The Betrayer Revealed | Sermon 11/05/2023

Apologia Utah

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All right, if you would please turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 13 John 13

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We're going to be in verses 18 through 30 Gospel according to John the title of the sermon today church is the betrayer revealed the betrayer revealed

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So starting in verse 18 of the gospel according to John chapter 13 here now

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The words of the living and true God If I do not speak of all of you,

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I do not speak of all of you I know the ones I have chosen, but it is that the scripture may be fulfilled

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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 occur you may believe that I am he

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Truly truly I say to you he who receives whomever I send Receives me and he who receives me receives him who sent me

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When Jesus had said this he became troubled in spirit and testified and said

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Truly truly I say to you that one of you will betray me The disciples began looking at one another at a loss to know of which one he was speaking of There was reclining on Jesus's bosom one of his disciples whom

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Jesus loved So Simon Peter gestured to him and said to him tell us who it is of whom he is speaking

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He leaning back thus on Jesus's bosom said to him Lord. Who is it?

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Jesus and answered that is the one For whom

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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

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Satan then entered into him Therefore Jesus said to him what you do do quickly

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Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose he had said this to him

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For some were supposing because Judas had the money box that Jesus was saying to him

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Buy the things we have need for of for the feast or else that he should give something to the poor

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So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately and it was night

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Thus ends the reading of God's holy and magnificent word. Let's praise the church body God I ask that you would illuminate the scriptures for your people today

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God, please reveal to us what we ought to See here what we need to receive

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Lord, please teach your people encourage your people and Help all of us

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Lord to see the greater purpose even through betrayal We love you

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Lord, please be with us now pray this in Christ's name. Amen So it's no secret today we'll be talking about the topic of betrayal

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The Bible has more than a few examples of betrayal It is an egregious and despicable sin.

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It is absolutely absolutely horrible sin the hurt of betrayal is

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Something that is very near and dear to the heart of God and especially to our

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Savior one of the first examples of this of course

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The sin of betrayal was with a an angel named Lucifer this angel named

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Lucifer turned against the Lord who made him and this angel

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Lucifer purposed it in himself that he would make it his mission to turn

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Anyone else he could away from this Creator That was especially seen in his activities of temptation to Adam and Eve in the

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Garden of Eden And after that, of course sin entered into the world And it didn't take long from that point that first betrayal for betrayal to strike again

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Adam's sons Cain and Abel were giving or they were giving offerings to God. The Lord was highly pleased.

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It said with Abel's Sacrifices but not with Cain's offerings and Instead of going to God and asking

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Lord, why are you pleased with my brother Abel's sacrifices? But you're not pleased with the offerings that I've grown for you instead of simply going to God and say how can

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I? Give you an offering that you would be pleased with says that Cain was

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Jealous of his brother. He was in anger and God warned Cain even before it happened

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He said sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you.

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That was in Genesis 4 He warned him ahead of time But he didn't listen

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Abel had no indication that his brother did not love him none

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Things were normal that day but in the field Where no eyes could see but the eyes of the living

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God Cain rose up against his brother and killed

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Abel that day Can you imagine? Can you imagine when your own his own brother came to him and struck him down and before the lights left his eyes?

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There must have been bitter sadness and shock How could my brother have done this to me? Betrayal is a murderous sin

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Later in Genesis 37 This is one of the most famous stories of betrayal Jacob's sons were jealous and angry with their youngest brother

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Joseph Who had a special coat he received dreams from God? This son was born of the wife of Jacob's love

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Rachel and so he was viewed of in a special way compared to his brothers

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Not all that was right, of course But this is the way they viewed him

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Now his brothers would conspire they would scheme they they'd look at their brother Look at that dreamer

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Look at him and they would start to come up with these plans and these schemes to go against their youngest brother

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Joseph and when they got him alone, they stripped him of the coat of many colors Right, and they threw him first in a empty cistern or at least a big pit

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And he was stuck there and they dipped the the coat in in the blood of an animal right to to kind of show their

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Dad, he must have been eaten. He must have been while he was shepherding the flock he must have been attacked by a lion or a bear or some creature some beast and Then of course

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They don't do that Somehow they feel bad about it and they sell their their brother into slavery

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Those merchants who are passing by to Egypt and so Lies have to be told

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To oneself to do this think about the lies that the brothers of Joseph had to feed themselves

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Oh if we get rid of Joseph, we'll have our father's favor again He'll love us you really think getting rid of the brother whom your father loves

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Would somehow give favor to you. How would how would committing a curse bring the blessing of God?

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And so betrayal is a sin that's built on lies You also have the betrayal of Samson carried out by Delilah in the book of Judges Seduction can be used in this as a tool to carry out this sort of sin

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King Saul betrayed young David It caught David totally unawares sometimes they were even having dinner in the palace and David would be sitting there and King Saul would pick up a spear and just thrust it at young David and it would narrowly miss him and go into the wall right and so David didn't get it there was even two times in the cave when

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Saul was relieving himself and another time when David snuck into their enemy camp and took took took a jug and showed that a

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He was near to the king twice and he could have killed him. He could have Assassinated him, but he didn't

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David just didn't get it. Why is he betraying me? Why is he against me? I've only ever loved What he said was

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God's anointed David was also betrayed by his own son

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Absalom now Here is one of the biggest Examples of betrayal in the whole

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Bible besides the one we're looking at today. This is one of the biggest This is a this is a man that is hardly ever spoken of.

