This morning we come to the end of our little series on understanding the apostles that Jesus chose; the final part of appointing of the 12, as I have labeled this. This morning, we will look at Judas Iscariot. Before we look at several passages, I want to remind you of something out of Matthew seven. In Matthew seven, Jesus warned about the few, and the many, that there will only be few who truly follow Christ, who truly know Him and love Him. But the majority will be self deceived, even though they will say they follow Christ. They are Christian in name only. More people who claim to be Christians will call Jesus Lord, but they will never enter the kingdom. It's a terrifying thought, one that burdens my heart for each of you. Because perhaps, someone within the sound of my voice is in that category. You claim that you know Christ that you follow Christ. But in reality, you are self deceived. You have never truly been broken over your sin. You have never truly come before him begging for forgiveness. You've never truly been born again and therefore you don't truly love Him. Christianity is just a tradition. In Matthew seven, beginning of verse 21, Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in your name, cast out demons in Your name, perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" Earlier in that passage, Jesus pressed his followers to choose between two options. Both options claim this way to heaven. First, he asked them to choose between two gates, the narrow and the wide, and then he commands them in verse 13, to, "enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide in the way as broad that leads to destruction." Narrow, comes from a Greek word "stenos", which comes from a root word meaning to groan, and is used to describe a compressed or a restrictive gate, that is difficult to enter in, to with ease. Matthew has probably chosen the imagery of narrowness to describe the construction of one's choices when they come to saving faith in Christ. Taking the challenge of Jesus teaching that there is therefore a very sharply defined mode of entry. The narrow gate throws up images of the need to make a choice, which is not obvious. And it is certainly a gate that the crowd is not going through. It carries the idea of being attentive to where the gate is located, perhaps to experience even the discomfort of squeezing through this gate. This is the gate of course of authentic saving faith, which requires to someone to squeeze through shall we say, without the excess baggage of self righteousness. It requires the recognition of, of spiritual bankruptcy, of being overwhelmed with the horror of their sin fully aware of the Judgment they have, they deserve because they have violated God's holy law. And when a person truly comes to saving faith, he or she will truly experience the intense pressure of a conscious choice which will renounce the old self and will put on the Lord Jesus Christ the speaks of a determined, purposeful decision, requiring strenuous effort. This is the opposite of the easy believeism that is so common in evangelicalism today. This decision "ism," idea, altar call evangelism where calculated and emotionally induced outward acts like walking an aisle or repeating some prayer are considered to be evidence of regeneration rather than a changed, a radically changed life. We see the same emphasis in Jesus response to the question in Luke 13:23, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? And He answered, 'Strive to enter the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." Strive comes from a Greek word, "agonizomai" and it means to fight or contend. And it signifies an intense exertion of effort, even conflict indicating that this is not a gate that a person just kind of wanders through with the rest of the crowd. Nor will it be a wide gate that is attractive to the masses. No, no, no, this is a different gate. It's the gate of genuine saving faith. It will be a gate that one must enter deliberately, and with determined effort. And all along this is the gate of genuine conversion. It's entered by the overwhelmed the helpless, the hopeless. The ones that cry out like the Publican all have mercy upon me, the sinner. As we read in Luke 18. This is the gate of self denial, not the gate of self fulfillment. It's a gate that requires a man to count the cost of discipleship to discard self will, to jettison self righteousness, to reject selfish ambitions and to come before Christ and say I am willing to be your slave, for what you have done for me, and because I love you, and you love me, Jesus put it this way in Matthew 16, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it but whoever loses his life, for my sake shall find it." To deny literally carries the idea of renouncing oneself, being absolutely repulsed by your sin, being willing to repent and move in a different direction because you're so overwhelmed by your inequities. Because of all of the ways that it is corrupted your life and made God your enemy. That's what it is to deny yourself and follow Christ; a radical departure from the man centered gospel of self fulfillment, and self indulgence where you come to Jesus to somehow help you make more money or get rid of all of your diseases, or whatever. And it's certainly different than this heretical, social justice gospel that focuses on how to be delivered from the social injustices of man, rather than how to be delivered from the righteous justice of a holy God. Central to entering the narrow gate, therefore is, is a terrifying conviction of sin. And a clear understanding of the message that we read in Acts 4:12, that there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven that is given, has been given among men by which we must be saved. And in addition to this, Jesus says in Matthew 7:14, "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it." And the reason why so few find it, it's not only because they don't understand the gospel, but because that's not the gate they're looking for. And it's certainly not the gate the masses choose to enter.

