Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at Jesus Christ P21 (11-18-20)
Synopsis
As we ponder over the biblical prophecies in Christ Jesus, let us keep in mind that this was in the heart of God before the creation of the world and mankind. Knowing that when creating man in His own image, there is a risk to that, that mankind might just choose his own way. God in His foreknowledge made provision for that, that if mankind should decide for himself what is right and wrong, to decide that he does not need or want God and wants to live independently of God, then there is a consequence to that choice. That consequence is that man will be separated from God, and be in a state of spiritual death. That is, Adam, when he sinned in the garden of Eden, died to the one who vacated Him, who was the Spirit of God living in him.
As a consequence of that choice, the entire human race was lost, being born in the nature of Adam, dead to God. God made provision to restore mankind back to himself. Through the prophetic words of the prophets, He predicted His entry into this world, how He would be born, born of a virgin, in a stable, in Bethlehem, and where He would start His ministry, in Galilee of the Gentiles, and how he would be betrayed by His own creation, and all in such precise detail, that only God in His foreknowledge could pull this off.
But He did this because He wanted a creation in His own image, that would want to love Him and He could put His love in their hearts. He wanted a dynamic, living relationship with His own creation. Therefore, He considered us of such value that He shed His blood on a cross to take away the cause of our death. Then He was raised from the dead, so that the same life that raised Him from the dead, would raise you and me from the dead, and have the very life of God placed back in mankind. This is a choice that mankind has, to choose to come Jesus Christ for life.
One of the most interesting prophecies in scripture is that of the betrayal of Jesus Christ. There are a lot of lessons we can pull from this prophecy, of Judas Iscariot who, in accordance with the prophet Zechariah, Judas, a trusted friend, who ate at the table with Jesus, betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver, and the money was thrown into the Potter’s field. That happened just as was foretold.
What kind of issues of pride can form in mankind, to betray someone who is perfectly loving and kind? If our focus is not on spiritual things but only on the natural realm, we can be prone to deception. We can be deceived to determine that our agenda will come about, and so we manipulate people to do what we want them to do. We have put ourselves at the center of the universe, with the same pride that caused the fall of Adam.
So when circumstances are such that you determine to control the outcome, you set out with your own agenda, your own idea of how life should work out. Now, if the God of the universe has a plan in mind for you, but you do not understand it, and it is in conflict with your agenda, do you try to force God to act according to your own agenda? That was the issue going on with Judas Iscariot.
Listen as Bob George provides more insight into these attitudes of pride that lead to betrayal, and that is not unique to Judas, but common among men today. Even in Christendom, where money and accolades of men become such a higher priority than living in a trusting, dependent relationship with the living God. If you are determined to get your kingdom built, then who do you turn to to get a hearing. You most likely would turn to a legalist, because he would be inclined to participate in your plan if it also allows him to silence, discredit or destroy those who are considered enemies to his interpretation of life. Such was the case of the Pharisees, who were more than glad to assist Judas in his betrayal. In their short-sided, stupid reasoning they thought they could kill Jesus and get him out of their way, for Jesus was teaching things contrary to their interpretation of the law.
So the issue is, do you have room in your heart for truth? Are you leaning on your own understanding, relying on denominational persuasions of men, or relying on what God has said? Are you only concerned about the here and now, or do you have any thought about the condition of your soul, that once it passes this life, there is an eternity to be lived, with or without God? Can you recognize that there is more to life than what you see in this world, in it’s fallen state? Do you realize that God came in the person of Jesus Christ to give you life and life abundantly?
Jesus came to restore you to true humanity, with the Spirit of God living in you, to know God and His Son, Jesus Christ, to know and experience all the things you really are looking for; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the fruit of the Spirit, of Christ in you, that come from a vital, dynamic relationship with the living God.
Transcript
This is important for us to understand as it relates to biblical prophecy that the coming of Jesus Christ into human history was not some kind of an event that just suddenly burst upon an unsuspecting world. The coming of Christ was a result of a culmination of a long line of prophetic statements that started with the voice of God when He predicted the coming of Christ at the very beginning of human history.
Genesis 3:15
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
That prediction came and his arrival in human form was an event that was planned before the creation of the world, which was amplified in 1 Peter 1:20. Also his mission of the coming Messiah was predicted and that was spread to us by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.
1 Peter 1:20
20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
So ever since man fell in the garden of Eden, from this dependent relationship upon God. That is what caused the fall of man when he stood at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is what that tree was, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of all the the trees, you have total freedom to eat anything you want, but of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the day you eat of it you will surely die.
