Let me just ask you, truthfully, how many of you when you see that video, you're trying to figure out which disciple is which? Alright, good. There's three of us in here. You don't get to see it as many times as I do. But I think I got it figured out at this point. Well, welcome to church today. Hey, let me talk to the online people just for a minute. If you are online with us today, we're so thankful for you guys, give us a shout out, let us know who you are, and where you're at, because we don't get to see your lovely faces. Welcome to church today, right? I'm excited about jumping into the word today. We're in a series that we're looking at the disciples, we're looking at these men that God chose that God sent and that God has really given us an example of how we can live in the trajectory of our Christian lives and how we can walk out our faith in who Jesus is. And what we've been doing more than anything is we've shown that these ordinary guys came together and really made a dent in the world for the cause of Jesus. And they've showed us that we can do the same.  That we have the same God, we have the same Jesus, we have the same calling on our lives. And we've been walking through some of these disciples.  We saw Philip, tell us, you don't have to have all the answers to sometimes take a step in faith. We saw John the elder statesman tell us that there is a balance between absolute truth and loving people in both of those things can be 100%, in our lives.  We saw Peter tell us that our failures are not fatal, that if we'll just fall towards Jesus, He will truly he'll forgive us. And then last week, we saw Thomas.  We saw him look at us and say, Look, never let a momentary doubt, define the rest of your life. And here was my prayer last week, that we walked out of here, realizing that we all have had moments, right, amen. We've had some moments, but those moments don't have to define us.  Our relationship with Jesus defines us. You know, we've spent a lot of time in the life of four of these guys, but I want to remind you that there's one thing that all of them had in common, and that was that they were all called by Jesus into this special relationship.  The goods about them, the bad is about them and the uglies about them. They were all called to know Jesus. In fact, I want you to check this out. 

Luke chapter 6, we looked at this a long time ago. Just want to remind you. Luke chapter 6, we get to see how they became the apostles. Luke 6 says, "One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and he spent the night praying to God. When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose 12 of them, whom He designated apostles." He looked at these hundreds of people that were following them, and he narrowed it down to these 12 people that we're looking at. Here's who they were "Simon (whom me named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alpheas, Simon, who was called the Zealot Judas son of James and Judas Iscariot, who became a trader." And we've spent time looking at four these guys; two of them that we've seen in John and Peter, were in the inner circle of Jesus, the most closest, as you can say, to Jesus, we spent time looking at two of them that are in the middle group, of the grouping, were Thomas and looking at Philip.  And we've seen disciples, it's been really neat to watch these guys lives. We've seen disciples that really and truly asking and question Jesus.  We've seen disciples that in John that just wanted to be close to Jesus and be around Jesus all the time. We've seen disciples that have doubted Jesus and Thomas, we've seen disciples who have denied Jesus in Peter.  But this morning, we're going to see the disciple that betrayed Jesus.  We're going to see the disciple that absolutely did not know or did not trust who Jesus really was. We're going to look at Judas Iscariot this morning, and we're going to look at some principles from his life.  Some principles that the reality is that these principles are tragic because these principles are really things that he could have known from the beginning, but he never grasped. While his story is really tragic, in scriptures, there's some things that you and there's some things that me that we can draw from Judases life, that can set us on a path and a trajectory to honor God with our lives. But before we do that, though, we need to be introduced to who this guy, Judas Iscariot is. Now Judas, if you notice, we can tell a lot about him by where he is placed in the list of the disciples. Every single list that all of the gospel writers give us is about in the same order. Most of them chunk the first three are the first ones there's a middle group, and then there's a last group. And we always see that Peter is the first that is mentioned, because Peter was the leader. He was the group's spokesman. He was the guy that kind of ran the disciples, but we also see on the backside of it that Judas Iscariot is always last. Now look, there's a lot of things you want to be last out. And this is not it. Judas, we see that every time he's mentioned, he's not even mentioned in the book of Acts, because he's already died. But every time he mentioned, Judas is last in the disciples, and there's always this caveat beside his name that says something like either he is a traitor, or he was the one that betrayed Jesus. So look, it's one thing to be mentioned in the Bible, right? It's one thing to be remembered in the Bible. But if what you're remembered for in the Bible is that you are the last and that you betray Jesus, the day is not good for you. And we see this in Judases life. In fact, Judases name has some symbolism behind it. Unlike in our day, where we're picking things like weird names out of the stars somewhere, these guys when they chose names for their kids. The reality is, as a parent, the name that you chose for your kids was to be a direction that you wanted your kid to live in. The word Judas is a word that really just means that Jehovah leads. 

