Judas Iscariot is, without a doubt, one of the most hated men in the Bible. After all, he was one of humanity’s most blessed men – he was one of Christ Jesus’ closest disciples. The first time Judas’ name is mentioned, it is in the list of disciples found in Matthew 10. And yet, he threw that away, and for whatever reason, betrayed Jesus to His enemies. On the Lord’s last evening with the disciples before His crucifixion, knowing full well what was coming up Jesus said, “The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but WOE unto that man by whom he is betrayed!” Essentially, Jesus was saying that Judas would rue the day that he was born.
I find it interesting that in the references to Judas, which were penned after the crucifixion, many of them even early in Jesus’ life, declare that this is the man who betrayed the Saviour. For example, that first reference to Judas, Matthew lists, Simon Peter, Andrew his brother, and all the rest, before coming to “Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.” It appears that creeping around Jesus’ command to love all men, that the penmen of the New Testament had a hard time not hating Judas Iscariot. And for good reason.
This morning I don’t want you to hate Judas; I want you to try to learn from him. I’d like you to consider how it was that Judas went from a seeker of salvation, to a disciple of Christ and then to the Satanic tool who brought the Saviour to the cross. I am hoping this will not be a dry theological, discussion. This is not something to hear with one ear and then to toss into the compost bin of ancient history. Because even though I won’t mention your name, this message is about you. I’ve given this message the title: “An Extreme, yet TYPICAL, Example.” Judas is an example of sin. He is an example of what theologians call “depravity” – “total depravity.” But please don’t jump to conclusions, thinking I’m equating you with Judas’ depraved actions. He is an extreme example. But there are parallels that YOU need to understand.
Judas’ story begins a very long time ago – before the New Testament was written and before he was born. His story, like yours, began in the Garden of Eden, when Adam chose to disobey the Lord. God gave a command to the first of all human beings, adding “in the day you break this rule you’ll die.” As I hope you know, Adam then broke the only law God had yet given. But then something unexpected took place – Adam didn’t appear to immediately die. He lived on a nice farm or ranch just outside of the garden for more than 900 years.
However, here is the thing, the moment that man bit down on that forbidden fruit he DID die. Sin entered that man’s heart and instantly spread throughout every corner of his being. Spiritually he died. His heart became wicked and deceitful; his mind and imagination became only evil continually. (There are scriptures declaring these things.) Adam’s affections became different from the things which God loves and chooses. And his conscience took a hit. You could even say even his fingers started to show the signs of arthritis; his hair started falling out; he began to need reading glasses and when a thorn poked his hand it began to fester. The effects of sin began to run rampant throughout his body and soul. And, as the Apostle Paul later said about himself, “I know that in Adam’s flesh dwelt no good thing.”
These effects of Adam’s spiritual death were passed on to his children, Cain and Abel. This explains why Cain killed his brother, Abel. It explains why “the earth was… corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” – Gen. 6:11. It explains why Nimrod wanted to build a tower in rebellion against God. And ultimately this explains why Judas betrayed Christ.
But my point is: this also explains why you and I need a Saviour – you and I are sinners. Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And Romans 6:17 – “by one man’s offence (Adam’s sin) death has been ruling over all of us.” Because “the wages of sin is death” – Romans 6:23.
Judas may be an extreme example, but in Him we learn what sin is. Sin is whatever is opposed to our love and obedience to the Lord. It is a multi-armed monster – it is an ACT or deed; it is a STATE or condition; and it is a PRINCIPLE or rule. And all three of these aspects of sin have their octopus tentacles wrapped around and throughout each of us. They are sucking out our ability to serve God; they are sucking the very life out of us.
Sin ……..
Manifests itself in ACTIONS – in deeds. I John 3:4 defines sin as “the transgression of God’s law.” It is stepping across the righteous line God has drawn. And God’s law is rooted in who the Lord is. For example, the law to honour our father and mother is founded in the Fatherhood of God over His creation. The command not to steal rests on God’s ownership of all things, and the privilege He gives us to manage, or steward, His blessings. “Thou shalt not kill” is rooted in the fact that life belongs to God, and He is the King of life. Any sin – all sins – are transgressions of God’s law and effectually stomp on the heart of the Lord.
