Luke 6-22:1 NIVUK
[1] Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, [2] and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. [3] Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. [4] And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. [5] They were delighted and agreed to give him money. [6] He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.
When I was younger, I was part of a large Youth Fellowship, and then a Twenties Group, in church. Sad to say that I don’t see most of them anymore – although some are still friends on Facebook. Some are active in churches elsewhere. Some never darken the door of a church.
One thing I have to say is that none of them have done when many so-called ‘ex-Evangelicals’ have done.
The internet, especially in America, is awash with those who have abandoned their faith, and now publish materials criticising Evangelicalism and all forms of Bible-based Christianity, or even Christianity itself. Some of them still maintain a relatively good standing in the global church, but openly flaunt their new found disbelief.
It is very sad.
But it isn’t unpredictable.
Jesus Himself predicted it:
Matthew 13-24:10 NIVUK
[10] At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, [11] and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. [12] Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, [13] but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
But that leaves us with a really burning question: why did they leave? And what will happen to them?
I know this will shake us to the core, but Judas is a good example of this. After all, he was with Jesus for three years.
Or so it seemed.
And then it was he who handed over the information that led to Jesus being arrested.
He turned on Jesus like so many are nowadays.
I want to look at a wider context than just these verses. I want to look at reasons why. And I won’t simply take the easy theological reason that ‘It was all part of God’s plan’. That much is true. But it doesn’t really give us something we can learn from in terms of why he left Jesus' side.
Before we go into this in any detail, however, there is a very uncomfortable issue we must confront. There are those who leave the church because they are hurt or disappointed by people who call themselves Christians.
Right away, we have to say that the Bible us completely honest about the existence of fake Christians – even those whose outward appearance is utterly convincing (1 Corinthians 11:13-15). When so-called Christians act in ways that clearly contradict Christ’s teaching and lifestyle, or prioritise politics or niche theologies over Christ-likeness, then there is little doubt: at that moment in time, they are not following Christ.
Jesus Himself is also brutally clear that those who destroy the faith of others will face severe, but just, judgement:
Luke 2-17:1 NIVUK
[1] Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. [2] It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
So let me be completely clear here: if a so-called Christian has offended you and caused you to stumble in your faith, they are responsible for that before God. And God is just. They will not get away with it.
But, and I say this with all the compassion I can muster, and as someone who has been severely hurt by people who brought the Name of Christ in deep disrepute, if you choose to abandon Jesus Christ because of them then you are also responsible.
I don’t doubt for a second that the teaching I am about to bring will be very difficult and very painful. Comparing someone who has left the faith and now speaks against it to the man who betrayed Jesus Christ is something that will pour salt in the wounds of some people reading these words. But salt is not just an irritant. Salt is a purifier. These words may be painful, but I urge you to read them, and read them carefully.
Even though they burn.
The first reason why people leave is quite startling, and very difficult to absorb. And that is Direction.
Judas and Jesus simply had different priorities in life, different things they valued and thought were important, and that is why Judas abandoned Him.
How do I know this?
There is a subtle example of this recorded by Mark. He puts Judas’ initial betrayal of Jesus at a rather poignant time: right after Jesus was anointed at Bethany (See Mark 14:1-12). We know that it was Judas who was indignant at the ‘waste’ (John 12:4-6).
So Judas is indignant at the waste, finally realises that Jesus is not doing what he wanted and will not give him what he seeks, and so Judas betrays Jesus.
One of the main reasons why people walk out on Jesus is that He doesn’t seem to give them what they want.
This might seem overly simplistic and too straightforward, but consider the following:
· We know the disciples had their reasons for following Jesus, and those were not entirely pure. We know that Peter, James and John sought prominent places in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 20:20-28). We know that the disciples on the road to Emmaus were disappointed because they'd thought Jesus would get rid of the Romans (Luke 24:19-21). We know Judas was stealing from Jesus (John 12:4-6). He was among those who followed Jesus to gain an advantage for himself.
· There is no record of Judas’ call to follow Jesus anywhere in Scripture.
· There is not one single redeeming factor about this man recorded anywhere in Scripture. And that is thoroughly unusual. In Biblical history, if a good king did bad, it was recorded; if a bad king did good, it was recorded. But about Judas? Only bad.
· Jesus Himself refers to Judas as ‘doomed to destruction’ (John 17:12). So, as much as it might be a nice thought that somehow Judas could have repented and been saved, Jesus Himself says otherwise.