If you look up the definition of Judas, you'll see that there are other Judases is in the Bible that ended up in a little better spot. But this word Judas, it means that Jehovah leads or that God leads so so you got to think through the lens of Judases parents.   Judases parents had high hopes for Judas. They named him in a way that they wanted Judas to walk in the light and in the leadership of Jesus, unlike Thomas, whose parents didn't give him a real name, we have a real name attached to Judas. And it means that Jehovah leads.  His second name that we would call a last name, or if you're from the other side of the pond, a surname if you want to sound official.  His last name is really a little bit different than our last names. They just kind of comes from our family heritage, but his last name describes who he is.  Iscariot is just a compound word that it really just means "ish" that's the first part of the compound word means that he's a man of and "cariot" is the city that he's from. So, Judas Iscariot is a man from the city of Cariot. Now that's important. I know you don't think that's important, but it's important. And here's why. Judas is the only disciple that is not from Galilee. He's the only disciple that didn't grow up in the same little area, the same little town and catch this, most scholars believe he's the only disciple that didn't grow up knowing each other. So Judas is a little bit different than the other disciples.  The other disciples would have played kickball in the Jewish streets. I don't know they would have thrown rocks in the Jewish streets, they would have went fishing together in the Jewish streets. But Judas came into the group as a secondary kind of disciple. They didn't know him. They didn't know his family. They didn't know his background. They didn't trust the stories that they had buried together as kids and held all through life. And he came in as an outsider as a solitary person, so it made it easy for Judas to pull the wool over the rest of the guy's eyes. Why? Because they didn't know his tales, right? They didn't play poker as little kids together. They didn't do things as little kids together. So they didn't really know Judas. We really don't know a lot about his family other than John chapter 6 tells us his dad's name is Simon, that doesn't really make a big difference. But what we do know about Judas is the Judas got to see almost every single thing that Jesus did in the New Testament, just like the other disciples.  Other than the upper room discourse, I'll give you that one, after that Jesus had sent him out those last chapters in John, Jesus and Judas were together just like the other disciples. So, he has an incredible message in the idea that a person can be so close to Jesus, but not know Jesus. A person can walk in the presence and in the priorities of Jesus, listen, but not know Jesus. You see, Judas saw Jesus, heal the blind. He saw Him heal the sick. He saw Jesus raise people from the dead. He saw Jesus walk the streets among sinners, but yet never sin. He saw Jesus look into people's eyes with this idea of integrity and compassion and he saw Jesus act that out with loving people. He saw Jesus move among the streets and accept people for who they are but point them in a lifestyle that honored God. He saw Jesus love the unlovable. He saw Jesus pick people up at their lowest.  He saw Jesus at the Last Supper at this meal together. The truth is, is that Judas saw Jesus in a holistic form, and that he was indeed the Son of God, but yet never trusted Him. But yet he never trusted Him. And listen, this is a warning to us. This is a warning to some of us that have seen Jesus do so much. But we never have stepped into a trusting relationship as our Savior and as our Lord.  You see, I want us to look at Judas this morning, because Judas shows us how we can be so close, but yet, so far away.  One author said it like this, "Judas kissed the door of heaven, but he never got to go in."  So tragic. You know, I get a lot of questions about Judas. Before we get to these principles for his life. I think I just need to ask them, because a lot of us have them. I guess he's probably the number one disciple that we get questions about, or that I get questions about? So I want to answer a couple off the front this morning as quick as possible. And I'm not going to be quick, let's just be honest. But here it is. I got four for you. The first question that I get asked a lot about Judas is, and this one's heavy, I'm not gonna lie; Is his Judas in hell? I get this question a lot. I really do. And here's how I want to answer it. I want to answer it with, A - I am not the judgment guy of the universe. And you should be really happy about that. 

