(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Good morning Church family, happy Lord's Day.

The Bible says in Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. "Try me and know my anxious thoughts, "and see if there be any hurtful way in me, "and lead me in the everlasting way." It is a challenging prayer to ask God to reveal in us any sins that we need to repent of, and anything hindering our worship to him that we need to let go.

May this be our true desire to make Christ the Lord of every aspect of our lives, and that we would find in him our greatest treasure and reward. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ Purify my heart ♪ ♪ Purify my heart ♪ ♪ Let me be as gold ♪ ♪ And precious silver ♪ ♪ Purify my heart ♪ ♪ Let me be as gold ♪ ♪ Pure gold ♪ ♪ Refiner's fire ♪ ♪ My heart's one desire ♪ ♪ Is to be holy ♪ ♪ Set apart for you, Lord ♪ ♪ I choose to be holy ♪ ♪ Set apart for you, my master ♪ ♪ I'm ready to do your will ♪ ♪ Purify my heart ♪ ♪ Cleanse me from within ♪ ♪ And make me holy ♪ ♪ Purify my heart ♪ ♪ Cleanse me from my sin ♪ ♪ Deep within ♪ ♪ Refiner's fire ♪ ♪ My heart's one desire ♪ ♪ Is to be holy ♪ ♪ Set apart for you, Lord ♪ ♪ I choose to be holy ♪ ♪ Set apart for you, my master ♪ ♪ I'm ready to do your will ♪ ♪ Refiner's fire ♪ ♪ My heart's one desire ♪ ♪ Is to be holy ♪ ♪ Set apart for you, Lord ♪ ♪ I choose to be holy ♪ ♪ Set apart for you, my master ♪ ♪ I'm ready to do your will ♪ ♪ I'm ready to do your will ♪ - Good morning.

Welcome to Green Community Church. We have quite a few announcements to go over. But I wanna just kinda give you an encouragement. Because of the number of announcements that are being shared, it's kinda added every week, there's no way that we're gonna be able to cover. So I'm just, again, going forward, we're just gonna be highlighting certain things, but if you really want to know more about what's going on in the church, please check your app, go on Facebook, and there is an email that goes out weekly and give you much more details about what's going on in church.

So please refer to that. But if you become dependent on knowing what's going on at church through Sunday, we're not gonna be able to cover all of these things. So I'm just gonna give you a heads up to just go and check the email and check the websites to find out more about what's going on.

First of all, as I mentioned last week, our family parking, again, family with small children to park on the Kimco side so that you don't have to cross the street. And so for the rest of us, you guys can park across the street at Lyon and all the other places.

And especially those of you who've been parking far away and riding the shuttle, we appreciate you because that has opened up more parking for other people. So we encourage you to continue to do that. But again, if you guys can help us so that young families with children or strollers, that they don't have to cross the street.

So if they park there and here, it'll be reserved for them, okay? Sprouts PTA, if you have children from K through sixth grade there is a meeting that's happening at 2 p.m. So you can go grab your lunch and come back. And there's going to be information, any kind of questions that you may have for the new coming year, that meeting is for that, okay?

Also for Jubilee, if you are 50 and over, there is a fellowship going on on September 17th at 1245. So please contact Elder Phillip and there should be a sign up. And again, is that next Sunday? Yeah, next Sunday there'll be fellowship at 1245. Family Ministry Picnic happening September 24th, 11 through 3 p.m.

If you want to participate, get to know other families, sign up for that. And then FAM 245 Workshop, that's for families, young couples, maybe you might not be that young, but if you've been married for just a few years, I don't know exactly what the cutoff date is, but you could go and check it out.

So if you've been married for like a year, two years, I think three years, I forget how many years, go check it out yourself, okay? The fellowship is for that, they're having a quarterly seminar that's taking place on September 30th at 1030, okay? And that's a Saturday that's taking place here.

New round of membership class that's taking place on October 1st through November 19th. So if you need to take membership class, that's taking place October 1st. That happens on Sunday mornings at nine to 1020. It's an eight-week course. It goes over the fundamental doctrines of the Church of Christianity, and also it'll expose you to the ministry philosophy and how we run things at church.

So if you wanna become a member of the church, please sign up for that. And again, first class for that is starting on October 1st on Sunday at nine o'clock. Women's ministry tea time, October 14th, 930 to 12. Please sign up for that as well. For Thanksgiving, we'll give you a more detailed announcement as we get closer to the date, but because of the size of the church, we're no longer able to have the whole church at the facility to do it.

So last year, we divided into different homes, and so the homes that are willing to host are gonna be volunteered, and then they're gonna assign some people in the church. It's gonna be a mixed group of college and young adults and family ministry people. So if you're willing to open up your home, please let us know, and our logistics team will contact you on more information that you may need.

PBA, if you are interested in playing basketball, again, the sign up for that is last week, this week, and next week. So you got two more weeks to sign up if you wanna participate in that. We have one more announcement from our college ministry. Pastor Nate's gonna come up and give an announcement.