Genesis 2:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
The reason you will die is because you turned from the source of life. You are saying, “I do not need your life to determine right from wrong and I can determine it on my own.” In other words, becoming little gods. That is what man did. “I do not need your life to sustain me. I can do it on my own. I do not need your life to determine right from wrong, good from evil. I can determine it on my own.” The very moment they did that on their own, the Spirit of God departed Adam and he died spiritually. Death is dying to what left you. When life leaves you, you are called dead. When spiritual life left Adam, he was left spiritually dead.
His human spirit was not dead to the world. Certainly he was able to respond to the world. But that is what that was all about. “I do not want to respond to you, Lord, but to myself and the world.” So he entered into spiritual death. All of us are born in the loins of Adam. All of us are born dead spiritually. The only thing a dead man needs is life.
Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned
The provision of that life was through the Messiah, through His Son Jesus Christ. So as we are studying these prophecies, we study in the past that the prophet Micah prophesied the place of Jesus ’ birth. It is a little hard to work that out on his own as well. The prophet Isaiah talked about his miraculous birth, of how he was to be born of a virgin. Then Hosea talked about his childhood that was going to be in Egypt. Then the prophet Isaiah again talked about John the Baptist, how there was going to be a voice in the wilderness crying out, making way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway of our God.
All of those things obviously fulfilled in the person of Christ, His birth in Bethlehem, His virgin birth pronounced to us, His time as a child in Egypt, John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord. Then, talked about Isaiah about how His ministry was going to start in Galilee. Of course, remember the statement, “How could anything good come from that part of the country?” That is where Jesus ministry began. Then we read in Isaiah about the miracles to be performed by the Messiah, how he would be a person who would perform miracles. Therefore, to verify His deity. It talks about in another place, in Zechariah, of His public entry into Jerusalem. He talks about, in essence, how He will literally come mounting on a donkey, even on a colt it says. Of course, that was fulfilled when Jesus took His ride into Jerusalem announcing Himself as who He really was, that is the coming of the promised Messiah.
As we ended last week, we talked about how He was going to be betrayed by a friend. King David wrote about that a 1000 years B.C. in Psalms 41:9.
Psalms 41:9
Even my close friend,
someone I trusted,
one who shared my bread,
has lifted his heel against me.
That was talking about Judas Iscariot.
We pick up again in Mark 14:10.
Mark 14:10
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
That is what a betrayal is. A betrayer is one who posed as your close friend. Literally was in a position of trust. As it says, obviously, it would not have been prophesied if it had not been true. Jesus trusted Judas. He ate his bread. In the midst of posing as a close friend, a trusted confidant, and one who certainly ate at the table, and ate his bread, meaning like someone you had hired. Like an employee. I trusted him. I hired him. I paid him money to be a friend, a trusted employee. He turned his back on me and betrayed me. That is the mindset of a Judas Iscariot. He was one of the twelve. He went to the chief priests to betray Jesus. Like a person, he goes behind your back to bring about betrayal. That is the spirit of a Judas Iscariot. He got paid for that kind of activity. There was a profit to Judas when he did that. That also was prophesied.
We pick up in our lesson in the prophecy of Zechariah, 500 years before Christ.
Zechariah 11:12
12 I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
In this prophecy someone was going to betray the Messiah for a wage and the wage he gave to him was 30 shekels of silver as his wages.
Of course, that prophecy was fulfilled.
Matthew 26:14-16
14 Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
So, the prophecies were there. They were all fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ and, of course, with His followers. Talking about the prophecies that concern our Lord’s betrayal as that was reflected through the person of Judas Iscariot.
Again, that is one of those things that I do not believe is highly unusual as I have seen it observed many times, even in Christianity. There is always that possibility, also a friend, someone you trusted very, very much, and you paid very well, who ate at your table, ate your bread, and can turn and lift their heel against you. That certainly happened with the Lord. A servant is not greater than your master. If it happened there then I think those things happen right down through Christendom.
You would read about that in the life of the apostle Paul. At the end of his life, there were very few people who started with him who remained with him. The amazing thing to me, is that even Barnabus was deceived at the end. Here was Barnabus, the apostle of encouragement, who turned out to be deceived, and literally used against the person whom God had chosen to proclaim boldly the fullness of the grace of God. It doesn’t seem it is a highly unusual thing as you read down through church history. You read accounts of people who were used by God in a very outstanding way. You go back and read their history, almost without exception, there is a situation where close friends turned on that person, and tried to destroy them in one way or another. It seems like that is almost a part of the territory if anyone is going to be involved in the proclamation of the gospel.
So Judas went to one of the chief priests to betray him and, of course, the chief priests were the ones who were proponents of legalism. It would be very difficult, would it not, to go to somebody who was not a legalist in order to betray somebody and have them respond to you. If Judas or if the apostle Paul was going to or you and I were going to betray somebody and we were involved in proclaiming the grace of God, would we go to somebody who understood the grace of God in order to betray somebody? What would somebody say to you if they understood the grace of God? What are you doing, trying to betray your friend? What are you doing involved in this activity? Where is your love? Where is your mercy? Where is your understanding?Where is 1 Corinthians 13 lobe where there is patience, kindness, hoping the best and trusting the best?
If someone comes to me, as an example, with an attempt to betray a friend, they would not get very much out of me. In other words, there would be no response to that person at all except a response of condemnation in regard to what they were doing, and trying to get them first of all restored and then the encouragement of them to go restore their brother.
The only person, if you are going to betray somebody that you would go to as a Christian, would be a legalist, for they are the only ones who would respond to what you are saying. If you go to someone with the grace of God, they would tell you to extend mercy if you have ought against anyone and straighten it out. So only the legalist is the only person you can go to and get sympathy in regard to the betrayal of a friend.
So who did they go to? The chief priests. They were chief legalists. They were men set against the teaching of the grace of God. They could have been a person like the apostle Paul, prior to his Damascus experience, trying to crucify, kill and betray Christians. Judas certainly had a marvelous listening audience when he went to betray Jesus for they were out trying to figure out how to get at him anyways. Any teacher of grace is an enemy of a legalist. Anything that you can do to try to get a hold of this guy, to get him ruined, they are waiting for an opportunity like that.
That is, quite frankly, the position of a legalist. They are wanting anxiously somehow to discredit the message of anyone who is a proclaimer of the grace of God. So, the prophecy in Zechariah, if it is good in your sight to give you wages. In other words, I want some money out of this. If I am turning this guy over to you, I want something out of this. No one is involved in betrayal unless in their feeble mind they believe there is profit in there for them.
Well there are all kinds of profits that could gain from something like that. In this particular case it was financial profit. There would also be a profit that could be gained, that I could make myself look great or greater in the sight of people by tearing down someone else. That is one of the reasons that I personally have never tried to engage in discrediting other ministries. That is why on the air, when people call in about other ministries or other ministers, even though it sometimes slips through, I do not want them to mention denominations or people by name. If they want to talk about what a person is teaching, then I will go after that. In other words, I will latch up. If someone is teaching prosperity gospel, I will match it up with scripture, up against that teaching. But I do not want to get involved in human personalities. I do not ever want to get involved to make myself look better in the sight of man by tearing another person down who is better known than I am. If someone is well known and I can make him look bad, then I will be well known and they will be crumbled.
If it is good in your sight, give me wages. If not, then never mind. In other words, I will never turn him over unless there is a profit to me. I do not believe there is ever such a thing as Judas Iscariot mindset where a person is not thinking of some personal profit for themselves in so doing it.
So they did that. They counted out the coins. Judas went out and watched for his opportunity to betray his best friend. You talk about some guts. Try it on for size what it must have been like to betray Jesus Christ, a man who loved him perfectly, who did everything in the world for them, never said an unkind word to somebody, yet he wanted to betray him. There was a reason Judas wanted to do that. Judas had a different agenda than Jesus. Jesus was here for spiritual reasons. Judas was there for political and human reasons. Judas was wanting Jesus to be the reigning Messiah and not the suffering Messiah. Judas was not interested in the salvation of people’s souls. He was interested in keeping the money. He had the treasury. He had his mind on business, money and investments. Jesus had his mind on salvation of souls.
So when you find somebody in an organization where their mindset gets on money and on money and on money instead of on souls and souls and souls. Before long you are going to have an organization on your hand that is doing business and has to do business in order to do ministry. Then the opposite of that is I have to do some ministry in order to do business. So when the agenda changes so it is more important to do business, then ministry becomes a sideline to you. What Christ was there for was to reach people. In order to do that, we have to do business.
But folks, that is one of the problems I believe that takes place in ministries where people are not responsible to respond financially when there is some truth being taught to you. When the message of unconditional love and grace has penetrated your heart and has changed your life and you know it to be true, and it is not common place to hear this message, if we are not responsible to respond to that message by supporting it. Even Christ when he was here had to have a treasurer. It means if you are going to function in this realm of human experience there is a dollar exchange that has to take place. We have to pay bills. We have to pay lights. We have to pay employees. We have to pay radio stations. We cannot get away from that.
But the goal never wants to come down to the point where the paying of bills, paying of a station, the exchanges of money becomes paramount and so therefore, I am a business that has to do ministry instead of a ministry that has to do business. What causes that subtle shift sometimes is when we as listeners and recipients of this message do not act responsibly and therefore do not responsibly support the message of the teaching of the fullness of grace. Therefore a ministry has to get their mind focused on how to sustain themselves financially instead of continuing to be focused on how to proclaim the message effectively. You are left with no alternative when we do not respond responsibly in support of ministry. So it forces you to be more involved in the finances than in saving of souls.
Judas had a different agenda than Jesus and therefore was willing to betray him in order to get him to see that he was there to do business. In the mind of Judas, he was there to be the reigning Messiah, to be a political figure instead of to be there for the purpose of seeking and saving the lost. So as it says in Matthew 26.
Matthew 26:14-16
14 Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
We are spending a lot of time on this, Judas Iscariot. But I think it is a fantastic piece of prophecy. Zechariah prophesying that 500 years before Christ even down to thirty pieces of silver. They prophesied thirty and that is exactly what he got.
Now, turn to Zechariah 11:13.
Zechariah 11:13
13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter” – the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.
That was a prophecy fifty years before the event. See how that was fulfilled in Matthew 26:14-16.
Matthew 27:3-10
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.
What happened there was Judas was trying to get Jesus to change his mind. In other words, “look at things my way. You are supposed to try to restore Israel. You need to plug into my agenda, Jesus.” Is not that amazing? That is how we can get, though. That is how ego and pride can get the man so easy. “I do not care whether you are sent by God or not, I have got an agenda and I want you to follow it.” He turned them over but he did not realize that they were going to condemn him the way they were. He did not know that would be a condemnation of death upon him. He thought they would smack his fingers and get him back on track again. He did not know.
You can get involved in a betrayal but you do not know the ramifications of it. Of course you do not because all you are thinking about is your own selfish deals. “What I am going to get out of it.” You do not think what kind of damage that it will do to the one betrayed. All of a sudden you see this terrific damage to this one who was your friend, to the one you ate at the table, the one you trusted and the one who trusted you. Then you see the repercussion of that type of thing. You realize a couple of things when you look at something like that. Not only is there a terrific repercussion to the person you betrayed but there is also going to be a terrific repercussion in your own life in initiating that betrayal. Of course, that is how Satan deceives us. He thinks we can get away with something without the by-products being as severe as they are. He was seized with remorse. In other words, “I did not mean this to be that bad.”
Matthew 27:3-4
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”
He returned the thirty coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned. I have betrayed innocent blood.” Listen to the response of a legalist.
Matthew 27:4-10
“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”
In other words, “We do not care. If you think you betrayed innocent blood or not, we are not interested in it, whether it is innocent blood or not. We do not care if it is innocent blood. We want to get him.” That is the mind of a legalist. But to Judas. He had remorse. He came to grips to the fact that what he had done is wrong. But when he went back to the people to get them to recant their decision. “I want to give you back the thirty pieces of silver. I made a mistake.” The legalist says, “No. no. You did exactly and precisely what I need, him. I do not care whether he is innocent or guilty. I am after him.” There is the heart of a legalist.
I think very few people realize there was a Judas who repented. Judas saw the ills of his way. He betrayed his best friend. He betrayed someone who trusted him and he trusted him. He betrayed someone who fed him and had eaten at his table. He had a change of heart in regard to what he had done. He saw that what he did was wrong. But the legalist did not see that as wrong at all. In that state of remorse, and I think we fail to realize this, because the only way we see Judas is as the bad guy who turned over the Lord and that is true. He did that. But many times, we fail to see that there was a spirit of repentance and remorse in the heart of Judas to the point that led to what he did next. What did he do? He fulfilled the prophecy in Zechariah.
Matthew 27:5-10
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
He could not stand the thought of having to go back and to face his best friend, the God who had loved him perfectly and to face Him and to say, “Jesus, I betrayed you.”
Matthew 27:5-10
6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”[Zechariah 11:12,13; Jeremiah 19:1-13; 32:6-9].
Order the Bible Study; “A Closer Look at Faith, Hope and Love” book today!
