INTRODUCTION:

1.     Today as we continue our study in the Gospel of John we are going to look at the worst villain that has ever lived, Judas Iscariot.

2.     Judas (or Jude or Judah) was a popular name up until Judas Iscariot.

3.     There are many individuals in the Bible that are demon-possessed, but only Judas is said to be Satan-possessed (John 13:27; cf. 13:2).

4.     Even the antichrist is not said to be Satan-possessed (though he very well may be).  The Bible says the dragon (Satan) “gave power unto the beast” (Rev. 13:4).

5.     Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve apostles (cf. Matthew 10:2-4).

6.     As the Lord and His apostles traveled here and there, receiving money and distributing money, it became necessary that some one should serve as the treasurer, and this duty fell to Judas Iscariot (cf. John 12:4-6; 13:29).

7.     Unfortunately this proved to be too much of a temptation for an unregenerate and covetous man such as Judas.  Covetousness led to unfaithfulness and thievery and eventually to treachery (cf. John 12:6; Matt. 26:14-16, 45-50).

8.     The OT refers to Judas’ betrayal (Psalm 41:9; cf. John 13:18).  And our Lord Himself predicted it several times (John 6:64, 70, 71; 13:10, 11, 21; 17:12).  Therefore, people have often wondered if Judas was responsible for what he did. 

9.     Yes, he was responsible. He had the freedom to choose (Acts 2:23).

10. The following outline is from Handfuls on Purpose:

I.      JUDAS WENT FROM THE BEST COMPANY ON EARTH INTO THE COMPANY OF GOD-HATING, CHRIST-REJECTING MURDERERS.

II.  JUDAS WENT OUT FROM THE RULE AND SERVICE OF THE SON OF GOD INTO THE RULE AND SLAVERY OF SATAN.

III.           JUDAS WENT OUT FROM THE PLACE OF LIGHT AND HOPE INTO THE NIGHT OF DARKNESS AND DESPAIR.

IV.            JUDAS WENT OUT FROM THE OFFER OF ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS INTO THE PLACE OF ETERNAL DOOM.

I.                  JUDAS WENT OUT FROM THE BEST COMPANY ON EARTH INTO THE COMPANY OF GOD-HATING, CHRIST-REJECTING MURDERERS (JOHN 18:5).

1.     This crossing over from the company of God’s people to the devil’s crowd is seen very vividly in Matthew’s account.  We know by comparing John 12:4 with Matthew and Mark’s account (Luke does not mention it), that Judas was the one making the most trouble over the woman (Mary of Bethany) and her ointment.

2.     Therefore, Judas was at this meal with our Lord and the other apostles.  Right after that, Matthew 26:14 says, “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests.  And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?”

3.     However, after making this treacherous contract, Judas went back to the fellowship of Jesus and the apostles (cf. Matthew 26:17-25).

4.     However, Judas “went out” (13:30) before the Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper, never to return.  The next time we see Judas he is standing with our Lord’s enemies (John 18:3-5).

5.     Judas went out from the best company on earth into the company of God-hating, Christ-rejecting murderers.  There are people sitting in taverns tonight, drinking and laughing with the devil’s crowd, who used to be in church on Sunday night praying and worshipping God. 

II.               JUDAS WENT OUT FROM THE RULE AND SERVICE OF THE SON OF GOD INTO THE RULE AND SLAVERY OF SATAN.

1.     We can only speculate as to when Judas reached the point of no return.  He was certainly in trouble when Satan put into his heart the idea to betray Jesus (John 13:2).

2.     He was in even bigger trouble when Satan entered into him (John 13:27).   As one preacher put it: “Up to this moment Judas had been possessed by an evil intention.  Now he was possessed by the evil one” (John Phillips, Exploring the Gospel of John, p. 257).

3.     Some would say it was all over for Judas by this time.

4.     And yet when Judas betrayed Jesus, our Lord called him “Friend” (Matthew 26:47-50).  I have often wondered if perhaps this was Judas’ last opportunity to repent.

5.     In any event, Judas was now a slave to Satan.  The devil deceived Judas, and soon Judas would realize that he made a tragic mistake (Matt. 26:3-5).

6.     There are countless sinners who yield themselves to Satan, thinking it will bring them joy and happiness, money and worldly pleasures.  For a while everything seems to be working nicely but eventually they realize that Satan has used them like a puppet on a string.

III.           JUDAS WENT OUT FROM THE PLACE OF LIGHT AND HOPE INTO THE NIGHT OF DARKNESS AND DESPAIR

1.     John 13:30 says, “He (Judas) then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.”

2.     For Judas there was now reserved what Jude 13 refers to as “the blackness of darkness for ever.”

3.     When Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, we are told in Luke 22:53 that our Lord said to the religious leaders, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

4.     Over and over again in the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus is the Light of the world (8:12).  Judas rejected the Light and went out into darkness.

5.     Judas left the light of the upper room to the night of darkness and despair, his soul now enveloped in the blackness of sin’s gloom and despair.

6.     Soon he would hang himself and plunge straight into the outer darkness of eternal hell (Matt. 27:5).

IV.            JUDAS WENT OUT FROM THE OFFER OF ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS INTO THE PLACE OF ETERNAL DOOM (ACTS 1:25).

1.     “Each individual in eternity will find his own proper place. Hell is not an arbitrary appointment. Every man will go to the place for which his character is fitted. The hypocrite is not fitted for heaven. The man of pride, and avarice, and pollution, and falsehood, is not fitted for heaven. The place adapted to such men is hell; and the design of the judgment will be to assign to each individual his proper abode in the eternal world.

2.     “The design of the judgment of the great day will be to assign to all the inhabitants of this world their proper place. It would not be fit that the holy and pure should dwell for ever in the same place with the unholy and impure; and the Lord Jesus will come to assign to each his appropriate eternal habitation.

3.     “The sinner will have no cause of complaint. If he is assigned to his proper place, he cannot complain. If he is unfit for heaven, he cannot complain that he is excluded. And if his character and feelings are such as make it proper that he should find his eternal abode among the enemies of God, then he must expect that a God of justice and equity will assign him such a doom. But this will not alleviate his pain; it will deepen his woe. He will have the eternal consciousness that that, and that only, is his place—the doom for which he is fitted. The prison is no less dreadful because a man is conscious that he deserves it. The gallows is not the less terrible, because the man knows that he deserves to die. And the eternal consciousness of the sinner that he is unfit for heaven; that there is not a solitary soul there with whom he could have sympathy or friendship; that he is fit for hell, and hell only, will be an ingredient of eternal bitterness in the cup of woe that awaits him. Let not the sinner, then, hope to escape; for God will assuredly appoint his residence in that world to which his character here is adapted” (Barnes’ NT Notes).

CONCLUSION:

1.     None of the other apostles suspected that Judas was a traitor.  This serves to remind us that there are those in our churches who have never been truly saved.

2.     Just as Judas went to “his own place,” so must we.  Are you ready?