Jesus went on to contrast the narrow and the wide gate saying in verse 13, "For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it." So the imagery here is very obvious, both the narrow and the wide gate have a sign on top of them that say this way to heaven. But unlike the narrow gate that is restrictive, the wide gate is gaping, it is inclusive, it is attractive. The idea of striving is wholly unnecessary. With the wide gate there's no need for conscious strenuous effort. There's no need to examine your heart and be overwhelmed by your sin. There's no need for any groaning for any crying out for mercy. In the wide way is the way that many modern day pastors who are bent on attracting seekers have learned how to market the wide gate by redefining sin in such a way that virtually no one could be offended and thus eliminate the need for a Savior; eliminate the need for genuine repentance, eliminate the need for regeneration. The essence of their definition of sin these days is that sin basically includes all those things that we think and that we do that rob us from fellowship with God and steal away the happiness that he wants us to enjoy. The good news of the gospel has been reduced to nothing more than God loving us so much, that He sent His Son to save us from our unhappiness. But describing sin apart from the offended righteousness of God, dear friends is not only irresponsible, it is damning. Apart from an understanding of man's condemnation, before a righteous God that evokes the wrath of God, there is no gospel. Because the wrath of God abides on him, Jesus says, in John 3:36. However, many people are going to hear the true gospel like some of you and still not be honest in their heart and still refuse to truly embrace Christ and repentant faith.

And such a man was Judas Iscariot. Like Judas, many people follow Jesus for selfish reasons. They want nothing to do with Jesus as the savior of their sins. They want a Jesus that is the meeter of their needs. Nothing about Jesus being the lord of their life; rather they want, shall we say, a cosmic butler that will do what they need, a smiley face Jesus that will wink at their sin and be there to help them out. And they have problems. Judas Iscariot was such a man he was the quintessential hypocrite, a man with unprecedented opportunity to spend time with Jesus, the incarnate Christ, sit at the feet of Christ himself, to witness all of the miracles. He squandered it all because he refused to humble his heart in genuine contrition. He, dear friends, followed Jesus for all of the wrong reasons. What about you? It is fitting that God would have chosen him knowing full well, the treachery of his heart. Why did he do that? Because God wanted to provide a vivid illustration of the power and the process of hypocrisy that will exist in the church, and thus be a warning to each of us. Beginning with the apostles who'd couldn't see any of this. He wants to warn us of the deceitfulness of the human heart. The church of Christ has been and always will be plagued with hypocrites, with people that profess Christ but don't possess Christ. Much of evangelicalism today is just country club Christianity. It's crisis Christianity, it has no power. Jesus described them as branches that attach themselves to the true vine in some superficial way in John 15. They claim to follow Christ and you see external conformity, but they deceive themselves into really believing that they are Christians when in fact, they are not. The reason you know that is because they bear no fruit. Therefore, Jesus says they are cut off and thrown into the fire. There's no real love for Christ. It's just churchianity.

