[MUSIC PLAYING] Hello, and welcome to this
teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque. We pray that God uses this
message to reach people around the world with His love. If this message encourages you,
we'd love to hear about it. Email us at
mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online securely
at calvaryabq.org/give. In our series,
"Against All Odds," we've learned that Jesus' whole
life, ministry, and sacrifice were predicted hundreds
of years in advance. But did you know that his
betrayer was also expected? In the message, "The
Long-Expected Traitor," Skip shares that though
Judas had no idea that he was fulfilling scripture
by being a turncoat, that's exactly what he did. Now we invite you to
open your bibles to John chapter 13 as Skip begins. Would you please turn in your
bibles to the Gospel of John chapter 13 as we are
continuing a series we call, "Against All Odds." John's gospel chapter 13, I
want to bring a message called "The Long-Expected Traitor." This is John chapter 13. "After Jesus washed
His disciples' feet," and in verse 17,
he said to them, "If you know these things,
blessed are you if you do them. I do not speak
concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that the scripture
may be fulfilled, he who eats bread with me has
lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you, before
it comes to pass, so that when it
does come to pass, you may believe that I am He." Every minute of every day,
people all around the world are trying to
predict the future. They're doing so in
a number of ways. Some are inside of casinos,
placing their bets, trying to figure out what
their chances are of winning. Other people are at
the stock market, trying to predict which
stocks are going to rise, which ones are going to fall. Still others are in
doctors' offices trying to give an estimated time
of how long a patient has to live if they go
through an operation or take this medication. And still others are
in news agencies, studying meteorological
charts, trying to discern what the weather will
be like in the next few days, or a week or two. We have been looking at the
God who knows the future. And we have a hard time. In fact, it's impossible
for us to know the future. God, however, does
know the future because He controls the future. And so in the Bible,
we have noticed that He makes
predictions that have an enormous amount of
detail built into them, so we can examine
them objectively. And prophecies lend themselves
to statistical analysis. It's one thing to make
a general prediction. It's another thing to
make a detailed one. If I were to say
to a young lady, you're going to meet somebody
tall, dark and handsome, that's not a big stretch. It's probably going to happen. If I say, tomorrow, it's
going to rain somewhere, you're not going
to be impressed. But if I add details
to a prediction, you would be impressed. For example, if somebody were
to predict the next president of the United States will be a
Republican female age 51 from Rhode Island with the first name
Zora who married a man named Blake who was born in
Woodstown, New Jersey, that she was born in the town
of Big Bear Lake, California, with a foot-wide birth
mark on her back, stands five foot two inches
tall, weighs 111 pounds, has 11 letters in her last name,
her father is from Grenada, her mother is from Panama,
she has blue eyes-- Oh, and one more thing. If the prophecy predicts
the exact fingerprint pattern of the new president,
you would be impressed. The chances of that
happening would be one chance in 1.6 times
10 to the 45th power. Now we have been looking
at several predictions over the last
several weeks, and we have told you the
odds of one person in history fulfilling
them, and we've gone through a litany of
that on several occasions. The more details you
add to a prediction, you decrease the odds
of the fulfillment of those predictions
exponentially. It's one thing to
make one prediction. It could be some
kind of coincidence that it comes to pass. But when you start stacking
the details, it's different. So much so, we have made
a note that for one person to fulfill all of
those predictions that Jesus fulfilled is a
statistic impossibility. Now it's a statistic
impossibility from man's perspective. Without God, it's impossible. With God, all
things are possible. We also need to add the
fact that Jesus Himself made the announcement in the
Sermon on the Mount. He said, "I did
not come to destroy the law in the prophets. I came to fulfill them." The word "fulfill" means to
complete, or to accomplish, or to verify by a prediction. I have come to verify those
predictions that were made in the law in the prophets. And one of the
prophetic scriptures, one of the announcements
that would happen, one of the predictions
is that Jesus, or the Messiah, the coming
one, would be betrayed. And there are a few scriptures
that spoke of that betrayal. According to Josh
McDowell, he noted that there are 29
prophecies that fit a special category, 29. Those 29 predict Jesus'
betrayal, Jesus' death, and Jesus' burial. Those 29 predictions were
made at various times over a 500-year time
span, five centuries. Between 1000 BC and 500 BC,
those 29 predictions were made. But all 29 were fulfilled
in a single 24-hour period. And the odds or the chances
