On the Trail of a Traitor, Part 3

Today, on Insight for Living from Chuck Swindoll. Refuse to write off anybody as long as they're alive.

You don't know what the future will hold. You don't know how even the worst among us will have a change of heart as a result of some significant event that occurs that turns their heart, softens them toward Christ. It's easy to write Judas off as a traitor. After all, he sabotaged his personal integrity when he plotted with the enemy to have Jesus killed. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll reminds us that even the worst of sinners can be redeemed. In this study, we're looking at the pitiful moment when Judas, a friend that Jesus had trusted, conspired with the religious leaders. The betrayal was cowardly, and the results were deadly. Chuck titled his message, On the Trail of a Traitor.

In case you missed our last program, we'll begin with helpful highlights. John 13 21, Jesus is deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me. That was unbelievable. It was a brand new thought to them. They were shocked. In fact, one wonders how much more they really heard. And I'll say that because of what takes place later. Something is so obvious to those of us who aren't shocked that took place there among those who were that you would have thought they would have realized but they didn't.

I'll get to that. One of you will betray me. The disciples looked at each other wondering who he could mean. The disciple Jesus loved. That's John. That's the one who wrote this particular gospel from which we are reading. So John is sitting or reclining next to Jesus at the table. They're all wondering who did it. Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, who's he talking about? And John goes, okay. So he leans up and says to Jesus.

And you see it right here. So that disciple leaned over to Jesus, leaned over exactly and he asked, Lord, who is it? They had no idea, least of all Judas, the trusted treasurer. Lord, who is it?

Now watch. Jesus responded, it is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl. It was a piece of the unleavened bread which was broken off, another piece broken off.

The bitter herbs are stuffed between like a sandwich and you dip it into the kerosheth, this dip, and then you would hand that morsel to the honored guest. This is the greatest moment of grace offered to Judas personally. This is the last act of grace that would come his way. And Judas, Judas realizes what he's done. No one else realizes except Jesus, who knows exactly what's been going on being God. It's all clear to Jesus. It's clear to Judas. And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Notice when Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. You see, Satan can come and go.

He can possess and then leave a body and then come back again and leave the body. In this case, he came at the time the betrayal was planned with the captain of the guards and the chief priests and then departed. Judas went about his stuff, bed at the table, is at the left of Jesus as the honored guest, is given the morsel. And if there's ever a weak moment in Judas' experience, it's now. Jesus has given me the morsel and it says, when Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him.

Of course, right then, at that weak moment, he came in and he's now a pawn of the adversary. And that's why Jesus said to him, by the way, notice the ending of the grace, hurry and do what you're going to do. None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor.

You say, how could they think that? Remember, they're stunned over the fact that one of them is a betrayer. I'm not sure they even heard Jesus.

He doesn't say he shouted that. He could have said it softly to Judas, go after it, get on with it, get out. And we read, Judas left at once and it was night. Night was never darker, midnight in Judas' soul. William Barkley writes, when Jesus handed the morsel to Judas, it was a mark of special affection.

Apparently, Jesus was so much in the habit of doing this that it seemed nothing unusual to the other disciples. There is tragedy here. Again and again, Jesus appealed to that dark heart and again and again, Judas remained unmoved. God save us, writes Barkley, from being completely impervious to the appeal of love. I love that line. He wasted no time.

He slipped away from his place at the table and went out into the night and the rest we know led to the betrayal. I've thought about this for quite some time. I see two or three areas of application that I think are worth mentioning. Each one has a word of caution. Each of the three lessons includes a cautionary word to all of us.

Here's the first. Too much time spent with evil invites closer ties with the enemy of your souls. Too much time spent with evil invites closer ties with the enemy of your souls. As you and I look back on our lives, we got into trouble most likely when we ran with the wrong group. First Corinthians 15, 33. Be not deceived.

Evil company corrupts good morals. Who are you running with these days? Who are you spending your time with? Do they encourage your walk of faith?

Are you a better woman or man because of that companionship? What wonders what Judas did in his spare time? Interesting, he found his way very easily to the temple and the captain of the guards.

He got right in, didn't he? You wonder if he had met them before. Speculation I realize. Here's the cautionary word. Steer clear of wicked plans and evil people. I sound like your parents right now, don't I?

Or maybe grandparents. How often we heard them say that person isn't good for you. You know, I look back in my teenage years and the times I got into trouble. They weren't trouble with the law, but they were close to it. Every time it's because I ran with two other guys that were a bad influence.