Well, today we look at the life of such a man, Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed the Son of God, a man who refused to allow Jesus to shape his heart, and consequently, his heart became hardened to the deceitfulness of his own sin. And certainly this is a warning to all of us, we all must examine our our life here. Because hypocrisy is a slippery slope, and here in his life, we're going to see some of the telltale signs of a phony Christian, the marks of a hypocrite. Judas Iscariot, that name reveals the region from which he came in Hebrew "Is" is the word for man and "cariot" means that he was a man of Cariot, a little town in southern Judea. He wasn't from Galilee like the others so the others didn't know him. They had no background on who he was. But yet he was another ordinary man, no, no special credentials whatsoever. And as we examine his life, we see that he followed Jesus for purely earthly selfish reasons, not for any heavenly benefit. Like the others, he was a Jew that anticipated the Messiah coming and establishing his kingdom, getting rid of Rome, and he wanted to cash in on the deal. He wanted a place of prominence. In fact, the other apostles were dealing with the same issue, as you will recall, who's going to be first in the kingdom, right? We know nothing of his family or social background. All we know is that Jesus chose him John 15:16. Not for salvation, but Jesus chose him for betrayal. None of this caught Jesus by surprise; betrayal that was a treachery that was frankly ordained before the foundation of the world. It was one that was clearly prophesied in the Old Testament and Psalm 52, beginning in verse 12. The Spirit of God foretells to us the eventual betrayal of Judas There we read, "For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it, nor is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself against me, then I could hide from him, but it was you a man my equal my companion in my acquaintance, we took sweet council together and walk to the house of God in the throng." Certainly a picture of Judas. Jesus described this further in John 13:18. And here he quotes a messianic prophecy found in Psalm 41 Nine, that speaks of a friend's betrayal, says "Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me." And if we go to Matthew chapter 27, verses nine through 10, we see there that Matthew refers to the prophet Zechariah chapter 11, verses 12 through 13. And this is a prophet see that gives even even greater detail concerning the Lord's betrayal. There in Zechariah, Zechariah symbolically asked the covenant people what their Messiah is worth. A picture of the price they eventually paid Judas, There we read, "They weighed out for my wages, 30 pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me throw it to the potter that princely priced, they sat on me. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, for the potter Potter." So indeed, Judas betrayed the Lord, returned the money, as we know, to the chief priests threw it down. But since it was blood money, money illegitimately paid, and then returned to falsely convict an innocent man that would be sentenced to death and the perverted and calloused hearts of the Pharisees, who were deceived by every imaginable form of hypocrisy. Isn't it interesting, they could not bring themselves to return that money and put it in the treasury, because that would be dishonoring to God. So they purchased, quote," a potter's field." It was a defiled place, where they buried travelers, and the indigent, the ungodly, the very field where as we will read Judas hanged himself, later known as the field of blood.

The predetermined purposes of God never cease to amaze me to think that He decrees what he will and he does it even in regard to Judas, Jesus said in Luke 22:22, "Truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, But woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" And it's fascinating to think that Jesus knew all about Judas, his wicked heart, and yet he chose him. We read about this in John six beginning in verse 70, "'Did I, myself not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil?' Now he meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he one of the 12 was going to betray Him." It's beyond our ability to comprehend that even the wicked machinations of a hypocrite are preordained by a sovereign God. Jesus came to earth to live and to die and to be raised from the dead. And Judas, though fully responsible for his choices, merely played into God's sovereign plan of redemption, and to think about it, there was never a time where Jesus spoke an unkind word to him. The Good Shepherd never offered him anything but love and forgiveness and mercy and grace. And yet look what he did. Jesus knew his heart of greed, because he was skimming money out of their literal little treasury. Jesus knew about his selfish ambition to cash in on the kingdom. And he knew precisely the diabolical nature of this apostate. He knew Satan's plans for him. Yet, isn't it interesting, he maintained an attitude of perfect love for his enemy. It's hard to believe, isn't it? Jesus never gave him a reason to hate him. Yet he continues to be the most hated person in all of history.