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Okay His name is Joab He was son of Zeruiah King of King David's sister.

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This was David's own nephew Joab He was a great warrior.

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He became positioned in the role of commander of David's armies. He would lead the people to many victories but Joab's lack of Self -control was often a problem after King David made a truce with Abner who's

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Abner Abner was the cousin of Saul and the old commander of Saul's armies and so after Saul died

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Abner is still alive and The the kingdom now belongs to David and they made a truce

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Abner and David but Joab Hid his plot from King David from his cousin and He went and asked

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Abner Can I speak to you privately and they went off to the side and it said that as Joab tried to speak with Abner He pulled out a knife and he thrust it into his belly and he died right there just complete betrayal

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David was furious in addition to his murder of Abner Joab even killed his own cousin

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Amasa and his betrayal was Judas like I'm not even kidding. It was accompanied by a kiss

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Joab said to Amasa. How are you my brother? How are you? then

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Joab took Amasa By the beard with his right hand and he pulled him as if he was going to give him a kiss and Amasa Didn't realize that in his other hand.

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He had a he had a dagger and he thrust it into his own His own brother here.

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This is this is Joab It says his intestines spilled upon the ground

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Amasa. He died right there betrayal comes with another murder and Get this when

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King David's son Absalom was betraying his own father David wanted to give him to give the young man mercy.

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This is his own flesh and blood Joab don't kill my son. We'll capture him. I know he's betraying me

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I know he would do these things against me, but let's not kill my son. This is my son

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Joab but Joab disobeyed King David's command to spare Absalom's life and By himself, he took three spears and he stabbed them in struck them into David's son

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Absalom And what's crazy is even after that When David finds out his son is dead when

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Absalom is dead He goes into a state of complete mourning and Joab the one who murdered his son

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Comes up and mocks him and he's like basically he's like you're being a baby and you're making everyone in the kingdom think you're weak

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Absalom was your enemy. I did you a favor David But David was crushed

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He was completely crushed and when David was finally on his deathbed, I don't know why it took this long

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But when David was finally on his deathbed Joab conspired with Adonijah to install

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Adonijah as the next king of Israel instead of Solomon there's a whole big conspiracy a whole big plot and David learned of this and so David commanded his son

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Solomon and he said, please I Asked that you ensure me

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That when you come into power, you will execute Joab that you will finally put him down and so there's this scene

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Where the act was carried out by Benaniah Joab was clinging to the horns of the altar asking for leniency asking for mercy

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Which was something he never gave anyone else, right? and so He was put to death

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You see the common themes and threads between all of these self -gain

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Jealousy anger envy no consideration of God's statutes lies scheming and often murder

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And in every single one of these examples the betrayer was what was close to the victim

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Someone who they loved typically a family member And the same goes today in our text, this is someone very close to Jesus Jesus knows this all very well

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But before we get into verse 18, let's recap. Okay? So after washing the feet of his twelve

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Apostles Jesus went back to reclining at the table and he gave them the reason as to why he washed their feet

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He wants them to love one another to serve one another sacrificially If they did it they ought to do it to one another as well because they aren't higher than him if Jesus was willing to Wash feet.

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They ought to be willing to wash feet. They ought to be willing to serve one another and he says He ends that section by saying if you know these things

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You are blessed if you do them But there is one person here who will never be blessed

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There is one who will never do these things He only knows them

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He will know every single teaching Jesus has ever given He has now witnessed every single miracle that Jesus has ever performed

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He has heard the very words of God from God himself But this man will not do any of the things

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Jesus said nor will he ever follow the example of Christ And so Jesus clarifies as he speaks to the disciples in verse 18

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He talked about a blessing and then he says I do not speak of all of you. I Know the ones whom

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I have chosen But it is that the scripture may be fulfilled. He who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me

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Now here's a radical prospect Although Judas will soon not follow

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Jesus in any capacity Anymore and he and he won't do the things that Jesus said we must recognize for three years

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Three years Judas walked with Jesus along with the other disciples

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He went on a brief mission Just like the other Apostles. He probably yelled out the kingdom of heaven is at hand

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He probably said the gospel the good news is here. He cried out. He said these things

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He looked like an Apostle to the other eleven so that they were just shocked when this happened.

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He looked like one He performed some level of doing right?

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I'll be it not with the right heart But this blessing from God will not come upon this man

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Because Jesus knows the ones whom he has chosen. He knows his own and he loves his own.

