"While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him." Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, "Hail, Rabbi!" and kissed Him. And Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you have come for." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're glad to have you here with us today.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're glad to have you here with us today.
As we approach the cross, there is something that God has laid on my heart and, as some of you may know, it's remained
there for a very long time. That is why I'm constantly warning believer's
about sin. Christ was so intolerant toward sin, so against it, that He willingly suffered untold agony and died on the cross just to free
those of us who would believe from it. There is far too many Christians
ignoring the Bible and affirming people in their congregation and
leadership who are unrepentant, as a result, sin
is not being tolerated, in the Church of Christ, it's flourishing. I
believe the problem with many Christians today, is they do not have a
clear understanding of their true position in Christ, Who has already triumphed over sin.
The
church is not here to try to force the world to live according to
biblical morality it doesn't believe in. However, to counter to the
clear teaching of the Bible, the church has decided to "re-educate"
Christians to accept sins the Bible condemns. To reject Christ's
teaching or any portion of it, is to reject Christ. It is the
responsibility of every believer to pay close attention, not just to
Jesus’ words, but to properly respond to what He emphasized in His
teachings, and what they reveal about His heart. Loving your neighbor
isn't the acceptance of sin, but refraining from sinning against them.
By loving your neighbor, you don't kill them, you don't covet, or steal
what they have and you certainly don't committed adultery with his wife.
Never
once did Jesus accept sin under the pretense of "loving your neighbor.
"He did however, point them toward the kingdom of heaven, which offers
sinners something far greater than what sin promises. Jesus Himself said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." To fulfill the Law is not to simply "sum it up" but rather to complete it's commands. A church prone to compromise with the world, is a church prone to tolerate sin. If Scripture condemns sexual immorality, and let me be clear, it does, it's because it is inherently evil, separating us from God, causing Him to hide His face from us.
Isaiah 59:2 says "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear."
Your mind is the primary target of Satan, the your enemy of your soul. That's why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." You can either take sinful thoughts captive, or be taken captive by sinful thoughts. Romans 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." If you don't fix your eyes on Christ, training
your mind to think like a true Christian, sin will occupy your thoughts
and gain control over your body. Which I believe explains why the church in America is in a crisis of sin and rampant sexual immorality, practicing shameful lifestyles that is no different than that of unbelievers.
Scripture is very clear, those who profess Christianity and live a lifestyle of sin, are not Christians at all. Galatians 5:19-21, "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness,
carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I
have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
In His name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: Facing the Enemy
Open your Bibles to the twenty-sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 26:47-50. I
invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds. So, let's open our hearts and our minds
to see what the Spirit of God has
to say us today. Matthew 26:47-50.
Let
look at verse 47, "While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of
the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs,
who came from the chief priests and elders of the people."
"While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him." Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, "Hail, Rabbi!" and kissed Him. And Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you have come for." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him."
As we return to God’s Word, the unfolding of the redemptive plan of God, the betrayal of Judas and the arrest of Jesus Christ.
This is a portion of Scripture that really stirs up a tremendous amount
of emotion in my heart, everything from righteous indignation to a deep profound sadness, as I come face to face with my own faults and imperfections that helped to put Christ on that cross, and the need for constant prayer that I may not enter into temptation and discipline in overcoming sinful habits. Prayer is a very necessary means for preemptively escaping
anticipated temptation before it arises. In this fallen world, nearly
every thing around us incites temptation, from music, books, magazines,
movies, television, and of course, the clickbait of the Internet. I
believe it's crucial to identify the situations that lead you into
temptation, especially with so many church leaders falling into to
before a watching world and pray specifically for a holy hatred of them
and help from the Holy Spirit to face those
situations.
Sadly,
instead of praying, the disciples slept, Even after Jesus warned them
several times to watch and pray. In verse 46, Jesus said "Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!" The opportunity for prayer is now over, His betrayal is at hand.
"While He was still speaking," that tells us that it's all starting to happen very quickly. He was still telling them "Behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!", when Judas showed up. It's interesting that Judas is still being referred to as "one
of the twelve." Perhaps it seemed quite normal to them by now, after
all, Judas had been part of the group for some time. They were actually
much more kind than those who wrote the apocryphal books, which were not inspired by the Holy Spirit.
But this time it's evident something is very different, he "came up
accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the
chief priests and elders of the people." John tells us in chapter 18,
verse 3, "Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, *came there with lanterns and torches and weapons."
A Roman cohort or band, depending on your translation, was the standard tactical military unit of a Roman legion. A legion was nominally comprised of six thousand soldiers, and each legion was divided up into 10 cohorts. So, a Roman
cohort would have been around six hundred soldiers. I imagine, it's
because the chief priests wanted to ensure that Jesus didn't escape
being arrested, as He had done before. They wanted to make sure that they got it right
this time, they wanted Him arrested and crucified. By the way, this is
clearly not a contradiction as some have suggested. Matthew, Mark, and
Luke tell us that a multitude approached Jesus in the garden and they
seized Him, which obviously included those who were actually doing the
arresting. It is beyond difficult to comprehend, that Judas, one of the twelve, those who knew Him more intimately than anyone on the planet, could betray Him. He gave them Truth and they gave Him death.
However, I believe this is exactly what many churches are doing today, having compromised with the world, claiming God's Word calls sin, is really no sin at all; so long as it does not hurt anyone. Surely God wants you to be happy. People come to them looking for the Truth, and are only given the lies of Satan, instead of receiving eternal life, they are given death and eternal damnation.