Well, the text reveals much about Judas. So I want you to think with me again, the master hypocrite, no doubt he had convinced himself of his own self-righteousness. After all, he was a Jew. And only those who are seasoned in their own self-righteousness, make good hypocrites. And as we study the passages that speak of Judas, we see again that No one suspected that he was dipping into the pot that he was skimming money, nobody suspected him of being a traitor. Not even after he left the upper room to strike his deal with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus in the garden, did anybody suspect anything, mo one knew. As I said earlier, in that day of heightened messianic expectations, Judas saw his chance to cash in. He wanted to be on the inside track, he wanted some kind of a political appointment. And obviously, Jesus was the Messiah. I mean, he knew that he could see all of the miracles. He saw all of these things. But as we examine the text we begin to see how Judas' patience, was wearing thin. Three years with Jesus and all he sees is humility, and love, and compassion, and servitude. When's he going to attack the Romans? When's he going to get on with this thing? I mean, I'm getting tired of all of this. Let's see some heads roll. I want to receive my reward, but all I hear are parables about forgiveness, money and sin, the sin of which the sin of pride, I'm getting tired of it. Hearing all this stuff about eating flesh and drinking his blood. I mean, come on, let's eliminate the Romans and establish the kingdom. So by the time Jesus and the 12, head to Jerusalem for the last time, you might say Judas has lost his sense of humor. He was becoming impatient. His spiritual masquerade is about to be over. He's getting increasingly frustrated. By the way, I've noticed over the years that hypocrites cannot stand it if their agenda is being ignored or thwarted in any way. Eventually, they're going to explode. Remember, life is all about their needs, not God's glory. Now I want you to notice how this plays out and we're gonna land on John 12 for a few minutes. Remember the context, Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead, the 12 are having a meal in the home of Simon the leper, along with Lazarus and Mary and Martha. And in John 12, beginning in verse two we read, "So they made Him a supper there and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 'Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii, then given to poor people?'" See, Judas is at his wit's end here. A denarii, by the way, was one day's wages. So 300 denarii would have been about a year salary. I mean, that's a lot of money, right? Would have been a lot of money for him to dip into and put in his pocket. And of course, he hides his true motives. And he offers some phony rationale, one that sounds noble, compassionate, keep up his godly image. In fact, Matthew tells us in chapter 26, and verse eight, that all of the rest of the apostles agreed with him. Yeah. That really would have been nice. I mean, why waste all this money? And it was only sometime later that the inspired apostle John then comments on what Judas was really up to. And he does this in verses six through eight, he says, "Now, he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore, Jesus said, 'Let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.'" Well, this incident must have been the straw that broke the camel's back for Judas, because immediately after this incident, Matthew's gospel tells us in Matthew 26, beginning in verse 14, "Then one of the 12, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you,' and they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver. So from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him." Now, originally, his unrestrained and unsatisfied lusts energized his hypocrisy, causing him to attach himself to Jesus. But now things are a bit different. Those same unrestrained and unsatisfied lusts are inflamed with resentment, which motivates him now to do the unthinkable and what a tragedy it is. His wicked heart could have been pardoned. But now instead, it has been hardened. He must now take the wine cup of divine fury from the hand whom he has betrayed and drink all of it. And he, like all of the wicked, who hate God, according to Jeremiah 25:15, will drink and stagger and go mad. So he has been given over to completely experience all of the consequences of his wickedness. And we see this clearly in the account of what happened in the upper room. And later that night at the arrest of Jesus, and it's amazing again, to think about this, the cloak of hypocrisy can be worn with such ease, right? I mean, Judas has his precious 30 pieces of silver. And yet what does he do? He goes back and he joins his unwitting friends and Jesus in the upper room. No one suspects anything. But Jesus knows precisely what is going on. And if I can say this with all love, some of you are no different. You come here every Sunday, and you sing with the saints, and you hear the sermon, and you are unmoved. And throughout the rest of the week, you live in a fool's paradise. Enjoying your sin thinking all the time, that when you die, you're going to heaven, and yet you have no basis to make that claim. That's the power of self deception and hypocrisy. No one suspected anything. John 13 verse two, "During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon to betray Him," the text says, and yet knowing this, by the way, in verses three through five, what does Jesus do? Jesus washes his feet. Verses 10 and following Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but it's completely clean and you are clean, but not all of you. For He knew the one who was betraying Him for this reason, He said, 'Not all of you are clean.'" By the way, bathing is symbolic of salvation. And that's why he says, "but not all of you," referring to Judas. And again, this is another mark of a hypocrite, just their astounding callousness of heart. To allow the incarnate Son of God to wash your feet, to display just such inconceivable humility, knowing in your heart you're about to betray him. That's the power of hypocrisy and sin. And yet Judas just sits there and allows the Lord to serve Him, as if he expects it. Peter, on the other hand, you will remember was overwhelmed by his unworthiness, but not so the hypocrite. Dear friends, never underestimate the power of the flesh to join forces with the devil. Never underestimate that, for therein lies a force that is so diabolically wicked as to justify the betrayal of God Himself. I've seen this before, the self-deception of hypocrisy, it is so exceedingly powerful. That hypocrite can justify any act any thought, any action, as Paul said, of them, and First Timothy four two, "Their conscience has been seared as with a branding iron," so there's nothing you can do or say to reach them. I find it interesting, psychologists who are ignorant of the scriptures, ignorant of biblical truth, describe many people as having a narcissistic personality disorder. People that see themselves as better than everyone else, they deserve more, the rules don't apply to them. And of course, this is pandemic in the powerful and the wealthy, especially corporate executives, politicians, Hollywood stars, athletes, Christian entertainers, but the Bible just calls this foolish pride. They're just hypocrites seared in their conscience. Proverbs 26:12, "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes, there is more hope for a fool than for him." Isaiah 65, five Hypocrites say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me for I am holier than you! These are smoke in My nostrils. A fire that burns all the day." God is referring to the phony burnt offerings, that the people would sacrifice to him. There's a stench to his nose, one that will result in judgment.

