THE FAMILY TRUSTS YOU

I suppose many sermons this morning will be slanted towards the issue of fathers since it is Father’s Day.

• My sermon is not one of them.
• Although I do wish to speak things that will refer to a family.
• The family of God.
• How many are glad they’re part of the family of God?

Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.  (Luke 22:1-6)

And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!  (Luke 22:13-22)

Judas betrayed Jesus Christ.

What is betrayal?

BETRAYED, Delivered up in breach of trust; violated by unfaithfulness; exposed by breach of confidence; disclosed contrary to expectation or intention; made known;

To be betrayed is to trust someone, for example, with some private words, and to see them repeat what was intended to not be repeated to others.

Betraying a person is also having been trusted by that person to help them and do good to them, when you turned around and hurt that person instead.

Judas was one of Jesus’ disciples.

• He was trusted.
• He was looked upon as one who would help the cause of Christ.
• One who would uplift and edify the cause of Christ.
• He preached Jesus.
• He laid hands on the sick and they were healed.
• He cast out demons.
• He helped people, and helped the cause of Jesus Christ.

But instead of helping Christ and edifying Christ, Judas betrayed Christ by promising to bring the enemy to Jesus in the absence of the multitude.

• When Jesus was all alone, he promised to take them to Christ to arrest Him.
• It was not until Christ was alone with a few disciples in the Garden praying before the day of His crucifixion, that Judas obtained opportunity to betray Jesus away from the multitude.
• He led the soldiers to Jesus and had previously informed them that the person he would kiss would be Jesus.

Jesus knew all along Judas would do this.

After Judas covenanted with the chief priests who wanted to kill Jesus, he went into the upper room with Jesus and the other 11 disciples for Passover.

• Jesus longed to be with them.
• He was going to die the next die, and he knew it.
• The cross was supposed to come.
• It was planned from the foundation of the world.
• In fact, Jesus came to die on that cross.
• And He was breaking the bread and pouring the wine that He said were symbols of His body that would break in death and His blood that would shed in death in His crucifixion.

Jesus did not clearly explain the cross that night, but they would understand it all after the cross, and make sense of all He was actually showing them that night.

This is what 1 Corinthians 10 called communion.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?  (1 Corinthians 10:16)

Communion means INVOLVEMENT or FELLOWSHIP.

• Jesus was not going to the cross simply to die and be made known throughout history as the religious leader who was crucified.
• He did not plan the cross before the world was created to simply pick out a certain torturous way to die.
• This crucifixion was to be accomplish a very important thing.
• God planned to have Jesus die in the places of every man, woman and child, for the sake of claiming that death as all their deaths.
• Why?
• So that in God’s mind, they could say they left their old lives of sin, and actually be dead to those lives through Jesus’ death.
• They could say His death was their deaths to their old lives they lived without God.
• Upon coming to God, they spiritually died to their old lives and resurrected to live for God from then on, and go to glory one day.
• They actually depended on the cross to say their old lives were dead, and they would live new lives without sin so that God would not judge them and bar them from glory.

And there at the Last Supper, where Jesus was symbolizing His coming death…

• With the breaking of bread to indicate His body broken in death…
• And the pouring of wine to represent the shedding of His blood…
• Where he knew the cross had to come to bless people and save millions upon millions of souls from their sins…
• Judas sat and shared the experience, when he was the one who betrayed Christ to be crucified!

The cross had to occur.

• It had to save many people’s lives.
• It was the only way humanity could be saved from sin.
• Souls that sin must die.
• And this would be the only way they could be said to have died, and also continued living lives that were thereby freed from sins to go to glory!

The cross had to occur.

And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!   (Luke 22:22)

WOE TO THE BETRAYER WHO CAUSES THE CROSS.

Judas was having communion for an entirely different reason than all the others.

• The others were having it because Jesus knew He would be taken by His enemies and crucified the next day, and He was showing them a lesson they would understand later as to why the crucifixion had to occur.
• But Judas was after being the very one responsible for making it possible for the enemies to be able to crucify Him that next day!

JUDAS BETRAYED JESUS!