So the Bible points a picture of Judas as a man who followed Jesus in name only while he thought it was to his advantage. Then, when it was no longer to his advantage, he betrayed Jesus.
In other words, he was never truly following Jesus at all. He was only ever pursuing his own selfish gain.
Interestingly, John later wrote these words, in general, about those who turned away:
1 John 19-2:18 NIVUK
[18] Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. [19] They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. https://bible.com/bible/113/1jn.2.18.NIVUK
These were people who were apparently in the church, but were never ‘of’ the church, so when they left it, they turned against it.
And Jesus.
Like Judas.
Even more interestingly, Jesus said some very telling things about those who were, on the surface, believers, but, in actual fact, were not.
He calls them shallow, rocky soil (Matthew 13:20-22), weeds pretending to be wheat (Matthew 13:35-43). He spares no blushes; protects no reputations.
Peter is even more scathing:
2 Peter 22-2:17 NIVUK
[17] These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. [18] For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. [19] They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity – for ‘people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.’ [20] If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. [21] It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. [22] Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/2pe.2.17.NIVUK
As is the writer to the Hebrews:
Hebrews 8-6:4 NIVUK
[4] It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age [6] and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. [7] Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. [8] But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
This is hard for us to hear, but it is true. Those who have abandoned the faith did so because they were disappointed, and their disappointment stems from their decision to follow Jesus for the wrong reasons.
They were never truly following Him in the first place.
The second reason, after direction, is equally as challenging, and that is Affection.
Again, these are deeply painful words.
Jesus, you see, unlike all the paintings and stained glass windows we see of Him, was not an exceptional looking man. Isaiah, seven hundred years before His birth, has this to say:
Isaiah 53:2 NIVUK
[2] He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.53.2.NIVUK
So before Jesus was arrested, there was a need to ensure a firm, positive identification to prevent a serious miscarriage of justice, or simply to prevent His escape.
Yet look how this positive identification takes place:
Matthew 49-26:48 NIVUK
[48] Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.’ [49] Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed him. https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.26.48.NIVUK
Mark 45-14:44 NIVUK
[44] Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’ [45] Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him.
Luke 48-22:47 NIVUK
[47] While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, [48] but Jesus asked him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’ https://bible.com/bible/113/luk.22.48.NIVUK
Judas betrays Jesus with a gesture of vulnerability and affection.
Shocking! Absolutely shocking!
And for Middle Eastern culture, even more so.
In fact, it is so utterly abhorrent that, in all of the centuries covered by Biblical history, there is only one other occurrence of anything like this happening. It takes place when Joab kills Saul’s former commander Amasa (2 Samuel 20:9-10).
There is something utterly perverse and wrong at taking a gesture that is good and using it to harm; taking a gesture of love and doing something hateful with it.
Let me tell you, we see this all the time. Our culture has, in the words of the alternative rock band Switchfoot, ‘made a mess of love’. And I am not just talking about how many use it as a guise to preach tolerance for the intolerable.
Long before our modern ‘alternative lifestyles’ were a thing, there were many who walked out on families or broke up relationships or ran away from family responsibilities simply because they felt they had to ‘look after themselves’ or ‘put themselves first’.
I have to be clear here. I am not talking about those who have been wronged through violence in the family. They have every right to leave.
No, I'm talking about those who use what we talk of nowadays as ‘self-love’ to despise the best interests of others. And who then, because good Biblical teaching preaches against this, walk out on God.
You don’t think that love has any part in this? Are you quoting the Tina Turner classic, ‘What’s love got to do with it?’ Then how about this?
Revelation 2:4 NIVUK
[4] Yet I hold this against you: you have forsaken the love you had at first. https://bible.com/bible/113/rev.2.4.NIVUK
Love is the most important command in the Bible (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:38-41). Love is the fulfilment of the whole law (Romans 13:10).
Fail to love and you fail to be a Christian. Simple as that.
Judas’ love for Jesus has gone – if he ever loved Jesus at all. He thinks nothing of perverting a gesture of love to betray Jesus.
And there we find a crucial aspect of why people leave. It is not just because they have stopped loving other believers. At its heart, they have actually stopped loving Jesus, if they ever did.
Apart from direction and affection, the last aspect is Destination.
Where did Judas end up?