of those coming true would be about the same
as a person winning 16 lotteries in a row, so
this is "Against All Odds." And today, we're examining
the betrayer, Judas Iscariot. You know his name. You've read about him. Most everyone has
heard his name. He is the most infamous
traitor in all of history. In John chapter
13, I want to make just three notable
characteristics about him. First of all he, was
among the followers. He was in their midst. Jesus chose him to
be part of the team. Would you go back to
verse two of John 13 and just make a note of that? It says, "Supper being ended,"
this is the Last Supper, "the devil having already
put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's
son, to betray Him." Sitting at that table,
along with Peter, and James, and John, was Judas Iscariot,
and he had been with them for three years. If you were to look
up in a thesaurus, a word finder, if you
were to look up words like "traitor" or "betray,"
you will find the name Judas. And that is because
his name has become a synonym for treachery,
hypocrisy, disloyalty, betrayal. And that's really about the
only place you'll find his name. Have you ever met a Judas? Have you ever had anybody
come up to you and go, hi, my name's Judas. That's like the name Adolf. I mean, you're just
not going to find that. I've never dedicated a baby
named Judas from this pulpit. Ladies and gentlemen, let me
introduce the little Judas to you. I've never done that. I've met a Judah, or a
Jude, the shortened form, but not a Judas. You've never met
somebody named Judas. You haven't seen
a dog named Judas. And that's because
of the treachery that he brought to bear
in the gospel accounts. Now I heard a story about
a husband and a wife, they were at home. And one night, a thief
broke into their bedroom. They were there in the bedroom. The husband and
wife saw the thief. And the thief said, well,
now that you've see me, I have to shoot you. And so he took the gun
out, and he pointed the gun at the woman. And he said, now you need
to tell me your name. I always like to
know my victim's name before I shoot them. She said, my name is Elizabeth. And he looked shocked. He said, Elizabeth, that
was my mother's name. I can't pull the trigger. I can't shoot you. And then he turned his
gun toward the husband and said, what's your name. And he looked down at the gun,
and looked over at his wife, and then looked at the thief. And he said in a shocked
stutter, my name is Joe, but all my close friends
call me Elizabeth. [LAUGHTER] See, Joe had the same
problem that Judas had. His name was OK at
one time, but not now. Now he wants to go
by a different name. Now Judas was an honorable name. The word means "praise,"
like the tribe of Judah. Praise, beautiful name. Probably Judas was
even named after one of the heroes in Jewish history
by the name of Judas Maccabeus. Some of you have
heard that name. Judas Maccabeus was the
son of the leader who revolted against
the Seleucid Syrians when they came to
oppress Israel. And that family
became the family that rededicated the temple. So Judas Maccabeus loomed
large in their history, and it was a common name. So common a name, did
you know that Jesus had a brother named Judas? I should say a step-brother. Joseph and Mary had children
after Jesus was virgin born, and one of them was named Judas. It was a common name. Not only that, but I don't
know if you know that not one, but two of the apostles
were named Judas. We only know of one
because of his infamy. But there was another one among
that 12 that was named Judas. And sometimes you read about
it in the New Testament. It will say, "Judas,
not Iscariot," in parentheses, because his
name, Judas Iscariot's name, has become so
infamous, and that's because of his treachery. Because of that, there are three
times the New Testament lists all of the apostles
by name, and there's something that is noteworthy. Peter is always named first. Judas is always named last. So though his name
meant praise, this was not a praiseworthy man. Though his name was
an honorable name, he was not an honorable man,
but he's among the followers. How did he get there? He got there because
Jesus picked him, right? He chose him. After spending a
night in prayer, Jesus went and picked
the inner circle out of all of the disciples
to be called his 12. Luke chapter 6 tells us this. "He went out to a
mountain to pray, continued all night
in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called
the disciples to himself. And from them, He chose 12,
whom He also named apostles." And then the list comes Peter,
James, John, the others, finally, "and Judas Iscariot,
who also became the traitor." So think of it. For three years,
for three years, this man Judas walked and talked
with the living Son of God. For three years,
he was among them. He was with Jesus. He sat under the
stars with Jesus. He ate meals with Him. He listened to His sermons. He was there when He gave
the Sermon on the Mount. He saw Him raise dead
people, heal blind people. In fact, Judas was sent
on his own preaching mission along with the other
11 to the towns around Galilee. He was that close to Jesus
as to be picked by Him. Not only was he picked by Jesus. He was placed by Jesus. He was given a prominent
place among the 12 disciples. Do you know what
his position was? He was the treasurer. He kept the money box,