• Instead of edifying Jesus, or helping the Lord, HE WAS HURTING JESUS.

Judas had communion with Jesus and the disciples.

But that was after we read this:

Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.   (Luke 22:3-4)

The Last Supper was COMMUNION.

• And Judas already had COMMUNED with the enemies of Jesus!

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? (1 Corinthians 10:16-18)

Paul taught us that communion of the Lord’s Supper — his body and blood represented by bread and wine — is comparable to the Old Testament sacrifices on the altar, eaten by the priests after the sacrifices were made.

• The old testament priests actually ate the meat of the sacrifices they made.
• And Paul said that they were therefore partakers of the altar.
• That meant they showed they were of the Jewish religion.
• They worshipped the God of Israel, for these sacrifices were offered in Israel’s temple.
• Eating from it was only allowed if one was a priest and one truly worshipped God.

Keep reading.

What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. (1 Corinthians 10:19-20)

There were heathen religions who also made sacrifices.

• And these heathens ate the meat of their idolatrous sacrifices that were not offered to the true God but to false gods.
• And Paul said these gods were actually devils.
• Any god worshipped aside from the God of the Bible is actually a demon.
• A demon spirit that was formerly an angel of heaven who fell from heaven with Lucifer and became a devil is actually what heathens worship.
• Demons inspired men to believe in these false gods so they would not worship the true God.
• And they inspired these men to perform all sorts of wicked rituals like human sacrifices.
• These are not just other religions, church.
• These are religions inspired by the devils to get people to commit sins by making them into religious rituals.
• Temple prostitutes abounded in these religions.
• Sacrifice of children and adults.

Paul said that

Communion It was a fellowship and uniting.

• Jesus had the disciples eat the loaf of bread that represented His Body.
• So the picture of each one of them eating a piece of that loaf of bread shows that when gathered together, those disciples comprised the entire Body of Christ.
• Each had a piece of His body in them by symbol.
• They united themselves to His body by putting a symbolic piece of it into themselves.
• They fellowshipped with JESUS.
• Not only did it show Jesus’ body was made up of all of them together, but the way His body was broken, the cross (represented by breaking the bread), was shared by them all.
• That is an illustration of the truth of the New Testament that says we were crucified with Christ.
• They symbolically took his BROKEN CRUCIFIED BODY and put it into themselves.
• So they were crucified with Christ and also made up His body.
• They partook of the body of Christ.
• The altar was the cross, just as the priests ate the animal meat sacrificed on the altars.

The same thing was done with heathen sacrifices.

• The people were fellowshipping or communing — uniting themselves — with the devils they offered unto.

We know the devil is the enemy of Jesus.

• And as Jesus has disciples, so does the devil.
• And notice that we read Satan entered into Judas, and then Judas COMMUNED with the enemies of Jesus who wanted Him killed, and wanted harm done to Him!

Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. (Luke 22:3-4)

He fellowshipped with the enemy.

• He communed with them.

And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. (Luke 22:5)

They even COVENANTED with Judas.

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Heb 12:24)

We have a covenant with Jesus!

Judas was eating the passover with Jesus and the disciples, and did something that represented his support of Christ and of Christ’s cause.

• But Judas was lying!
• He was not truly one with Jesus!

Not only does communion cause you to unite to Jesus, but….

• If each of us unite ourselves to Jesus by eating the bread that represents His body…
• Then each of us become united to one another at the same time!
• I am part of the same Body of Christ that you are part of!
• Together we comprise the BODY OF CHRIST.

So Judas was also lying in the form of eating that bread and thereby saying he was one with the other disciples.

• He was not one with them.

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. (1 Corinthians 10:21)

If you have aligned yourself with the enemy, then you may be able to physically take communion, and fool everyone, but in reality you are not at all partaking of Christ…

• And you are not at all in fellowship with Jesus.
• How can Judas fellowship with Jesus and support Jesus after betraying Jesus?
• After helping Jesus enemies find Him?

Then Paul brings the rest of the church into the picture again.

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. (1 Corinthians 10:23-24)

Edify means to HELP and BUILD UP somebody.