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He said that last week His own received salvation and then they want to know and do the things

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Jesus said and demonstrated So I want to argue that not not one of Judas's deeds

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Ever did a thing to budge his eternal destiny. I want to argue that Judas demonstrated what

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Paul called worldly guilt opposed to godly sorrow leading to repentance after he betrayed

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Jesus And furthermore, I want to argue that Judas didn't want to repent he didn't have the capacity to repent and Could not have turned to Jesus even if he wanted to strange

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Because there is no conditional if he wanted to there is no conditional if he wanted to apart from the phrase

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I know the ones whom I have chosen There is a scope of people whom are the chosen here and this this goes for the

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Apostles But it also goes for all of Jesus's disciples. This has been clear throughout the gospel of John There is a divine prerogative a divine objective a divine will a divine desire and that desire wins

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That desire supersedes all other desires. It wins out over man and the devil's

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Desires Jesus says I know And I know the ones whom

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I have chosen. This is in the perfect tense in the Greek This tense the perfect tense is used to describe a completed action

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Which produced results are still in effect all the way up to the present and moving forward

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And so this isn't knowledge that Jesus's has acquired. I know the ones whom

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I have chosen He didn't acquire that sort of knowledge. This isn't reactionary knowledge the scope of the chosen ones started with God in God and goes along with his omniscience that Is to say that Christ didn't learn who he would choose or he didn't learn who would choose him sort of thing

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The chosen ones existed in God's all -knowing nature from eternity past That's why the

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Apostle can say in later letters from the foundations of the world. That is to say from eternity

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You've been predestined From before you were even born and that goes for Judas as well in the opposite direction he is of the camp whom

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Jesus has not chosen as his own and This fulfills scripture according to our

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Lord This is from Psalm 41 the the Psalm that I had our deacon

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Eric read today It is a Psalm of David in which he is facing sickness And he's facing enemies and the enemies are glad that he's sick.

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Oh look at him. May he may he not rise up again? Right, and there's false friends.

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And so look at Psalm 41 Verses 7 through 9 in your print out or in your

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Bible. It says all who hate me whisper together against me Against me they devise my hurt saying a wicked thing is poured out upon him that when he lies down He will not rise up again

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Even my close friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me and so this isn't like Psalm 2 or Psalm 110 or something like that, which are

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Messianic Psalms there They're all about Christ Psalm 41 isn't Messianic in that nature, but there are allusions to Jesus in Psalm 41

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Especially since David was what we call a type But if you read other parts of this

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Psalm Not all of it's about our Lord, of course And so this part in particular is very similar to Jesus, however

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Very similar all the Jewish leaders whisper about him All of them devise against him

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They will see something poured out upon him at the cross. They'll think he's not going to rise up again, but he does

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And then there is the friend in Psalm 41 This man was someone close to him.

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This was a man Jesus poured into and served He gave him his own bread in Jewish culture

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Someone who could share a meal with you This is this is very serious in Jewish culture

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If you could go to someone's home and eat their food and share a meal with them

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That meant more than simply just oh, let's grab a burger together. That meant that you got that you were tight

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You know for someone to betray you after you gave them your food Was a big deal.

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This was this was very serious Everyone expects the adversarial

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Pharisees to say and do things against Jesus, but the ones closest to him The ones close to him

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That's hard That's hard to fathom. It says that this one has lifted up his heel against me

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Now, what does that mean? There's been debate on what that means lifted up his heel against me Some have argued that lifting up your heel means that You're you're leaving someone you're going out on them.

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You're you're departing from them. Your heel is lifted up against them some argue that lifting up your heel against someone means that when they're when their back is turned to you and they can't see you because they trust

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You because you're a friend Now when your back is to them, they lift your heel against you and kick you down when you don't see it either way, there's some level of a

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There's some level of of just great Betrayal here. It's taking cruel advantage of another person.

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And so either way as It relates in this psalm. It says the words against me someone going against against another with evil intent

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Our Lord knows what it's like to be betrayed by someone close to him Has that ever happened to you

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Have you ever been betrayed before You know, it's it's one thing for a friend who

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Who's close to you and slowly starts to Depart from you.

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They slowly start to pull away from you They gradually do things against you that you don't get right and then somehow after a little while you recognize

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Their presence is a negative one in your life. They're not for you They're not truly a friend.

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And so you you give it to God and maybe you even cease contact You pray for them, but there's this slow degradation

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That's one thing but it's a whole nother thing to have someone who is very close to you with no indication of treasonous

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Motivations and there is no slow degradation of the relationship. But in fact to that day, there's a maintained relational commitment then all of a sudden

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Excuse me with no warning. No signs This close friend turns on you in the most hurtful in bitter ways

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Excuse me, maybe maybe a friend who has been your greatest supporter your greatest cheerleader

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But actually When you thought they were your greatest supporter and cheerleader, they were the biggest gossip and backbiter and you just never knew it

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It came out that they slandered you they defamed your name and your character with other people for maybe even a

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Considerable amount of time while you thought that they had complete respect for you and love for you

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The opposite is true. You were a joke to them worthless in their eyes Not worthy to be protected your your name and your being was not worthy to be protected and championed in their eyes

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That's hard That is difficult Now you must remember

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God will vindicate every single one of these situations. God will vindicate these situations.

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He will He'll vindicate every terrible situation that you have come across in the realm of betrayal there will be justice

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You have an advocate before your father No one can change

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Who you are in Christ when he has firmly declared it He will champion you

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God will cheer you on He'll never gossip about you Jesus will never act one way in front of you, but then act a different way in front of other people

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So if this has happened to you Your sorrow will turn to joy All this is

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How the psalmist can say in that Psalm Psalm 41 at the end he says By this

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I know that you are pleased with me because my enemy does not shout and triumph over me as for me

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You uphold me in my integrity God and you set me in your presence forever

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You see if this has happened to you Those people your enemies

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They'll never be able to shout and triumph over you never not once Never you know why?

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Because Jesus destroyed your worst enemy sin and death And because Jesus did that your enemies your temporal enemies can never shout and triumph over you although they attempt to But you're now his and he upholds you

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As the psalmist says the Lord sets you and I in his presence forever now as for Jesus He knows his betrayal is coming

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He's not a victim simply caught unawares The Lord Jesus has been saying it from the very beginning

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But look he's only he's going to use even the betrayal of Judas for a good thing look at verse 19 From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass

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So that when it does occur you may believe that I am

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The Lord Jesus has taught many things he's pointed back at things in the past and Proclaim why they happened and what they mean and what they fulfilled

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He's done that a lot in the gospel of John, but now he will tell them things before they come to pass before it happens

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He's telling them one of them will betray him not to complain about it

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He's not raising an alarm that someone's going to betray him so that they'll do something about it.

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Oh help me guys Someone's gonna betray me help me out He's telling them of this horrible betrayal so that when it does happen

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They will remember that he spoke of this and therefore it will be one more thing

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That they may believe that he is the I am and that's what's happening here In the

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Greek it says a go a me. This is an I am statement What is an

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I am statement it comes back all the way to Exodus chapter 3 when Moses is like What is your name?

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Who who do I tell the children of Israel? Who are you? What's your name God, and he says I am that I am he says

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Yahweh Right and that in the Greek Septuagint, which is the

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Greek Old Testament That is often translated a go a me.

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I am and so Jesus says When when I'm telling you right now,

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I'm going to be betrayed and when you see it May you look back and remember that I told you

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I was going to be betrayed and when you see me die and rise again You're gonna look back at all of this and you're gonna remember that I am

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I am Yahweh I am he I don't know what's going on there

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Well, he's in power. Sorry guys. I don't mean to distract you there strange phenomenon anyways

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Won't let it bother us again anyhow He says the name of God This is very similar to John chapter 8 verse 24 he says for unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins and He wants the

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Apostles to remember that he is the I am I Don't think

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I need to go into the lengths that we previously had regarding the I am statements With John we've gone over it so much

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But this treachery of Judas will be something that gives the Apostles and one more reason to believe that Jesus is

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God One more reason to believe that he is the Messiah one more reason to believe that he is the singular solution to their spiritual plight that's

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What Jesus shows redeems this betrayal? Now he speaks of those whom he has truly sent opposed to someone like Judas who is not sent

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Verse 20 look in your Bible there verse 20 truly truly. I say to you he who receives whomever

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I send Receives me and he who receives me receives him who sent me

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This acts as a bit of an indictment upon Judas The man was never truly sent by Jesus and therefore he is not to be received anymore

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The timing has come to fully reject this man if you receive Judas you don't receive

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Jesus you receive The devil the devil is the one who sent

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Judas who is sending Judas John has made that clear in his narration And so as Jesus is staring down the climax of his mission

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He gives the disciples a foretaste of theirs This is also a reminder

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For the Apostles that after the betrayal his death and resurrection when they remember these words That he gave them ahead of time

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That they will believe that he is the I am and then they will be sent they'll go out They won't simply stay where they're at.

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They won't simply stay fishermen when they remember these things. They will be sent out That's exactly what happens in Matthew 28 and with the

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Great Commission. That's what happens in Acts chapter 1 right before Christ's ascension Judas won't be there though when

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Jesus officially sends these men. He'll be out of the picture The apostolic authority isn't passed on to the betrayer of the

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Son of Man But this goes for anyone who was not sent of Jesus We're not to receive them

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We are only to receive those sent by Christ. And so how do we know who is sent by Christ?

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It's not always easy But we know if the person lives out the example of Christ Follows the commands of Christ.

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We look at the fruit and it goes along with a good tree and This person teaches and promotes only the words of Christ.

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They follow his example They follow his commands and then they teach what Christ says and they don't do anything other than that They don't do anything against that Someone who speaks correctly

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Christ's words But lives in a way contrary to them is not sent by him

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You get that if someone says I'm sent from Christ I have the truth, but their life doesn't

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Demonstrate that they have followed Christ that they follow Christ and they're they're not really sent by them also if they

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Live the right way, but it go against his words. They're especially not sent by Christ.

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That doesn't matter They can't properly live the right way without Christ and so This has application even after the last

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Apostle died There are those truly sent of God with the gospel and somehow it came to you.

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It came to me and When we when we receive this message message of Jesus through this person we receive them we receive

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Christ and One when one receives Christ they receive the one who sent him they receive the father

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And so this is this is actually one of Jesus's favorite sayings this this verse

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He says it in multiple times in the synoptic Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke and he even says it in different Variations in Luke 10.