The accounts of his demise paint a vivid picture:
Matthew 5-27:3 NIVUK
[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.’ ‘What is that to us?’ they replied. ‘That’s your responsibility.’ [5] So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
Acts 19-1:18 NIVUK
[18] (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. [19] Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
Too late, he realises the folly of what he has done. He tries to make amends. He fails. He hangs himself. His lifeless body tumbles to the ground. His body splits and his innards fall out.
A horrific, graphic picture.
Now, I am not saying that everyone who walks out on Jesus will face this fate. If they did, our streets would never cease to be red.
No, I’m saying that a worse fate awaits them if they do not repent, as Ezekiel explained to a stubborn exiled Jewish community:
Ezekiel 24-18:21 NIVUK
[21] ‘But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. [22] None of the offences they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. [23] Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? [24] ‘But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die. https://bible.com/bible/113/ezk.18.21.NIVUK
And as Jesus Himself explained:
Matthew 33-10:32 NIVUK
[32] ‘Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. [33] But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
This is quite a scary prospect. I’m aware of that. But I have to tell you the truth. I can’t soft-soap it or make more palatable.
The simple truth is this: if we turn away from Jesus and then repudiate Biblical Christianity to others, then we should do so in the knowledge that Jesus will repudiate us – on the last day of judgement, before the Throne of God.
You might argue, ‘But where is the grace in that? Where is the love in that?’
I would argue, ‘Everywhere!’
Grace should lead to sorrow for our sin, and then repentance. It can never, and should never, be used as a cover to sin all the more. That is not its purpose (Romans 6:1-14).
And as for love, can those who have turned from the love of God to embrace the loveless world, then expect God to show love to them and save them, even if they have no love for Him? What about those who have loved Him, who still love Him? How can someone who does not love Jesus expect to be treated like those who do love Him?
Let us not mock God. We will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7).
It is painfully obvious that Judas died an ignominious, unrepentant death; that he was lost and not saved; that he ignored the grace of Jesus Christ and died overcome in shame and remorse.
Wherever you are before God, don’t let it be you.
Five years ago, I made my first solo trip to London for business. For those of you who have never been there, the labyrinthine tunnels of the London Underground can be confusing for the unwary. And sure enough, having not been there for decades, I got confused. I got on the wrong train from Euston station.
I quickly realised my error and came to the conclusion that there was only one solution: I had to retrace my steps and get on the right train.
So that’s what I did. I got off the next stop, crossed to a platform headed in the opposite direction, retraced my steps to Euston and got on the right train.
That is repentance. That is what it is. It’s not enough to feel bad for a few minutes, believe that God will save you because your heart was in the right place, and then continue blithely on as if nothing happened.
No, not one bit of it. Repentance means replacing bad with good.
So if you realise that you are headed for the wrong destination, you stop and you head for the right one.
If you realise that your heart has grown cold – towards God and others – then you pray to God for a new one.
If you know that your values and direction do not line up with Scripture then you stop making excuses and you change them.
That is what it means to repent.
And I don’t imagine for one second that it's easy, especially for those who have a reputation for repudiating Jesus Christ and His people. But there is no other way.
You must repent.
Often we are led to believe that we are stupid or backward, and that those who have abandoned the faith have had some form of ‘awakening’. We feel like we should feel sorry for ourselves because we have been left behind.
Nonsense.
If anything, we should feel sorrow and pity for those who abandon the faith. Look what they are leaving behind! Look what they are giving up!
Betrayal is tragic. It is always tragic. But Judas’ betrayal is quite unique, because the one who was betrayed is not the victim of a tragedy. Jesus knew this was coming. It was part of His Father's plan. He even prophesied it.
No, the victim of tragedy is the betrayer.
After all, Jesus rose from the dead.
Judas lay dead on a bloodied field.
These things are a warning for us, as Paul explained:
1 Corinthians 13-10:11 NIVUK
[11] These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. [12] So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! [13] No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. https://bible.com/bible/113/1co.10.11.NIVUK
Nothing good was ever written about Judas.
Let’s make every effort not to join Him, and to pray for repentance for those who already have.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, the prospect of betraying you like Judas makes me rightly afraid. Show me any part of my life where I am not following You, or where my love for You is growing cold. I want to be as close as I can to You. Amen.
Questions
1. Why did Judas betray Jesus? What warnings can you take from this?
2. Was Judas ever really a follower of Jesus? What evidence is there for this?
3. Why was Judas not saved? What can we learn from this?
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