The disgusting traits of Judas Iscariot: he betrayed our Lord and pretended to love the Lord when he only loved himself.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
weekly Review
020920
The disgusting traits of Judas Iscariot: he betrayed our Lord and pretended to love the Lord when he only loved himself.

We will begin with a few passages as our introduction to this one called Judas Iscariot in JOH 13:15-18, “For I gave you an example [model or a pattern to follow] that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly [Amen, Amen = point of doctrine, pay attention], I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent [Jesus in His human nature] greater than the one who sent him [God the Father]. If you know or are established in these things, happinesses are yours if you do or if you apply them. I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen or elected; but {it is} that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.'

The phrase “has lifted up his heel against me” is an idiom meaning to try and over-throw or discredit one's authority, to seek one's destruction. And so, there is one disciple here at the Last Supper who not only rejected the authority of Jesus Christ but, he was also used by Satan to betray our Lord. Judas Iscariot was known as the traitor by his last name because there are at least seven other men in the Bible who went by the first name Judas, but they were not known as the betrayer or traitor. In fact, there were two Judas’ in the disciples, only Judas Iscariot can fit in the definition of being a Traitor or a Betrayer.

One of the disgusting traits of Judas Iscariot, is that not only did he betray our Lord, but he also pretended to love the Lord when all he really loved was himself (2TIi 3:2). His lust for approbation, recognition, money, power, and authority is about to be brought to the surface. Now, even though we quickly read it last time, look at JOH 17:12, “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

To be the “son of perdition” means that Judas is a man identified with eternal destruction, whose destiny is the Eternal Lake of Fire. Furthermore, remember once again, for the third time, in ACT 1:25, Judas went “to his own place” meaning the place that he chose on his own - therefore, his own place of his own choosing. This is an important principle because it is not that Judas was pre-destined from eternity past to betray our Lord and to go to hell without opportunity to be saved, but that he had every opportunity. Instead, he chose to reject Jesus Christ and will suffer the consequences of any person who rejects the Savior. Now a question merges concerning what Judas experiences as soon as Jesus selected him?

(1) He experienced the privilege of selection into the unique circle of the “12,” becoming an apostle;

(2) Judas also observed great crowds flocking to our Lord Jesus Christ as He was becoming more and more popular every day.

(3) Judas saw Christ’s own family thinking Him crazy.

MAR 3:20-21, where our Lord’s family had an intervention for Him. And He came home, and the multitude gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.

MAR 3:21, And when His own people heard {of this,} they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”

This is something Judas observed that even our Lord’s family thought that He was going crazy and taking this “savior thing” a little too far. And therefore, they called this same type of principle something like we would call today an intervention, that’s what our Lord’s family thought about the Lord. Including His mother. Nevertheless, Judas was no fool.

(4) He observed that Jesus had extraordinary charisma and attracted large crowds, which meant potential political power, influence, and wealth and Judas wanted in on the action. Linking with Jesus seemed to be a fast track to success. We might have supposed that Matthew would handle the money needed to sustain the Lord’s ministry because he had been a tax collector and well acquainted with money matters. Judas, however, was the treasurer of the Lord’s group of apostles indicating that he was no imbecile.

JOH 12:5-6, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor {people}?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.

JOH 13:31-38, When therefore he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, I now say to you also, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow, until you deny Me three times.”

No chapter break in the original, JOH 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”

Judas knew the ins-and-outs of collecting, managing, and spending money better than the others did, including Matthew, who was a Tax Collector for the Romans to the Jews for the Jews and for the Romans before he was a follower or disciple of our Lord. We will see what kind of treasurer he was next. We also find some very interesting principles of our Lord’s Final Passover, where Lazarus had been raised from the dead; JOH 12:1.

JOH 12:1, Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

In verse 2,  Martha served supper with Lazarus at the table; JOH 12:2

JOH 12:2, So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining {at the table} with Him.

Now, Mary anointed our Lord’s feet with expensive “oil of spikenard, it was a wonderful display of love, gratitude, and worship.

JOH 12:3, Mary therefore took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

However, note the liar is mentioned next by the Word of God with a little conjunction “But” describing the evil motivation behind the questioning of Judas Iscariot; JOH 12:4   But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, *said,

JOH 12:5-8, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor {people}?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Jesus therefore said, “Let her alone, in order that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me.”

Let me give you some of character traits of this man Judas.

Character trait #1:  Judas did not care about the poor. He was a hard-hearted man, too concerned with feathering his own nest while others, less fortunate, suffered around him.

Character trait #2: He was a thief, pilfering funds from the Lord’s money box, which exposes that Judas was full of avarice, or greed.

Now, notice back in JOH 13:19, “From now on I am telling you before {it} comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am {He.}

Now, our Lord is telling them that there is a traitor in their midst and that he is about to betray Him. How did our Lord know that? Judas was not a traitor according to the Word of God, Judas became a traitor because the verb that is mentioned is known as the aorist-middle-indicative of the Greek verb ginomai which means to become something that one was not before. Now, I do not believe that the Lord chose Judas to fulfill a prophecy of damnation. This is unfortunately the type of conclusions that those who are influenced by Hyper-Calvinism adhere to.

Hyper-Calvinism is a branch of Protestant theology that denies the universal duty of human beings to believe in Christ for the salvation of their souls. Those who take these principles to the extreme teach that man is either chosen by God to go to heaven and live with Him forever or man is chosen by God to go to eternal damnation.

Our Lord also reveals that He would be betrayed by sighting certain prophecies in the Word of God, especially from those prophecies that were made in the Old Testament.

What prophecies are that? It’s the prophecy that our Lord prophesied to His disciples at the Last Supper. For example, after our Lord taught many doctrinal principles that challenged His listeners, we read; JOH 6:60-71, Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard {this} said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you should behold the Son of Man ascending where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.” As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and {yet} one of you is a devil?” Now He meant Judas {the son} of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.

We also know that because when our Lord was around adult believers, or Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes, all of them were astonished by His knowledge and spiritual strength; LUK 2:40-52. And by the way, this is not to say our Lord was not strong physically, because it took a lot of human strength to endure the beatings, the punches whip, the forced crown upon His head. Now, all of these principles apply to betrayers and traitors who make a living by manipulation, lies, broken vows; broken promises; etc.

However, in spite of all the dishonesty that goes on and on today in all realms of Life, all of that really doesn’t matter if you love our Lord, because if you love the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there is divine blessing waiting just for you. Our Lord also reveals that He would be betrayed by sighting certain prophecies in the Word of God, especially from those prophecies that were made in the Old Testament.

What prophecies are that? First, look at ZEC 11:12-13. It’s interesting that this passage was written to the shepherds who were not doing their job of feeding the people of Israel. In this section of the word of God, the Lord is rebuking the shepherds in those days for betraying the people of God by denying them doctrinal teaching and therefore, the Lord uses a prophecy that points to the ultimate betrayer, Judas Iscariot.

ZEC 11:12-13, And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So, they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So, I took the thirty   shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

This is a stunning text and a powerful example of the minute details that characterize the prophetic passages in the Bible that are so accurate and precise that any scientist or numerologist wouldn’t even think of denying it. But that requires some things that most people lack such as humility, especially the humility not to lie and say like so many do, and it does get sickening when you hear them lie and say;  “I’ve read the Bible and I don’t agree with all of it because it was written by man.”

If you are honest, sincere, open to truth, and most of all you are looking for the reason why you exist, the Bible has all the answers if you give it a chance. The only real barrier to truth is the arrogance of presumption whereby one presumes that they already have it.

PSA 19:12-13, Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.