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He says the one who listens to you Listens to me and the one who rejects you rejects me and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me

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And so ultimately when you and I give someone the gospel they are not rejecting you

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They're not simply rejecting our message They're rejecting If given faithfully and in truth, they're rejecting the one who sent us they're rejecting

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Christ and therefore they're rejecting God Almighty and So in those instances when we give the the truth in Love and we give the whole truth from the

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Word of God and we do it faithfully when they reject us. They're rejecting God We can only pray and hope that we're not the last messenger right

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Lord bring more messengers to this person And may they not reject them when they come in that hour, right?

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But Jesus now reveals plainly to the disciples what is on his mind verse 21 says when

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Jesus had said this He became troubled in spirit and testified and said Truly truly

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I say to you that one of you will betray me Jesus was troubled in spirit.

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I imagine he gets very somber very serious He's deeply troubled

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Truly truly I say to you One of you will betray me This is this is both a prophecy and an accusation all at the same time

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The last times that Jesus was this troubled in Spirit were when he saw

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Mary weeping you remember that? John 11 he saw the devastating effects of death

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And he also was this deeply troubled when he realized that his hour has finally come

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And so what troubles Jesus what troubles Jesus in his humanity is Seeing the death of humanity, but also seeing the fact that his death is coming

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In his humanity in in that aspect of himself. He is greatly troubled

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But he knows what must be done. He's committed to the will of the Father.

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He is committed to their sovereign plan But he's troubled again even now

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He's recognizing the hour has moved to mere minutes The most trying and difficult thing that he will ever do is going to start with a betrayal the betrayal marks

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The beginning of the end. There's no one going going back after that And so one thing

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I'd like to point out is that this whole time Jesus has not been surprised by anything He's not surprised at what happens to him and therefore he is not surprised as to what happens to you

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He knows Jesus acts accordingly Even this announcement has the purpose of truth -telling it will show later when

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I'm sorry when Judas commits this heinous crime against the Son of God That Jesus doesn't simply tell the truth.

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He is the truth. He's the source of all truth But let's read verses 22 through 25 says the disciples began looking at one another

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At a lost to know of which one he was speaking of There was reclining on Jesus's bosom one of his disciples whom

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Jesus loved So Simon Peter gestured to him and said to him tell us who it is of whom he is speaking

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He leaning back thus on Jesus's bosom said to him Lord. Who is it?

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And so The the Apostles were just given this announcement One of you will betray me and You think about what's going on in their minds

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What kind of betrayal could this man not rectify this man from God this man calms?

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Storms and he brings people back from the dead Why is he concerned about betrayal?

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Maybe that's what they're thinking Maybe the disciples never took his warnings of betrayal seriously

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But Jesus's anguish was visible in this moment. Oh my He's not just saying this with some of his parables or sayings that he's he's done in the past Jesus in a somber and sober way looks upon the twelve who are closest to him and says one of you will betray me

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So they all look around the room They're at a loss. It says they're at a complete loss

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Complete loss And that and again that shows you how much Judas was cared for and treated the same way as the other as the other apostles amazing amazing

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But you could imagine that this may be even the time in the synoptic Gospels Where it says that they went around the room and said

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Lord, is it I? Is it I Lord Lord? Am I the one who will betray you?

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We don't know We See here the disciple whom Jesus loved We've talked about his identity before in our very first sermon on the gospel of John.

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It's clear that The disciple whom Jesus loved is one of the twelve. He's here in an intimate setting

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He's not simply a character in the narrative. He possesses a privileged Relationship with Jesus and he's even in a close relationship with Peter And he's fiercely loved by Jesus and he fiercely loves

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Jesus himself and we understand this man to be the writer of this gospel

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The disciple whom Jesus loved who's mentioned here in these verses is John himself.

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This is John and People always wonder why does he identify himself this way?

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you know and we kind of make jokes because it even says like The disciple whom Jesus loved ran faster than Peter to the tomb and he he kind of Kind of seems like he puts himself in a better light

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But I think if we know John and we read this gospel and we read his epistles.

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I honestly don't think that's the case I think he didn't want to name his name at all

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Because he wanted the name of Jesus to be listed To exalt it to be exalted if that makes sense, and I think he writes that he's the disciple whom

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Jesus loved to demonstrate that Jesus didn't have partiality or favoritism, but maybe in John's eyes.

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He was one of the worst sinners of them all in his mind and In his mind.

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He says I'm the disciple whom Jesus loved even though I didn't deserve it. That's maybe how and why he

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Phrased himself as this way, but he he loved Jesus. He loved him and he's reclining on Jesus's bosom

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He has such a deep love for him in Eastern culture reclining on Someone's bosom another man having male closeness is not a strange phenomenon

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It's a it is not considered perverse or homosexual or anything like that Reclining in Jesus's bosom is an example for all of us

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Think about it even at his Lord's announcement That someone will betray him

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John stays He doesn't rise out of that position. He doesn't come out of resting on Jesus's chest

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Even when Jesus says one of you will betray me He doesn't react it seems like he stays in his bosom he still rests with Jesus I think that's an example to us

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He's not rocked by it. He's safely comforted by his Savior But what about everyone else?