Now I wasn't little Lord Fauntleroy. I mean, I wasn't an example of perfection either, but they were always ones who had a little more evil idea of things than I did. My mother said to me on more than one occasion, every time you run around with Eugene and Freddie, you get into trouble.

She was right. I won't take the time to tell you of some of those or we'll be here till two o'clock and so I'll stop with that. But evil company corrupts good morals. Too much time spent with evil invites closer ties with the enemy of your souls. Here's the second.

They get more serious. God continues to express his love and extend his grace to the worst among us. The worst among the disciples was Judas and he extended his grace to him.

Truth be told, I doubt that any one of us would have done that. But Jesus never lost hope, never lost hope. It was never too late for Judas to start doing what was right and he caught him at that moment before Satan entered into him. So this brings me to the second cautionary word, refuse to write off anybody as long as they're alive. And I mean anybody.

You don't know what the future will hold. You don't know how even the worst among us will have a change of heart as a result of some significant event that occurs that turns their heart, softens them toward Christ. How gracious of the Lord to offer him the morsel. God continues, continues to express his love and extend his grace to some of you who've heard this gospel message before, but you've not yet received it.

Which brings me to this third. Anyone is free to reject God's offer of forgiveness and hope. You're free to do that. No one will force you. No one will stop you before you leave this service and push you against a wall and threaten you if you don't believe. No, you're free to walk out an unbeliever just as you walked in.

But understand, here's the cautionary word, there will be consequences you will regret for eternity if you die in that unbelieving condition. Let me tell you a story. Years ago when I was about, well toward the end of my time at the seminary as a student, maybe I was in my, end of my second year into the third, Cynthia was carrying our child and realized that things weren't right in the pregnancy. And before we knew it, her water broke and she was at five months.

I don't believe I've ever shared this story. And our hearts broke. We hurried to the hospital, which was nearby the old Baylor hospital and down by the seminary. And we sat in the hallway and the water was all over and someone came and gave us a room in a hurry and her heart was breaking and I was in tears. We had one child and we had so looked forward to this second one and so she went in and was cared for at the hospital.

But the heaviness of her heart put her in a depression that really took its toll and she wasn't getting better. Even in the hours we were there at the hospital following the procedure, I was concerned for her so that we were told there was a physician on duty that was available to help us. He was a doctor of internal medicine but also a counselor that we could have and he would be happy to come and talk with us. So we began a relationship with him.

She was of course released from the hospital but the depression didn't go away and so we remained somewhat close to this physician for a period of time. I noticed when we visited with him that he on occasion would have those barbs he would shoot in our direction. When he found out I was studying for ministry and she was going to be a minister's wife, that set him off. He's clearly an unbeliever. His credentials were magnificent. Very, very well trained. I think he was a Harvard Medical School grad.

He had done his undergraduate work at an Ivy League school. The hospital held him in high regard and saw a real future for him. I became increasingly more concerned about his soul because he never missed a chance to take a shot at our faith.

And I'm finally wearied of that. So I asked him on one occasion, could I meet you at the hospital and we have a bite of lunch at the cafeteria? He said, that would be great. I'd love to do that, Chuck. So I met him there and I'm thinking, Lord, if this is the moment, give me the right words to speak to this brilliant physician about his soul.

And I thought the best way to do that is a little simple diagram called the bridge. Some of you are familiar with it. There's a cliff on one side and a cliff on the other. This is our lost condition. And this is when we come to Christ. There is a righteousness imputed to us and a whole new way of life. And the chasm is bridged by the cross. And so that's the bridge in this illustration. So I said to him, Doctor, I'd like to show you in simple words what it means to believe as we believe.

And I took a paper napkin from that table and I opened it up and I drew with my ballpoint pen the cliff on each side and the cross in the middle. And I said, just you understand, as bright and as capable and competent as you are, you are lost. And without Christ, you can't know in eternity our relationship with God. And in order for you to get from this chasm, from this cliff to this side, you've got to go across the bridge and you cross that by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You trust him. And when you do, your sins are washed away.

Your whole life is changed from the inside out and you become a brand new creation. He didn't say a word. He listened.