And conversely, sin is also simply not doing those things which God commands us to do. Sin is not just rebelliously breaking God’s command; it is also rebelliously REFUSING to do what He wants us to do. James tells us, “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
In these two ways it is easy to see Judas’ sins. He deliberately chose to own thirty pieces of silver rather than to enjoying the Son of God for eternity. He was covetous – greedy – willing to take some of the wealth of the extremely wealthy Jewish leadership. He deliberately rejected what the Saviour had been teaching him for more than three years – the truth. He apparently was willing to condemn Jesus to death – he was complicit in murder. And, on the other hand, he didn’t take any steps to protect a man whom he later declared was innocent.
These sins are quite obvious, and don’t need much more comment than what I have given them. And in these things, you may think of yourself as totally unrelated to Judas. While you may covet your neighbor’s property, you have principles which would never allow you to steal. And you value life to some degree, making it impossible to murder or encourage murder. But – like most people you don’t mind watching or reading a good murder mystery. You aren’t the outward sinner Judas was; you don’t deserve the hatred he deserves.
But more important than Judas’ ACTS of sin, was the STATE of sin in which he lived and died. Deeper than any act of sin is the principle of sin that rests in all our hearts. This takes us back to what Adam brought upon his children and grandchildren in his rebellion against God. Adam never murdered, and he was never an accessory to murder. Yet that sinful gene was in his blood, and it was exposed in Cain and in thousands of others since then. And while it hasn’t exhibited itself in you, it is still laying there sleeping in your heart. There were no other people in the world for Adam to lust after their wives or cattle or property. Nevertheless the propensity for these things lay in his heart and he passed them on to all his descendants. Every sin possible to men lay in the heart of Adam, and they lay in your heart as well.
Please turn to Matthew 7:16 – “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” The Lord Jesus taught this lesson in Judas’ presence, and he heard other similar lessons. For example there is Matthew 12:33 – “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Christ was using an illustration from nature to teach that bad fruit comes from bad trees. Certainly, good fruit can become bad through disease or bugs. But a tree that produces nothing but bad fruit is obviously a bad tree. Jesus was pointing to various evil people saying, “Your roots are bad.” He could have pointed to Judas, and He was, in fact, pointing to us.
That was Judas’ problem – his roots were rotten. He betrayed Christ because his heart was “deceitful and desperately wicked” – Jeremiah 17:7. And that wickedness manifested itself in wanting to satisfy his greed at any cost. Judas was complicit in the murder of Christ Jesus, because at his root he had the heart of murderous Cain. He didn’t protect Jesus when he had the chance, because, like everyone else, his own interests came before Jesus or anyone else.
In Matthew 15, Jesus said, “Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man…” When Adam sinned, his heart became corrupt. Even though he may have contained and controlled its evil, wickedness was still there in all its depravity. But Cain, Adam’s son, was not as adept at controlling his evil, and so he murdered his brother. And Judas was not as controlled either, so in his greed, he sacrificed the Son of God. Jesus tells us, in John 3:18, “This is the condemnation that light is come into the world, (but) men LOVED darkness rather than light, BECAUSE there deeds were EVIL.” Why are our DEEDS evil? Because our HEARTS are evil. The PRINCIPLE of sin produces the PRODUCT of sin.
Going back to that tree with the bad fruit, you might say that it has two bad tap roots. There is one which says “no” to God, rejecting His love, and rebelling against His laws. And there is another which says, “yes,” to self. One of the characteristics of the state of sin is selfishness – as opposed to surrender.
In our worship service scripture, we read Psalm 14, where David points out the true nature of sinful man. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” It is not so much an atheistic thought as an agnostic thought. “I will not have this God to rule over me.” Therefore the fool is corrupt at heart, and from hisr hands proceed abominable works – nothing good.
The condition of the human heart is sinful, and therefore to various degrees the acts of humanity are sinful. Judas betrayed the Saviour with the disgusting act of a kiss because his heart was wretched. Sin is a state of the heart – a condition of depravity – which produces acts of sin.
And you might further say that the PRINCIPLE of sin is rebellion.
