JUDAS EFFECT

By Rick Mathes

Mark 14:43 And immediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, accompanied by a multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

Every church has at least one devil attending and wherever Christians gather there is a Judas in their midst. Nothing in God’s sovereign will happens to surprise God: all things are predetermined, including a Judas. Let me expand this thought to include the need for us to respond not just to the false Christians around us who want to take us down but more importantly the demons within us. We need to seek out and destroy the Judas within the will betray our Lord at the first change it gets.

You know its name: greed. You can look in any direction including to some degree inside your own mind and heart to learn that greed will conquer creed if you allow it to. Satan will keep you in sight and on friendly terms until his greed overcomes him and then he will betray you. He always wears a mask so you rarely recognize him until its too late.

As a practicing hypocrite you live two lives: one in your essence and the other in your form. That is: what is on the inside, the real you and that which is on the outside, the image you want others to have of you.

This is a treachery of the highest order because the truth is not within you. At the right price, you will sell out our Lord. The really sad that is that you usually dump Jesus for “chump change” and make yuourself out to be the laughing stock, the Saturday Night entertainment of hell.

There were two spectacular failings in Peter and Judas. They both fell from grace and wee deeply remorseful. What was the effectual difference between them?

Peter repented because he did not live up to our Lord’s expectancy and he was ultimately forgiven and restored to grace.

Judas repented because Jesus did not live up to his expectations and he committed suicide and was never forgiven.

Learn from this.