A Judah's Or A Peter

It's about the night when the Lord is going to be betrayed in John chapter 13. This is kind of a continuation message here on the Lord's Supper. I'm going to go ahead and try to take a lengthy section here from verse 18 all the way down to the end of the chapter.

And if you look at your Bible, if you have a red letter Bible, the next three chapters or four chapters from John 14 all the way to 17 is mostly red letters. And what is happening is the Lord is preparing the disciples for His departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit. And it's a very rich section, maybe an hour of Him speaking to His disciples.

But it gives us a very clear idea from His heart of what the New Testament ought to be like. What New Testament Christianity ought to be like. And I'm looking forward to spending the next summer or this summer or the next few months just delving into really what New Testament Christianity ought to be like being led of the Spirit of God.

Jesus is going to talk about how the Spirit will come and all the things that will happen with regard to the Holy Spirit. And one of the things I want to preface before we get to that, because oftentimes I believe the devil sets a roadblock in many of our hearts and limits our ability to believe and therefore our ability to do, is that we tend to think that what Jesus said to His disciples is specifically for those 12 special or 11 special people. And it's not for, you know, the generic Christian like me.

And so we tend to think of these words as, well, this must be for some special group back there in the early church. And therefore we just cut our legs out from under us. And we cut out faith, we cut out what the Lord wants to do in us.

And so I want you, when you listen to the words here over the next few months, just to let them be for you personally, because they are for you. I mean, a New Testament Christian, and these are the things that God wants for me. And so I want to experience all that the Lord has.

Don't let the one sitting beside you with unbelief keep you from rising up in faith and believing and accepting all these things that the Lord is going to share with us. But before that, He has the betrayal. And we're going to talk about some of those things here this morning.

But I want to focus your attention. If you leave here today, I want you to leave with the thought of two men. And we'll get to these two men specifically at the end of the message.

But there are two men here. In John chapter 13, one man is named Judas. And throughout history and forever, however long we are on this earth, the word Judas Iscariot will have a connotation to it.

And people even in the world, when they talk about a betrayer, they might talk about Benedict Arnold if they're American. But they talk about Judas. Judas is a worldwide known name.

He is a betrayer. And here's a man who lived amongst the disciples. And he made a mistake.

And we're going to see what happened. But he betrayed the Lord. And this man went out and killed himself.

He had a tragic ending. He fell from a tree. He hung himself.

The Bible says his bowels gushed out. He probably fell down from the tree and broke his body. And it was a bad situation.

It probably was in the newspapers per se in Jerusalem. And this Judas. Awful life.

And an awful ending. And yet there's another man here in this chapter. And we're going to see him.

If I were just a simple person, and I am a simple person, but if I was simply just reading the Bible for what it says, I would say, hey, wait a minute. What about this Peter fellow? This Peter who denies the Lord three times before a maiden. He says, I don't even know the man.

And he denies Jesus three times. And yet here's this man who seems to be doing as bad as Judas, and yet he goes on to be an exemplary apostle. And when you hear the word Peter the apostle, you don't get a bad connotation.

You get a very good connotation. So what happened? How can a man who denies the Lord three times in this night end up being the great apostle and having a renowned name throughout history, and another man who betrays the Lord be a traitor and have a spot in history about his name, and one going to heaven and the other going to hell? So I'd like to leave you with some thoughts here at the end of the message about those two. And I don't mean to scare you, but I'm sure there's a Judas, maybe more than one in our midst.

And I don't know that Judas even knew he was a Judas. I think if Judas knew he was a Judas, he would have changed his direction. If he really understood, he was deceived.

He was being led astray, and I think his sin, we've looked at that, his covetousness was leading him down a path that he was blinded to. He didn't understand it. But I'd like to consider these two.

But let's go back here in John chapter 13, and I'd like to read down through some of these verses. We're going to bring out some things as we go down through here. Jesus is about to be betrayed by Judas, and so let's pray and then let's read.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Word of God. And Lord, I know the truth is given to bring light to us. And Lord, I don't understand why all the truth that you spoke did not bring light to Judas.

