Gospel—James House
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Good evening. Thank you for coming.
Let's start by saying #14 just the first verse in the chorus of #14.
Have you been to?
Falling in frustration in Princess I argue, I think.
Perhaps. Perhaps also the first verse in chorus of #19. Just the first verse in the chorus of #19.
And perhaps the first verse in chorus of #4.
Just the first verse in the chorus of #4.
Christ is the Savior.
Nsnoise.
Father, ask for help in the name of Jesus to clearly present Jesus Christ as the only Savior of sinners and the only hope for each and every soul in this room tonight.
This in his name and for his glory. Amen.
As in water.
Face answers to face.
So the heart of man to man.
The heart is deceitful.
Above all things, and desperately, incurably wicked.
Who can know it?
I, the Lord, search the hearts.
Any man that hears the word.
And does nothing with it like a man that goes to a mirror.
And looking into it, examines himself.
And immediately leaves and forgets what he saw. Tonight we're gonna look at two people.
But the first verse means is when you look at another human being.
You see some of yourself reflected back again.
When you look at the life of someone that you despise.
Someone said if you had to make your top ten list of the worst people in the world, you'd put them at #1.
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That person is a mirror for who you are, for what you are capable of inside.
That's why I quoted the second verse from Jeremiah.
Because you and I don't know how bad we are.
The two people we're gonna look at.
We're close friends.
First one is Judas Iscariot.
Second person is my savior, Jesus Christ.
Let's turn to John.
The Gospel of John.
The 12Th chapter.
If you're not comfortable finding things in your Bible, just listen. I'll try to read verses for you.
If you are comfortable, read along.
Gospel of John, chapter 12.
Jesus is in the House of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, two sisters and a brother.
He's having supper.
While they're eating supper, one of the sisters named Mary comes with a box filled with valuable, precious ointment.
And she begins.
Let's read in verse 4.
Then this is one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who is going to betray him.
Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor?
This he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he is a thief.
And had the bank and bare what was put therein.
Judas is a very famous person.
His name is synonymous with treachery, with betrayal.
But Judith didn't go.
From being a 5 year old, a 10 year old, a 15 year old, a 20 year old.
Overnight, he did not turn into the man who betrayed Jesus of Nazareth to his enemies.
And ultimately, since the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross, that did not happen overnight. It happened slowly. And I'm here, we're here reading these verses because this wasn't the beginning for Judas, but it shows a little sample of what Judas's life was like and it shows us.
Because of verse six, you and I get to look in to the heart of Judas Iscariot. We get to see greed.
We get to see sliver of how ugly our natural hearts are.
Assure her.
Like you guys to do something with me?
Please close your eyes.
Please close your eyes.
Take a minute.
And think, consider and evaluate your thoughts today.
Were they selfish?
Is there any pride in your thoughts?
Is there any greediness?
Any covering? Any warning what someone else had?
Any lust?
Any unkindness?
Any dislike, any hatred, any bigotry.
What were your thoughts like?
Don't try and justify yourself. What were your thoughts today?
Thank you.
We don't take the time in the lives that we lead.
Stop and think about what's going on inside.
We tend to assume that whatever is going on inside of me is the default. It's what should be happening, after all. What we hear all around us is that I'm basically a nice person. I'm basically a good guy. There's nothing wrong with me.
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But the Bible says that there is something wrong with me. I do have a problem. That problem is sin.
And it's far more than just the things I do. It springs from within me. It's part of who I am, and I can't get rid of it.
There's a part of me that loves to sin.
I enjoy doing it.
I get pleasure out of it.
Oh, you won't see it.
Because my sin also means that I care more about what you think than about what God thinks.
My sin also means.
That I don't mind misleading you. I don't mind hiding what's really inside my heart. It means that you like me.
You don't know my heart.
You really don't.
I don't know yours, but there is one who knows both our hearts and that is God.
I, the Lord, searched the hearts, I tried the reins. Why? To give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. The eyes of the Lord are in every place.
