WHAT HAPPENED TO JUDAS?
John 13:18-30
I. JUDAS: WHAT A NAME!
The name of Judas almost blisters the tongue of decent people. A “Judas kiss” is defined as
a kiss of betrayal. A “Judas hole” is a peep hole through which guards would spy on prisoners.
The name “Judas” means “praise.” Yet Judas is the only disciple who never gave to Jesus the
honor of calling Him Lord! Judas not only betrayed our Lord, but he betrayed God’s calling on
his life. Satan would like to have you become just like Judas and betray our Lord and God’s
calling on our lives as well. Some who used to worship with us in this very church have become
like Judas, bitter, fallen away and have become useless to God and to themselves. Our
question for tonight is “What happened to Judas? He started out so well, with so many
privileges and opportunities. What happened to him? Our Lord selected Judas as one of His
twelve disciples: Luke 6:12-16. How can we explain our Lord’s choice of Judas as an apostle?
Was Judas a victim of God? Did he have no choice? Acts 1:15-20; Psalm 41:9. The thought is
that Scripture had to be fulfilled, somebody had to do it, God looked around and said, “Judas,
you are the one! They would say Judas had no choice. But to say Judas had no choice is to strip
Judas of everything that makes a man, a man. Judas did have a choice here. Judas was not a
victim of God but victim of the devil! God did not tempt Judas to betray His Son.
James 1:13-15. Judas, like every other man was responsible for his own actions. Some would
say Judas was actually a hero trying to force Jesus to set up His kingdom but Jesus had made it
clear that He was not here to bring deliverance from the Roman Empire: Luke 17:20-21. Others
try to explain Judas’ choices by saying he was a believer who quit believing and fell away from
the faith. But that isn’t true because the Word of God says Judas was never a believer in the
first place: John 6:70; John 13:10. No, Judas didn’t fall because Judas was never saved! Judas
was no victim and he wasn’t a believer who fell. Judas made his own choice and betrayed the
Lord of glory and lost everything because of the choices he made. Judas was and died as an
unsaved man and went to hell, losing everything by his own choice.
II. JUDAS THE THIEF!
The Bible tells us that Judas was a thief and was stealing from the treasury. Jesus knew it
but no one else seems to have known. From the very beginning Judas had followed Jesus with
his eyes on what he could gain materially—his sin was covetousness. Mark 14:3-11;
Mark 10:21-27; Matthew 16:26. As Jesus said that last verse do you think He was thinking of
Judas? Sadly, even today many so called “believers” because of some “little sin” wind up in a
place they never intended to be. It was seemingly a small thing that destroyed Judas and it may
be a small thing that is destroying some of us.
III. JUDAS THE BETRAYER!
The question is obviously: “Why did Judas do it?” Did he see ahead of time Jesus being crucified
and being the shrewd businessman that he was count his losses and try to make gain from a
seemingly hopeless situation? Did Satan enter Judas’ heart. Jesus had washed Judas’ feet just
like all the apostles but Jesus knew even thou he washed Judas feet with water, Judas was not
cleansed from his sin: John 13:10-11. At the last super, Jesus gave Judas the seat of honor.
Judas got the first bread that Jesus dipped for him. Jesus gave Judas one last chance to repent.
Judas did not have to do what he chose to do. No one has to be lost and separated from God.
IV. JUDAS THE SUICIDE!
Judas never repented toward God. Judas was sorry for his sins but he never turned from his
sin to his God. 2 Corinthians 7:10. Satan entered into Judas but we need to know that Satan
never has and never will enter a person against their own free will. So why did Judas commit
suicide? Because when Satan enters the heart of a person, his will and intent is always to kill
and destroy that person: John 10:10. Whenever Satan enters the picture, he always brings to
fruition that the wages of sin is death: Romans 6:23.
V. LIFE LESSONS!
There are some great lessons from the life of Judas Iscariot. We learn about the perfection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Had there been any fault that Judas found in our Lord Jesus at his trial
he could have said so, but he never did. We can learn that even if we have a wolf in sheep’s
clothing we can still continue to do God’s will for His glory. And we can learn from his
unconfessed sin that we must stop hiding our sin and confess it to God! Proverbs 28:13-14.
We see here a warning of coming close and yet missing all the blessings of God because of a
seemingly small sin left unconfessed. By Judas own free choice he gave up eternal life for the
treasures of this world and found them wanting. What about you, are there things in your life
that must be confessed and repented of? Come to Jesus tonight and lay down your sin and
follow Jesus Christ to eternal life: Matthew 11:28-30. Don’t let what happened to Judas happen
to you. We must learn to repent from our sin and turn in faith to Jesus Christ as our personal
Lord and Savior: Romans 10:9-10, 13. You don’t want to be like Judas in the final judgement:
Matthew 7:21-23.