the Bible tells us. He was given that
special responsibility by Christ himself, so
I can only figure Judas had a real keen business mind. He was like the
chief accountant. Now what's
interesting about that is there was another money guy
among the 12, Matthew, the tax collector. You'd think, well, he
would have been a good guy to look over the money box, but
it was Judas that was chosen. This is one of the reasons none
of the other apostles suspected Judas at all, which
is interesting. You might think, Peter, I
always thought it was him. I knew it by that
hoodie he wears, and that sinister look he has. That's a traitor. No one suspected Judas at all,
all the way up to the end. In fact, when Jesus at the Last
Supper, another gospel records, announces that there is a
betrayer sitting at the table. There's one question
all of the apostles ask. You know what it was? Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? None of them, said is it him? They didn't know it was Judas. He was so good at
covering things up, nobody knew his dark side. So Jesus picked him,
Jesus placed him. There is something
else to make a note of. Jesus positioned him, and
I mean at the Last Supper. As I've studied this text
and others for years, I've come to believe
that it was Judas who sat in a very prominent
position with Christ at the Last Supper, that Judas
was sitting right next to him at his left side. That's what I've
come to believe. I want you to look at
verse 21 of John 13. "When Jesus had
said these things, He was troubled in spirit
and testified, and said, 'Most assuredly, I say to you,
one of you will betray me.' Then the disciples
looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke." Now there was leaning on Jesus'
bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Who was that? That's John. He's called the disciple
whom Jesus loved. Again, make note
John is writing this. [LAUGHTER] Just thought you ought
to remember that. I'm the one Jesus loved. Me, John. But I love that he writes
that about himself. The disciple that Jesus loved
was leaning on Jesus' bosom. Verse 24, "Simon Peter
therefore motioned to him to ask Him who it was
of whom He spoke," because he's right next to Him. "Then leaning back on Jesus
breast, he said to Him, 'Lord who is it?' Jesus answered, 'It is he
to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.' And having dipped the bread,
He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of
bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him,
'What you do, do quickly.' But no one at the table
knew for what reason He said this to him. For some thought because Judas
had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, buy those
things we need for the feast, or that he should give
something to the poor. Having received
the piece of bread, he then went out immediately,
and it was night." With all due respect to
Leonardo da Vinci, who gave us that famous
painting The Last Supper, it's a great painting,
but it's so inaccurate. Because you know the
painting, everybody sort of leaning toward
Jesus, facing the camera, kind of off to one side. And as nice as that picture is,
and as lofty in the art world as it has become, it doesn't
paint the accurate picture. They weren't sitting on
chairs at a table like you and I have a meal. They were at a triclinium,
a u-shaped table called a triclinium,
three-sided table. And in those days, they
would not sit in chairs, but recline on their left elbow,
typically with their right hand free to grab food,
to pass it around. But they were in a
relaxed, reclined position so that as they
were reclining, John would have been to Jesus
right, leaning left toward Jesus' breast. And then Jesus would have been
reclining toward somebody else. Now you'll notice in
verse 26 that Jesus said, "'It is he to whom I shall
give a piece of bread.' And having dipped the bread,
He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon." Did you know that at
a meal like Passover, there were places of honor to
be given by the host, typically. And the place of honor was the
right hand and the left hand. You remember Mrs. Zebedee
who came to Jesus one time? She goes, I have
a small request. I want my two boys to sit
at your right and left hand in the kingdom. Those were places of honor. So at the Last Supper, John,
invited presumably by Jesus to sit at his right hand, was
leaning toward Jesus breast. So all he had to do is cock
his head a little bit and go, so who is it? And Jesus could simply look
and say, "The one to whom I give a piece of bread." Jesus took a piece of bread
and passed it to someone. And in that u-shaped table,
the one he could reach would be the person on
his left, and I believe that was Judas Iscariot. So you have John leaning
left into Jesus' breast, Jesus leaning left
into Judas' breast, Judas leaning left into
somebody else's bosom. He dipped the bread,
and He gave it to Judas, which must have
meant that before the evening started, our Lord went not
just to John, but to Judas, and said, Judas, I want you to
sit right next to me tonight. Jesus knew all about this
creep, but He invites him right next to Him, as if perhaps
one final reach out to say, it doesn't have to be this way. You don't have to do this. Reaching for his heart. Now I can't say