And we know that Judas was foretold to be the betrayer. But I pray here this morning that anyone who is heading the direction that Judas is heading, that, Lord, that light would come to them, that they would understand their condition. And though they fellowship here on a regular basis, Lord, may they understand that they can be a Judas.

Lord, may we all embrace the understanding that Peter had. And, Lord, may we all be like Peter in that sense and be a follower, a true follower of the Lord Jesus. But I pray that you would minister to our hearts and you would teach us and instruct us from the Word of God.

Show us our condition before you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right, let's start here in verse number 18. The Lord has just washed the disciples' feet and He begins to lay out the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter in this passage. Verse 18, I speak not of you all.

I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. The idea of lifting up your heel is to stamp on someone or to harm someone.

To lift up the heel against me. He that eateth bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. And, you know, we're all eating bread here this morning.

Just to remind you, we're eating bread, we're drinking together. And yet the Scripture says in Matthew 24 that in the end many shall betray one another. It's talking about within the fellowship of the saints.

And many will turn others over. And just like Judas, there will be betrayals in the end. And the true Christian will come forth and the Judas will also come forth.

As they did here in the end when the pressure was put on each of them. Verse 19, now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass you may believe that I am He. Now both of these verses are prophetic.

Jesus is speaking here and He is saying that the Scriptures have already been written back in Psalm 41. Isaiah has some Scriptures, other Scriptures in the Old Testament that prophesy about Judas and Judas' betrayal. And so the Lord goes back to those Scriptures.

He that eateth bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. The Old Testament is a prophetic testament. The Old Testament talks about the future.

It is predictive. And even here the Lord alludes to prophetic Scriptures. And then in verse 19 He gives some prophecy Himself.

He says, now I tell you before it come, that when it come to pass you may believe that I am He. So prophecy. The Bible is filled with prophecy.

The Bible is filled with prediction. God gives us the future. He tells us what is coming.

Throughout the whole Bible, the Bible is filled with prophecy. And we are having our Bible study on Saturday morning and we are looking at many prophecies, prophecies about things to come in the future. And Jesus says here in verse 19 that I am going to tell you, you disciples, I am going to tell you what is going to happen ahead of time so that you would believe who I am.

So that you would think, hey, you know, Jesus, He knows the future. We need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to encourage some of you here, if you are questioning whether or not you should believe the Bible or questioning whether or not you should believe on the Lord Jesus, just look at Bible prophecy.

Just look at all the prophecy in the Old Testament, how it has been fulfilled. Look at the prophecies of Jesus. Look at the prophecies of Daniel about the great kingdoms that would arise.

Look at the New Testament prophecies. We've been looking at them on Saturday morning and all the things. You know, we talk about the number 666.

And that was written 2,000 years ago. And yet look at the emphasis today. And we've talked about some of that, of the number 666 and how the world is coming together under one world.

And all the things that you see in the Bible are being fulfilled. And those things ought to encourage you to believe, encourage you to have faith in the fact that, yes, Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Son of God, because He also understands what is the truth.

And so prophecy, I would encourage you to believe God because of His prophetic Word and how He has spoken of the future. And we're seeing the future fulfilled right now before our eyes. What has been spoken 2,000 years ago is being fulfilled.

Well, I won't go into my 666. I've talked to some of you about it. It's an interesting thing that's going on here in our world today.

But there's a lot of prophecy being fulfilled right before our eyes. And we're being set to go down a course. And praise God, the Lord is overseeing it.

He is sovereign over it. But prophecy ought to motivate us to believe the Scriptures, to believe the Lord Jesus Christ is true, everything He says. So let's go down and keep reading here in verse number 20.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. And I shared this with you a few weeks ago that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, these three are one, the three persons of the Godhead. If you don't receive the Son, you don't receive the Father.

If you reject the Son, you reject the Father. If you receive the Son, you receive the Father. But it's not just Father, Son.

It's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has come to this earth to be an inhabitant in the church. And so what the Lord is saying is here, if you receive my people, you receive me.

If you receive me, you receive the Father. If you reject my people, you reject me. If you reject me, you reject the Father.

So we're going to see these three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, throughout the next three or four chapters. They're going to be alluded to a lot. My Father sent me.

