SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2021 12:03 PM
My Worship Time
Focus: “Lessoned Learned From the Life of
Judas”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
10:4b
Message of the
verse: “and
Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.”
We can learn lessons from wickedness
and tragedy, as they can teach us valuable lessons, and there is great profit
from our study on the life of Judas. The
first thing that we can learn is that he is the world’s greatest example of
lost opportunity as Judas was among the original twelve men Jesus called to be
His apostles his gospel ambassadors to the world that he lived in and talked
and ministered with Jesus for three years, hearing God’s Word from the mouth of
His own Son and seeing God’s power manifested as never before on earth. There has never been a human being who ever
heard a more complete and perfect declaration of the gospel or seen more perfect
obedience of it. To none of the apostles
did Jesus give more specific warning about sin—and more repeated opportunity to
repent of it and to believe—than He did to Judas. The problem is that Judas turned his back on
grace incarnate, something that you don’t want to do.
MacArthur writes “Today many people
have heard the gospel clearly and seen genuine though imperfect examples of its
transforming power. Yet they, too,
reject it and, like Judas, choose instead to stay in the way that leads to
destruction.
“Second, Judas’s life provides the
world’s greatest example of wasted privilege.
He lusted for temporary material possessions and riches when he could
have inherited the universe forever. It
is a tragically foolish bargain to exchange the riches of God’s kindom for the
pittances the world can offer.
“Third, Judas’s life serves as the
clearest illustration of love of money being the root of all kinds of evil (see
1 Tim. 6:10). In the unbelievable
extreme of greed, he loved money so much that he sold the Son of God for a
trifling amount of it.
“Fourth, Judas’s life is the supreme
object in history of the forbearing, patient love of God. Only God could have known the utter evil of
Judas’s heart from the beginning and yet never have withdrawn His offer of
grace. At the Last Supper Christ
presented Judas the dipped morsel as a gesture of love and honor; and even as
He was being betrayed by the kiss, He called Judas ‘friend.’
“The life of Judas provided an
essential qualification in preparing Christ for His high priestly role. Judas’s betral brought great anguish to Jesus’
heart, and through that and other such torment, the Son of God was perfected
through His suffering (Heb. 2:10).
Christ can understand and sympathize with our sufferings partly because
Judas helped make Christ’s own suffering complete.
“Judas was the consummate hypocrite
of all time, the supreme illustration of an ungodly life that hides behind
Christ while he serves Satan.
“Someone has well said,
Still as of old,
Man by himself is priced.
For thirty pieces of silver
Judas sold himself, not Christ. (Author unknown)”
9/10/2021 12:24
PM
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