Beholding the evil and the good, there is nothing that is not exposed to the sight of God. There is no creature that is not within His sight at any moment. At this moment He can see you and He keeps you alive.
We're gonna be turning the six passages and all That was the first one. Let's go to the second one in Matthew chapter 26.
Because you see Judas.
Not just Judas, all of us. When we sin, it grows.
It starts out as something small.
God says it's like conception.
Something so small you need a microscope to find it.
Something deep within us.
But it grows and it grows and it gets bigger until it ends in.
Judith.
Group.
Just like the sin in your life and my life will grow and will continue to grow until it ends and death.
Unless we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew chapter 26 and verse 14.
Then one of the 12 called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said to them, What will you give me if I deliver Jesus to you?
And they made a deal with him for 30 pieces of silver.
And from that time, Judas looked for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.
I struggle with different sins than Judas did.
Put yourself in his shoes though.
You know, my initial reaction when I read this is I would never.
Betray Juliana, my wife.
I would never.
Arranged for my brother to die.
In exchange for $20,000.
But what have I done in my life?
What sins have I done that have had a deep impact on both of them, on many other people?
Effects you can't see on the outside, but deep, penetrating, awful effects. That is what sin is.
You have an enemy tonight. He doesn't want you to listen.
He will take sin and make it look like the most beautiful thing in the world.
He'll make you think you can't live without it like you need it.
He'll do that.
He'll put it in the center and then he begins to wind lies around it.
And then he comes to you of the package.
And you say, how could I turn that down?
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Judas wanted what was in that package.
He said to the chief priests, What will you give me? Is that what you're thinking tonight?
Are you sitting there in your chair thinking, what can I get?
Can I get 30 more minutes? Can I get through 30 more minutes of James talking so I can go to young people's and play hockey?
Can I get through 30 more minutes tonight, all day tomorrow until I can get back to my life? So the things I really want to be doing.
Is that what you want?
Is there something that you wanna do?
Is there some goal you want to achieve?
What do you want? What do you want?
What are you willing to do to get it?
Judas was willing to betray and to sell Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Someone he had spent three years with.
Day in, day out, together.
Not just hanging out.
Not just having a good time, curing people who could never be cured, bringing people back to life, throwing demons out.
Yeah, you just did that.
What do you want?
Do you want the people around you to look at you and think?
Nice guy, nice girl.
Maybe you look around and you say no.
I don't really want anything that's that bad.
I'm not. I don't want to do anything that'll make the hair on the back of my parents neck stand up on it.
But what I don't want is to have to admit to God that I'm a Sinner and that I'm wrong and that He is right.
Is that what you want?
I said that we'd also see the heart of Jesus as well as the heart of Judas, the heart of Jesus.
It's so different from ours that.
To say it's the difference of night and day, I wanna make a clarification.
Imagine a winter day.
It's just no.
The night before.
There's snow everywhere, on the tree branches, on the ground, on the houses, on the cars, and it was a light fluffy snow, so it sparkles.
That was during the night. It snowed. In the morning, the pods were gone.
The sun comes up, it clears the tree tops, but it's too cold for the snow to melt, so it stays there.
And that son is there. It's 11:00 in the morning and the sun is blinding.
You go outside and you can't even open your eyes, it's that bright.
You're looking for your sunglasses.
That's that's Jesus. That's the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Uh-huh. You know, there's so many lights in this world today, we don't really know what darkness is.
Give you 2 options. You get in your car and you drive and you drive and you drive and then you get out of your car and you walk.
Till you're hours away from civilization, then maybe it'll be dark enough. His yellow outside tonight is pretty bright up there. Yeah, it's dark. And yes, evil deeds love darkness rather than light, but there's an awful lot of light outside still. Your other option is find a room out of the door with a good seal on it and no windows, and then go in there and close the door and when you can, take your hand.
And pass it in front of your face 1/4 of an inch away from your nose and not know what's there.
That's how dark our hearts are. That is the contrast between Jesus Christ, the one who came down into this world to be the Savior of sinners, the one who came down to die for us.