- Hi, everyone. My name is Nathan. I'm the college pastor of this church. Especially with the semester system having begun for college ministry, we know that the church is large, and so sometimes it's going to be easy to get lost in the fold, and so we wanna invite anyone who's newer to the college ministry, if you're a college-aged student here, there's gonna be a table out there with a black tablecloth there.

Please join us there. We have a sign up there for rides if you need rides to any of our college events. Some of our students will be out there if you'd like to meet any of them. I'll be out there if you'd like to meet me. So please come and join us there.

But the best thing that you can actually do is come and join us on Friday nights for Bible studies. So it's gonna be at 7 p.m. in the cafe right across the way. And so if you come to that, it really does shrink the church quite a bit. So we wanna welcome you to that.

Thanks. - All right, so let me pray for the offering. Again, if you brought a physical offering, we have a box in the back as you're exiting. All right, let's pray. Gracious Father, we thank you for the privilege that we have to come and worship you. Help us, Lord God, to give what is sincere in our hearts, that this giving would simply represent our worship, that you are our Lord, you are our Savior.

You are the one that we worship in spirit and in truth. I pray, Father God, that you would bless this time, even in this giving, that it would be a sweet aroma and may the offering that we give be multiplied by your hands, 30, 60, and hundredfold for the sake of your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) Let us all rise as we sing these praises. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ Come behold the wondrous mystery ♪ ♪ In the dawning of the King ♪ ♪ He the theme of heaven's praises ♪ ♪ Broke in frail humanity ♪ ♪ In our longing, in our darkness ♪ ♪ Now the light of life has come ♪ ♪ Look to Christ who condescended ♪ ♪ To God's last two rounds of death ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ Come behold the wondrous mystery ♪ ♪ He the perfect Son of man ♪ ♪ In His living, in His suffering ♪ ♪ Never traced, nor stained of sin ♪ ♪ See the true and better Adam ♪ ♪ Not to sin, the hell-bound man ♪ ♪ Christ the great and sure fulfillment ♪ ♪ Of the longing that we stand ♪ (soft piano music) (soft piano music) ♪ Come behold the wondrous mystery ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord upon the tree ♪ ♪ In the stead of pure sinners ♪ ♪ He's the Lamb who lived and reigned ♪ ♪ See the power of His hand ♪ ♪ See the power of His hand ♪ ♪ He's the Lamb who lives and reigns ♪ ♪ He's the Lamb who lives and reigns ♪ ♪ He's the Lamb who lives and reigns ♪ ♪ Come behold ♪ ♪ Come behold the wondrous mystery ♪ ♪ Slain by death, the God of life ♪ ♪ But no grave could ever strain Him ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, He is a living man ♪ ♪ What a foretaste of deliverance ♪ ♪ How amazing ♪ ♪ Who reaped our hope ♪ ♪ Christ is our resurrected ♪ ♪ As we will be when He comes ♪ ♪ What a foretaste of deliverance ♪ ♪ How unwavering ♪ ♪ Who reaped our hope ♪ ♪ Christ and power resurrected ♪ ♪ As we will be when He comes ♪ ♪ What a foretaste ♪ ♪ What a foretaste of deliverance ♪ ♪ How unwavering ♪ ♪ Who reaped our hope ♪ ♪ Christ and power resurrected ♪ ♪ As we will be when He comes ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) Jesus, I.

♪ Jesus, I, my cross have taken ♪ ♪ All to leave and follow Thee ♪ ♪ Rested to despise forsaken ♪ ♪ Now from hence my all shall be ♪ ♪ Perish every fond ambition ♪ ♪ All life's sorrow foreknown ♪ ♪ Yet how rich is my condition ♪ ♪ God and man are still my own ♪ ♪ Let the world despise and fear me ♪ ♪ They have left my Savior too ♪ ♪ Human hearts and lusts deceive me ♪ ♪ Thou art not like them but true ♪ ♪ O thou the smile of one ♪ ♪ God of wisdom, love, and might ♪ ♪ Foes may hate and friends disown me ♪ ♪ Show thy face and all is bright ♪ ♪ In earthly fame and treasure ♪ ♪ Come disaster, scorn, and pain ♪ ♪ In thy service pain is pleasure ♪ ♪ When thy favor loss is gain ♪ ♪ I'll call thee Abba, Father ♪ ♪ I'll stake my heart on thee ♪ ♪ Storms may howl and clouds may gather ♪ ♪ All must work for good to thee ♪ ♪ All must work for good to thee ♪ ♪ Soul then know thy full salvation ♪ ♪ Rise o'er sin and fear and care ♪ ♪ Joy to find in every station ♪ ♪ Something still to do or bear ♪ ♪ Think what spirit dwells within thee ♪ ♪ Think what Father smiles o'er thee ♪ ♪ Think that Jesus died to win thee ♪ ♪ Child of heaven, yet thou return ♪ ♪ Face the earth ♪ ♪ Face the earth from grace to glory ♪ ♪ Armed by faith and winged by prayer ♪ ♪ Heaven's eternal days before thee ♪ ♪ God's own hand shall guide thee there ♪ ♪ Soon shall close the earthly mission ♪ ♪ Soon shall pass the pilgrim days ♪ ♪ Hope shall change to life fruition ♪ ♪ Filled to sigh and prayer to praise ♪ Amen, you may be seated.