Now I'm going to send you, empowered by the Holy Spirit. And my Father sent me and I did these works. Now I'm going to send you by the power of the Holy Spirit and you're going to do these works.

And so Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they're in line. They're in agreement. And that's what John 17 talks about.

Let's all be in agreement. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. My people can be at one.

Verse 21. When Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another doubting of whom he spoke.

Now it's fascinating to me that Judas wasn't one who was obviously a betrayer. And that means that someone could sit in our midst and be here for years and be a betrayer. And we would never really know it.

Judas was a betrayer, but they didn't really know who it was. Another passage, I think it's in the book of Luke, I mentioned last week. The disciples asked, who is it? Is it I? Am I the one who is going to betray the Lord? And so we might sit here and we might say, Is it I? Is it I? Is it I? We can question our own hearts.

But they didn't just say, hey, I know who it is. I mean, Judas, he's the sinner. Judas, he's the one that's failing all the time.

Judas, he's the one that's obvious. No, they didn't know. Who is it, Lord? Well, Judas was living a life of sin, a life of secret sin.

It wasn't obvious to the other disciples. He was in the fellowship, but he was in the fellowship with the wrong motive. I just want to bring that out to you here this morning.

You know, there can be people here in the fellowship, but they're in the fellowship with the wrong motive. Judas was using his position in the fellowship for his own personal gain. And his motive for being a part of the church, his motive for being a part of the discipleship here was his own personal gain.

He was stealing on a regular basis from the bag. Nobody knew what was going on. But Judas had a covetous heart.

And we've talked about that in the past. And he was there because of advantage. He was there because of a motive outside of wanting to love Jesus and follow Him.

He had an ulterior motive. Some people are a part of fellowships for motives other than the love of Jesus Christ and a desire to serve Him. Some people come to churches for other motives.

Some people come to churches because that's where their social group is. That's where their friends are. And so they come for the sake of the social group, of their friendships.

Now, I think we ought to have friendships in church. But if your heart is not in love with Jesus and you don't want to follow and serve Him, this is not a place to come just for the sake of a friend. I know some, and I could probably put myself in that position many years ago, that came to church for a girl, came to church for a guy.

There's somebody in the church I'm interested in. And if I'm a part of this church, I'm going to maybe get this young lady or I'm going to get this young man. And so the motive to be here is not a spiritual motive.

It's a carnal motive. And so Judas was there, and he did everything they did. He responded in the same way they responded.

But he was there for the motive of money. I remember one man in Georgia. I was preaching a revival meeting.

He responded in the revival meeting. We went back to the prayer room. And he said, listen, I'm a phony.

I'm a fake. And this is why I don't... I'm a fake. I'm a phony.

The only reason I come to church is because I want my wife and my children. They want to be here. And so I kind of just play the game and go along with everybody else.

But I'm a phony and a fake. And I know in my heart I'm not a Christian. And he got converted that day.

He was honest with himself. He loved his wife. He loved his children.

They wanted to go to church. So he said, well, I'll just play the part. I'll come along with them.

And I'll just fit in. And we'll do this godly home thing. And it's good for me.

Get my children under obedience. My wife likes the situation. But I'll have my own life and just kind of fit in with everybody else.

And so Judas was that way. I mean, if you get into Judas' heart, you'd say, well, the real reason I'm here, I mean, really? I got the bag. And I can take some money out.

Nobody knows. And I'm a thief. Let me ask you a question deep down in your heart.

What is your motive for being here in church? What is your motive? What is the deep motive in your heart, the real motive for why you come here? What would have happened to Judas if he no longer was given the responsibility to carry the bag? I think Judas would have said, I'm out of here. I have no more reason to be here because I don't get to carry the bag. What if your friends would depart from here? I have no more reason to come here.

I don't have any reason. There's no reason to be here because my social group is gone. Or what if your family or wife, like this man and his children, leave him? I'm not going to go to that church.

Why go to church anymore? My motive for going there or being a part is no longer applicable. So let's ask this question. What is your motive? And I believe the enemy is oftentimes trying to sow tares amongst the wheat and oftentimes trying to bring in false apostles and false teachers and setting them in here with motives that are not good motives.

Well, that was the case here with Judas. So let's keep reading. Verse 23, Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples whom Jesus loved.

Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then, leaning on Jesus' breast, saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Who is this one that's going to betray you? Jesus answered, verse 26, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.

And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly. Okay, so Satan enters into Judas Iscariot.

Judas Iscariot, and here's how I believe this has worked. Judas Iscariot has been giving place to the devil. The Bible says not to give place.

The idea here is giving him an open door, giving him an opportunity. Judas has been giving the devil plenty of opportunities. Every time he reached into the bag, pulled out that money, put it in his pocket, never made confession, never repented, never addressed his sin, every time he did that, he was leaving a door wide open for the devil.

And so, the devil was waiting to enter that door. And I believe that the Lord, who is sovereign over all, did not allow Satan into that door in a possessive way until this moment right here, because Jesus knew now, his time has now come. It's time for Judas to betray.

And so when he took that sock, and he gave it to Judas, it was like saying, Judas, I've protected you. I've put a hedge of thorns around your life to not allow Satan to possess you, but that hedge of thorns is going to be removed. And as soon as he gave it to him, and it was the sovereign will of God for him to be betrayed, Satan entered into him.

Now, Satan entered into Judas not because Jesus gave him the sock and Jesus just chose him to be the betrayer. Satan entered into him because Judas, for many years, had been a deceiver and a covetous man. And even in the fellowship with the disciples, he was stealing from the bag.

And finally, Satan finally entered into him and possessed him. And so the Bible encourages us not to give place to the devil. You know, I know my own heart.

You know your own heart. And you know some of the things that we deal with and struggle with. I would just encourage you, if you have some struggles, personal struggles, maybe you're covetous, maybe you have lust in your heart, maybe you deal with areas of your life, bitterness and unforgiveness, I just encourage you, when you fail in those areas, to get on your face and cry out to God and ask Him to forgive you and cleanse you and deal with those issues as best as you can.

Amen? I would not encourage you just to harden your heart and to go on and sin and not deal with it and not confess it, because ultimately what you're doing is leaving a door wide open for the devil. You're giving place to the devil. And that's exactly what Judas was doing.

He was giving place to the enemy. Well, the enemy has come. Satan enters into him.

And not only was he an unbeliever, and that's a good way to have the devil afflict you and possess you, but he also was one who was not willing to make confession. And I believe the other disciples, they believed on the Lord Jesus. When they failed, they made confession.

And they acknowledged their condition and they repented. But Judas was one who lived in sin secretly without confession, without repentance. And he had a wide open door.

And we're told here, if you go back in John 13, verse number 2, it says this, supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him. It's almost like the Lord allowed him. Okay, Satan, you're going to go ahead.

Go ahead and take control of him. Go ahead and take control of him. So Satan put into his heart.

And the only reason why Satan was able to put it into his heart was because his heart was already full of covetousness. You remember Ananias and Sapphira and what Peter said to Ananias and Sapphira? He said, why has Satan filled your heart, right? Why have you allowed Satan to fill your heart? So I understand that to mean that Satan can make thoughts and suggestions. Satan can bring temptation to you.

So when those thoughts come, we ought not to embrace them, right? We ought to cast them out. If we do embrace them, we ought to acknowledge them and confess them before God and cleanse them. Have our sin cleansed.

But if our door is wide open and we allow Satan to fill our heart, it'll lead us to ruin. It'll lead us to betrayal. It'll lead us to where Ananias and Sapphira concocted this thing in the church to deceive and to lie to the Holy Ghost.

And so the devil is obviously able to tempt us and to suggest things to our minds. You remember at the very beginning what the devil suggested to Eve? Hey, Eve, I know he was in a snake. Hey, Eve, I got an idea.

Did God really say what He says? And there were many temptations there. Jesus was tempted by the devil. Hey, Jesus, come here to the top of this temple and cast yourself down.

In other words, commit suicide. Oh no, you won't commit suicide. The angels will come and protect you.

But he gave them a suggestion. Throw yourself down. So oftentimes suicidal thoughts are suggestions by the dark world or the underworld to get us to sin and to destroy ourselves.

Well, Satan enters in to this man Judas. We're going to talk about that here in just a minute. But verse 28, Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.

For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then, having received the sop, went out immediately, and it was night. Now I know this is probably not a good time to bring up finances, but here's a good example.

Have you ever wondered how Jesus handled money? And a wonderful example here of money. Judas had the bag, and when Judas was there, that night of the betrayal, he immediately went out after taking the sop, and the disciples look around like, where is he going? They don't understand what's about to happen, but they thought, well, Judas has the bag, and well, we use the bag for basically two things. Number one, we use the bags for those things that we have need of against the feast.

So maybe Judas is going out to buy the things that we need, or maybe he's going out to give something to the poor. Right there are the two things we ought to use our money for. The Bible says that we're to labor, to take care of our own needs.

By the way, I said needs, right? Not want. Labor to take care of our own needs, and to labor to give to them that have need. And so the Lord exemplifies this.

This bag was a bag that was used for the needs of the disciples, and it was used for those who were poor. So oftentimes people would see Judas taking the money and going and buying some food, or some clothes for the disciples. And at other times, he would be going out to give some money to the poor.

So you ever wonder how Jesus spent His money? Right there it is. That's the two things they thought of. The only two things we do is we buy the things we have need of, and we give to the poor.

I remember I told some of you this story. I was working for a godly man named Clifford Holmes when I was in Bible school. He was a much older man than I. I learned to paint from him.

First painting job I ever had. I was probably in my late 20s, and we were painting. Probably had a 40-hour week, and he asked me while we were painting one day.

I can put myself in this position where I was that day because it really hit me. There's moments where someone will really give you something that will last a lifetime. And so he asked me while we were painting, he said, Jerry, do you think you can work a little bit extra this Saturday? I've got a job.

I need to get done. Can you work a little extra? And I said, well, a mistake, I shouldn't have said this. I said, well, I think all my needs are taken care of.

I don't think I need any more extra work, and so I think I'll just not work Saturday. And when I said that, I got a good firm rebuke. And he rebuked me.

He said, listen, the Bible says you're not only to labor for the things that you have need of, but also for the things for other people who have need. And so get your mind off yourself so much and start thinking about others. And so that's what the scripture says in Ephesians.

We're to labor to provide for our needs, but also for the needs of others. So this idea, well, I have enough money for all my needs. I don't need any more.

We ought to have enough extra to help others who have needs. So that's the purpose, the two purposes for labor. Well, let's keep reading, running down here.

Verse 31. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified. And praise the Lord.

I'm going to share what Chris shared here this morning. I was actually going to turn to John 17 and read a little bit there. He already read it for us.

Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify him. So exactly what Brother Chris was sharing here this morning.

Isn't it amazing that a cross and suffering and humiliation, all that could bring glory to God? But the Bible says the cross is the glory of God. And throughout all of eternity and even now, we just sang here this morning, to God be the glory. And you know why? You and I give glory to God today is because of the cross.

The cross, that which, humanly speaking, was a place of death and suffering and humiliation becomes the glory of God. Well, let's keep going here. Verse 33.

Little children, yet a little while I am with you. He's preparing to leave. You shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go you cannot come, so now I say unto you.

And he's talking about his departure here. He's going to go back to the Father and sit at the right hand of the Father. And he's telling the disciples, where I go, you cannot come.

Verse 34. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. And again, as read this morning, one of the greatest testimonies that the Lord gives his disciples here, you know the world, there's two great testimonies. Chris read one, but here's the second one.

When the world looks at the church, you know what two things? That if they see these two things in the church amongst God's people, it is a tremendous testimony to the world. And one of them is what was mentioned by Brother Chris, that the church be one. That the church be united.

That we have one heart and one mind. That we would not be scattered and divided. And I've said many times, all this denominational division and scattering is the work of the devil.

It's the work of carnality. It's not God's work. The Lord is bringing His people together.

And that's one of the testimonies of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of unity. When the Spirit of God fell upon the early church, they were of one soul, one heart and one mind.

There was no schisms. But the second thing is mentioned here, that we love one another. And by this, our love one toward another, shall all men know that you are my disciples.