All right, because there is a little temper in this. But B - I want to answer it by saying that the Scripture is pretty clear in how it answers this question. And the answer is, Yes, he is in hell. It's not me. It's the Scripture, John chapter 6:70-71, look at what Jesus said about him.  "Jesus replied, Have I not chosen you the Twelve?  Yet one of you is a devil." It's never a good thing when Jesus calls you a devil. "(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who though one of the Twelve was later to betray him.)" Now, when Jesus said this, it sounds a little bit like what he said to Peter earlier when he told Peter to Get behind Me, Satan. But when he was looking at Peter and he was saying, get those ideas out of me, right and get those ideas behind me. But when Jesus speaks of Judas, like this, he's literally saying that you are a child of the devil.  You are a person that is being directed by the devil and your lifestyle backs it up. In fact, he gets clearer about it in Matthew chapter 26:24.   Jesus says, The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him."  He's telling him, he's gonna go to the cross. But watch what he says. "But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man!" Listen to what Jesus says, "It would be better for him if he had not been born."  Now, how does Jesus say this? or Why does he say it? He says it to indicate that Judas never is going to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus. Now, why is that? Well think logically with me, I know this is a little bit deep. But when a person is born, when a soul is born, there is only two end games for your life, alright, to end games, either A - you trust Jesus, you give Him your life, you submit to His Lordship, and you spend eternity as a forgiven believer in Jesus Christ with God in heaven. That is Option A.  Option B is that God grants you the idea that you will be separated from him forever. Why? Because you chose to not be with him. You chose to not submit your life to Him. So, we have a merciful Father who gives you your request and you do not trust Jesus. Therefore, you spend your life away from Jesus in hell.  It is Option A is heaven, you choose Christ.  Option B, you choose your own life, you choose your own will, and you choose to be separated from Christ. The only way that Jesus could say that it would be better for someone not to be born is if they were not going to spend eternity in heaven. Are you following this, logically?  I know it's a little bit different. It doesn't just say Judas is in hell, it doesn't really say that. But either A - you end up eternity in heaven or B - you end up eternity in hell, the only people it's better if they were never born is the people that don't end up in heaven.  That's what He says, in fact, if Jesus is not clear enough about it, we can always trust Peter to be clear, right? Peter is super clear, Acts chapter 1:24 & 25. They're preying on who's going to replace Judas. And look what Peter says, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two that you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry?"  Who's going to be the next apostle? Listen, to what Peter said, "which Judas left to go to the place where he belongs."  You can always count on Peter right, to clear things up for us. So, is Judas in hell?  Yes. Is it tragic? Absolutely. Not making light of it, but I just needed to answer the question. But number two, I get this question. Did Judas lose his salvation? I get this question a lot.  To which I would emphatically say No. Absolutely not. Why? Because you cannot lose your salvation. You cannot lose Christ forgiving you, you cannot lose Jesus taking hold of you. It is not yours to take, and it is not yours to give. All right? I just need you to feel that. 

And I need you to feel what's happening here. Judas might have been religious, he might have been around Jesus, he might have hung around Jesus, but he never trusted in Jesus. Let me remind you, you cannot lose your salvation. It's not there to lose. You didn't do anything to gain it. You don't do anything to lose it. 

John 10:27 Jesus says, "My sheep, listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life." catch this "and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."  Man, that's good news, isn't it?  Ephesians 4:30, Paul says, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." When you give your life to Christ, your past, your present, your future sins, they are forgiven, and you are sealed for redemption.  Romans 8:38 & 39 "Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. our Lord." Did Judas lose his salvation?  No, why?  Because you can't lose your salvation. If you came from a place that controlled you by saying that you can lose your salvation, shame on them and welcome to grace. Because that's Jesus. That's Jesus. Number three, I get this one all the time. Almost, somebody almost clapped. That would have been so good. Alright, number three, here it is. I was so close. Number three, I get this question a lot. Don't do it, I'm gonna keep going. Here it is. Number three. Did Judas go to hell because he committed suicide? I get this question a lot. I really do.  To which I would say no. Why? Because suicide does not send someone to hell. It doesn't. And listen, if you've been living in that bondage for a long time, I want to free you up because here's the deal. If you have had a family member that this has been a part of their lives. Let me tell you this; it's not the suicide that sends someone to hell. It is the lack of relationship with Jesus that sends someone to hell. That's what it is. So listen, is suicide a grievous sin? Yes, it's a form of murder. It is a sin. It grieves the heart of God. But it is not the suicide that sent Judas to hell, it was the fact that he didn't have a relationship with Jesus, that sent him to hell.  Once again, if you're truly saved, even if you have a momentary lack, which is a lot of people's lives when they choose to solve a temporary problem with an eternal solution. No, suicide does not send anyone to hell. Once you're truly saved, you can't lose your salvation. Here's number four. I get this question a lot. Well, then why Matt, did Judas go to hell? Full Circle, right? Then why did he go to hell? Well, technically alright, technically Judas did not go to hell because he betrayed Jesus in the garden. Okay?  And that's good news. That's good news for you and that’s good news for me. Why? Because we've all betrayed Jesus. In some way or another. Judas went to hell because he never stepped into a relationship with Jesus.