All right, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter six. And again, today is the last day, okay? At least on this, on the 12th disciple. I'm gonna read just 14 and 16, 14 through 16. Simon whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Apheus, and Simon, who was called the zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Let's pray. Father, give us understanding. Give us a willing heart to obey, not just to listen. We lift this time to you, asking for your spirit, Lord God, to use your word to guide and lead us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know, at our church, you know, we always have numbers of visitors that come and ask, what's the sermon like, right?

What's the teaching like? And that's probably one of the key things that you look for when you're looking for a church. And maybe some of you who've been here for a while, right? How do you evaluate if the sermon is a good sermon or a bad sermon, right? Is this, if this is a sermon that you should be listening to or what you gleaned from or not gleaned from.

If the goal of the sermon, right, if the goal of the sermon is your encouragement, that at the end of hearing the sermon, that you feel strengthened and encouraged and, you know, so that you can go home and you can live a difficult life living in this fallen world, raising children and trying to make money and make ends meet and it's, life is hard enough as it is, so you go to church to find encouragement.

So that's how you're gonna evaluate if the sermon was good or not. Did I, did I feel encouraged at the end of it? Maybe some people come because we're Bible teaching church and you're, came to our church thinking that was a Bible teaching. So I wanna see if the Bible is actually taught.

And we can go to the other extreme thinking like, a good sermon is if you exposit it, this word means this, this words means that, and this is the syntax of this, and this is the Greek behind this, and this is the history behind that, and that's how you determine if a sermon was good or bad based upon the amount of information that you got about this text.

I think that's also an error because the goal of preaching isn't simply to inform you and to just let you know and just to kind of tell you information, 'cause if that's the case, I think you'll get a lot more out of it if I just gave you a commentary and then afterwards you just came and tell us what you read, right?

The goal of preaching is ultimately for God's glory and for his glory in the context of salvation, to bring sinners to Christ, so that they would repent and meet Christ. So the preaching is a means for that goal. Exposition and being accurate to the text is a means to that goal.

Preaching is to get those who repented that they would grow in their faith, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and ultimately give you hope so that you could eagerly wait for the coming of Christ. That's the end goal of preaching, end goal of teaching. So how we evaluate if it's a good sermon or not good sermon isn't simply am I encouraged, or isn't simply did I get all the facts that's necessary from this text, is it does this lead sinners to Christ through the accurate teaching of the word of God?

Now I say all of this because the scriptures are filled with encouragements about the love of God and the grace of God, but it's also filled with warnings and judgment of consequence for those who do not repent. It is filled with both. So if I end up coming here with the end goal of making sure that you don't get rocked and you feel encouraged and strengthened, then I gotta avoid these texts.

I gotta just skim through it, and I gotta always kinda make the angle that you don't get offended by what I say. But because that is not the end goal of any sermon or any teaching, the end goal of it is am I conveying exactly what God said to sinners?

Am I conveying exactly what God says to his children? When it is time to encourage, it is to encourage. When it's time to warn, warning must come. Judas serves as one of those warnings. As much as we are encouraged by what the grace of God that he showed to the disciples, here's a man who fell away despite being as close as he could possibly be in the presence of Christ, literally saw, literally saw somebody come back from the dead and chose to sell him out for 30 silvers, 30 pieces of coin.

Now we talked about last week, why did he do that? It's difficult to understand how somebody who was that close, who even experienced casting out demons and healing people by his own hands, was able to preach the gospel. If we didn't know, if that aspect of the last part of his life where he sold out Christ for 30 pieces of silver and then he hangs himself, if that was not recorded in the Bible, we would automatically think that he was like every other disciple.

He gave his life, where did he die? How did he preach the gospel? What kind of reward would he have in heaven? But because of what he did, it causes us to scratch our head, it's like how can somebody in that position who had that kind of privilege walk away from his faith?

We talked about last week, clearly Judas was not a Christian. The Bible says that he left us because he was not of us. Him doing what he did and dying the way he died proved that he wasn't a genuine believer. So the question that we ask is can somebody who bore fruit, cast out demons, even healed people, could that possibly be a non-Christian?

Can somebody who's serving in the church, became a leader in the church, maybe even went out to mission, went to seminary and started preaching the gospel and many people were drawn in, maybe a pastor of a mega church, maybe he's a celebrity pastor, could that be a non-Christian? Clearly the answer is yes, it could be.

If Judas, who was a member of the 12 disciples, apostles, if he was proven to be a non-Christian, clearly no position and no fruit or nothing that we can just pinpoint externally can be absolute proof if Judas clearly was not a Christian. And so we see that Judas was not a Christian because of the way he ended up taking his life.

And we saw that last week, that it wasn't simply because he couldn't see, it's because he didn't want to see. He was blinded by his lust for money. As we are warned in scripture, he says, the lust of money, love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

And in our pursuit of money, it blinds us because we box God in. The love of money ends up boxing God in to this little box that whatever he says, if it doesn't fit into this box, if he somehow challenges the life that I've set, the things that I'm pursuing, the way I spend money, the way I collect money, the way I pursue money, if something that he says in the scripture causes us to challenge that, we automatically think that that cannot be from God.

