Consequences of Betrayal | Luke 22: 47-65
Sermon Transcript
Hmm, just so, you know, we tell the children last one to the room is a rotten egg. So no, we don't take a swig of this real quick. Many of you know what april 15 is tax day. But do you know what March the 15th is? You may have heard it is called the Ides of March, and Shakespeare's play The tragedy of Julius Caesar. Caesar is warned, Beware the Ides of March. Well, what does that mean? What does the word IDEs mean? I just thought. I used to think it was just a fancy way of saying the 15th. But that's not it. It refers to the first full moon of a given month. So since the Roman calendar was based on lunar cycles, a full moon usually fell between the 13th and the 15th of the of March. And that month and on March, 15, 44 BC, Marcus Junius Brutus conspired with others to assassinate Julius Caesar. Now Caesar not only trusted Brutus, but he thought of him as a son, and according to Roman historians, Caesar at first resisted the onslaught. He fought to stay alive, but when he saw Brutus among them holding a dagger, Caesar quit struggling. He pulled the top part of his robe over his face, and he said at two brutay, you too. Brutus, when, when Caesar realized the depth of his betrayal, he gave up. He ceased to resist and he ceased to live. Most of us here have experienced betrayal on some level, probably not to the extent of Caesar, and most certainly not to the extent of Jesus. But we've been betrayed. We've felt betrayed. Maybe it was infidelity in a relationship. Maybe it was a friend who broke confidentiality or trust by sharing some type of personal information they were not supposed to share. Maybe it was just lying or deception. Maybe you were manipulated by a close friend or even exploited. Maybe someone failed to fulfill a promise, failed to fulfill commitment. Maybe perhaps you were the victim of rumors or gossip. Maybe you were stabbed in the back, metaphorically speaking, maybe someone purposely undermined your reputation, someone close to you that you trusted. Whatever it is, we've probably you've probably felt betrayal. We're starting a sermon series today that will take us through the next six weeks called the betrayal of Jesus, as we've been going through the whole life of Jesus, all the way from January and so now we're getting toward the end of his life, and we're going to spend six weeks covering his initial betrayal today, and we're going to cover his interrogation and his trial and his crucifixion and His death and His burial, probably the most I've ever preached consecutively on this subject. So it will probably evoke some strong emotions in us, and it should, because it's a sad time, but then we're going to end the year talking about His resurrection. So to take us where we need to get but this short time frame is often called the Passion of Christ, and it's his last moments on Earth before His resurrection and his ascension. So let's look at Luke, chapter 22 starting in verse 47 now he was in the garden. And says, while he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the 12, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall he strike with the sword? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, No more of this, and he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and. Officers of the temple and elders who had come out against them. Have you come out against out as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. Verse, 54 then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house. And Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, This man also was with him, but he denied it, saying, woman, I do not know Him. And a little later, someone else saw him and and said, You also are one of them. Peter said, Man, I am not and after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a gal land. And Peter said, Man, I do not know what you were talking about. And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed, And the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly, Heavenly Father, as we close our as we open our time today, as we as we close our eyes today and come to you today, Lord in prayer, but show us today what you would have us to hear in Your Word today about betrayal. We've been victims of it. We have been perpetrators of it, and Lord, we've all betrayed you. So show us what we need to hear today, what we need to receive from your word today. Lord, I pray that my words are your words today, that your Holy Spirit speaks, that we receive what he has to say today, that you show us what it is we need to hear about this subject, Jesus' name. We pray. Amen. I want to give us today three truths that we see here about betrayal, three truths that we can see in this story about betrayal. First, betrayal brings hurt. Betrayal brings hurt. You probably already know that. You probably don't need that as a sermon point, but it is the truth. Verse 47 says that the crowd came and the man called Judas, one of the 12 disciples, was leading the crowd. It wasn't just a crowd that he was with. It was leading this crowd. And he drew near to Jesus to kiss him. And Jesus said, would you betray Me with a kiss? Now a kiss on the cheek was a sign of greeting, friendship, a sign of good will, a sign of trust. It would be like shaking someone's hand and looking them in the eye and making a deal with them, as we would do in our culture. Paul actually instructed believers to greet one another this way because it was a sign of respect and love and unity and friendship. So to give Jesus up to the queue as they because there was 13 men around, they weren't just make sure we get the right person. The cue is that I'll greet him, and my greeting will be whoever I greet that will be the person to arrest. It would literally be like shaking his hand, looking into the eye, and saying, I am turning you in. So Jesus rightly calls out Judas for his cowardly actions. And Jesus had a way of calling out sin by, of course, not sinning. You know, a lot of times if we call someone out in sin, we we kind of sin ourselves. We can, but he often do this by asking a question, Jesus, you're going to look me in the eye and shake my hand and betray me. Judas, you're going to betray Me with a kiss. There's a way for a person to think about what they've done or what they were doing. The disciples immediately knew what was happening. Look at verse 49 and when those who