• Since the Lord’s body is comprised of the members of the church, as my body is comprised of my arms, legs, etc.,…
• Then Judas was hurting the rest of the Christians!

Church, the cross had to occur.

• But woe to the one by whom it would occur.
• Woe to the one who would allow the enemies of Jesus to take Him away to be killed.

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! (Luke 17:1)

Paul said that the church members who do things without a care for the others in the church, are in the same category as people who fellowship with devils and put on that they are fellowshipping with God at the same time.

Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. (1 Corinthians 10:24)

Be concerned for your brother and sister.

• If you hurt your brother and sister, you are not edifying.
• You are betraying your brother or sister.
• To be a part of the family of God means you are trusted and expected to love.
• You are trusted to care for the others and support them and be there for them.
• We all make mistakes and family members fight sometimes, but when you hurt them with words intended to malign or mar them in other people’s minds, and persist in doing so, and never getting it right.. YOU BETRAY THEM.

Judas betrayed Jesus and the rest of the disciples.

• They were united to Jesus.
• Betrayal of Jesus was betrayal of them.

Offenses must come, and every one of you will be faced with something to offend you.

• But that is no excuse for the person who does the offending.
• And when a brother or sister is responsible for offending you, then they have betrayed you and betrayed Jesus Christ as well.

Jesus said the cross had to come, but woe to the one who would cause it.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. (Proverbs 18:21)

We crucify with our tongues.

• We speak ill of someone.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. (Mat 25:41-45)

Why?

• We’re one body with Jesus!

In the days when there were idol temples, Paul said eating meat was one thing, but eating idol sacrifice meat especially when a fellows Christian saw you doing it, was another.

• Some Christians look up to others in the church so much so that if they saw another do something they felt was the last thing a Christian should do, it would offend them.
• It would offend so much that the person would be confused and mess up in their own Christianity being disillusioned by you.

We need to care about what others think.

• We’re a family of God.
• Somebody is trusting you.
• Do not betray them with a sinful act or careless attitude.
• To think you do not care what anyone else thinks, and that you’ll do what you want to do, is to betray your brother and your Lord.

Someone knows you go to church.

• Their lives become concerned over God and Heaven.
• So they come to our church since they know you come.
• And they are looking up to you.
• But when they come, they see you talking and disrespectfully ignoring the sermon.
• They see the people worship, and expected to see you doing the same, but you won’t.
• They are disappointed.
• They are hurt.
• The church is betrayed since you did not help things, but hurt the growth of the church.

A visitor comes who knows not a soul.

• They watch as you snicker at them, and whisper to another while looking at you, and the other turns to look.
• You’ve not only offended that visitor and drove them away from the church, but you’ve betrayed us all in our desires and efforts of trying to win that soul.
• We shake their hand and try to make them feel welcome, and that this is the friendliest church in town, and someone in the church turns them off.

Judas and his wicked acts have made him the classic villain throughout the centuries.

• His name is synonymous with betrayal.
• We’ve all heard of the kiss of Judas, or the Judas kiss.
• But if he aligned himself in communion with the enemy, by hurting the cause of the Lord instead of supporting Christ, then all those who do likewise are not only aligned with the enemy, but with Judas.
• With the traitor of all traitors.
• Somebody hearing me today is another Judas.

Many are blinded to such words since they feel they have a right to be as they are since they lost confidence in church themselves a long time ago.

• However, church, it’s time to grow up spiritually, and realize we’re responsible to do our parts no matter what anyone else done with their parts.
• It’s time to do what’s right no matter what anyone did or did not do.
• Stop moping over the past, and serve God the way His word teaches.

Heaven and Hell are too serious a set of issues for us to defend our puny pride and reputations by insisting on holding our grudges against church due to whatever reason.

Let’s be there for one another.

• Someone is trusting in you.

We’re a family.

• We’re a body.
• Forgive one another.
• If you’ve got a gripe with someone, talk to them about it.
• Most times we totally misunderstood something anyway, and we find out if we would only chat and discuss it.

Do your part.

• Let’s edify this church.
• Let’s bless one another.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Matthew 25:34-40)