Well, back to John 13. Jesus now gets more specific about the betrayal. Verses 18 and following. He says, "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen, but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me. From now on, I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He." And then we get a glimpse of Jesus heart, the enormous emotional turmoil that was eating at him. Knowing that Satan now has entered this man, Satan, you might say, has now entered the room through Judas. Verse 21, "When Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit and testified and said 'Truly, truly I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.'" Boy to be troubled in spirit. That's an understatement for Judas to know that Satan is in the room with him through Judas. So Jesus now, is mentally he is spiritually agitated and I might add that there is nothing more toxic in Christian fellowship than having a known hypocrite in the midst. We go on to read in verses 22 and following, "The disciples began looking at one another at a loss to know of which one He was speaking." There was reclining on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to Him and said to Him, 'Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.' He, leaning back thus on Jesus bosom said to Him, 'Lord, who is it?' Jesus then answered, 'That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.' So when He had dipped the morsel He took, and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel Satan then entered into him. Therefore, Jesus said to him, 'What you do, do quickly.' Now, no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some, were supposing because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, 'Buy the things we have needed for the feast,' or else that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel, he went out immediately, and it was night." So Judas keeps up the act all the way to the end. He had been planning this for days. But by the way, because he was a coward, according to Luke 22, six, he was waiting for the right opportunity to betray Jesus, quote, "in the absence of the multitude, he didn't want the crowds coming down on him." And it's important to note here that Jesus is making sure that his first Lord's supper would not be polluted by hypocrisy, so he excuses Judas, who is now possessed by Satan.

Before they begin, you remember the rest of the story knowing where Jesus was going to pray, along with the others in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read in John 18, three, "Then Judas having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons," a cohort of Roman soldiers would be 600. So probably 600 soldiers and verse 12, we read about that. And according to John 18, four, we see that Jesus now goes out to greet them, Jesus, therefore, "knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' They answered him, 'Jesus, the Nazarene.' He said to them, 'I am He.' And Judas also, who was betraying him, was standing with them. When therefore He had said to them, 'I am He', they drew back and fell to the ground."

John's Gospel is filled with irony, and this is certainly one of them. They speak of Jesus the Nazarene. That was a way of demeaning Him. And He answered by saying, "I am He," the absolute opposite, "Ego eimi" in the original language, a term that Jesus used repeatedly to declare His deity. We're looking for Jesus that Nazarene. When he says, "I am He," "I am the great I AM," "I am Jesus," "I am the Messiah," "I am the Son of God," Dear friends, don't miss what Jesus did in this extraordinary, remarkable scenario. Here he revealed himself to his enemies, and to the world, that he is who he claims to be, the Son of God. Here he uses the covenant name of God. The title he used to describe himself you'll recall in John 8:58, where he told the unbelieving Jews before Abraham was born, "I am."

You see, he referred to himself in the present continuous tense. And why I mean, that seems really odd. Why would he do that? Because inherent in his name, is the fact that he always was and he always will be God. The speaks of self-existence, but that it was never a time there has never been a time that he did not exist. You remember, in Exodus three, Moses asked what what should I tell the people? When they ask what is your name, and in verse 14 of Exodus three, "and God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.' And he said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am, has sent me.'"