He never gave Jesus his life. He never submitted his life to Jesus.  Now that I've gotten my email box full for the whole week, alright, I want you to see his life all right. I want you to see Judases is life because Judases final fate was to be separated from Jesus which really was where his heart was, is it not? That's where his heart was.  That's what direction of his life was painted and now he's in a place that that is going to be the rest of his life.  That's going to be eternity for him. So, when we look at Judases life we look at it in the form of a warning; of don't do this.  He is on this side of eternity now. And it's too late. But here's what I want to say to us. It's not too late for us. How do I know? You're still here, alright, you're still here. And we're breathing. We have a chance to trust Christ. And we're here. So, if Judas was with us, he'd have one principle for us. Here it is. The principle is this. Don't let your life's legacy be defined by wasted opportunities with Jesus. Don't let your life's legacy, this is Judas, be his legacy, right?  What we're doing right here, there's only two of these occasions in all the New Testament, the rich young ruler, and Judas, don't let your life's legacy be defined by wasted opportunities with Jesus. Now, two categories of people, for those of you that know Jesus, you have a relationship with Jesus, you've trusted Jesus, he's forgiven you of your sins, you're wasted opportunities come in the idea of are you walking with him daily? For those of you that don't know Jesus, today is about this. Do you know Jesus? And when you give your heart to Jesus, he's the only author and perfecter of your faith. So He gives us some principles. But I want you just to think here, because man, I want us to redeem the story of Judas and I want us to see the warnings number one life lesson from Judas is this. There is a difference of knowing about Jesus. And knowing Jesus. Judases life shows this, doesn't it? It shows us this over and over and over. Did Judas know Jesus? Oh, yeah, he knew Jesus. Did Judas walk in the presence of Jesus? Yes, he did. But there was never a surrendering of the lordship of Jesus. He was a carnal religious person that was full of himself. This is what Jesus can say in Matthew 7:21-23. Listen to what he says. "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day," here it is, this is a message for Judas. "Lord, did we not prophesy in your name" Judas will say, Well, I did. "and in your name drive out demons" Well, Judas will say, " and in your name perform many miracles?"  Judas would say, I did, but catch this in verse 23, "Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!" 