We're about to see a little bit of what was in his heart.
Just like we've had a couple of glimpses into Judas's heart.
Let's move down to verse 21.
As they did eat, Jesus said, Verily, truly I say to you, that one of you will be trained.
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Verse 24. The Son of Man goes as it is, as it is written of him, but woe unto the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It had been good for that man if he had not been born.
Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master.
Is it I?
Jesus said to him.
You have 7.
Regis and verses to give you a little glimpse.
Into what was in the heart of the Lord Jesus, as he warns Judas here.
This is a warning for Judas.
I'm sure it was not the first time Judith had listened to three years of the Lord Jesus speaking words of life and truth. How many years have you listened to?
Are you hearing the gospel for the first time?
Have you heard the gospel so many times you're bored right now?
Because you figure you know what's coming next.
Judas managed to get through three years.
Of somebody absolutely perfect teaching the way of life.
And he ignored it every single day.
That's what my heart is.
And that's what your heart is.
But let's get a glimpse inside the heart of the Lord Jesus. I'll read you a few verses.
Yes.
It was my own familiar friend.
And whom I trusted.
Which to eat of my bread that has lifted up his heel against me.
It was not an enemy that insulted me and condemned me.
Because then I could have borne it.
Neither was it he that hated me, because then I would have hid myself from him.
But it was you.
A man might equal.
My associates. My acquaintance.
We took sweet counsel together, and we walked together in the middle of the crowd to the House of God.
Then Jesus.
Looks at Judas says it had been good for that man.
He had never been born.
It says.
Judith.
You said it.
Because Jesus cared about Judas. Jesus never slams the door and Judas's face. And he could have. It's what I would have done.
But Jesus never did that. And Jesus will not slam the door in your face. He wants you to come to Him. He wants you.
To repent, to admit that you are wrong and God is right.
That's what he wants. He doesn't want you to go to a lost eternity.
Lord Jesus said to Judas had been better.
If you had never been born.
If you reject Jesus Christ.
If you think that you know more than God.
If you would rather do your own will for your entire life instead of God's.
I'll tell you tonight.
It would have been better for you.
If you had never been born.
Because there was a man.
That we know.
Went to a lost eternity because he did not want to listen to what God said. He did not want to involve God in his life. He simply wanted to live his own life and not worry about God.
He wanted to have a polite non relationship with God. God, I'll stay out of your affairs, you stay out of mine. It doesn't work that way. God made you.
And because of that, he has the right to tell you what to do.
He has a claim over you.
He is your creator and your Maker. You must answer to Him for the things you've done.
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But he's more than that, because God loves you so much that he sent his one and only Son to die on the cross to take your sins.
And because of that, he has a second right to you. Not only did he make you.
He paid a price that's unimaginable to have you again. Are you really gonna say to no twice to God?
The man I mentioned that went to a lost eternity without God.
With no love in his heart for Jesus.
He's given a chance to make 2 requests.
First, he said.
I want a drop of water on the end of my tongue because this is awful. And when that was denied.
Is that all right? Pick somebody, Anybody. Send them back, Warn my brothers. I don't want them to come here.
There's a lie. It's a very old lie.
I know a man who believes it.
The lie goes, I'd rather be in hell.
With my friends.
It doesn't work that way.
It is a lake of fire. It is the blackness of darkness.
It is a place where your conscience will never have peace, You will never be at rest, you will never be happy. You will never be comfortable ever again for eternity, for as long as you can imagine.
Don't buy that lie.
Instead, Jesus says, come to me, anyone that laborers.
And has a heavy burden.
Do you even feel a niggle inside when you do something wrong?
Is there ever a thought at the back of your mind that maybe, just maybe, what I just did or what I did years ago that I can't forget, Maybe that there there's gonna be consequences for that, that I can't even see? You ever feel that way? Do you ever worried Jesus Christ died so that you would not have to worry? God wants to give you forgiveness of sins. He wants to wash your sins away.
And he can, because his Son, Jesus Christ died for you.
Let's go to Blue or to John. Sorry, chapter 18.
John, Chapter 18.
Jesus comes out of the garden in verse one where he had been praying to his Father.
Experiencing something that you and I can never fully understand.
Judas knew where Jesus was. Judas had a plan.
His scheme?
Went something like this.
I've seen Jesus get out of jams before.
I've seen Jesus in the middle of a crowd of people who hated him, who were picking up rocks to kill him, and I've seen him just walk away.
Like they weren't even there. I've seen soldiers searching for Jesus.
And miraculously, they couldn't find him.
If I betray him, it's no big deal.
You'll get away.
Nobody needs to know. I'll do it on the side.
I make 30 pieces of silver.
N.
Life goes on.
1St 4 Jesus therefore knowing all things that should come upon him.
Knowing.
That whatever Judas had in his heart.
Whatever Judas might have thought.
Jesus knew what was going to happen.
Jesus saw Judas and the soldiers coming towards him.
Jesus went out to them. He walked forward to meet them.
With No Fear.
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They answered, sorry, verse four, he says to them. Whimsy key.
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus says to them.
I am.
Judas is standing with him, and as soon as Jesus said I am.
They all went backwards and fell flat on the ground.
If you're Judas at this point.
Things are probably going according to plan.
This is the point where Jesus is supposed to walk away.
Is that what you'd like?
Is everything in your life going according to plan?
Would you like Jesus to just walk away from you and leave you alone so you can do whatever you want? Because you figure that whatever you wanna do will make you happy?
It's not what happened.
Verse 7. Then Jesus asked them again.
Humsiki, they said, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus said, I have told you that I am.
If therefore you seek me, but these his other disciples go their way, look at the care that Jesus has.
He's about to be taken and killed. He knows that. He knows the hours of interrogation, of spit running down his face, of hair pulled from his beard, of punches.
That he wasn't expecting or that he couldn't see coming because he was blindfolded hitting him. He knows.
Did a whipping from the Roman government that would put you in the intensive care unit in the hospital was ahead of them. He knows there's a crown of thorns waiting, and he knows most of all that there's three hours on a cross where he will be punished.
For our sins, He knows that all that's coming, and yet He stands there.
Any thinks of someone else, he thinks of his disciples who are behind him.
He says I've told you I am. What does that mean?
I am was the name that God used in the Old Testament.
Jesus was leaving, no doubt.
That he is God.
Do you believe that tonight? It is absolutely vital that you believe that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God.
You have to. There's no two ways around it.
The same man that.
Thinks that he's gonna spend eternity in hell with his friends. Looked at me and said.
You don't really believe that Jesus is the Son of God, do you?
And when I nodded my head yes.
I couldn't quite believe.
B.
He's a very polite man, but there was an awful lot of anger on his face when he said that's stupid.
You have a brain.
You cannot simply look at Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who lived for 33 years on this earth, a perfect life, and say he was just a good person.
He is the Son of God.
He died for you because you and I had no way to save ourselves, no way to earn our own salvation. He died because He loves us.
I can stand here tonight and tell you that God loves you, that Jesus Christ loves you.
But Jesus had to suffer unimaginable things.
So that I would have the privilege of standing here tonight and saying he loves you and he wants you.
Let's move over to Luke's gospel.
Chapter 22.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 22.
And verse 47.
We'll start our way through the verse.
Judas drew near to Jesus to.
Kiss him because he had given a sign.
An agreement between him and the soldiers.
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Saying the man that I kissed, that's him.
Take him safely.
Judas drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said unto him.
Judas.
Are you going to betray the Son of Man with a kiss?
Are you going to use?
An expression of affection Endearment.
And friendship to betray me.
Are you tonight, tomorrow morning, the rest of your life going to use an expression of love?
A fellowship.
A friendship to betray Jesus? Are you going to pretend to be his friend?
Are you gonna tell yourself that you have it right?
That what you think?
As close as it may be to what the Bible says.