Dave Harrell

That the preexistent, self-existent uncreated Creator of the universe, the one who always is, who always has been, and who always will be, is the one that is speaking to you. This is the title he used to respond to Judas and his all of the enemies that came to arrest him in the garden. Again, back to verse six. "And when He said to them, 'I am He', they drew back and fell to the ground." By the way, this is the testimony of an eyewitness account. And John would have written this about 50 years later. I mean, certainly, that would be something you would never forget, Jesus coming out and saying, "I am He," and they all just fall to the ground, talk about power. And you would think at that point, they would get up and they would fall on their faces and worship Him. But that's not what happened. Maybe some of them did later. But there's no account of that. Oh, dear friends, what a glorious manifestation of the both His power and His mercy and what a foretaste of the next appearance that we will see when he comes in glory. Remember, in Isaiah 11, four, "And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked." And yet, with such miraculous display of His omnipotence, they continue to arrest the Son of God. It reminds me of the homosexuals remember, the homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah who were judicially blinded, because of the depths of their depravity. And yet they continue to weary themselves to get to the door and so too, Judas and the soldiers weary themselves now to do evil. Judas is it's just the most colossal failure in the history of the world. Now he's fully empowered by Satan. He steps forward to betray Jesus with a kiss Matthew 26, verse 49. "And immediately he went to Jesus and said, 'Hail, Rabbi' and kissed him." Luke 22, verse 48, "Jesus said to him, 'Judas, Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'" Indeed, that's what happened. In other words, Jesus is saying, Judas, does your hypocrisy, know no bounds. You're going to betray Me with a kiss? You're going to betray this Passover night with such diabolical treachery? That's what you're going to do? Will you betray your Creator God with an act of love? Will you pay homage to your king with a kiss of death? Obviously, the answer was yes.

Dear friends, please hear me, there is a line that a hypocrite will one day cross when God will judicially seal that person in the insanity of their sin. When a man's self-worship fills the cup of divine forbearance to the brim, it will overflow with the wrath of divine abandonment and God will give them over to the full consequences of their depravity, Romans 1:28, "God will give them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." In other words, their reasoning faculties have been destroyed, and they will go mad in the pursuit of their sin. That's what's happening here with Judas. After the betrayal, he found himself incarcerated in the torments of the hell that he had created for himself here on Earth, a hell he had foolishly chosen. And in utter agony, now he's experiencing the wrath of divine abandonment. Matthew 27 Verse three He says "Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.'" Now, some unfortunately say, Well, this means that he got saved. Where do you get that? Well, the term remorseful is translated repented, in the King James Version, and that's produced some understandable confusion. The King James Version translation of repented, is a really a misleading, rendering causing some to erroneously believe that he repented of his sin and thereby he was born again. But this is most unfortunate. The New King James is a better translation, it translates the term remorseful. Let me explain this briefly to you. The Greek term "rendered remorseful" or "repentant" in Matthew 27 three, is "metamelomai" and this merely connotes regret or remorse or sorrow, not genuine repentance prompted by God in the heart of the redeemed. That's not what that term expresses. Had Matthew intended to convey the idea of genuine repentance prompted by God, which would be a sincere brokenness of heart over sin, he would have used another term, "metanoeo." Metanoeo speaks of a deep spiritual brokenness, a a penitence that one would, would experience when they realize they have offended a holy God, a God that loved them, prompting them therefore to confess their offense to him. In this case, it would have been to Christ Himself and ask for forgiveness, it would include a decisive change of mind a change of direction. The point is simply this, Judas did not experience a genuine contrition, "metanoeo", but rather a mere remorse, "metamelomai" Matthew 27, three. And this was prompted by his own excruciating guilt over what he had done.

These are two very different kinds of repentance as you read about this, for example, In Second Corinthians seven, verses nine through 11. By the way, Judas would have been terrified to truly repent and thereby admit that he had borne false witness against an innocent man, because that crime, according to Deuteronomy 19:16, through 19, was punishable by the penalty imposed upon the one he had falsely convicted, and the punishment was crucifixion. So he didn't want to say that, at the horrors of what he had done, drove him to actually murder himself. Matthew 27 Five "He went out and hanged himself." In Acts one verses 18 and following, it adds even more graphic details. Evidently the limb upon which the rope had been hung broke and we read "and falling headlong he burst open in the middle in his entrails gushed out." What a tragic end. This is the final word we hear of Judas Iscariot in Scripture. And this is so symbolic of the powerful essence of sin in the human heart, because sin will destroy the inner man. He falls headlong. The text tells us that he's literally split in two forcing his wicked entrails to spew forth from his torso onto the earth that he so dearly loves. Judas never sought forgiveness from God, he never cried out for undeserved mercy or grace. Had he done so he would have received it instantly. Jesus had made that clear in John 6:37, "And the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out."