that for certain, but I do know this for certain. John was right where Jesus wants
us to be, leaning toward Him, toward His heart, being able to
just talk to Him so intimately. Jesus does not just want
to be in your midst. He wants to be in your heart. He wants to be in the
center of your life. And John was in the right
place, leaning toward Jesus. Here's my question for you. Are you like John,
leaning toward Jesus, or are you more like Judas,
leaning away from Jesus? It's a good question
for evaluation. Which way am I
inclined in my leaning? So Judas was among
the followers. A second noteworthy
thing about this text is he was against the master. He was against the master. In verse 18, we noted that
Jesus quotes an Old Testament prophecy, which we'll look at
in a moment, but notice it. "He who eats bread with me has
lifted up his heel against me." What a picture that is, of
somebody lifting up their heel like kicking you away. I want nothing to do with them. Did you know that there are
some people who actually think Judas Iscariot
wasn't a bad guy, that he was a good guy? Yeah, he has been recast
throughout history. And you will note this
around Easter time when they have those
kooky television specials about the real story
of Jesus and His followers. And they'll make something
up from some crazy source that they found and
make a whole documentary to subvert any traditional
faith in Jesus Christ. And many of them
make Judas out to be this misunderstood
hero, who is trying to save Jesus from Himself. But Jesus got
Himself into trouble, wouldn't listen to Judas. They make him out to
be the hero, Judas. It goes all the
way back to a play in a movie in the '60s called
Jesus Christ Superstar, and a book that was put
out by Hugh Schonfield called The Passover Plot. Those are sources that try to
cast Judas as the good guy. I just want you to know
Judas was not a good guy. Jesus in John 6
calls him a devil. How's that for a title? There's a devil among you. In his prayer to the
Father in John 17, our Lord Jesus called him
"the son of perdition." So he's not a good guy. He was a greedy guy, but
he was not a good guy. He didn't serve Christ. He sabotaged Christ. He didn't see Jesus
as his master. He looked to Jesus
as his servant that would help him out. Now, we don't know
for sure, but we do know that Judas,
like many other Jews, expected a political
Messiah, not a Savior who would die for people. They wanted some deliverer
who would take them out of the oppression that
Rome had brought to them. And perhaps Judas betrayed Jesus
to force Jesus into a place where he would have to
conquer Rome or be conquered. We don't know for sure. But one thing we
do know for sure, Judas had no place
for the cross. He didn't want a cross. He wanted a crown. And he wanted to be one
who would have authority. If there's going
to be a kingdom, he wanted to be first in line. The thing is, you have to go
to the cross to wear the crown. There was no cross
in his thinking. But there's more than that. Judas was covetous. He was a money guy. We know that. He kept the treasury. But we get insight
into who Judas was a few nights
before this when our Lord, with His disciples,
is at the home of Mary, and Martha, Lazarus,
and they're in Bethany. And you know the story, how Mary
takes this very expensive vial of oil ointment, breaks it open
and pours it on Jesus' feet. It was very expensive, and
it was quite a sacrifice. And the whole room was filled
with this beautiful odor, aroma. Well, one of the disciples
named Judas pipes up. And he says-- now listen to
how righteous this sounds-- why wasn't this oil sold for 300
denari and given to the poor? Oh, I think that's the kind
of guy we want on staff. He's going to keep everybody
accountable to the penny. But John gives us the
footnote, tells us why. He said this. He said, "not that he
cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. And he had the money
box, and he used to take what was put in it." So now we get a better
picture of Judas Iscariot. Not a good guy, a greedy guy. Here's a guy with a critical
eye and a hypocritical heart on Jesus' team. Francis Bacon once said,
"A bad man is worse when he pretends to be a saint." What I do love about
that story is Jesus immediately turns to Judas
and rebukes him publicly. And that could have set
him off and pushed him over the edge in his betrayal. He said, "Let her alone. She has done this
for my burial." So he was among the followers,
and he was against the mass. There's a third and
final notable trait of Judas Iscariot. He was anticipated
by the scriptures. This was all predicted. So go back to verse 18 and
notice what Jesus does. He says, "I do not speak
concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen,
but that the scriptures may be fulfilled," now he's
showing that what Judas did was predicted, "he
who eats bread with me has lifted up his
heel against me. Now I tell you before it comes,
that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He." What does Jesus do? He's quoting, quoting an
Old Testament scripture. Who's he quoting? His relative, King David. His ancestor, King David. In Psalm 41 verse 9,
David writes this. Now it is believed that when
David wrote Psalm 41:9, what he was referring to was his own
personal feeling of betrayal when a trusted counselor
named Ahithophel betrayed him. You that know your bibles