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Everyone else's is at this loss Who will betray him and Peter turns investigator?

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No surprise, right? Peter's wondering who did this and Now to Peter's credit,

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I think normally he would have blurted this out across the whole room Jesus Who's the one who's gonna betray you?

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But this time it says that there was some nonverbal communication going on somehow John is laying in the bosom of Jesus and Peter does a nod or does something and gets

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John's attention He gets John's attention. He must have been kind of close

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You know, they were in a circular Circular formation. I know there's the famous painting that shows them in a long table where they're just sitting

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Opposite of no one. Can you imagine the conversation? How you doing? How's your food, right? But that's not the case.

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They're in a circular formation here. And so Peter is able to ask discreetly

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Quietly to John Ask him who is the one who will betray him? Who is this?

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and so I Can only ponder as to why Peter wanted to find out so much

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Maybe he was worried for himself. I don't think that's the case. Actually. I think that it's possible

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Can only speculate That just like the time he told

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Jesus oh No far be it for me If these chief priests come and and kill you and take your life no way no how

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I'm not gonna let them kill you Jesus and Jesus says what to Peter get behind me Satan, right?

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We have that moment. We have we had the moment from last week when Peter's like, oh, no, no, no, no

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Lord Far be it from me if I let you wash my feet And so it's it's a similar thing or me or maybe it's even like how in in the future in the

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Garden of Gethsemane When these soldiers come these temple officers come to apprehend

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Jesus Peter What takes out a sword and still to the very end?

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He's trying to defend his Lord and so this I think is the mentality that Peter has

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He likes to take things into his control. Oh Lord, who's gonna betray you we can deal with it now

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Let's say let's just let's deal with it. Let's figure this out I'll help you

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But Honorable for sure But he's not paying attention to what

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Jesus is saying. I Suppose he may be thinking well Let's stop this

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Let's stop this from happening But if you stop the betrayal you stop the cross and if you stop the cross you stop what?

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The greatest thing that has ever happened to mankind greatest thing So he doesn't realize it

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And from from what we can tell in the text and later why the the Apostles were so confused

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Again, it seems Jesus only Responds to John here and he must have responded quietly and that makes sense why

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John is able to record it and you don't see it in the other Gospels verse 26 look at this

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Jesus then answered and I don't think anyone else heard I'm serious

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Peter got John's attention John was in Jesus's bosom asked him who who's going to betray you and Jesus doesn't announce it to all the twelve

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He says discreetly and quietly to the man in his bosom and he says this That is the one for whom

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I shall dip the morsel and give to him and So no one else heard this but all of a sudden the

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Apostles It's quiet They heard some whispers, but they didn't make it out and Jesus then grabs a morsel in The Greek this means literally a piece of bread and he dips it and he gives it to Judas This goes right in line with Matthew 26

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Matthew 26 says and Jesus answered he who dipped his hand with me in the bowl is the one who will betray me

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The Son of Man is to go just as it is written of him But woe to that man by whom the

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Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man If he had never been born Non -existence is better than the judgment that Judas will face.

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That's heavy That's heavy And so the wicked intentions of man meet the righteous intentions of God The Son of Man is going to meet his fate, but the fate of the betrayer is also astoundingly awful

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Jesus gives this sign as to who the betrayer is only to John He dips the morsel

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It's possible. He dipped it in some olive oil or if this was the Pascal meal that is the

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Pascal meal had to do had to deal with a lamb offerings and things like that During the Feast of I'm sorry the

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Feast of Unleavened Bread and in the in the Passover He might have dipped it in this special sort of sop

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There was like this herb mixture thing that was made during this time. He might have dipped it in that What I don't think

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Jesus ever did Is dip it in wine. I don't think you know some some have proposed that before and Jesus didn't give

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I think wine and bread to Judas in this moment Wine was strictly a drink and so he dipped it in something else.

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We don't know but even this is a gracious act Even though it was assigned to John.

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This is still something that is generous and loving to the very end But this kind gesture of Jesus will only serve to harden

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Judas's heart and his resolve to do evil verse 27 after the morsel

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Satan then entered into him Therefore Jesus said to him what you do do quickly

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So I imagine Judas receives this morsel. He's a little confused and he takes it and He eats it and then

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Jesus makes this command I Think this kind of symbolizes a couple things

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First the sovereign hand of God finally allowing Judas to proceed He couldn't advance in this betrayal until God let him do you get that?

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John chapter 10 verse 18 Jesus said no one can take my life away from me

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I will lay it down on my own initiative Judas could not proceed with this betrayal until Jesus said do it go

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He could not go any further than what God allowed This is the first thing the second thing is somehow it symbolizes even this moment

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Even though what Jesus gave to him was not bad Instead of receiving in Jesus he received in the devil, right?

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It's interesting Just as the piece of bread entered him, which was a gift from Jesus Satan instead entered him.

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He chose not to receive the Son of God, but the enemy of God while the Apostles get to truly receive the bread and the wine for the

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Last Supper while while they get to truly receive his body and Truly receive his blood for the remission of sins

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Judas's sins are not remised But they are retained and Not only are

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Judas's sins retained, but now they are compounded sin on top of sin on top of sin

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Jesus says what you do do quickly What this shows as well as in God's sovereign economy

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Judas and Satan are those to be commanded by the king despite them doing what they want.