I see many churches, having compromised with the world, claim what God's Word calls sin, is really no sin at all; so long as it does not hurt anyone. Surely God wants you to be happy, you don't need to turn from your sin, Jesus loves you. Tolerance is never mentioned in Scripture as a virtue, except in Ephesians 4:2, except in the sense of patience, forbearance, and longsuffering, rather than the post-modern definition that claims we must never regard anyone else's beliefs as "wrong."
This an extremely dangerous and damnable corruption used by false teachers under the influence of Satan, to deceive God's people to accept every false religious belief system and form of sexual immorality and perversion, to twist and manipulate the Truth of God.
This an extremely dangerous and damnable corruption used by false teachers under the influence of Satan, to deceive God's people to accept every false religious belief system and form of sexual immorality and perversion, to twist and manipulate the Truth of God.
Isaiah 5:21, "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!"
People come to them looking for the Truth, and are only given the lies of Satan, instead of receiving eternal life, they are given death and eternal damnation, having the illusion of salvation. That's what false religion does, they distort the Truth.
This is exactly what Christ condemned the religious leaders for in Matthew 23, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."
In Luke's parallel account, chapter 11, verse 51, He said "I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’ For you have taken away the key of knowledge."
The Truth is Jesus does love you, so much that He gave His life that you might be forgiven of your sin and turn away from it. That what "repentance" means. Merriam-Webster says "To turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life." He will accept you as you are, but He will not leave you that way. If you're still practicing the same sinful behaviors you were before coming to Christ, examine yourself in light of God's Word, to see if you are truly in the faith, not by those who are tampering with it.
Back to Matthew 26, verse 48, " Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him."
Keep in mind, it was early in the morning, sometime after midnight, it was dark and there was nothing about Him to distinguish Him from the disciples, a signal was necessary to identify Him to those who came to arrested. There was no room for mistakes now, they had to get it right. I believe Judas was thinking that by kissing Jesus, he would be able to ultimately deceive Him and the disciples. Jesus already knew Judas came to betray Him, He was ready for this. By the way, in Middle-Eastern culture it was not uncommon for men to kiss each other on the cheek, as a sign of close affection, in fact, it still is today.
Whomever I kiss, seize Him. Seize is the Greek verb "krateó," to take hold of by force. It's interesting he would have chosen a kiss, or the verb "kataphileó," from the "philos," meaning someone dearly loved, a trusted confidant. Kata is an intensifier which makes it stronger. He intensely and fervently embraced and affectionately kissed Him. He could have chosen to betray Him with a kiss on His hand. But in keeping with his deception, possessed by Satan, he went all out. Satan always does go overboard, above and beyond what is necessary to deceive his prey.
I can’t even begin to imagine what must have been going through Jesus' mind as He stood there, being kissed by Judas, knowing this act of affection was merely a deceptive vice being used by the enemy. In Luke 22, Jesus noted the contradiction, saying "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" What a disgusting, treacherous plan this is. The fact that Judas was filling plan of redemption as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets, does not mitigate his guilt at all. He already chose to betray Jesus, God used him to fulfill His plan. The evil wickedness of the world is never made more manifest than it is in betrayal of the One Who came to save the world. Proverbs 27:6, says "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy."
Verse 49, "Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, "Hail, Rabbi!" and kissed Him."
Judas goes through with the kiss, his betrayal of Christ is now complete, Jesus has been identified to those around Him waiting to arrest Him, the chief priests and Roman cohort. Mark 14, tells us, he kept on kissing Him, passionately and fervently. Luke says us when the disciples saw this, "they said, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, "Stop! No more of this." Jesus doesn’t need his help, He could have called an army of angels to take them all out. But He didn't, this has to happen to fulfill Scripture. Then, "He touched his ear and healed him." John 18, tells us that it was Simon Peter, and the slave’s name was Malchus. It's
bad enough to be betrayed, but to betrayed by a friend is a terrifying
thing. To think that someone whom you love and trust would do this is
unconscionable. How much worse is it to have betrayed the sinless Son of God, selling Him for thirty pieces of silver. But Jesus endures it.
That brings us to verse 50, "And Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you have come for." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him."
Most translations say He called him "friend," He didn't call Judas a friend at this point. He didn't use the word "etaire," or "phileo," He used the Greek word "hetaíros," meaning fellow, an imposter posing as a close companion. He went on to say, "do what you have come for." And that was it. How did could Jesus possible be so calm in the midst of all this happening? He prayed! We must follow His example to ensure that we respond correctly in times of difficulty. It's so easy for us to sink into hopelessness and despair. We often forget that things are not always what they seem
In Closing..
That's the about false teachers, and fake Christians, because they love darkness, they just pretend to love the Lord, going through the motions, holding onto their sin. They don't want to be confronted with the Truth, a perverted mind despises what it cannot understand. Let me tell you this, the hypocrisy of false discipleship hasn't changed, it's exactly the same. They still betray Christ, living in sin, while going to church, singing and praising His name. We either stand with the wicked world or we stand with Christ, you cannot have it both ways. The question is, where do you stand?
Every time He is mocked, rejected or His name is profaned, I am reminded that this evil world is still the same. Just the other day, I heard someone use Jesus' name as a curse word, I literally felt sick, and angry, I have to stop and remind myself to pray for their hearts to be changed.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved