Betrayed and Denied

Introduction

It’s Father’s Day. I know it’s Father’s Day because I’m wearing a new tie. This is a special tie. It’s got not just a cute pattern, but it has my kids’ picture on the back of it there. So if I ever forget who they are, I can look and see. Also makes it more awkward to donate it to a thrift store. But I don’t have a Father’s Day sermon as such, but I did want to spend just a little time recognizing the secular holiday in which we as a country honor our fathers. That’s a biblical concept, isn’t it? Honor your father and your mother. If you’re blessed enough to have a good father who’s still living, honor him today. Spend some time with him, give him a call.

Say a prayer for him. If you were blessed enough to have a good father who’s passed on, spend today with remembering. Remembering the good times, the things that you shared together, the lessons that he taught you, and the support and even the discipline that you didn’t appreciate then but do now that he gave you. And if you’re on one of the unfortunate few who didn’t have a good father, or had an absentee father’s Day. Being a part of the family of God, Jesus tells us we have brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. In duplicate.

And most importantly, we have a heavenly Father who loves us and has done so much for us. And so this Lord’s Day, as in every day, we honor our heavenly fathers. But it’s also appropriate to carve out a little time and a little honor for our earthly fathers. So happy Father’s Day to the fathers out there. And again, call your father. Spend some time with him today. Tell him you love him and you appreciate the sacrifices that he made for you.

And one of my inadequacies was I wasn’t the best reader. I didn’t always love reading books. But I had good teachers and good parents who would try to foster that love for reading. And so they would try to find something that I was interested in and encourage me to read books about that. And so I read a lot of books about sports and sports figures. And I found one book, one style of writing that really intrigued me as a child. And so I read several books. I don’t remember the names of them. I wish that I did, and even the authors, but I remember the writing style. You would read a chapter of this book, and at the end of that chapter, you made a decision.

What the characters were doing. Maybe the characters had gone into a haunted house, and if they open the door and go in, then turn to this page and see what happens. But if they get scared and run out of the house, turn to this page and see what happens. And at the end of the next chapter, you’d have another decision to make.

So the story really depended upon what decisions you said the people in the book made. And those decisions would compound and the story would change depending upon what they did, what you said they would do, and the decisions they made. I like that style of writing. I don’t know that I was wise enough to like that style of writing for this reason, but that’s kind of life, isn’t it? You can look back upon the trajectory of your life and realize that you are where you are, largely because of decisions that you made at important chapters in your life. And if you’d have made different decisions, you’d probably be in a different place. Maybe some of us would be in a much better place if we’d have made much better decisions.

And maybe some of us would be in a much worse place if we made poorer choices in our lives. Where you are spiritually, in your relationship to God and salvation and your hope of heaven is largely in part because of the decisions that you have made. And where other people are dictated largely because of their response to the grace of God and the offer of salvation and the poor decisions that they have made. Because we’re often given much of the same opportunities and faced with the same choices. It’s just how we act upon those decisions and choices that again largely dictate the pathway of our life. This morning I’d like to talk about two biblical characters. One who betrayed his Lord, and another who denied his Lord.

I want us to look at the lives and most importantly, the decisions that Judas and Peter made.

Mirrored one another in the good things and the opportunities and the blessings they’re shared, and even mirrored one another in the bad choices and the sins they committed. But the ending point of both of their lives is so vastly different because of the decisions they made at crucial crossroads in their lives. And what I want to do in this lesson is impress upon us the importance of the decisions that we make and of the reactions that we have, both to the blessings of life as well as to our own sins. How we react to them will decide the end point of our lives. And so let’s look at these two characters and in some ways in which they are similar, and then how they vastly differed at the end of their life.

1. They Were Both Taught

One way in which they’re very similar is they were both taught. They both had the same opportunities to learn and to see. Just think about what these two men, Judas and Peter, got to witness in the three years of their life that they spent with their and our Savior. I can’t even imagine it.

How many parables they were there when he taught.

In fact, someone had said that if you counted up the hours that they spent under the tutelage of our Lord, that their degree would be beyond a PhD in biblical studies. But they also got to see him. They got to see him interact with all types of people. Good and bad and in between. The rich, the poor, the healthy, the sick. They got to see his compassion demonstrated in so many ways. In fact, look with me, would you? In the book of Acts, chapter 1, when a new apostle, a successor to this Judas would be appointed. Look at one of the demands of the qualifications. In Acts chapter 1, verses 21 and 22, it says of an apostle, therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to the day he was taken up from us.

One of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. The one who would take Judah’s place would have to have had the benefits of Judas, and that is he was there every day with our Lord. Peter and Judas had that.

They did their own teaching. And they performed their own signs and miracles. Both Peter and Judas. Look back a few pages in your New Testament to Matthew chapter 7. We’re familiar with this verse, aren’t we? In Matthew chapter 7 and verses 21 and 22. Not everyone, Matthew 7, verse 21, you know this one, don’t you? Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many, verse 22 says, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name. You know who one of those men could be who could say that? Judas.

Judas prophesied in his name. Judas cast out demons in his name and did many wonders in his name.

2. Both of These Men Committed Wrongs

They both were so blessed to have had the experience to know right from wrong and know who our Lord was and to know what the demands of having him as our Lord would be. But both of these men, despite that knowledge and those privileges, both of these men committed wrongs. And we’re well aware of them, aren’t they? Think of Peter. We know Peter largely because of his ability to speak without thinking. He was the one who would blurt out the answer, right or wrong. Now, to be fair, many times Peter was right. But there were times when he was so wrong. On the Mount of Transfiguration, it was Peter said, Lord, let’s make three tabernacles right here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

Peter, they’re not the same. It was Peter who jumped out of the boat. And because of his doubt began to sink.

No, you won’t do that. You won’t go to Jerusalem and be crucified on that cross. And to Peter, Jesus had to say, get behind me, Satan.

And it was Peter. In what had to be his darkest moment on this planet, stood warning himself by that fire and said, I don’t know the man. And as Jesus was being beaten and spat upon and railroaded in a sham of a trial that would end in his excruciating death. Peter again would say, I don’t know him. And then a third time, as Jesus stood there within eyesight, and probably earshot of him, Peter would curse and swear, I don’t know the man.

And then there’s Judas. Judas, like Peter, kind of had a history of wrongs. Look with me in John chapter 12, let’s remind ourselves of his earlier transgressions. In John chapter 12, we’re given an insight into Judas as to maybe why he would later do what he would do. John 12, verse 3 says, then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of Spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of his disciples, Judas is Cariot, Simon’s son, who would betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor? Verse 6 explains this he said, not because 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. Well, that’s some profound insight, isn’t it? Why would he later betray his Lord? It was money. And so we learn some lessons from both Peter and Judas in this regard, don’t we? We learn two profound lessons. Number one is that we need to recognize that our sins that are not dealt with properly are going to lead to greater greater sins and greater separation from our Lord. Now, indulge me in a little bit of speculation here. Judas has had the money box of the Lord and his disciples, and he was taking some of that money out. Don’t you imagine that he wasn’t taking everything out? That would have been instantly recognized.

If that 300 denari would have gone into the box and he took the 300 denari route out of it, somebody would have said, probably Peter would have been the first one to speak up. Wait a minute, where’s that 300 denari? Don’t you imagine what happened was the 300 denari went in the box, and Judas took out just enough that it wouldn’t be noticed. That’s how embezzlement usually works. And so maybe Judas rationalized. It’s just a little.

3. Both Were Warned of the Dangers of Their Sin

From which he wouldn’t return. Another grand lesson we learn from the mistakes, the sins of Judas and Peter, is the difference between resolved sins and unresolved sins. Peter and Judas were somewhat alike. They both, while they were with our Lord, both did things they shouldn’t have done. One would betray our Lord, one would deny him in the same moment. But we began to see the contrast. Both Judas and Peter were warned of the dangers of their sin. Look in Matthew chapter 26 and remind ourselves of the warnings that they received. The very stark and specific warnings that they received. Let’s look at the warnings of Judas. Matthew chapter 26, look in verse 21. Now, as they were eating, he said, that’s our Lord, assuredly I say to you, one of you will betray me.

And they were exceedingly sorrowful. And each one of them began to say to him, Lord, is it I? Now let’s pause here. One of you will betray me. Imagine being Judas when that is said. All the rest of them said, Is it I? Judas may have said that too to throw off the stench of guilt. But Judas knew. It seems there were only two in that room who knew who it was. And Judas was one of them. One of you will betray me. They began to say, Is it I? He answered and said, He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, Rabbi, is it I? And he said to him, You have said it. Is it me? And the Lord says, Yes. It’s you. Peter received a similar warning. Look in the book of Luke, chapter 22. Just as specific. Luke chapter 22, began in verse 31. The Lord said, Luke 22, verse 31, the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned, strengthen the brethren. But he said, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.

Both of them received at first somewhat blanket warnings. One of you to Judas, it was said, to Peter, it was says, all of you will be offended by me. And then, with laser like focus, both of them were given very specifics. Yes, Judas, it is you. Peter, Satan has asked for you. And you, he’ll go on to say, you this very night will betray me three times. And yet, what did they do? What did both of them do? Judas still betrayed him. And Peter still denied him.

How can they have spent all that time seeing what they saw, did what they did, had heard the warnings, and still missed the application. Well, it’s easy to criticize, judge, and condemn these two men, but that’s not our point necessarily this morning. What lessons can I learn? What applications have I missed? Listen to this scenario and see if it doesn’t sound familiar. The preacher is preaching some particular pointed application in his lesson, and he pauses and says, Now I want everybody to listen to this and to make application.

And my mind goes, I hope Brother So and so is listening to this. Because he really needs this.

And I become just like Judas and Peter. Instead of having my toes stepped on, I’ve learned to wear still-toed boots to church. And even when it’s a sin that I, like Judas, am actively engaged in. Even when it’s a sin that is there on the horizon, and my past actions of hubris and arrogance like Peter show that I’m probably very susceptible to this.

And to make application.

4. They Were Both Sorry That They Had Sinned

And you know something else they kind of had in common? They were both sorry that they had sinned.

Judas regretted. I don’t know if Judas thought he could get the money, and Jesus, with his miraculous ability, would be able to escape. But something called Judas to mournfully regret. You remember he even took the money back. What an action that was for the thief Judas to take, and he didn’t keep a little of it back. He took all of those 30 pieces of silver back and said, I don’t want this money. He was sorry for what he did. Peter, when that third denial, when he was cursing and swearing and saying, I don’t know the man out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a figure. And he turned and it was his Lord. And the text says the very next thing he did is he went out and he wept bitterly.

5. Where Their Paths Began to Separate

But here’s where their paths began to separate. What did Judas do with his guilt? And even his sorrow for his sins. And what did Peter do with his guilt and his sorrow? Remember, Paul in the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, introduces us to a concept of godly sorrow. 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 10. You were sorry in a godly sort, he said. Wasn’t enough that they were sorry and they regretted what they did.

They got to the end of that chapter. And they had to decide what they were going to do with that guilt. And so we’re at that stage where a decision has to be made. We have all been taught. We’ve all been guilty of wrongs. We’ve all been warned. And hopefully we’re all sorry for what we’ve done. But where will we go with our sorrow? What will we do? Will we let that guilt and anguish just consume us? And fill us full of anger and bitterness and actually drive us further away from our Lord. Or will we, like Peter, run to him and repent of our sin? And throw ourselves at his feet. And say, Father, forgive me for I have sinned.

In our own ways, we’ve all betrayed and denied him. In each one of us, we can see a little bit of Judas and a little bit of Peter, if we’re honest. I just hope and pray that we can see more of Peter than we do of Judas. And how we react to our sins. And how we come to Him for our forgiveness. What would have happened if another choice had been made at that chapter in Judas’ life? If Judas, like Peter, would have come running to the empty tomb. If Judas, like Peter, would have come seeking reconciliation and the love of his friend and Savior.

Jesus would have forgiven Judas as well. And Judas would have been there on the day of Pentecost with Peter preaching the gospel.

Conclusion

You’re at a crossroads in your life. What will you do? What will you do with your Lord? What will you do with the sin that you’ve committed? Would you come to him this morning? Would you be Peter, though you’ve wronged him and sinned tragically against him? Would you come to him seeking his forgiveness, seeking his peace this morning? If we can help you as you come to the Lord, why not come right now as together we stand and as we sing?