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It's amazing They're doing exactly what they want and yet they are Sovereignly commanded they're doing they're also doing

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God's predetermined plan And Jesus even use uses the the imperative form in the

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Greek. It's a command form Do it quickly. He commands Judas do it do it quickly

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But this command of Jesus showing that he knows the plot against him doesn't even shake

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Judas Because wouldn't that be weird? Judas goes into the night. He talks to the chief priest.

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He's like, what will you give me to betray him? to you and they're like here's 30 pieces of silver and he does it all in the darkness of night and He starts concocting this betrayal and it doesn't shock him

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That Jesus knows he's like go ahead go do it He just mentioned betrayal and he says go do it

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He's not Shaken Judas is set on this task Satan and Judas are fulfilling their greatest desires one

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Vengeance on the God who cast him out of heaven and the other greed. These are part and parcel to betrayal

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But let's look at our final verses church verses 28 through 30

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Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose he had said this to him

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For some were supposing because Judas had the money box that Jesus was saying to him Buy the things we have need of for the feast or else that he should give something to the poor

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So you see you see here in this verse this is why I believe when John asked

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Jesus the Identification of his betrayer with the morsel of bread was only revealed to John himself.

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That's why they're confused It says no one of those reclining at the table knew why he just said this to Judas Why did he just do these things?

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No one knew and So they come up with these things in their mind. Maybe it's for Giving something to the poor

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Because often during the Passover they would give benevolence to the poor And so that wasn't unusual

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Maybe he's going to buy more supplies for the feast and there were several feasts throughout this week and that seemed probable to them

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But they didn't understand What you do do quickly?

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What does Judas have to do? So there's another silent moment at the table.

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What's going on? Why did Jesus just command Judas? Nevertheless Immediately upon receiving the bit of bread from Jesus Judas departed quickly into the night

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Judas removes himself from all communion with Christ and his disciples.

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He is sold out to Satan He sold his soul to the devil as they say all at once Judas did what he wanted to do

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But from the perspective of God, this is a forced exit This is a forced exit.

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Jesus commands him to leave If Jesus is going to continue to instruct his disciples on the truth and encourage them in chapters 14 15 16 and 17 he needs the outsider to leave

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It's time for Judas to go You're not a part of this I need to give my final words

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To my disciples and so this man is commanded to leave he leaves into the night and This is not only literal but it's symbolic those who do evil deeds often do it in the darkness of night

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Evil's shroud was fully out and now comes the time to betray the

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Son of Man into the hands of sinners The proverb says the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn

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It shines brighter and brighter until the full day, but the way of the wicked is darkness

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But they do not know of Which they stumble over Judas will stumble he will fall and that's sure so church as I finish the question for us

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Is what do we do when someone betrays us? Maybe that's been floating in your mind The Bible shows us

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Jesus was technically betrayed by two of his disciples two One handed him over to his executioners and the other disciple

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Abandoned him in his hour of need in fact next week we will see the prophecy of Peter's denial of Christ, of course, it's a different kind of betrayal.

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I understand But it is a betrayal nonetheless And so to answer our question, what do we do when we're betrayed?

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We need to look to what Jesus did We look at we look to see what recourse the

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Bible shows us if someone betrays you who is not a believer Like Judas towards Jesus we must like our

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Lord consign ourselves to the sovereign will of God Jesus doesn't mention

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Judas a single time again in this gospel or the other ones after this event He focuses on what is ahead and you not need to do the same if you've been betrayed

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It is not good for you to dwell on these things It's not good for you to dwell on the betrayals that have been done against you in your past They will consume you they will bring you into great bitterness

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They will not help you And so we must entrust ourselves to him who judges righteously

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Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 12 He says never take your own revenge

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Beloved but leave room for the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine

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I will repay says the Lord But if your enemy is hungry feed him and if he is thirsty give him a drink for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head

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And he finishes do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.

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We talked about this last week There is no profit in loving only those who love you

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And so cry out to God ask him to help you to love your enemies

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You see I don't have a silver bullet for you How do I forgive people who have hurt me in my past and they're not believers and I have no recourse

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I don't have a silver bullet for you You've got to ask God God help me to let this go

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God Help me to leave this to to to move away from bitterness to move away from the past Help me to love them

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Because what profit is there and only loving those who love me and so we don't just pray for those who persecute us

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We pray for those who betray us Because think about it this way One of two things is going to happen with someone who doesn't believe in Christ who betrays you

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Either God will save them and forgive them of every single sin they have ever committed including the the betrayal that they've committed against you and You wouldn't want to be found in retaining that sin against them when

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Jesus has forgiven it Okay, or they will face condemnation for that sin and all their sins

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The betrayal they committed against you will be brought to account before a holy and righteous

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God And those are the two things Either they're going to go to hell and suffer for what they've done

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Which is a terrible consideration or they will have every single sin forgiven of them including the betrayal

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And so in both ways you give it to God you trust God with the person who's betrayed you

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We need postures of pity and compassion rather than provoked and callous this will help you heal and Seeing how

01:00:08

Jesus endured his betrayal for you will help you heal You see our

01:00:14

Lord had the ultimate betrayal performed against him so that you too

01:00:19

Could let go of your betrayals Now what if a believer betrays you?

