Message by Chad Kelly
Introduction
Several years ago, the FBI dug up a Soviet “mole”””a Soviet double agent””who was selling intelligence information toRussiafor big money, and had been for 14 years. This information included the names of some of our intelligence agents inRussia””31 of whom were quickly murdered””all as a result of one traitor!
Have you ever been “sold out”?
Have you ever been betrayed?
Has a supposed friend suddenly shown you their true colors and done you terribly wrong?
Against all of your expectations of a friend and in the face of your hope for good from them, betrayal comes hard, fast and ugly!
It is an awful experience to be on the receiving end of betrayal!
I heard just this week about a spouse who was grieving the loss of their spouse. And in the process as things unfolded, they learned that the deceased spouse had spent almost all of their retirement on a wayward child.
And that last statement””betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope””is exactly true concerning the intention and effect of betrayal.
Jesus knows a lot about betrayal.
And because of Jesus”™ death and resurrection, we have”¦
Hope Beyond Betrayal
Mark 14
Because Jesus has redeemed us, there is hope beyond betrayal!
Piper
The most spectacular sin that has ever been committed in the history of the world is the brutal murder of Jesus Christ, the morally perfect, infinitely worthy, divine Son of God. And probably the most despicable act in the process of this murder was the betrayal of Jesus by one of his closest friends, Judas Iscariot.
Mark 14:10-11, 17-21 (NLT)
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.
17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. 18 As they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you eating with me here will betray me.”
19 Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one?”
20 He replied, “It is one of you twelve who is eating from this bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!”
Matthew 26:25 (NLT)
25 Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?”
And Jesus told him, “You have said it.”
You”™ll remember that after they had finished the first Lord”™s Supper, Jesus led His disciples out to theGardenofGethsemanewhere He earnestly prayed about His upcoming crucifixion. Even His closest followers fell asleep on Him as He agonized in prayer.
Mark 10:41-52 (NLT)
41 When he returned to them the third time, he said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But no””the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Up, let”™s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”
43 And immediately, even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders. 44 The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss. Then you can take him away under guard.”
Jesus had hand-picked Judas and loved him and taught him””and even washed his feet in that Upper Room!
Michael Card, Why?
“Why did it have to be a friend who chose to betray the Lord? Only a friend can betray a friend, a stranger has nothing to gain, only a friend comes close enough to ever cause so much pain.”
Piper
Judas had been with Jesus during his entire public ministry. He had been entrusted with the moneybag for the whole group (John 13:29). He was close enough to Jesus at the Last Supper to be dipping bread with him in the same cup (Mark 14:20).
BUT”¦
Judas was a lover of money, and he covered it with a phony, external relationship with Jesus. And then he sold him for thirty pieces of silver.
45 As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. “Rabbi!” he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss.
Judas used a friend”™s greeting to betray Jesus!
Michael Card, Why?
“Why did he use a kiss to show them? That”™s not what a kiss is for!”
46 Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. 47 But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest”™s slave, slashing off his ear.
{Luke tells us that Jesus picked up the man”™s ear and put it back on his head””a miracle of healing””right in the midst of the drama of His own arrest!}
The disciples were dealing with this betrayal according to the world”™s wisdom””NOT in sync with God”™s will!
Even though Judas”™ crime against, and betrayal of, Jesus was heinous, Jesus Himself goes on to remind the disciples of something we often forget”¦that our God and Father is sovereign over it all!
48 Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? 49 Why didn”™t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there among you teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me.”
Matthew 26:52-54 (NLT)
52 “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. 53 Don”™t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? 54 But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”
The Scriptures prophesy that Jesus would be betrayed by a close friend for thirty pieces of silver.
In John 13:18, Jesus cites Psalm 41:9 and says, “I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ”˜He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.”™”
And in Matthew 26:24, Jesus says, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!”
And in Matthew 27:9-10, it says, “Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ”˜And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter”™s field, as the Lord directed me”™” (Jeremiah 19:1-3; Zechariah 11:12-13).
50 Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. 51 One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, 52 he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked.
The disciples didn”™t get it! They didn”™t have hope at this point”¦they ran in fear, in despair, in hopelessness. They missed what Jesus had just said”¦and who can blame them? We would likely have done just the same.
Because, betrayal slaughters our hope!
Unless Jesus is involved!
Because Jesus has redeemed us, there is hope beyond betrayal!
HOW can that be?
Judas”™ betrayal of Jesus was part of God”™s plan to save His sheep. Oh, it was sin for Judas! And yet, God had said it would happen through the prophets.
Piper
In Acts 4:27-28, we have the clearest, most explicit statement about God”™s hand and plan behind the horrific crucifixion of his Son. “Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”
Because Jesus has redeemed us, there is hope beyond betrayal!
What amazing love that God would ordain the betrayal of His own Son that Jesus might die a criminal”™s death and pay the price in full for my sin and yours so that we can have peace with God and never know His justice and wrath on our sin!
Because Jesus has redeemed us, there is hope beyond betrayal!
Jesus had hope even though He had just been crushed by betrayal!
HOW?
He trusted His Father”™s powerful control of all things”¦He trusted His Father”™s ability to carry out His plan for good””even though it included the agony of the awful Cross first!
AND God carried out His plan – He redeemed us as proved by the Ressurection (see Mark 16:6-7).
YOU and I can likewise have hope, even in the face of betrayal, because God is able to bring hope beyond betrayal.
1 Peter4:19(NIV)
19 So then, those who suffer according to God”™s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
WHY? Because He is able! (See Eph. 1: 17-21,3: 20-21)
Because our Father is in control”¦and if He used a betrayal as part of His plan to redeem us, then we can trust Him no matter what we face in this life””even betrayal.
Because Jesus has redeemed us, there is hope beyond betrayal!