Than what you believe, even though it differs from what God has said in the Bible, what you believe is right.
Are you gonna betray Jesus like that He died for you?
He loves you.
He wants you to change your mind, to repent, to realize that you're wrong, that he is right.
But this isn't like admitting to your brother and sister that they're right and you're wrong or you don't get anything out of it.
This is.
Admitting to the one who made you, who made this planet, who made this universe that knows everything, that has seen everything you've ever done and kept track of it because he loves you. That one and means that that one who's so far beyond us we can't even imagine it. Simply saying, you know what?
I'm wrong, You're right.
I'm a Sinner. You are holy. I accept. Your son is my Savior.
That's not that hard.
Except for what's in our house, what was in Judas's heart kept him from it.
Jesus. Here he gives Judith another warning.
This is Judas. Are you really gonna do this?
Is God saying that to you tonight?
Are you listening? Do you care?
Let's go over to Matthew chapter 26.
Matthew, Chapter 26.
And we'll read in verse 48.
Just in case you missed it, Judas gave them a sign saying whomsoever I shall kiss.
That same as he hold him fast.
Forthwith, immediately, he came to Jesus.
Walked right up to him and said hail master and kissed him.
Jesus said unto him.
Friend.
Y are you here?
Why did you come?
Friend.
Judith just betrayed Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ looks at him and calls him friends.
Would you do that?
I wouldn't.
What is what Jesus did?
Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. But he also says that he is not willing. He does not want anyone to perish.
And to go into eternity without him.
Judas.
Didn't betray the Lord Jesus.
Overnight it came slowly, just like I'm pushing this book.
Slowly.
Is that what you're doing?
Are you going?
Day by day.
Living your life. Maybe sometimes you think about God, about Jesus, about the claims that he has over you, about how he loves you and died for you, but how he wants you to be saved, but how he wants to give you happiness and peace and joy.
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But you never do anything about it. You never take them seriously. You just go day by day.
One little thing here, 1 little thing there. It's not that bad, is it? 1 little thing here, 1 little thing there. You ignore what the Spirit of God is saying to you. You don't want to listen to God until eventually it comes with time where you leave this world.
And it's a guarantee from the Bible that it is appointed. It is a set thing for every one of us to die and after death.
A Judgment.
Which one of those pushes sent that book over the edge?
It was the last month. No, it was all of them. You are not going to be judged if you reject Jesus Christ tonight. You are not going to stand in front of Him someday at the great White Throne and be judged based on one thing that you did in your life that was wrong. You will be judged on a lifetime.
A day after day saying to Jesus, I don't want you.
Maybe you don't wake up every morning and actively think that.
But the choices you make.
The sins, no matter how small, let you decide to commit all add up.
2 letters that you throw in the face of the Son of God.
No.
Why don't you say yes to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight?
God sent his only begotten Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
I I used to sometimes try and illustrate it to my Sunday school class by saying, you know, I've got a truck that I really like.
If I gave you my truck, that would be about the best way. I'd have to say that you're my friend, that I really like you.
That's pretty feeble example.
Lord has given us a little girl.
She's the cutest little girl in the world and.
When she comes after I get home from work and she runs toward me, jabbering with her arms wide open.
It's incredible.
She makes me so happy.
When God looked down at this world when Jesus was here.
His heart was so happy.
Because Jesus was perfect in every way, in everything that he did.
He made God happy.
And yet God.
Sent his son to die on a cross.
For you and for me.
I wouldn't give Emma for you.
I wouldn't, and I really wouldn't give Emma for you. If you told me ahead of time what you were going to do to her, it wouldn't happen. I'd take her as far away from you as I possibly could.
He'd never get her, but God.
Sent his one and only son into this world. God chose to say I love you like this. Jesus died for you to take away your sins and all he asked from you tonight is that you turn to him and say yes and accept him. Won't you do that tonight?
That's great.
Father, I just ask that each person here would put their faith in their trust in Jesus Christ, the one who died for them, and be saved. In his worthy name I pray, Amen.