God would never say this. And so we create a theology where God would never come outside of this box. And that's what love of money does. It blinds us to see. And it's not just love of money. Obviously, love of money is pervasive and is universal. Sometimes it could be love of our family.

And Jesus himself says in Matthew chapter 15, 37, he says, "He who loves his father or mother "or his son or daughter more than me "cannot be my disciple." Now, obviously, he's not telling us not to love our mother or father, not to love our son and daughter. But he's saying sometimes your love for mother or father, sometimes your love for your own children can blind you.

That you're hearing and studying the word of God and you box him in, that anything that he challenges us to make it uncomfortable, that maybe that we need to, in certain things, to put God first before our children, clearly God cannot be saying that. So it blinds us to the truth.

Because we will not allow God to speak outside of this box. Sometimes it could be our own friends. You know, you come to church and one of the greatest benefits of being in a church is you have other friends that you can run this race with and you came in and you see the power of community and how that helps you.

But the same thing that helps you can also be a great hindrance. When you will not allow God to speak beyond the boundaries of your friendship. That you can never move beyond that. You can never make any decisions or do anything that's gonna cause us to walk away from that.

There are times when God will call you to leave. There are times when God will call you to go. But when our friends become our idol, we cannot see beyond the boundaries that we set for God. And that's why he says that whatever we've made idols in our lives, we are closing our eyes to anything that doesn't fit into this box.

And that's exactly what happened to Judas. He was blinded by his money. He was blinded by it. And when he thought that he wasn't gonna get it, that Jesus was actually gonna go to the cross, he wanted to make sure that he salvaged something from this and which caused him, even as much privilege that he had, he could not see.

Thirdly, and the scripture makes it very clear, he was possessed by the devil. There was demonic work behind what he did. In Luke chapter 22, verse three, it says, "Satan entered into Judas, who was called Iscariot, "belonging to the number of the 12." You notice here it says Satan entered him.

And then you look at Luke chapter 22, verse 31. Jesus says to Peter, "Satan has asked permission "to sift you, the disciples, and you in particular." But you notice here how Satan has to ask permission to sift them, to test them, to challenge them. But when it comes to Judas, there's no asking permission.

He just does it. See, the difference between Judas and different between the other disciples, Judas already belonged to Satan. Judas already belonged to Satan, so Satan didn't ask to have permission to go at him. See, the other disciples were under Jesus' care. So in order for Satanic work to happen with them, he said he asked permission.

He couldn't just go at them. Satan was possessed. You know what's really interesting is when you see the demonic work that's happening, obviously if you're not a Christian and you're not under the protection, the Bible says the God of this age is Satan. And Satan is real. If you believe God is real, Satan is real.

And the scripture says those who are not under the blood of Christ, who are not covered under the blood of Christ, the God of this age has free reign on you. He has free reign on you. He's toying with you. He's messing with you because he wants his own glory.

So sometimes he'll give you, sometimes he'll take away. All of that for the purpose of his own glory 'cause he doesn't want you giving glory to God. You know what's interesting is in John 8:31-32, and again, I've mentioned this so many times in our church history, but I really want you to be impacted by what this says because there's so much confusion in our generation as to who is and is not a Christian, who has saving faith.

In John 8:31-32, Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, to those who said that they believed, and don't miss this because this is crucial. He was talking to people who believed him. If you continue in my word, if you continue in my word, he doesn't say you're saved.

Since you say that you believe, you're saved, you're confirmed, don't worry about anything. Hopefully the word of God will abide in you and you're gonna experience this freedom. He doesn't say that. He said to those who believe him, he said, if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.

He has a condition that he places on the people who said that they believed. Now we know for a fact that they weren't Christians because they get offended by this. What do you mean to be set free? We were never slaves. We're Abraham's children and they go back and forth, back and forth and they're not relenting because they're offended.

They love the fact that Jesus was talking about the kingdom and healing and feeding and they loved it. I mean, here's our next Messiah, the King of Israel, who's all powerful, all caring. He's healing people who are blind. Who wouldn't love him? Who wouldn't follow him? And yet Jesus knows exactly what's in their heart.

They're following him and he says, you must have true faith. As a result of this interaction back and forth, he says to them in verse 32, Jesus said to them, and again, the them he's referring to are the same people that he was talking to in verse 31, to those who had believed.

If God were your father, you would love me for I proceeded forth and have come from God for I have not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father, the devil.

I remember the first time I was studying through this text and I said, wait a second, this is the same context. Did he go somewhere else and talking to a new people? I said, no, he's talking to the same people. To those who had believed, he said, your father is the devil.

And you want to do the desires of your father, he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

So how could this be? Now you can listen to this and if this bothers you, you can say, ah, you know, Peter's always saying the same thing, he's a legalist. You don't have to listen to me. Wrestle with the text. Wrestle with the text. Wrestle with what you see in the scriptures.

And if I am, I'm happy to just lean on one thing, okay, you can discard me. But wrestle with the text. What does he mean here? Talking to professing believers. No, I think James clarifies that later in the epistle of James. He says, faith without deed is dead. If you profess that you believe in God, that's good.