He had his head on his hand and was watching, looked up at me and watched, never interrupted. And I said, so Cynthia and I both care very much about your soul. And as brilliant as you are, your brains will not get you, make you right before God. In fact, I quoted from John 3, he who has the Son, S-O-N, he who has the Son has the life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life, but the wrath of God abides on him. And I said, I would love for you to know a release from the wrath of God and enter into the life he has for you in Christ. And I paused. He reached down and grabbed the napkin, stood up, wadded it up, tossed it in the trash. Said, I just want you to know, Chuck, that in a thousand years, I would never believe that.

It was the clearest example of rejection that I'd ever known up to that time. And he tossed it in the wastebasket and walked out. And I thought, in a thousand years, you'll wish you had believed it. Because in a thousand years, you will know the wrath of God like you've never known ever in this life.

You need to have the Son in order to have the life. If you will, I offered him the morsel, the gospel, as lovingly and as carefully and kindly as I could. It didn't take him three seconds to reject it. As far as we know, he's never been interested. We saw him rarely following all of that.

He really brought us little help. She recovered and moved on. We were pregnant again.

We had our second child and then went on to have two more. But I thought about that physician a number of times, wondering if he ever has turned to Christ. I pray that he has. Today, my thoughts are more on you. If you've never trusted in the Lord Jesus, if you've never moved from this cliff to that one by crossing over the bridge, today's the day to make that decision. Bow with me, will you?

Just close your eyes where you're sitting. You don't have to join a church. You don't have to clean up your life. You don't have to promise to buy a Bible.

You don't have to memorize anything. All you need to do is take the gift that the Lord offers you. He's made it so simple that the most ignorant individual on earth or the most brilliant can understand the message. If you have the Son of God, you have the life. But if you don't take the Son of God, you do not have the life of God. Take the gift now.

Accept it. Believe in Christ. I could quote other verses, but that's enough. He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God, like Judas, does not have the life. And the wrath of God abides on you. In this sober moment, our Father, I pray for those who've never trusted in your Son.

I pray that they may do that now. This day, before sundown, this day, that they would trust in Jesus. Thank you for making the gospel simple, clear enough for even a child to understand. May it be received by many today, through Christ, I pray.

And all His people said, Amen. Only today's the day you stepped out of your comfort zone and said yes to Jesus Christ. On behalf of Chuck Swindoll, all of us at Insight for Living Ministries celebrate your new life in Jesus.

To learn more about cultivating a relationship with God, you'll find a wide variety of helpful resources at insightworld.org. Well, the Easter season is a special time of year. And if you're looking for something to read that will deepen your understanding of God's love and sacrifice, Chuck wrote an in-depth book about the last week in the life of Christ. It's called The Darkness and the Dawn. The subtitle is empowered by the tragedy and triumph of the cross. In his book, Chuck describes the paradox of the cross.

Yes, his crucifixion was horrific, but in those awful moments of pain and suffering, Jesus unleashed his power to mankind. We highly recommend this uplifting book to anyone who wishes to celebrate the resurrection in a fresh and meaningful way. Again, Chuck's book is called The Darkness and the Dawn. You can purchase a copy right now by going to insight.org slash store. You can also purchase the book by calling us.

If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888. This daily program is made possible by those who financially support the ministry of Insight for Living. And if it's been a while since you've sent a donation, we invite you to join us in this worthy effort. We can assure you that your gift, no matter the size, truly makes a difference as people around the world discover the liberating freedom that comes when they place their trust and faith in Jesus Christ. To give a donation today, call us.

If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888, or you can give online at insight.org slash donate. Treat yourself to a vacation you'll never forget on the Insight for Living Ministries cruise to the great frontier with Chuck Swindoll. Honestly, I had no idea that a cruise to Alaska could be so much fun, and without a doubt the stunning views took my breath away. God's artistic genius is on full display in Alaska. In fact, I guarantee this, you'll come home refreshed and filled with awe for his majestic creation. Yeah, at one point our ship was getting chased by dolphins.

They were playing and spinning in the waves. It was amazing. You'll have plenty of time for adventures on shore, lingering conversations around mealtime, and strolling through the idyllic ports of call. You'll be a part of some of the best parts of our day, laughing, singing, and celebrating our God. Plan to come with us, won't you?

The dates are July 1st through July 8th, 2023. To learn more, call 1-888-447-0444. That's 1-888-447-0444, or visit insight.org slash events.

The tour to Alaska is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindoll says you can define Christlikeness in one word. Can you guess what it is? Chuck provides the answer next time on Insight for Living.