Now, as sad as that is, there's encouragement here. There's encouragement. Why? Because what's the will of the Father that Jesus is speaking about in these verses? The will of the Father is that you and me would trust the Lordship of Jesus in our life.  Lord just literally means God, I'm yours, here is my blank check. Now, I know some of you don't know what checks are, but they're this on paper thing that you write the stuff on, and you just sign it, alright, you sign it, and they take the money out of your account. Alright, you don't get that front row right here. But the rest of us we know what that means. All right. But what did Judas have? Judas had a really strong head knowledge about who Jesus is. Yeah, he did. He probably knew Jesus better than any persons other than the disciples and his mama that ever walked on this earth. He had a head knowledge like no other. But the problem was he didn't press it into his heart.  Did he do ministry, yeah, he did ministry. In fact, he did mission trips with Jesus, some of them went good. Some of them went bad, right? He did ministry in his name. And Judas wasn't even just a regular disciple. He was in charge of the disciple’s money. So, he was a leader in the group, but yet he didn't know Jesus.  You see his head knowledge was not the problem. It was a heart knowledge of submitting to Jesus that was the problem, and it showed.  It showed, and you know, when you look at Judases as life through just a history mindset, and who he was, you begin to see that around John chapter 6, when Jesus had the biggest crowd ever, and then Jesus sends the crowd away, because it was getting a little bit weird to Him. And he sends the crowd away with this message of, Hey, I am not going to be the Emperor here. He does this in in John chapter 6. He looks at them and says, I know some of you are following me for the right reason. But some of you are following me because you think that I'm going to be the Emperor, you think that I'm going to overthrow Rome, you think that I'm going to be on a throne one day, and you're following me because you have a wrong mindset of who I am. Listen, Judas was in this category. Judas thought Jesus one day would take the throne of Rome literally take the throne of Rome, and Judas thought that if I could just stay close enough to Him, he will put me in a position of authority and a position of power and in a position of great wealth when he overthrows the government. It wasn't until Jesus said this in John chapter 6, that we begin to see the true colors of Judas and that Jesus's path and Judases path begin to diverge a little bit because here's the deal. Judas never had a spiritual interest in Jesus, only a me interest.  A me interest and we see it in the Bible. I love how we see this; he was never attracted on a spiritual level. Let me ask you this. It's a super personal question I'm gonna get up in your business. Do you follow Jesus for a you reason or do you follow Jesus because he's the supreme Maker of the universe reason?  You see, there's a difference. When we don't submit to Him as our authority, and our Lord, basically, we're looking at Jesus saying, hey, I want enough for you, to make me a really good moral person. But I don't want enough for you to submit my heart and my life to you. That's where Judas was. It was like, what are you going to do for me, Jesus? You see, there's a difference of head knowledge and heart knowledge. Heart knowledge submits, head knowledge just knows some things. But number two, it doesn't stop there. Judas shows us, that you can't serve two masters. He shows us this with his life. And it starts pretty early in Judases ministry life. In fact, I want you to listen to this. I just want you to listen to this phrase, you will always submit to what means most to you. You will always submit to what means most to you? Why? Because that thing is your master. That thing is your master.  You say, Matt, what are you talking about? Here, let me let me put it like this. I don't know what your priorities are. I don't know where you're at. So, I'm not I'm not talking about you. All right. But here's what I know. For some of us it's time, for some of us it's money, for some of us it's attention, its influence, whatever it may be. But here's what I know. You will always show me what your master is, when two of your priorities collide. Here's how I can flesh it out even more. When your schedule gets crazy, when things begin to be put onto your schedule, whatever wins; that's your master. That's your master. And Judas shows us really quickly that you can't serve two masters one of them is always going to rise to the top. When conflict arises. Your master will always rise to the top.  In John chapter 12, we see this in Judases life, check it out.

"Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on to Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair.  And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." This is an incredible account, get it in your mind, set your imagination and just your look into the scene. Mary is basically at the feet of Jesus worshiping Jesus pouring this expensive imported from India perfume that was a family heirloom worth more than anything else she had on the feet of Jesus such a sacrificial act of worship for Jesus. Look at verse 4, "But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected.  Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." Now look, this is such a great statement, right?  This is such an ethereal social justice statement right here going, man Judas says we should give all that money to the poor. It sounds like a great deacon's meeting, why?  Why do we do that? Right? We need to give all that money to the poor. But here's the problem. Look at the next verse, verse 6. "He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief." What does that mean? That word thief there's where we get our word klepto from it doesn't mean that he was an accidental thief. It means that he was a methodical thief. Like he thought about this, he'd been doing this in the past, his true colors were showing. He was a thief as the keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. "Leave her alone, Jesus replied, it was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."  Right here Judases is real master began to show. It really began to show.  And the contrast of this relationship with Mary begins to show it to us right. Mary is generous. Judas is greedy. Mary is humble. Judas is arrogant. Mary is selfless. Judas is self-centered. Mary is bowing at the feet, while Judas is standing aloof and challenging Jesus. They're both showing us this incredibly vivid contrast that Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." No one can serve two masters either you will hate one and love the other or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and money. What do we see?  Judases true colors are showing, why?  Because you can't serve two masters, you will always serve one of them. Judases heart shows his master.  Let me ask you this. Where's your master? What's your master? You say Matt, I'm not really sure what my master is. I can tell you two ways you can tell, time and money. What do you spend your time doing? What is your family revolve the time around, right? And how do you spend your money? Those are the two ways you can't serve two masters. Here's the third lesson, it's not the last we got a long way. Number three. Satan actively pursues those who show any interest in Jesus. He actively pursues it. Now look, this one's a little bit heavy, I'm not gonna lie. But here's what this means. Satan's number one tool is not a super Christian. And Satan's number one tool is not someone who does not have anything to do with Jesus. Satan's number one tool are those who are halfway in and halfway out trying to make a decision what they're going to do, why? Think about it logically. For the people that don't know Jesus, for the people that don't have any association with Jesus followers, why in the world would Satan waste his time pointing them in a direction? They're right where he wants them to be? And they have no influence on anybody else? Who does Satan want to have the most influence on?  It's those people who are just religious but don't know Jesus? Why? Because they're close to those who do. They're in the midst of those who do. It's super hard for Satan to use someone that's completely outside the faith. 