Even the demons believe that and they shudder. Even the demons profess and they shudder. Demon. So he's talking to people who have demonic faith. They have demonic faith or professing, but don't really believe. They're just kind of acknowledging. We want you to be our Messiah because you have all these powers.

You're performing all these miracles. Remember, even Judas performed all these things. Even Judas had these powers. Judas serves as a warning, especially in our culture where there's so much confusion. Who isn't a believer? You know, I was, something popped up on my Facebook. I think it was last night.

You guys know who Trevor Noah is? Am I getting his name right, Trevor Noah? He's the host for Daily News. Is it Daily News? Whatever it is, it's the Daily something, right? And he came up and he was doing an interview because the people who were interviewing him were either atheists or Muslim, and he said, "I'm of the fun faith." I was raised as a Protestant.

I was a Christian. And he's like, "What do you mean by fun faith?" I'm of the fun faith because all you have to do is believe and you get to go to heaven. It's so fun. There's no drudgery. There's no burden. You just need to believe. And then he quoted King James, John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And he quoted verbatim. So you could tell he went to Sunday school. And he was challenging the other people who have other religions, like you guys have to wear this, you can't do that, you can't eat this, but that's not us.

You just have to believe. That's why it's so fun. We're of the fun faith. Now, as ridiculous as that may sound, that is the Christianity that's being propagated all around the world. Just believe. If that's all, if that's all, if you just profess, if you just raise your hand, give Jesus a try, what do you got to lose?

You know, I heard this meme, or I don't know what you call it, that's been going around saying, if I'm wrong, I wasted nothing, right? I die, I become nothing. If you're wrong, right, you go to hell. So if I'm wrong, I wasted nothing. Meaning, I just believed and I lived my life, enjoyed it, I got married, had kids, and I just happened to believe.

It sounds so godly and truthful, but blasphemous. When the scripture makes it clear, he who finds his life shall lose it. If you want to follow after me, deny himself, pick up the cross and follow me. Where Christ says, if you believe me, leave everything and follow me. And it's the modern day Christian who has come up with, well, I lose nothing.

You lose nothing 'cause you never really knew Christ. Because if this wasn't real, if what I'm preaching is fake, I've lost everything. Every Sunday I was here, every minute that I studied to prepare for the Bible, every minute that I had an opportunity to make another dollar that I missed because I wanted to follow Christ first, I lost everything.

All my friends, everything that I desired, the promises that I made to my parents when I was young, that I would take care of them, that I would make you money, I lost everything. If this is not true, every single penny that you paid, everything that you sacrificed, trying to love people that are unlovable, all that is wasted time, wasted energy.

Everything that you did because you believe in Christ was wasted. Either you believe in Christ and you receive his new life and you put away your old. And if this is not true, according to Paul, we are to be pitied. We are to be pitied. See, Satan doesn't have that kind of power over us where he can enter us, but we do have warnings.

In 2 Corinthians 2, 10 through 11, he says, "But one whom you forgive anything, "forgive anything, I forgive also, "for indeed what I have forgiven, "if I have forgiven anything, "I did it for your sake in the presence of Christ "so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, "for we are not ignorant of his schemes." In other words, if you have a grudge and you choose not to forgive and you hold onto it with your life, he says you've opened the door for Satanic influence.

He can never possess us, but he can influence us. If you have unrepentant sins that you're holding onto, you're giving room for Satan to use at the scheme. In Ephesians 4, 26 to 27, "Be angry and yet do not sin, "do not let the sun go down on your anger, "do not give the devil an opportunity." The word for opportunity here literally means to make room for the devil.

If you have a grudge and you're angry, and say, "I don't wanna let this go, "I want vengeance, I want justice." And you aren't willing to let it go, he says you're making room for Satanic influence. So like you have a house and you clean the room out, put a nice bedding in, and you don't lock it, and you just kinda welcome.

You didn't go out and say, "Hey, we welcome you to come in," but he said when you allow that to persist in your life, you're making room for Satanic influence. First Peter 5, 8 said, "Be of sober spirit, beyond the alert, "your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, "seeking someone to devour." Our enemy is not like a lion in a zoo who's been well-fed and just resting for us to observe, and good thing that he's behind bars and he's well-fed.

We're just there to just remind us that this creature exists. He says, "No, he's among us. "He's walking, he's looking, he's seeking to devour." That's why we're warned. Don't give the devil an opportunity to scheme and to influence. And if you're being influenced, your emotions, your thoughts can be in the process of being influenced because you've given the foothold for the devil to come and work.

Judas was a man who was not under the protection because he was not a believer, because he gave into his lust, caused him to be blind, and there was clearly Satanic work behind what happened to him. Fourthly, Judas did what he did because it was prophesied. It was to prove who Jesus was.

John 13, 8 through 19, "I do not speak of all of you. "I know the one I have chosen, "but it is that the scripture may be fulfilled. "He who eats my bread and has lifted up his heel against me "from now on, I am telling you, before it comes to pass, "so that when it does occur, "you may believe that I am he." As if he didn't give enough proof.