know that Ahithophel was a counselor
of David who sided with Absalom, the
son of David, who rebelled against his father. And Ahithophel, his
buddy, his friend, betrayed him and sided with
Absalom in that revolt. So David writes about that. So Jesus pulls out
Psalm 41 verse 9 because it fit perfectly. He, like His ancestor David,
was also being betrayed. However, there's one part
of it Jesus left out. In quoting Psalm 41:9,
He leaves a phrase out, and that phrase is noteworthy. So you look at verse 18. I'm going to read
to you Psalm 41:9. Notice the difference. "Even my own familiar
friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted
up his heel against me." What Jesus left out
was that phrase, "my friend in whom I trusted." You know why? Jesus didn't trust Judas. Jesus never trusted Judas. Jesus knew from the
beginning it was Judas. In fact, He announces
that it is Judas. All the way up, He gives
hints until He finally gives the bread and shows
the hand of Judas Iscariot. Way back in John chapter
6, Jesus said, "Some of you do not believe,"
for Jesus had known from the beginning which
of them did not believe and who would betray Him. And then in John 13 verse
10, He says to them, "You are clean, but
not all of you." For He knew who
would betray him. Therefore, He said,
"You are not all clean." So Jesus didn't trust him, so he
didn't quote the part, "the one in whom I trusted." He didn't trust him,
because he knew him, which brings up a question. If Jesus knew him so well, why
did he pick him to begin with? And I'm not going
to try to unravel all the Calvinistic,
and Armenian arguments, and predestination, and
free will, and all that. I'm just going to answer
it two simple ways. Number one, He picked
him to fulfill scripture. Jesus had complete
and total knowledge, complete awareness of
prophecy, of His situation, of Judas Iscariot. And to fulfill
prophecy, He did it. Like He says here, "that the
scripture may be fulfilled." In John 17, he
prays to His Father. Goes, "Father, of those you
gave me, I lost none of them except for one, the
son of perdition, that the scripture
might be fulfilled." But now I want to take
it off that divine plane and take it to the human
level for a moment. There's a second reason,
and that is this. To love anyone at all is to
make yourself vulnerable. Any time you will give
your love away to anyone, you are taking a risk. You are becoming vulnerable. And it means the possibility,
almost the guarantee, that you're going to be hurt. I had somebody ask me, Skip,
how can I love and not be hurt? I said, don't love. Don't even get involved
with any person on any level in any relationship. Have no trust. Be a recluse. Live in the desert. Have a dog, but no person. Because you can't. To love at all,
to commit at all, to have any
relationship at all is to bring with it the
possibility and almost the guarantee that
somewhere along the line, you are going to be hurt. And I'm sorry to be
so cliche about this and quote that old song that
I never really liked, but love hurts. That was from what,
Nazareth was the group? And I will not sing it. It would ruin it all. I tried it the previous service. It was a bomb. [LAUGHTER] When people stand up in
front and give their vows at a wedding, no one says,
"For better or for best, for richer or for richest,
in health and prosperity, until rapture do us part." It's, "In sickness
and in health, for richer or for poorer,
until death do us part." There's a lot of pain
built into those words. Anybody can love
an ideal person. The challenge is to
love the real person. Jesus chose Judas knowing
all along who this man was and what he would do,
but He chose him anyway. Can I just say to
you, those of you who have been betrayed by someone-- and I know there's
a lot of you have-- and because of that
betrayal, because your heart has been broken, and even
crushed, and trodden, you over time have learned
to develop mechanisms around your life
to become harder, maybe even bitter,
to stay people away. And I just want to say, don't. Stop. Love anyway, knowing in
advance you could be hurt, and probably will be. Love anyway. I read a testimony of
a man, Christian man, whose wife is an alcoholic. And she admitted to him
that she had an affair 10 years before
this confession she gave to him, 10 years before,
with his best friend, best friend. His heart was broken, crushed. It almost destroyed
their marriage, turned the kids against her. Their friends isolated them. It was almost the end
of their marriage. But he said, I
remembered something that Jesus taught His
disciples to pray. "Forgive us our debts as
we forgive our debtors." He said, I knew
that at some point, I'm going to have to forgive. I have to do that. He said the first time he met
that man, his best friend he hadn't seen in a while. The first time he saw him
again said, something within me made me thrust my
arm out toward him, and grab him, and
shake his hand, and extend forgiveness to him. And he writes this. "For the first time in my life,
I knew what it was to forgive. I felt a tremendous
sense of release, as an unbearable
weight of bitterness was lifted from my heart." He said it was that
experience of forgiveness to that man that helped him
to fully forgive his wife, and the relationship
was reconciled. So Jesus quotes Psalm 41:9 of
