Sermon Tone Analysis

/“Did I not choose you, the Twelve?

And yet one of you is a devil.”

He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him/.[1]

Though he enjoyed incredible privilege, not only because he walked with Jesus and received divine instruction from His lips, but also because he had a background that should have disposed him to readily recognise Jesus as the promised Messiah, the name of Judas Iscariot is forever synonymous with treason and lèse majesty.

Judas was a patrician among the plebeian disciple band.

He enjoyed stature sufficient for the disciples to ask him to serve as the treasurer for the band of men following the Rabbi.

No one among the followers of Jesus questioned his suitability for service.

Throughout the years of my service before the Lord, I have observed an astonishing number of people who appear to have shared spiritual kinship with Judas.

Often I have witnessed people who enjoyed great spiritual privilege, and who yet turned from following the Lord Christ.

Many people seem to start well in the Christian life, only to turn aside at some point.

Their defection often leaves others in a quandary, wondering what happened.

A worrisome example of defection despite spiritual advantage is provided by the youth passing through our churches.

It is easy to conclude that we have not necessarily done an adequate job of winning youth to faith.

How many young people have we seen pass through Sunday School programs in churches we have known?

Many youth participate in our programs, we laugh at their cuteness during Christmas pageants, rejoice in the vitality of teen years, and wonder where they are after graduating from school.

These are often kids that have grown up in Christian homes, sat under the preaching of the Word, participated in youth programs of the church, and at nineteen, they desert the Faith they once seemed to embrace.

The Barna Group recently published a disturbing study that reveals “six out of ten twentysomethings were involved in a church during their teen years, but have failed to translate that into active spirituality during their early adulthood.”[2]

Though the studies were carried out in the United States, the data is no doubt relevant for Canada.

What is evident is that many young adults, despite a presence in Sunday School and connection with a church during their childhood years, have little connection with the church.

I wonder if the reason post-teens are disinterested in the Faith of Christ the Lord is because we have effectively inoculated them against the Faith.

We have attempted to make the worship of Christ “fun,” or “meaningful,” at the cost of veracity and power.

We have taught youth that they are special, and when they arrive at mature years and are permitted to make their own decisions, they do not choose as we think they should choose, demonstrating the training we gave that they are the centre of their world!

Background for the Account — Who was Judas Iscariot?

What do we know of him, other than his betrayal of the Son of God into the hands of those seeking to kill Him?  Scripture reveals little concerning Judas; but what is communicated is important for understanding the thesis of the message.

We know the Apostle became an apostate, and that he went to his own place [*Acts 1:25*].

Judas Iscariot is named */23 times/* in the New Testament.

In the majority of instances, he is identified as the one who betrayed Jesus [e.g.

*Matthew 10:4*; *John 18:2*], though he is sometimes identified as one of the twelve [e.g.

*Mark 14:10*; *John 6:71*].

Whenever Judas’ name occurs in a list of the Apostles, it is last.

Undoubtedly, this is because he betrayed Jesus.

Judas appears to have been the only Judean among the disciples; */Iscariot/* is Aramaic, likely meaning “man of Kerioth,” referring to a town near Hebron.[3]

He enjoyed privilege and respect among the disciples.

He reclined in immediate proximity to Jesus when dining at the Last Supper.

This indicates a position of privilege and rank [*John 13:21-26*].

He was chosen by the disciples to be treasurer, thought he was later exposed as a thief [*John 13:29*; *12:6*].

The closing scenes of the Gospel accounts are shadowed by his treachery.

When Mary anointed the Master with pure nard, Judas objected.

He was incapable of seeing the beauty of this woman’s actions, but instead he saw only the money that could have lined his own pocket.

Even this motive was cloaked under a specious plea that the money could have been used for the poor [*John 12:3-6*].

Added to character contaminated with avarice was a life riddled with deceit.

He spoke untruthfully about his concern for the poor, and he delivered Jesus into the hands of those who were seeking to kill Him.

Judas betrayed the Master, agreeing to identify Him with a kiss so those sent to arrest Him would be certain to seize the right person.

Why Judas betrayed the Master might be more difficult to answer.

Certainly love of money played a part in his decision, for when he approached the chief priest, he asked, What will you give me if I deliver Him over to you [*Matthew 14:16*].

Perhaps there was jealousy of the other disciples, perhaps it was fear of the inevitable outcome of the Master’s ministry that drove him to imagine that he was saving his own skin, or perhaps there was an enthusiastic intention to force the hand of the Lord and make Him declare Himself as Messiah—all these motives have been suggested, but they really don’t matter.