Just in case you need another one. Just in case after everything that I've done, just in case if raising Lazarus from the dead, walking on the water, feeding the 5,000, if all of that wasn't enough, when you see what happens so that you may know that this was prophesied and I am he.

He gave evidence after evidence after evidence after evidence. John 15, 25, "But they have done this to fulfill the word "that it was written in the law "that they hated me without a cause." 324 prophecies were fulfilled in Christ. Now, I don't know who counted it. There's always somebody who likes counting, right?

These engineer types make a spreadsheet. How many were prophesied, how many were fulfilled, and they counted 324. I'm just gonna trust them, right? They said 324 different things that he said was fulfilled in the life of Christ. You know, I don't know how many times I've talked to people and then they want evidence.

They want evidence. Remember Jesus said they kept on asking for evidence that the wicked and evil generation, I will give no evidence except for the sign of Jonah. Some people look at that and say, well, Jesus didn't wanna give any evidence. He's just gonna leave one. Remember why he said that.

He said that because he gave evidence after evidence after evidence, 324 different fulfilled prophecies, and at the end of seeing all the evidence, they said, prove yourself. Prove yourself. After everything that he's done, he said, prove yourself. And as to them, he said, the wicked and evil generation, there's no amount of proof that I'm gonna give to cause you to open your eyes.

If you're gonna seek, I'm gonna give you one that's gonna last, the sign of Jonah. It wasn't that he gave the only sign was the sign of Jonah. He gave all kinds of signs, but they refused to believe 'cause they didn't want that Messiah. The Messiah that they wanted, Jesus didn't fit into that box.

He challenged their religious system. He challenged their spending. He challenged their prayer habits. He challenged their giving. He challenged the way they were raising children. He challenged the way they were getting married. He challenged the way they were getting divorced. And so he didn't fit into that box, so they didn't want him.

So even after giving all the evidence, he said, it's not enough. So they weren't asking to prove himself. They were challenging him to disprove him. But if you want evidence, if you want evidence, there's more than enough. That's why he says, he who searches me with all his heart, he who seeks me with all his heart.

Most people say, I can't believe that. It's written by men, it's this, it's that, and everybody claims to have the truth, so how can we believe everything? The way that our generation comes to a conclusion of what is true and not is so lazy, and it's more of an evidence of our hardened heart.

If I stood here today and say I was Michael Jordan, I'm Michael Jordan, right? How many of you sit there, I'm confused. He says he's Michael Jordan. How can there be two Michael Jordan? And then that guy in the homeless shelter, he says he's Michael Jordan, right? So I'm confused.

How can they all say they're Michael Jordan? So either they're all Michael Jordan, or I don't trust anybody. It's clear, if you're willing to dig, if you wanted to find out, maybe you don't know what Michael Jordan looks like, and all you have to do is Michael Jordan, his picture will come out and say, how can this guy be Michael Jordan?

He doesn't have the same eye shape, right? (audience laughing) Pretty clear, right? He said wicked and evil generation, I will give no evidence, because enough evidence has been given. So if you want evidence, evidence is there. But if among that, if the word of God has been gone and you still will not believe, you're not gonna believe.

First Corinthians 4, three to four says, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Even the minute details of Judas' betrayal was prophesied. Breaking a bread, close his companion, betraying him with a kiss, all of that was prophesied. Nail on the cross, his companions dispersing, crucifixion on a tree, the mocking, the signs, all of it, every single one of it was prophesied. So if anybody had any interest to look into that, how can you possibly not believe?

Judas' betrayal was another sign of who he was. But fifth and finally, Judas' betrayal demonstrates his love toward us. Judas' betrayal demonstrates his love toward us. He says, Romans 5, eight, that God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

He says he demonstrated, he demonstrated and displayed his love in the context of the greatest darkness so that you may be able to see the depth and length and height and width of the love of Christ. If you wanna see the stars, you have to go to a place where there's no light.

And that's exactly what happened when Jesus was crucified on the cross. In fact, all of the recording of the gospel is the rejection of Christ. You would think after three years of showing miracles and loving them and caring for them and feeding them, that there would have been a crowd waiting for Jesus, preventing the cross.

But that didn't happen. At the end of two and a half years of performing miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle, Jesus said, you are following me because I gave you bread and you want more. You don't know who I am. I am the bread of life. I didn't come to you so that you can be filled in your stomach.

I came so that you can have spiritual life. He who eats of the bread of the world will be hungry again. He who drinks of the world will be thirsty again, but I am the living water. The water that I give you will well up in you eternal life and you will never thirst again, but that's not what you want.

You must drink of my blood and eat of my flesh. I have no relationship with you. He's talking about the cross. And they all turned away and rejected him. After they rejected him, Jesus starts going to Jerusalem and as he is heading to Jerusalem, he prophesied to the disciples, he's not just gonna be crucified, he's gonna be crucified because the leaders of Israel is gonna betray him and they're gonna turn him over.

And so they will be rejected by the people of Israel. He will be rejected by the leaders of Israel. He will be rejected by the leaders of the pagan world. And then he said he will be rejected by his own disciples. God demonstrates his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

You know, whenever you enter a covenant relationship, if you want to test the quality of a covenant relationship, it doesn't happen during your honeymoon stage. During your honeymoon stage, like nothing bothers you. Your wife has bad breath, it's like, of course everybody has bad breath, it's an easy fix.

