======================================================================== (CLIP) DON'T BE A JUDAS ISCARIOT by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon delves into the intriguing story of Judas Iscariot, highlighting how he transformed from a God-fearing individual chosen by Jesus to a traitor. It emphasizes the danger of hypocrisy and betrayal, cautioning against turning against God's people. The message also underscores the significant role parents play in shaping the character of their children, warning against critical attitudes and rebellious behavior that can influence the next generation negatively. Duration: 8:47 Topics: "Hypocrisy", "Influence of Parents" Scripture References: Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:4, Colossians 3:21, 2 Timothy 3:2, Proverbs 29:15, Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 31:26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon delves into the intriguing story of Judas Iscariot, highlighting how he transformed from a God-fearing individual chosen by Jesus to a traitor. It emphasizes the danger of hypocrisy and betrayal, cautioning against turning against God's people. The message also underscores the significant role parents play in shaping the character of their children, warning against critical attitudes and rebellious behavior that can influence the next generation negatively. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ And then the last one, Judas Iscariot. Isn't it interesting that Jesus chose even him? And the very interesting thing you read about in Judas Iscariot in verse 16 is he became a traitor. Now if somebody says so- and-so became a leper, does it mean he was always a leper? On the contrary, he was not a leper. He became a traitor, means he was not a traitor when Jesus chose him. Jesus did not choose a person saying, hey scripture says somebody's got to betray me, so I've got to select somebody who betrayed me. I can't even imagine Jesus doing something like that. Never. You mean select a man just to send him to hell? Because finally Jesus said about him, it's better for you, you were not even born. That's what he said about Judas Iscariot. But what I want you to see there is Judas Iscariot was a very God- fearing person when he was chosen. I personally believe he was the one chosen to write the epistles which Paul finally wrote because I think he was the cleverest of all the, I mean if there was one person who was a postgraduate, it must have been Judas Iscariot. He was such a smart guy and I'll tell you why he was such a smart guy. If you can live with three and a half years with somebody and you're an absolute crook and they don't discover that you're a crook, you have to be pretty smart. Don't you think so? Supposing you, some of your sisters live together and one of you is a real crook and you live three and a half years together with that sister, nobody discovers you as a crook. You got to be smart. A few brothers staying together and you're a crook, cheating, stealing, robbing their money and three and a half years they never think you're the, they always think somebody else robbed my money but you're the one. You got to be really smart. That's what Judas Iscariot was because when Jesus said, one of you will betray me, they didn't all look at Judas Iscariot. Yeah, he's the one. No, not at all. Even when Jesus said, here I'm dipping this bread and giving it to Judas, he's the one. Go and do what you want to do. They thought he's going to buy something from the market. Boy, he was really a polished crook. He was a very clever person and he could have written the letters that Paul wrote but he missed the bus. He missed it completely and that's a warning to us, finally. You can miss what God has for you because you're so smart with your hypocrisy that you fooled even brother Zach for so many years in CFC. What have you accomplished by fooling me? You sat here for 20 years and you fooled me that you were spiritual. I often think of these checkposts, you know, where you come and they lift up these military places. There's a checkpost. Okay, I lift the bar and say, okay, your truck can go but there's another checkpost further up where Jesus is sitting. You'll never go past that. He'll send you back. So don't glory in the fact that brother Zach or one of the elders has a good opinion about you. It means absolutely nothing. You can still become a traitor. We've seen people who are in CFC who are wholehearted, who became traitors, who became against CFC, fought against, left. They didn't just quietly leave and there are some people who quietly leave and go and join some other church. Fine. Now these are people who leave and then turn against. They bite the hand that fed them for many years. Have you heard that expression, biting the hand that fed you for so many years? There are people who do that. Judas was like that. I hope none of you will ever become like that. If you want to leave CFC, just quietly leave and go somewhere else and do what you like. But if you fight against God's people, I'll tell you, it's better for you that you are not born. Don't fight against God's people. If you want to leave, you don't agree with something, just quietly leave and go and do something else. Go and join whatever church you like. But don't fight against God's people because it'll go very badly with you. And that's what we see in the case of Judas Iscariot. It's a very dangerous thing. And very often, I want to say this also, parents have got a lot to do. It's these young people very often who grow up and become rebellious. Parents have got a lot to do with this. Why is it that our young people who've grown up from childhood in CFC, not only CFC Bangalore, but CFC and many other churches, and have turned out to be such excellent godly men in their own churches, some of them in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, are elders in churches who grew up in CFC and who've grown up in Bangalore. Wonderful examples. I can think of a number of them right now in my mind. And I think I know. I know their parents. And I know, you don't know all of them, I know them. I know their parents and I can see that parents have really brought them up in a godly way. Then I think of some other young people who've grown up, educated, clever, got good jobs, a lot of money, and turned against CFC. I blame the parents. I'll tell you why. Very often the mother. They sat at home when the children were small and criticized CFC. Oh, this thing is wrong with that elder, and this thing is wrong with that person, and this thing wrong. The children grew up hearing this, hearing this, hearing this, hearing this. And the second thing is, they see a strong wife who's correcting her husband and rebelling against her husband at home. If you're a wife who's always criticizing your husband, I can almost prophesy that your children will turn out rebellious. Because it's an infection. It's like getting the chicken pox. Somebody in the house got it, so you got it. Somebody had tuberculosis in the house, so you got the tuberculosis. And so, whenever I find a rebellious child, I ask the mother, where do you think this boy got it from? Is it from the attitude you had towards your husband? He got the infection of this rebellious, questioning, bossy attitude. You know, there are some wives I know, there are some wives I know, even in CFC churches, who are the boss at home. God has not called them to be the head, but they are the head of the home. They despise their husbands, because maybe they think their husbands are not as smart as I am. Boy, you know who I feel sorry for? Maybe those wives will one day go to hell, I don't know. But those children, the sad thing is, they'll drag their children into hell with them, in that spirit of rebellion. Now, I'm pretty sure that Judas Iscariot didn't have a good mother. I don't know anything about her mother, but very often, because a mother spends a lot more time with the children than the father does. The father is also important. If you have a father who's a very strict father, then he can still do good. But very often, it's the parents who end up producing a child like this, like a Judas Iscariot. Train up a child in the way he should go. When he's old, what does it say? He will not depart from it. If it's the right way, he'll go that way. If it's the wrong way, he will not depart from the wrong way. That verse works both ways. Whichever way you train up the child, when he's old, he will not depart from it. So ask yourself. I'm not talking about people who just left CFC. I'm talking about people who rebel against the church, and who hate church, and who want to have nothing to do with the church. So why does that happen? I'm not asking you to condemn yourself. For everything, there's a solution. Repentance, acknowledging your fault, saying, Lord, the fault is mine. Forgive me. There's forgiveness with God. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/zqfq_2QFmb4.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/clip-dont-be-a-judas-iscariot/ ========================================================================