The Son of God declares that Judas was a devil [*John 6:70*], and ultimately the Bible is unconcerned with his motive for the betrayal of the Master.

Some are concerned about the psychological motive behind a particular action; we often imagine that circumstances mitigate responsibility.

Though we may find ourselves moved with compassion by an individual’s situation in life, in the instance of loyalty to Christ—faith in Him and receiving the life He offers—there can be no mitigating circumstances.

Either an individual believes the Master, or an individual does not believe.

It is of no consequence whether a person had a bad experience in the past or whether an individual had a hard childhood, whether the individual was disappointed in some preacher or discouraged by the pressures of life, each person stands responsible before God for whether they receive the life of Christ or reject that life.

The Word of God is quite clear in declaring, Whoever believes in [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil…  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him [*John 3:18, 19, 36*].

Vernon McGee used to say that all humanity is divided into “saints and ain’ts.”[4]

There are saints— believers in Jesus, and there are “ain’ts,”— unbelievers; either you are saved, or you are lost.

Whether you have submitted to a rite or a ritual, or even whether you are a member of a local congregation, has no bearing on your eternal destiny.

All that matters is whether you have faith in the Risen, Living Son of God.

Jesus called Judas to service.

The Lord Jesus saw Judas as a potential disciple [*Matthew 10:1-4*].

The Master entrusted to Judas, as He commissioned each Apostle, authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

Readers can properly surmise that Judas likely had been near the Master at some point prior to his call, and that the Lord, as well as being known to the other disciples knew him.

The offer of life was extended to this man, and yet, he is identified as a devil.

Jesus’ foreknowledge of Judas’ character in no way implies that Judas had no opportunity to believe the message he heard from the Master.

There is no indication that Judas would inexorably become a traitor.

Instead, we see a man who witnessed the work of Christ, heard the message of life, and chose not to believe what he saw and heard.

He is never said to have called Jesus “Lord,” instead always referring to Him as “Rabbi” [*Matthew 26:25*].

Attracted by the winsome character displayed through the life of the Master, Judas somehow failed to believe the message Jesus delivered.

How very similar to so many in this day who are attracted to preachers of the Word who declare with certainty and with conviction the message of life; and yet, those same seekers fail to seize the life offered in the Christ these godly preachers declare.

Judas was never really a follower of Christ, though he was invited to follow.

Though he fell from apostleship, he never really had a relationship with the Lord.

So, he remained the son of destruction [*John 17:12*] who was lost because he was never saved.

Judas lives on the stage of Scripture as an awful warning to the one who knows about Jesus, but does not know Him.

Judas is brother to one who follows Jesus, but does not belong to Him [*Romans 8:9*]; he leaves the Gospel story as a man doomed and damned because he chose it to be so, and God confirmed him in his dreadful choice.

Immediately preceding Jesus’ startling revelation, many disciples deserted Jesus.

Asked if they also wished to depart, Peter acted as spokesman for the disciple band to offer a great confession, *we* have believed and come to know, that you are the Holy One of God [*John 6:69*].

Peter used the first person plural; it was unthinkable to Peter that any among the disciples would fail to believe Jesus to be the Christ.

However, Jesus corrected Peter, /Did I not choose you, the Twelve?

And yet one of you is a devil/.

“We believe,” said Peter; “One of you does not believe,” said the Master.

\\ \\

Knowledge of Christ Anticipates Transformation — One cannot help but be sobered by the account of the divine judgement of Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron.

They were priests of God, who, together with the Moses, Aaron and the seventy elders of Israel, were accorded the unique privilege of seeing the Living God.

They had witnessed God, and that privilege caused them to exalt themselves against Moses and Aaron, leading ultimately to their own death [*Exodus 24:9-11*; *Leviticus 10:1-11*].

Whenever an individual has witnessed God, knowing His power and strength, and yet that individual fails to be transformed by the Spirit of God, that person has jeopardised his or her soul.

Consider the warning the Master pronounced to Chorazin and Bethsaida.

I direct you to the passage, which is found in *Matthew 11:20-24*.

[Jesus] began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

“Woe to you, Chorazin!

Woe to you, Bethsaida!

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.

And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?

You will be brought down to Hades.

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

The greater the knowledge of God’s grace and power to redeem, the greater the responsibility to act on that knowledge.

Jesus’ words in this instance are reminiscent of His warning that was pronounced as He sent out the Twelve to preach the Kingdom of Heaven.

The passage detailing His warning is recorded in *Matthew 10:5-15*.

Notice in particular the last verse in which Jesus pronounces a dire warning.

Jesus instructed the twelve, Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And proclaim as you go, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”