It just doesn't bother you. That's why they call it honeymoon stage. You're just like walking on water. They can't do no wrong. They can snore in the middle of the night and you're like, wow, isn't that cute? It's like a koala sleeping. (congregation laughing) So the quality of the covenant relationship isn't tested during the honeymoon stage because in a honeymoon stage, even the worst of relationships seem great.

But it's when that's over and you start to see the sins of your wife and your husband and the selfishness starts to come out and the things that you try to hide and all of a sudden they come out and it doesn't look like a koala. You know what I mean?

I'm not gonna say what it looks like, but it just is not cute anymore. Oh my gosh, I can't sleep. Can you please pick up your socks? How many times did I ask you to do the dishes and you're so selfish? The quality of our love in our covenant relationship is tested and proven through trials and difficulties when it is difficult to love, when it just doesn't happen automatically.

And in the context of everything in you would have run, but because of your love and commitment. And so if you've gone through all of that, at the end of that, you know that the quality of your love is much more pure than it was in the beginning. He says he demonstrates his love toward us and he wanted us to see that his love for us wasn't contingent upon us being pretty.

Or handsome. Or potential. He said it was while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. How many of you, if you knew, your best friend sitting next to you in a year's time is gonna stab you in the back, will be able to maintain your relationship? You wouldn't.

Next time, if you knew that for a fact, you're gonna go out and you had a lunch appointment with this person, you're gonna sit there and all you can think about is, you jerk. It's gonna affect your bubble time, your Bible study, whatever it is that you had planned.

We're supposed to go fishing, we're supposed to go to Disneyland together. Because you know, he's gonna betray me next year. It's gonna affect every part of what you do with that person. You're not gonna be able to enjoy anything you do with that person, let alone love them. It's gonna disgust you.

And no one is even gonna blame you if you broke up that relationship and never called them and wiped them out. It's like, don't ever call me, don't come to my house. Because that's how sinners behave when we're wronged. And yet, it says in John 6:64, "But there are some of you who do not believe, "for Jesus knew from the beginning "who they were who did not believe "and who it was that would betray him." He knew from the beginning.

He knew from the beginning that his 11 disciples were gonna fail him. He knew from the beginning that Peter was going to look in his face and say, "I don't know this man." He knew from the beginning that Judas was gonna betray him, and yet he loved him the same.

And when he prophesied at the communion table that one of you guys are gonna do this, nobody could tell the difference. 'Cause Jesus never treated him any different. Jesus washed his feet, loved him, cared for him, protected him, and fed him. Every single one of them. As much as we talk about how only the blood of Christ can cleanse us, because he's the only one who's able to cleanse us because of his deity, because of who he is.

Not only could we not die for other people's sins because we don't have the ability, we cannot die for other people's sins because we don't have the will. How easily we stiff-arm people because they might hurt us. They might say something hurtful. How many of you who've been jaded because of your past relationship, and somebody reminds you of that person, and you've already stiffed-armed those groups of people because of what has happened?

It is so easy for us. It is impossible for us. It is impossible for us. Not only do we not have the ability, we don't have the will to love sinners. Christ demonstrates his love toward us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 1 Peter 3, 18 says, "For Christ also died for sins "once for all, the just for the unjust." The just for the unjust.

That only happened one time in human history. One time. And the reason why there was only one time is because there was only one that was just. There are many that are unjust. The world was filled with unjust people. Our relationship, our churches are filled with unjust people, but there was only one just, Christ.

There was only one righteous. There was only one who was holy. And he gave his life that you and I may have life in him. That's the demonstration of his love. We think like, oh, you know, I understand his love because I love my children, or my mom loves me this way.

It's like, yeah, that's probably the closest thing that you and I could possibly relate to. But even the love of mom, even the love of dad, cannot come close to the love that you and I have received in Christ. That even, even in this injustice, even in this horrible sin, God intended to show us who he is.

God intended to show us. In Romans 9, 20 to 23, what if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, even the betrayal of Judas, he allowed to show us, to demonstrate to us his love.

You see why our whole Christian life is meant to be a response to this love. It's not obligation, it's not, you better do this, or there's gonna be consequences. Yes, the Bible is filled with warnings. But what God desires more than anything else is people who worship him in spirit and in truth.

And true worship that happens in spirit and in truth is when you begin to understand the depth of the love of Christ and the grace of Christ, depth of his patience that brought us to this point despite you, despite you, despite the sins that you know that you become experts in hiding, despite becoming a professional, of putting on a good show on the surface.

You know what's in your heart. You know the slander, you know the impurity, you know the jealousy. And yet, knowing all of that, he didn't turn away. He didn't turn away, he came to us. And he embraced us. And he was beaten, and he was crucified. Let me leave you with this encouragement.

Judas' final destination clearly was condemnation. Because at the end of it, when he realized what he did, he had worldly sorrow, and the only way to deal with his worldly sorrow was to end his life. 'Cause he did not understand, nor did he want to know the grace of God.

