured by the results.
Sin is to be measured and looked upon not by the consequences,
but because the sin itself is against God. Now don't ever measure
sin, or weigh sin, or consider sin by the results. A man may, for example, a man
may, a brakeman down here on the railroad, may throw a switch
and a train load of passengers come across there and turn over
and kill a hundred of them. But another brakeman on another
railroad throw the wrong switch and no train comes through, or
maybe a little hand car comes through and turns over and nobody's
hurt. Which is the greatest sin? We say, won't it kill all those
people? No, sir, they did the same thing. The results is different. And sin is not to be measured
by the results. Sin is transgression against
God. I don't care if it's in the thought
or the act. I don't care if you never get caught, it's still
sin. I don't care if nobody ever gets hurt, it's still sin. I
don't care if it doesn't cost a dime, it's still sin. A man
may steal a quarter, or he may steal a million dollars, but
before God, the same guilt is taking what's not ours. You don't
measure sin by the consequences or measure sin by the result.
We do because we don't have good sense. But God doesn't. God looks on the intent. God
looks on the thought. God does not look on the outward.
It's not that which goes into the mouth that defiles him. It's
that which comes out of his heart. It's the intent of the heart.
I may murder a man and leave a widow and five orphans. And
that's terrible results and terrible consequences. But before God,
you're just as guilty who would like to murder him. The intent. That's where the sin is. You
may not agree with that, but that's what God says. That's
what Christ said in Matthew chapter, in the Sermon on the Mount. Sin
is never to be measured by the results. Sin is never to be considered
according to the consequences. But sin is to be considered as
being against God. And my friends, if Judas, I don't
care if Peter's denial or Judas' betrayal is the same. And Peter
received forgiveness. If we confess our sins, God's
faithful and just to forgive us. So I say unto you, I don't
care if you're out there on the outskirts or if you're clear
over the cliff, come back to Christ. Find your way to his
feet. But find your way with a genuine
confession and a genuine repentance toward God and a genuine seeking
of mercy and he's Plenteous in mercy he delights to show mercy
his grace is Is magnified by his mercy you see that? And I'm
not bad as you are put you yes You are we all guilty the same
sin dug out of the same pit guilty the same thoughts imaginations
evil hearts That's right, but God is merciful What did the
world pay Judas paid him 30 pieces of silver what to buy with it
the bar placed to bury him They bought a place to bury. And that's
all. It'll ever profit you or me.
If we decide to part company with the Son of God, all that
this world can give us will just bury us. That's all. Just buy
a piece of land to put us in so we can go back to the dust
and our souls to hell. What will you give me? You can't
give me anything. You don't have anything to give.
Christ can. I'll go back to him. I'll to
the gracious King approach whose scepter mercy gives. And if he
will hear my cry, then the sinner lives. I can but perish if I
go. I am resolved to try. For I know if I stay away, I'll
forever die. I'm not going to stay away.

Lord, is it I?

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Lord, is it I?

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