As Paul was nearing the end of his earthly ministry, he wrote a short letter to his son in the faith – Timothy. Neither man ever met Judas, but what Paul said in II Timothy 3 could easily have applied to that man. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
How many of the sins which Paul describes here could be applied to Judas? Lovers of their own selves, covetous, proud, blasphemers, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Among all the rest notice “having a form of godliness.” Judas was a disciple of Christ and even a preacher of the gospel, but his heart was still in its corruption. When he died he went to his own place in hell, awaiting the last judgment and his transfer to the Lake of Fire.
Several times this morning I have used the words “depravity” and “depraved.” This is a much hated and much maligned subject, and yet it is a clear Biblical doctrine. I have been teaching it for the last twenty minutes, but it probably hasn’t offended anyone, because I haven’t pointed at anyone in this auditorium while using the term. The Bible teaches, and I believe, in universal “TOTAL depravity.” By that I mean that sin has permeated every faculty of our being in the same way that a drop of poison would spread throughout a glass of water – every glass of water. Sin has warped every faculty in man, and this is why so many of the things we do, if not everything we do, are tainted with sin. “Depravity” refers to “corruption.”
But using Judas as a picture, let me ameliorate the nasty opinion many have of “TOTAL depravity.” Judas was not as corrupt as many other people; he was not as corrupt as humanly possible. Remember, to Judas was given the control of treasury of Christ’s little traveling church. John tells us twice that Judas “held the bag,” into which went donations from various people. Over time, he may have controlled relatively large sums of money. If he hadn’t appeared to be honest, the disciples would have said something, even IF Jesus had given him that office. Judas was not openly corrupt, although carrying around that silver may have eventually taken its toll. Similarly “total depravity” doesn’t mean that someone is destitute of any good. There are millions of GOOD people in this world, who yet are sinners and still doomed to hell. Despite telling you that you are a sinner in the sight of God, I won’t tell you that you aren’t necessarily “a good person.” Unlike most acts of sin, depravity does not always jump out at people demanding their attention.
And in regard to Judas, there he is taking his place among Christ’s original twelve disciples. He had “a form of godliness,” but he lacked the power thereof. As I said earlier, it was one of his responsibilities to go out preaching the gospel. He was “in church” so to speak. He prayed with the others. He did what the Lord asked of him. But these things didn’t off-set or negate his spiritual depravity. Total depravity doesn’t mean that someone is prone toward EVERY sin. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that Judas was not immoral; he didn’t commit fornication or adultery. He didn’t covet the job of the High Priest; He wasn’t taking up arms to kill the Romans. Depravity doesn’t mean that someone can’t conform his life to the law – whether it be God’s law or man’s.
Judas’ depravity proves itself when it made him Satanically coachable. Without spiritual life, he remained in the family of Satan. Jesus said to others, but He could have said to Judas, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” That is what Judas did – Satan’s will. He was bent in that direction because his heart remained in its depraved and broken condition. Essentially, he had no strength to tell the Devil to take a hike.
And depravity doesn’t destroy a man’s conscience. We can sear our consciences and quiet them. We can pour alcohol and drugs over our consciences, trying everything in our powers to silence them, but they never really go away. We are told, that in Judas’ case, after Christ’s arrest, he “repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of liver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of sliver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Judas had a fit of remorse; his conscience highlighted his wickedness. But let it be noted that it did him no good; his conscience was self-excited, not Holy Spirit excited. Rather than displaying genuine repentance, he committed suicide. And he sent himself out into eternity without a Saviour. “WOE unto that man by whom (Christ) is betrayed.”
Conclusion:
Judas may be an extreme example, but he is still typical of every one of us. But I bring him to your attention this morning, to point out that we don’t need to end up like Judas. Paul was Judas’ spiritual cousin, as were Peter, Andrew, John and Mary Magdalene. All these others were born again – regenerated – given new hearts. Their native depravity was exchanged by the omnipotent God and Saviour, for the righteousness of Christ.
And you, too, may be delivered from your state of sin and even from your acts of sin, through the grace of God. The first step is to acknowledge your sinful condition and your Godless, selfish soul. And then simply accept God’s gift of deliverance which He is offering to you this morning. That gift of grace and salvation is made possible through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved from your sinful condition.
Judas is in hell today, while Paul is not – even though they were both complicit in murder. The difference between them is the grace of the Lord. Paul, by faith reached out to the salvation Christ offered him. Will you do that this morning?