But listen, it's super easy for him to use someone who's just playing the game.  Who's playing the game. And that's the warning for the church. Judas was not a true believer, but he was close to true believers. In fact, Luke 22, I want you to see what happens to Judases life.  Luke 22:1. It says, "Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching and the Chief Priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the Chief Priests and the officers of the Temple Guard and discussed with him how he might betray Jesus."  What is Satan doing?  He's seeking out the one that is halfway in and halfway out.  John chapter 13:2 says, "The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot to betray Jesus."  What is Satan doing? Satan is prompting him and drawing him in.  John chapter 13:27, "As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him."  What is this? Satan has now prompted him; he's drawn him and he's in full control of his life. It's another way we know that Satan that did Judas didn't know Jesus in a relationship. Satan is in full control right here. What is this saying? It's saying that Satan looks for opportunities in even people who just glanced towards Jesus. It's not reserved for the super Christian; it's not preserved for those on the road to hell. It is for everybody to watch.  Satan's drawing us and tricking us, he's a thief. He's a conniver. He wants to steal, he wants to kill, he wants to destroy, and I can't tell you how much he wants to push you in even directions you don't want to go. I can't tell you the number of counseling appointments I've had that started off like this; Matt, I never thought I would. See, that's where Satan wants you. Let me ask you this. When was the last time you honestly asked God to show you your heart and show you what your connection with him looks like? Because I think this could have saved Judas. I think it really could have in fact; I love how King David says it in Psalm 139:23-24. He says. "Search me God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting?" Why don't we do this? Because God is revealing God and He wants to reveal our hearts to us and show us when Satan is beginning to attack us so that it doesn't continue to the end. He wants to heal our hearts. Speaking of hearts. Here's number four. The lesson is that most of our hearts are open for Satan to move well before even those closest to us know about it. Now let me say it again. Most of our hearts are open for Satan to move well before even those that are closest to us notice.  What does this mean about us? This means we're really good at hiding what's really happening in here. We're really good at shutting down. We're really good at being isolated.  We're really good at pushing people out.  John chapter 13, we see this in Judases life right after Jesus washes the disciple’s feet. In fact, he washes Judases feet.  I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall there and seeing the looks. And then in John 13, catch this, "After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testified, very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me." Look at this, verse 22, maybe you never noticed this. "His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them he meant." Let me tell you something about Judas. Judas was so good at hiding who he really was that even those people he walked with, he dined with, he did life with, they didn't know what was going on in here. And let me just tell you this. So are you. So are you, and so am I.  That's why it's so important for us to do life with other people and really let other people see who we are. We see this again in Matthew 26. I want you to reference that for later. But I want you to go to John 13:27, "As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So, Jesus told him what you're about to do, go do it quickly. But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.  Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought that Jesus was telling him to go buy what was needed for the festival or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out.  And it was night."  Now why don't we read that? Because even in the backside of this meal, the disciples had no idea that it was Judas.  Zero, and this is scary. The is scary how good we are right?  How good we are at faking it, how good we are at hiding it. And then from this moment, Judas went, and he betrayed Jesus, right?  He turned Jesus over. 