You know how the people realize that you are special, or you have the glory of God, or the Spirit of God is upon you, because of how you treat your brother or your sister. Do you love your brother and your sister? Do you lay your life down for your brother and sister? Are you in fellowship with your brother and sister if you love one another? Well, the Lord has already exemplified this. Right here in this chapter, in chapter 13, in verse number 1, I want to read to you here what it says.

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come and He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. So this love, He exemplifies. He says, now you disciples, I want you to show the world the love that I have showed you.

I mean, I've been loving you for three years. Do you want to go back and look how to love? Watch how Jesus treated His disciples. You know, sometimes love needs a rebuke.

Amen? Sometimes love is a rebuke. Sometimes the Lord rebuked Peter. Get thee behind me, Satan.

Wow, Peter was rebuked. And sometimes love needs to give a rebuke. Sometimes love is comforting.

Sometimes love has to show mercy. But if you look at how Jesus treated His disciples, He said, I've loved you. Not only have I loved you, but I've loved you unto the end.

And I shared that with you last week, how important it is to love, and to love, and to love unto the end. Ezra is going to get married here in a few weeks, and I'm sure, and he stands up before the congregation with Keturah, and they're going to be asked, are you going to love this person for better or for worse? For richer or for poorer? In sickness and in health? Clinging to this person till what? Yes, to you part, until the end. And that is why you see in our society, a breakdown in this idea of love, because of all the divorce, all the covenant breaking that is happening, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, and you see less and less love in our society.

Love is a commitment to another person. I like this, love is a commitment to another person for their best interest. I have this person's best interest in mind, and I'm committed to them till the day they die.

You get someone who says that to you, young lady, a young man says, I have your best interest in mind, and I'm committed to you till the day you die, you've got somebody there who knows something about love. Amen? Or vice versa, you have a young lady that says that to a young man. Committed to the day you die.

Jesus loved them unto the end. And when I go to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, love is defined in many ways, it shows unto the end. For example, love endures all things.

Love bears all things. Love never what? Failing. Love never fails.

Love endures. Love forbears. Love does these things.

And the Lord certainly did that with His disciples, didn't He? I mean, those disciples were a long way from perfect. And I'll tell you what, someday if you ever see Judas in the judgment, Judas is going to say, I'll tell you what, Jesus loved me to the end. Even Judas.

As the Lord reached out to him during the night of betrayal and said, friend, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? What a rebuke to Judas. And I believe anywhere along the line, if Judas would have turned and repented and said, Lord, forgive me, have mercy, I've made a mistake. The Lord would have loved him and received him.

What God's foreknowledge, He knew ahead of time who it was, who it would be that would betray Him. And we'll talk just a little bit about that here in a minute. So love, young people, you get married, remember, love your spouse unto the end.

Amen? We're allowed to say that here. Amen. Divorce is not an option.

Love. Having someone's interest in mind, living for their good unto the end. Well, Jesus certainly exemplified that in His life with these disciples.

Let's keep reading here in verse 36. Simon Peter said unto Him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? Now, when the Lord said that, He's saying you're going to die later on.

You're going to follow my example of dying and being raised and ascend up, but it's not going to happen now. Verse 37, Peter said unto Him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me three times.

Now, there's two people here that the Lord mentions. Okay, Judas, you're going to go out and betray me. What you do, do quickly.

And then He turns to Peter and says, Listen, Peter, before the cock crows, before the morning comes this night, you're going to deny me three times. I don't know. You know, as a human, I'm thinking, what's worse? Going to the leaders and the Jewish people and saying, Hey, Jesus is over here.

If you want to get him, come and get him. Or, I don't know the man. Three times.

I don't know the guy. And cursing, it says one place, I don't know the guy. Whatever he said.

I don't know what he said there, but he cursed. Now, if you ask me, if I read the story, I don't know the end of the story. If you ask me, I say both go to hell.

Here's a denier. Excuse me. And here's a betrayer.

What is the difference between Peter and Judas? And I'll tell you what. You're either a Peter here or you're a Judas. What is the difference between Peter and Judas? Why does Judas betray the Lord and then get condemned to hell and commit suicide? And Peter denied the Lord three times and end up being a great apostle.

Well, I want to show you some similarities between the two, but then I'll also show you the big difference. The big difference between these two. And this is something that we need to, as a brotherhood, I think we need to learn in our own personal life about what Peter did that made him a great apostle and what Judas did that led him to kill himself.