were around him, Saul would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? They are cocking their guns right now in in our modern times, that's what would be happening in many respects. The the disciple. Were what we'd call good old boys. They were from the country. They had accents, most especially Peter who drew his sword, were not highly educated. If it was 2024, these young men will be walking around with concealed weapons permits attached to them. They had fire. They would have firearms. This. This is who they were, young men, zealous, ready to take over the world. And Jesus is trying to disciple them and make them more like him. So Peter says, You want us to strike. We've been waiting for this. We've been waiting for this. And he takes a sword and he swings and he cuts off a piece, or cuts off the right ear of a servant. Now, one time a few years ago, I I took a chunk out of my ear on a metal hinge when I lifted my head up really fast. And it was very hard to do, because there's this piece of cartilage right there, and they glued it back. But you know, there's this a small little piece between your ear and your head, very small. So unless, unless Peter is an expert swordsman, he was not aiming for the ear. Peter missed. He probably was aiming right here, and in God's grace, he just hit his ear. Jesus, once again, had to disciple his zealous young men. Verse 51 Jesus said, No more of this. He touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers who came out and says, You've come out with me with like a robber with swords and clubs, you've come out like this. And he says, I've been around. You could have arrested me any day, but this is your hour. This is the power of darkness. This is Satan's doing. This has to happen. So he calls out again. They're cowardice for not arresting him in the broad daylight. And it kind of goes with the biblical theme that evil happens in the night, but betrayal brings hurt. It brings pain. And for Jesus and the disciples, one of their own betray them, someone, as we talked about last week that they ate with, they lived life with, and it caused pain. And it caused pain for the servant who lost his ear. It caused pain to Jesus and the disciples. And betrayal brings pain, because to be betrayed, you had to have loved someone, you had to have respected someone, you had to have trusted someone, and now they've taken that trust and they've broken it. Why does being betrayed hurt so bad? Because it involves that breaking of trust. Trust is often broken by the deceitful actions of someone close to you, whom you trusted in the Bible, betrayal started with Adam and Eve in the book of Psalms, King David expresses his pain and anguish after being betrayed by a close friend. Look at Psalm 55 Psalm 55 David says, For it is not an enemy who taunts me, then I could bear it. He says, I can handle my enemy not liking me. It's not an adversary who deals insolently with me, then I can hide from them. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together within God's house. We walked in the throng. This is a Christian. You would say, brother in Christ. We went to church together. We worship together. We were together. David says, I could handle an enemy, I could handle an adversary, but I can't handle you betraying me. Betrayal brings hurt. It destroys and even if something is destroyed, it can be restored and rebuilt. It still takes time. Think about all the destruction we've seen from Hurricane Helene in the mountains and hurricane Milton in Florida, houses destroyed, businesses, boats, communities destroyed in a matter of minutes. These things can be rebuilt, they can be restored, but it will take years. In some cases, it will take decades. Building back trust from betrayal is the same way we have to start that process. Sense of forgiveness, even when we don't feel like it, and when we don't feel like we're ready to start, and it takes time, because betrayal brings hurt. Secondly, betrayal brings shame. Betrayal brings shame. Verse 54 then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. The high priest Caiaphas was a key figure in the Jewish religious leadership. At the time, he was responsible for overseeing the religious matters, and he played a significant role in influencing the Roman authorities in the matters concerning the Jewish law. So bringing Jesus to the high priest house allowed the the Jewish leaders to question him and and ultimately hold a trial to decide his fate. And so the high priest and the other Jewish officials that gathered there to to interrogate Jesus and to gather evidence against him, to to use and this trial before they then brought him to the Roman Governor Pilate. It was at the high priest's house that false witnesses were brought in to testify against Jesus, leading to his eventual crucifixion. So during this trial, where did Peter go? Look at Verse 55 they kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, and Peter sat down among them. Peter was outside the house of the high priest in the high priest's courtyard. Verse, 56 then a servant girl seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, This man was with him. He denied it. I don't know him. Verse 58 someone later said, Yeah, you were one of them. And he says, Man, I'm not and then after about an hour, 59 says, Certainly this man was also him. He's a Galilean. And Peter said, I do not know who you're talking about. And immediately, while he's still speaking cockadoodle do, the rooster crowed, now, they could tell he was a Galilean because of his accent. They knew He went from around there. If you went to New York, they would know you weren't from around there too. He was in Jerusalem, and they knew they weren't. He wasn't from there, and the fear and the pressure of his peers and these strangers, Peter quickly changed from being a zealous person to willing to fight for Jesus to being a coward and denying him three times because a little servant girl spots him. He just chopped off a man's ear, and now he lies three times about being a disciple fear of man, not fear of God, but fear of man led Peter to betray Jesus in this moment, in verse 61 tells us and the the Lord turned and and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows, you will deny me some point, Jesus, At some point, could see peter out in the courtyard. And heard the rooster and found him and looked right at him. Can you imagine the second that happens? And Jesus looks right at you, and you hear the rooster, verse 62 and he went out, and he wept bitterly. He wept bitterly because of his sin. What can we do when we feel shame about our sin? First three things, believe in Jesus. Believe in Jesus. Look at Romans 10. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved for the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame, amen. But we still feel that shame. Don't run from Jesus when he looks at you. Believe in Him. And secondly, look at him. Look at them, don't turn away like Peter did. Psalm 34 says this, I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. Look to them and. Then, thirdly, study him. When you look at him, sometimes I look at my children and my wife and their face, and I'll just, I'll just study them. Look at them, right? They don't know I'm doing. It may seem creepy now that I tell you that, but anyway, I just study them, right? Just look at them. You look at Jesus. Study who he is. Look at Hebrews 12. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, fixing our eyes of Jesus, some say, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. This idea of fixing our eyes on Him is consideringly, considering attentively, being attentive to who Jesus is. In our times of shame and sin, don't hide like Peter does. Run to Jesus. Run to him. There's forgiveness. We don't run to him because we don't think we deserve it and we don't, but he gives it. Third, finally, betrayal brings humiliation. See, when we're betrayed, we we feel vulnerable. We feel humiliated, like, how could I have allowed this to happen? How could I have not seen this coming? How could I have trusted this person? Why? Why did I allow myself to to do that, right? So we kind of closed ourselves off. You know, betrayal brings humiliation. Look at Verse 63 now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him, and they beat him and they blindfolded him, and as they beat him, they said, Who hit you? Prophesy? Who was it? Which is so silly, because Jesus did all sorts of miracles. He raised people from from the death. He did all kind of stuff. He knows who's hitting them, they're mocking him. And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him as he was being held at the high priest house. He awaited his trial. He was mocked and he was beaten because the betrayal of Judas brought this humiliation upon him. But it wasn't just Judas betrayal that got Jesus arrested, that got him mocked, that got him beaten. It was our sin as well. It was our betrayal. Our sin brought about the humiliation of Jesus. Look at Isaiah. 53, six. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned some really bad people. No, that's not what it says. Everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him, on Jesus, the iniquity of us all. God laid the iniquity, the guilt of all our sin, upon Jesus, as he's sitting there being betrayed and being slapped and being mocked and later crucified because of our sin brought him there, the sheep are responsible for the death of the shepherd. First Peter two says this, He Himself bore our sins and his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live the righteousness by his wounds, you have been healed in some strange twist. Jesus's blood and his wounds and his humiliation save us. We are responsible for it, but through His death and His resurrection, we're saved from it. Amen, Jesus was humiliated so that we may escape that humiliation. Have you been betrayed? Is that betrayal still haunting you today? Guess what? Jesus has been there, and he wasn't just betrayed by Judas, and he wasn't just betrayed by Peter, he was betrayed by all of us. Perhaps it's time for you to forgive the one who has betrayed you, but you know what for forgiveness and when you've been betrayed you, you have to walk through it. There's a book that I used to read my three older children. I forgot about this book my youngest child, because there's been such a big age gap, I need to go find it. But it talks about going on a, on a journey, on a on a bear hunt. You know it so I can think of the title in the first sermon. And. It says that the go through all these different places, right? And it says we, we get stuck in all these obstacles. And it says we, we can't go over it. We can't go under it. We can't go around it. We have to go through it. And they have to keep going through all these obstacles. And betrayal and forgiveness is the same way you have to go through it, but Jesus will take you through it. Jesus guides you through it because he understands where you've been, because he's been there, and he takes you through it, whether you've been betrayed or whether you're the betrayer. Give it to Jesus, let him work in your life. You betrayed Jesus, and he's forgiven. To you, run to Him for His healing and his restoration. Yes, our sin put him in this situation, but his love for us got us out of that situation through his resurrection, Heavenly Father, so close our time together today, it's going to be hard for us the next few weeks to hear about The ways that you've been betrayed and physically beaten and unfairly tried and killed brutally. It's going to be difficult for us to hear it, because so many of us love you so much, but Lord, I'm praying that it will bring us a renewed love for you, appreciation for what you've done for us, so we can end the year celebrating about your resurrection, celebrating about your ascension into heaven by your victory. And at Christmas time, as we celebrate the birth of Christ, we can celebrate your victory So, Father, as we close our time together today, there's one in here today that's never placed their faith in you, that today would be the day that they would be the day that they ask you to forgive them of their sins, that you would save them. You would forgive their sins and give them eternal life. Give them salvation and father. For those of us who know you and are saved and been baptized and and are believers, that if we have betrayed someone, that we would you would give that into our head today, and you would reveal that to us we would seek forgiveness, and that we would make those steps to forgive those who betrayed us. We might not feel like it, but Lord, we know you didn't feel like going to the cross, but you went anyway. So, Father, we thank you for what you've done for us, and we ask these things in Jesus name Amen.