Fast forward a lot of the story. We're in the kangaroo courts of the night, right? The failing courts of the night, Jesus is beat beyond almost recognition. And here's number five from Judases life. There's a big difference between remorse and repentance. There's a big, big, big difference between remorse and repentance and Judas shows us this. Because here's what happened to Judas. You see, Judas thought by selling out Jesus, he was gonna fulfill this desire for money and power and need in his life. But like in our lives, he realized real quickly that his sin didn't fulfill him. His sin didn't get him where he thought it was going to get him.  And check this out, Matthew 27:3-4 it says, "When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and he returned the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Priests and the elders.  I have sinned. he said, for I betrayed innocent blood.  What is this to us? They replied, that's your responsibility." So, Judas threw the money into the temple, and he left.  I want you to circle the word remorse. Because I need to teach you something really quickly. There is a big difference of being sorry for our sin, that's remorse, and repenting of our sins. You see, sorry, is when you get caught, right? Sorry, is when you get your hand slapped. Sorry, is when your mama or your daddy does business with you, right? Because you did something. Repentance is where you realize what you did, and you turn your heart and your life over to Jesus. You see Judas, he was sorry. He was conflicted. What does it say? He was guilty. He was miserable is brought remorse in his life. But he was just sorry for what he felt.  He never turned to Jesus. To which I'm just gonna ask you, I'm gonna be really frank with you and ask this. Have you ever repented, and come to Jesus, and said, I need you to take this because I am a rotten person? And I need you to forgive me and set me on a path of righteousness.  That is different than going dang it, I did it again. So different. And Judas is showing this. Why? Because Judas tried to silence his guilt, didn't he? By committing suicide. He never gave his life to Jesus. He never called for Jesus. We don't see that anywhere. And that's something they would have put in here, right?  But he did feel real bad. There's a difference of you feeling bad about what you've done, and you come to know who Jesus is.  Remorse versus repentance because here's the thing. If he would have come back to Jesus, Jesus would have forgiven him. Can I just tell you something? And he'll forgive you. That's number six. Jesus deeply wants a relationship with us. We see this from Judases is life. Do you realize that the maker of the universe walked with the guy that was going to betray him and he knew it from the moment he called him? From the moment he called him. Jesus knew Judases heart.  And can tell you this?  Just like he knows yours. He knew it. He knew what you were gonna do. He knew what you were gonna say.  He knew how you're going to act. But He loves you anyway. Listen, I wish we had like another hour. Here it is.  So, Jesus is in the garden, right?  Judas walks up to Him and kisses Him. And what does Jesus say to Judas? What does he call Judas?  He calls him, my friend.  There at the supper about to dip their hands. Jesus looks at him with compassion and calls him friend.  Listen, can I just tell you to the very end, Jesus wants a relationship with you.  And He wants to save you. That's why 1 Timothy 3:6 says this, "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

Last lesson from Judas is just that he would beg us to trust who Jesus is. Don't just know about Him. Know Him. Let me ask you today. Do you know Him?  Two walkways; number one, if you're not a believer in Jesus today, you got to meet Him. You got to trust Him, you got to give your heart to Him. That's way different than sitting in church. Number two, if you are believer, don't miss opportunities. Don't miss opportunities.  Walk with Jesus. He's worth it. 

Lord Jesus today, as we walk into this moment of worship, God my heart, is that if there is a person or persons that need to give their life to You today, God to make sure they're a believer. I'm not talking about I was six years old. And my parents asked me if I wanted to go to hell or heaven. I mean, for sure. Today, Lord, they need to make this decision today. God, I pray that today in their hearts and their lives, they would say, Dear Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. And I know that I walk in a way that is not glorifying You. Jesus come into my heart. Forgive me if my sin and be my Lord.

I just want you to look at me just for a minute before we sing. If that's you today, if that's your heart today, you've done something that Judas never did. You just stepped into a relationship with Jesus. But now look, we want to know about it.  We want to walk with you, and we want to answer your questions. That's what this next step text is about. That's why their next step on the app is about let us know. We want to walk with you. Maybe you're not even sure, you're like um maybe, then we want to talk to you.  Humble yourself to the point where I'm just really not sure, well, let’s be sure. Because this is not little stuff. Judas will tell us that.  Let's stand and sing together.