Both of these men seemed to repent. You say, well, Judas didn't repent. The Bible says he repented.

It says he went back, took the 30 pieces of silver, threw those 30 pieces of silver down in the temple and went out. He says, I betrayed the innocent blood and he threw it down and he went out. He seemed to have sorrow in his heart for what he had done.

And he gave the money back. You'd think, there's a guy that's got it right. But the Bible says he went out and he hung himself.

Peter was one who repented too. The Bible says he went out and wept bitterly. So you get two men.

I mean, Judas wasn't out saying, ha, ha, ha, I got 30 pieces of silver and Jesus is up on the cross there, ha, ha, ha, this is great. No, he was remorseful. What was the difference between the two? I'm going to say one word.

Well, there's more than one word. These words go together. But one word I want to bring out is the word hope.

Hope and faith are very similar words. Hope and faith. And you know what was going on in the hearts of these two men.

First of all, let's take Judas. Judas made a mistake. And I think, personally, if I read this passage, I think Judas thought that Jesus, he's done it for three years, he'll escape.

I'll get my 30 pieces of silver. I'll tell them where he is. I'll lead them to him.

And he'll do another escape and he'll be gone and I'll get my 30 pieces of silver and they won't get him. Well, it didn't happen that way. And I think he regretted what he did.

The only problem with Judas, and here's a problem with many people today, is Judas, when he realized he betrayed this innocent man, he had no way in his heart and mind to resolve his guilt. He couldn't find a way to resolve it. And you know why he couldn't? Because he didn't believe that Jesus was who he was.

As we were told before, Judas was an unbeliever. Judas did not have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not believe that Jesus was the sacrifice for his sins.

He did not understand that. And so after the betrayal, he felt guilt and remorse. And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9 that godly sorrow leads to repentance in life, but the sorrow of the world produces what? Death.

You find them in the jails, right? You go visit the jails and they say, I wish I wouldn't have killed that man. You ask, why are you so sorrowful? Because I'm now stuck in this jail for the rest of my life. Right? Not because, oh, I've sinned against God.

I've done something evil in His sight. It's not a godly sorrow. It's not a sorrow that is towards God.

Oh God, have mercy upon me. I've sinned against you. Judas never had that kind of a sorrow.

He never turned to heaven and said, Oh God, have mercy upon me. He had a sorrow that was a sorrow for the world. You know, there's a lot of people who go out and maybe kill someone or rape someone or do something evil and they feel so bad.

They get a sheet or a rope and they hang themselves because they're so guilty. Listen, a Christian should never get to that place. Amen? Because there's one word, we all have hope.

We all have hope. Judas did not have any hope. Judas had no way to resolve his guilty conscience.

He didn't believe in Jesus. And therefore, when he had sin pressed upon him and the condemnation of guilt, the only thing he could think of was, I just need to end my life. And he went out and found a tree and hung himself.

Because there was no answer. Peter though, when he sinned and he denied the Lord, he wept and he said, there's hope. I have a belief that Jesus is the Messiah.

I have a belief that He is the atonement for my sin. I have that belief. Remember when Peter said, I believe thou art the Christ, I am sure of it, the Son of the living God? Peter then had an avenue to turn to.

He turned and said, Lord, there is hope for me in your death, your own resurrection. And if Peter had not that hope, Peter could have followed the same course. And he could have ended up killing himself too and ruining his life.

So Peter was a believer. And listen, if you're a believer and you're looking to Jesus and you have hope, all things work together for what? Good, to them who are called according to His purpose. If you have faith in Jesus, Peter, it doesn't matter if you denied Him three times, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

If you have faith, Peter, you have an avenue of hope. But if you don't have faith, and you're in that prison cell, and the future is hopeless, I'm here for life, I have nothing left. And my life will just end my life.

And Romans talks about this, and I've shared a little bit on it before, but those believers, they are vessels fitted for glory. Chris mentioned that today. You know, if you're a believer in Jesus, you're a vessel fitted to glory.

Peter was a vessel fitted for glory. And God allowed this denial to work together for Peter's good, and everything that came into Peter's life, God worked it for his good. But you know, Judas was a vessel fitted to destruction.