Well, as we close this morning, I want to remind you a bit of some of the things we see here in the heart of hypocrisy. We see how people can superficially attach themselves to the body of Christ, superficially become part of a church begin to say all of the Christian things that they're used to hearing. James 1:15 says "They're drawn away by their desires." That was true for Judas. His selfish ambition is avarice. That is his insatiable greed for riches. Other people are going to attach themselves to the church because they're lonely. They're looking for friendship. Some are looking to network their business. Some are looking for physical healing. Some are looking for some personal miracle or some way to manipulate God so that they can become prosperous. Some like to be in control and so they will join a church to see if they can be a big fish in a little pond, to receive glory, to get in a position of leadership, to be able to get on stage and play their instruments or whatever. Some are sexual predators. Some make their money off of naive Christians, and this is much of what we see happening in contemporary Christian music. Some are unsuccessful in every area of life and so they pump the ball and hope it lands in some place where they can become a missionary or a pastor. How many churches do you see pop up all the time? Some new man is the new pastor. And for a lot of people, it's just a cultural traditional thing to do, right? That's what it is, for the most part in the South. You don't want to be out of sync with the rest of the culture. Of course, some people attach themselves to the church because they're looking for a handout, they are looking for benevolence, they need financial help, so they hop from church to church. And on it goes.

Well, as we close, let me just give you just four things that really define the slippery slope of hypocrisy that it begins with religiosity, religious affiliation that gives people the illusion of spirituality. They attend the services they adopt the lingo, they adopt the customs, they externally act like Christians and perhaps there even some personal reform but like the Pharisees, described in Luke 11, "they clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness." Second Corinthians 5:12, 'they glory and appearance only." Paul spoke of this in Second Timothy three in verse five, "They hold to a form of godliness, though they have denied its power." And Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 15, seven "'Hypocrites, He says, "rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, This people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" The religiosity then begins to move towards resentment, because gradually that begins to build. They're watching other people grow in Christ but they're still struggling with besetting sins with internal turmoil, with guilt with broken relationships. They even feel some sense of guilt, they begin to despise those who truly love Christ. They begin to run from the light of Scripture. They love the darkness rather than the light so they find a church where they can feel at home with other people that are spiritually dead like them. The religiosity, moves to resentment and then thirdly to rancor. They become angry, they become divisive. They garner support from other people. First Corinthians 11. Paul speaks of this beginning in verse 18, he says, "I hear that divisions exist among you and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you," in other words, here's the reason why. Here's the reason why I'm going to allow the tears to exist with the wheat in the church, the sheep with the goats, in order that "those who were approved may have become evident among you." In other words, the dissensions are going to become the test to separate the wheat from the chaff. And ultimately, these people because they are willfully blind, God will harden their heart, producing the final stage and that is ruin. Starts with religiosity moves to resentment, turns to rancor and then to ruin. Jesus summarized the ruin of Judas his life with these poignant words, in Mark 14, verse 21, "It would have been good for that man, if he had never been born." Oh dear friend, I hope this is not describing you. But I fear that in some cases it is. And may I say to you that you are unable to see the light of truth because of the inner corruption of your very nature that emanates darkness from within. And it causes you to walk in darkness and you love it so. And I can only pray that God in his infinite mercy will bring such conviction to your heart, that you will see this and if you do see it is it is because of his work of grace. And that you will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, dear friends, examine your heart. You cannot fool God, he sees it all. And if you're a hypocrite, repent before it's too late. And for those of us who know and love Christ, and we know it is so because the Spirit bears witness in our heart that it is so and because we see the fruits of that in our life. For those of us who truly love Him, let's rejoice together in his saving grace. Because without it, we would never be saved. Let's pray together. Father, thank you. For the clarity of your word. There is no way that anyone could miss what you have done and this whole situation. Lord, I pray that Your Word will bring great conviction to those that may fall into that category. And for those of us who have truly been born again, by your infinite grace, I pray that you will cause us to celebrate that grace all the more and live our lives to the praise of your glory. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.