Ahithophel's betrayal of David, applies that now to
himself with Judas Iscariot to show that the scripture
was being fulfilled. It was anticipated by scripture. And there were other
parts of this betrayal that were also predicted. We don't have time to
have you turn to them all, but I'll make mention of them. For example, the exact
amount of betrayal is given, and the kind of metal used
in that betrayal is given. In Matthew chapter 26, I'll
read a couple of verses to you. It says, "Then one of the 12
called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said,
'What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?' And they counted out to
him 30 pieces of silver. So from that time, he sought
opportunity to betray him." What's amazing about that is
520 years before that event, a prophet named Zechariah wrote
this poetic prophecy in Chapter 11 of the book of Zechariah
talking about money being given to betray and end
the ministry of what he calls, "a good shepherd." And this is what
Zechariah writes. Zechariah 11, verse 11 and 12. "Then I said to them, if
it is agreeable to you, give me my wages. And if not, refrain. So they weighed out for me my
wages, 30 pieces of silver. And the Lord said
to me, 'Throw it to the potter," that princely
price they set on me. So I took the 30
pieces of silver and threw them into the house
of the Lord for the potter." Did you hear that? There are some amazing
details in that. Number one, it suggests there'll
be a haggling over the price, and there was. Matthew tells us. Judas was saying, well, what are
you going to give me for this? And there was some kind of an
agreement and disagreement, and they settled on the price. Number two, that
the metal involved would be not gold, not copper,
which were common in metallurgy at the time, but silver,
30 pieces of silver. Number three, the
amount 30 pieces, not 20 pieces of silver, 30. Is that significant,
30 pieces of silver? Again, you Bible
students will remember that in the Old Testament,
30 pieces of silver was the price to repay
somebody whose servant had been gored by an ox. So here's how it works. Let's say I have an ox. You're out in the field. You send your servant
out to keep my ox away from your field, and the ox
turns around and gores him. The law requires me to give
you 30 pieces of silver. That's the price for a
servant being gored by an ox. So it wasn't much. Again, is that significant? Well, Jesus is called
the servant of God. Paul the Apostle in Philippians
said he became a servant and served God's will
to the point of death, and he was treated as such. And then the final detail is
that once the money was paid, it would be thrown down
in the house of the Lord and used to buy
a potter's field. Matthew 27 tells us Judas
was remorseful afterwards. He threw down the pieces
of silver in the temple and departed, and went
out and hanged himself. The priests said, what are we
going to do with this money? We can't put it in the treasury. It's blood money. So they went and bought
a potter's field. An amazing set of prophecies. Now I want to close
on a personal note. I've been in the
ministry long enough to know that there are people
that come to churches-- not all of them, thank
God-- but there are some who come to churches
who do exactly what Judas did 2,000 years ago. Oh, they play the game. They know the rules. They sit right down. They fit right in. But outside the church,
they lie, they curse, they scheme, they
gossip, they grumble, they complain, they
bar hop, they party, they cheat on their wives,
they cheat on their husbands, all the while, like Judas, in
effect, they deny their Lord. That's the spirit of Judas. What I'm thankful for is
they are the exception, not the rule. Now when you go out
at night and look up at the heavens, if
you ever see one of those shooting stars,
a meteor, a falling star, what do you do? Well, I'll tell you what I do. I go, wow, ooh, aw. Hey, look. Check it out. I just saw a falling star. Now, why do we do that? Because they're rare, because
stars normally don't fall. For every one
falling star, there are billions of others who hang
in there and shine brightly. And I am honored and thankful
for the solid believers who don't fall, who love their
husbands, love their wives, love their family, love their
church, live in integrity, keep their promises. Honored for those people,
thankful for those people. I see so many around. Keep hanging in there. Keep being that example. Heavenly Father, I
think of Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper, in
that place of privilege, that place of honor, to be given
that piece of bread by Jesus, the living Son of God, to
be in that place of splendor next to Him, to have Jesus
leaning toward Judas, and for Judas not to have taken
the lifeline that Jesus gave. Lord, I pray if anyone
is wandering from you, living a double life,
living with a critical eye and a hypocritical
heart, turn them back to you in Jesus' name. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] Jesus knows so much
about us, and we should strive to be
a joy and delight to Him as we live our lives. Does learning about
God's perfect plan strengthen your faith in Him? Let us know. Email mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/give. Thank you for listening
to this message from Skip Heitzig of
Calvary Albuquerque.