He hung himself, fell to the ground, injured his foot, that's how his life ended. See what the disciples, Peter in particular, denied Jesus to his face. To his face, to his face. To his face. After everything he said, after everything Jesus has done. And he was also sorrowful. But he repented.

He asked for forgiveness. And Jesus extended his tender hands and said, "Peter, do you really love me? Do you love me more than this? Do you love me?" And restored him, because he asked for forgiveness. See the difference between an unbeliever and a believer is not we are so much better.

It's not we're more disciplined, or we have more knowledge. It's that we recognize the grace of God and the need for his grace, and we come to him instead of running from him. We come to him in weakness. We come to him because we're desperate. We come to him because we know that the only answer to our sin is the love of Christ.

So we come to him, and we are covered over, and over, and over again by his grace. And so the longer we live, the more disappointed I am of myself, but the more I am excited about the Christ that I will meet one day. After all that he has endured in my life, let alone what I see in the world, I don't have to look so far for darkness.

I don't have to look so far for disappointment, because it's already in me. I thought I'd be much further along in my faith. I thought I'd be much more patient. I thought I would have a much better grasp of the word of God. I thought I'd be much more disciplined at this age.

After almost 40 years of walking with God, I have less confidence in my flesh than when I first started. But I love Christ much more. Because of what he has done. I understand a little bit better today than years past, what that compelling of his love means. As Paul says, "I am compelled by the love of Christ." And this is Paul, he's like, "They're questioning me.

"They're bothering me. "They're slandering me." And he says, "But I am compelled by the love of Christ "to love you." So my prayer for us, even as we think of Judas, even as we think of the tragedy of his life, that in the context of that, God demonstrates his love toward us.

Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Not in your good deeds, not because of your potential, because we're desperate without it. Meet the true Christ. Not the Christ of the culture. Not the Christ that was just handed out like candy. But the true Christ, that despite everything, he came, loved us, suffered, died, and resurrected so that we may be saved from this empty way of life and that we may live the rest of our life hoping that eternity will come when he comes.

Let's pray. (pastor and congregation murmuring) Father, help us. Lord, we're so easily distracted. We're so easily tempted. Lord, we thank you for opening our eyes so that we would no longer live as if we're blind. Thank you, Father God, that your kindness led us to repentance. But even now, Father, we wrestle, we struggle with our flesh, we struggle, Lord God, with fear that if we give all to you, that somehow our life is gonna become harder, our children are gonna suffer.

Help us, Lord God, to trust in you with all our might, to seek you, to know, Father God, that true life is in you and you alone. Help us to number our days, that all that we wrestle with, all that we are tempted by, it's just a mist that comes and goes, that you would give us the wisdom to invest in eternal things.

To fix our eyes on Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith. We love you. Help us to love you even more. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ The love of God ♪ ♪ The love of God ♪ ♪ Is greater far ♪ ♪ Than tongue or ear ♪ ♪ Can ever tell ♪ ♪ It goes beyond ♪ ♪ The highest star ♪ ♪ It reaches to ♪ ♪ The lowest hell ♪ ♪ The guilty king ♪ ♪ Bowed down with care ♪ ♪ God gave his son ♪ ♪ To win ♪ ♪ His every trial ♪ ♪ He reconciled ♪ ♪ And parted from ♪ ♪ His sin ♪ ♪ And years of time ♪ ♪ Shall pass away ♪ ♪ As earth before us ♪ ♪ And kingdoms fall ♪ ♪ When every hero ♪ ♪ Refused to pray ♪ ♪ On rocks and hills ♪ ♪ And mountains call ♪ ♪ God's love so sure ♪ ♪ Shall still endure ♪ ♪ All measureless ♪ ♪ And true ♪ ♪ Redeeming grace ♪ ♪ To Adam's race ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song of love of God ♪ ♪ Oh love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ And within ♪ ♪ The ocean filled ♪ ♪ And where the skies ♪ ♪ Of parchment made ♪ ♪ Where every star ♪ ♪ On earth a quill ♪ ♪ And every bale ♪ ♪ A scribe I've trained ♪ ♪ To write the love ♪ ♪ Of God above ♪ ♪ Would drain the ocean dry ♪ ♪ Nor could the scroll ♪ ♪ Contain the whole ♪ ♪ No stretch from sky ♪ ♪ To sky ♪ ♪ Oh love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song ♪ ♪ Oh love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song ♪ - Isaiah 53, three to four.

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised. He did not esteem him. Surely our grief he himself bore and our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

Gracious Father, help us to be compelled by the love of Christ, to be compelled to pray, to be compelled to love, to be compelled to endure, to compel Lord God to forgive, to be compelled Lord to share the gospel, to be compelled to worship, to be compelled to forsake this world, to be compelled Lord by the love of Christ, to be loyal to Christ until he comes.

Wherever you send us this week, help us to be the aroma of the grace of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. ♪ God sent his Son ♪ ♪ Then called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ He lived for God ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To my, my, my, Lord ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to ♪ ♪ My Savior let ♪ ♪ As he lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because he lives ♪ ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all my pain ♪ (upbeat music)