And when things came into his life, those traumas, those heartaches, those sins just destroyed him. Because he had nothing to hold to. So Peter had hope in his sorrow, but Judas had no hope.

Let me just share this with you. Some of you young people, you're going to get to places in your life, probably many of us do, where you feel hopeless. I've been there a couple of times.

And sometimes the devil's going to get you to the place where you feel like there is no more hope for me. I want to tell you ahead of time, if you have faith in Jesus, that's a lie. It's a lie.

I remember reading there in 2 Corinthians, that man that committed adultery or fornication with his stepmother, and it was a mess there in Corinthians. Later on, Paul would write, to give this man encouragement because we know the devil's devices is to overcome him with overmuch sorrow that he is without hope. Right? And so those who have faith in Jesus always have hope.

A glimmer of hope. And so, if you're a young person here today, you're going to probably be challenged in life. Wow, I call it this way, I tell my children, somebody's going to hit the wall.

We all hit the wall. Whoa. You're going to need hope.

And if you don't have true faith in Jesus Christ and who He is, you'll have no hope. I'd like you to turn to one verse in Psalm 42. There's a lot of psalms that teach this, but I'd like to read Psalm 42 in closing here this morning.

Psalm 42 is a psalm. Maybe some of you have had situations in your life where you had no hope or you were feeling pretty hopeless. And you oftentimes turn to psalms.

But here's a psalm that encourages us in this very thing. And there's a number of psalms that do that here in Psalm 42. I think this is a psalm after David had sinned that seemed pretty hopeless to him.

Verse 1, As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night.

This is a man who's weeping like Peter. While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? God has forsaken me. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in Me.

For I have gone with a multitude. I went with them to the house of God with a voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. I was with these people that were singing praises to God like we did today, that had joy.

My heart was in a great place. Now I'm in a miserable place. Verse 5, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? And then the next four words are important words.

Hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me.

Therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill of Mysore. Deep calleth unto deep, but the noise of thy waterspouts, all thy waves and thy billows are going over me. It's kind of like Jonah.

Jonah's a classic example of this. Jonah's got to be without hope in the belly of that whale. He's doing wrong.

He's running from God. He's there and yet he talks about hope. He cries to God.

And what seems to be a hopeless situation, he is delivered. Verse 8, Yet the Lord will command lovingkindness in the daytime and in the night. His song shall be with me in my prayer unto the God of my life.

I will say unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Do you feel like God has forgotten you? Why go I a-mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? And here's the answer again. Hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God.

I think we all face this in life. And it's one of the ways to find out whether we're a Judas or a Peter. Both Judas and Peter hit the wall.

Judas with a betrayal. Peter with three denials. One had no hope.

The other had hope. One was an unbeliever in heart. He represented himself as a believer, but in heart he didn't believe.

Peter was a believer. He truly had faith in Jesus Christ. And I think God will test us.

I think God will bring us into these situations, and he'll expose our heart. When you get into a difficult situation, where does your heart turn? Where do you turn? You know, most people in the world turn to the psychologist. They turn to the medication.

They turn to suicide. Everywhere else but to where they ought to turn. The Lord.

I'm not prophesying, but in a crowd this size, there are going to be people who probably aren't believers. They'll sit here. They'll be in the fellowship.

Judas was never cast out. He said he was a Christian, but he wasn't in the heart. Do you really believe this morning, and are you willing to say, I'm going to die.

I'm going to die for Jesus Christ. I believe this so sure that I will die for my faith. I trust you're there.

In the next five years, the next two years, we may have to have some of those choices here in this country. But let's make sure we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that we're not just sitting here doing a Judas.

We as believers will always have hope. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. That includes every one of them.

And so I want you to examine your heart. I believe, and I don't want to be like Peter and say, Lord, listen, I'll die for you, right? Five hours later, he's denying the Lord three times. But what's really in your heart? Is Christianity just kind of a good idea? I'm not sure about it, and push comes to shove.

I would have cast it off. Or do you really believe the word of God is true? And you can rest your life and your eternity on it. Let's be Peter's, not Judas's.

Let's close with a word of prayer.