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What if someone who believes in Jesus betrays you or they at least profess to believe in Jesus and they betray you?

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Jesus tells us what to do in Matthew 18 That we go to that person we tell them their fault if they won't listen

01:00:42

We bring someone else with us as a witness against them And if they won't repent even after that we are to bring this person before the whole church and hopefully they repent but if they don't we are to remove them from our midst and That may be an indicator that they are less like Peter and more like Judas that makes sense

01:01:06

Paul also confirms that this is the best route that we ought to try to mediate and adjudicate in the church

01:01:13

You we are to exhaust all remedies In the church so as not to take it to unbelieving judges and worldly people

01:01:24

He says Christians ought to be able to manage that without the world's interference when the world interferes in the church's

01:01:34

Trials and Issues it brings a stain upon Christ in his church

01:01:41

Now for the record. I'm not saying it that if something that was criminally done

01:01:47

Ought not be brought to the authorities It should it should Romans 13 says that the the state bears the sword and if there was a crime done here

01:01:57

Absolutely that needs to go to the state sort of judges, but I'm talking about these

01:02:04

Interpersonal sin related things Between believers in the case of Jesus and Peter What we saw in Peter was great remorse bitter sadness at his own treachery and Our very last sermon in John will be on Peter's restoration and forgiveness from Jesus actually it's excited for that and so That's what we ought to do.

01:02:34

Those are those are the that's the recourse for believer to believer Believer to unbeliever those are the positions we need to take giving it to God But if you're someone

01:02:47

Who seeks to betray another person you need to repent? And you say well, how do

01:02:53

I know if I'm going to betray someone? And you know it doesn't just immediately happen out of nowhere.

01:02:59

You don't just immediately betray someone here in the church What will start happening is there will be gossiping about them.

01:03:07

There will be Envying them Jealousy towards them there will begin to be quarrels between these people and it'll all be kind of behind the scenes and All of a sudden there will be a betrayal and so if these are things that you're participating in gossip envy

01:03:25

Jealousy anger towards someone in the church You may not be far from betraying them and betraying someone is more like the heart of the devil than the heart of Jesus That's what it says.

01:03:40

And so Whatever the situation may be it's time to let it go. It's time to give it to God and repent from that sort of posture

01:03:51

As Jesus's posture was mercy Jesus's posture was grace and we aren't greater than our master

01:03:58

If Jesus is willing to forgive betrayals you and I ought to be willing to forgive those who betray us

01:04:05

You say why pastor Wade why should I forgive those who have betrayed me?

01:04:13

Do you remember in my introduction I gave some descriptions of a bunch of people in the

01:04:19

Bible who have betrayed other people Do you remember that? Well, I held one of the biggest examples of a betrayer back

01:04:28

The most profound and shocking and damaging betrayals that has ever happened in the history of the world

01:04:34

Was man's betrayal against God in Genesis and all our subsequent betrayal of God since God made man in his own image and likeness and he gave man very good things from his his own hand and from his

01:04:52

Creation and man was considered the greatest aspect of God's creation

01:04:57

But we sinned against God we betrayed God every day We rebelled against God.

01:05:03

We worship things that are not God and This has hurt

01:05:08

God Our Lord isn't apathetic He's not unfeeling or unmoved

01:05:17

Man has destroyed his relationship with a holy God The amazing thing is

01:05:25

Despite being in a holy and eternal position to forever hold this betrayal against us

01:05:32

He sent his one and only son for us He won't pay us back for what we did.

01:05:40

He'll pay for what we did incredible in Christ Betrayal melts away in Christ.

01:05:49

We can rise up again after we've been betrayed and we can do it with a smile We know where we're going

01:05:56

We know who will never betray us again. And so may all betrayals against us seem so utterly insignificant

01:06:05

When our betrayal against God has been completely and totally forever forgiven.

01:06:11

Amen Let's pray Father thank you for the message today that went out

01:06:21

May it bless your people May it encourage your people may instruct your people and transform your people

01:06:29

May it do the same to me God Help us to experience healing for the betrayals that have happened in our lives

01:06:38

Help us to trust you with them that you are over them you're sovereign over them and God whatever happens is in your hands and we can trust you

01:06:52

So Lord help us to forgive those things help us to let go of those things and if it happens again in our lives

01:06:58

Lord Help us to be ready help us to know the betrayals that we've participated in and To know that we've been forgiven of them

01:07:10

And so that we might be in that posture of grace and mercy and loving our enemies rather than hating them because No amount of hate that we can give our enemies is going to be greater than the vengeance of a holy

01:07:25

God and so God Help us to have that in mind. Help us to be loving help us to give the gospel and Lord, please heal us from these things bring healing to your people now with the betrayals of their lives

01:07:39

Lord help not one of us not a single one of us to ever commit betrayal ever again