The Traitor

John 13:18-30

 

INTRO: No one names their son Judas.  When we hear the name of Judas, several thoughts come to mind: thief, hypocrite, liar, betrayer, and traitor.  Judas was a traitor; he sold the Son of God into the hands of sinful men for thirty pieces of silver.  Twelve men sat at the Last Supper table with Jesus and one of them was a traitor.

 

I.        VSS 18-22, THE TRAITOR ANTICIPATED

A.       Vs 18, “I speak not of you all.”  This points back to verse 17.  Not all could be happy for not all were saved, not all could be in complete obedience to Christ.  One of the twelve was an unbeliever; one was yet in his sin; one was not clean spiritually (10).  That Judas would betray Him came as no surprise to Jesus; He anticipated it.  He expected it to happen.  Jesus knew that Judas was about to betray Him.

1. Jesus had chosen twelve to be His apostles, and He knew that one was a Devil or had a demon (6:70-71).  When Jesus says, “I know whom I have chosen,” He is not speaking of election to salvation, but election to be an apostle.

2. Judas had never known Jesus as Lord and Master; he never spoke of Him as such.  Judas was lost; he had never been born again.  He would never see the kingdom of God (Jn 3:3).

3. Why did Jesus chose Judas to be a disciple.  He knew what he was; yet, He chose Judas to be a disciple.  Why?

a. The answer to the question is given by Jesus who says: “That the Scripture may be fulfilled....”  This is taken from Psalm 41:9.

b. “Hath lifted up his heel against me.”  This pictures betraying one’s benefactor (eating another person’s bread– biting the hand that feeds you).

1- “Lifted up his heel.”  Like a horse who without warning kicks his owner.

2- David was betrayed by his friend, Ahithophel (Psa 41:9).  Jesus was betrayed by Judas who kept up the appearance of friendship to the end.  The other disciples did not suspect Judas; he was two-faced.

B.       Vs 19, Jesus lovingly tells His disciples that no matter what happens to Him it is all part of God’s eternal plan.  He wants them to see that He is the great “I Am.”  Jesus wants them to know that he is not a victim.  What takes place is not an accident, God’s eternal purpose is being fulfilled (Acts 2:23-24).

1. Our Lord’s foreknowledge proves His deity.

2. “Some good would come out of the despicable treachery of Judas.  The Lord’s evident omniscience, as the disciples would come to look back on it, would be evidence of Hid deity” (Phillips 255).

3. The betrayal kiss of Judas would remind the rest that Jesus is “I Am.”

C.      Vs 20, When Jesus is betrayed, condemned, and crucified, the disciples are to keep on going.  They are still ambassadors.

1. Whosoever accepts the message of reconciliation preached by the disciples, receives Christ and His Father.

2. What Jesus says here is true of every ambassador for Christ for all times.

D.      Vs 21, Jesus was troubled in spirit over what He had just said (13:10, 18), and because of what He was about to say.

1. Jesus was “troubled.”  The same Greek word is used in John 11:33 to show the emotion Jesus had as He approached the tomb of Lazarus.  Again the word “troubled” is used (12:27) as the Greeks came to Him.

2. Jesus was troubled when He says, “One of you”!

a. One of the disciples would betray Him.

b. Like a bolt of lightning, it stuck, and it hurt.

3. Pink says: “His tearful lament over Jerusalem evidences the depths of His anguish over Israel’s rejection.  Here it was the bitter sorrow of seeing one of His apostles deliberately becoming apostate” (328).

4. It troubles Jesus when men go on unaffected by the message of grace!

E.       Vs 22, Not only was Jesus troubled, the disciples were troubled too.

1. When the truth of the Lord’s words dawned on the, they were troubled.

2. Note that they searched each other’s faces uncertain “of whom He spake.”

a. Judas had become so hard that he did not blush or become pale.

b. As the disciples searched each other’s face, I believe they all, except Judas, searched their hearts (Psa 139:23-24).

3. John 13:21-22 inspired Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, “The Last Supper.”  Judas looked so much like a disciple that the others did not detect his treachery.  Lost friend, you may fool me and those around you, but you are not fooling God.

 

II.       VSS 23-26, THE TRAITOR REVEALED

A.       Vs 23, The twelve were not sitting on chairs around the table; they were reclining.

1. Leaning on the bosom of our Lord, next to His heart, was one of the “disciples, whom Jesus loved.”  This speaks of John the writer of this Gospel.

2. When John says that he is the disciple whom Jesus loved, he is not boasting of his love for Jesus, but of Jesus’ love for him (I Jn 4:19).  Oh, to be like John, leaning on Jesus.  Oh, not to be like Judas, a traitor.

B.       Vs 24, Peter catches John’s eye and motions to him to indicating that John should get Jesus to be more precise.

C.      Vs 25, John tilts his head back, looking straight into the eyes of Jesus his Lord (kurios–master, to whom one belongs) and ask tenderly, “Lord, who is it?”  We need to make our calling and election sure.

D.      Vs 26, In answer to John’s question, Jesus breaks off a piece of bread (unleavened flat cakes) and holds it in His hand as He tells John that the traitor is the man to whom He will give the sop or the morsel after He has dipped it into a vessel filled with bitter herbs, vinegar, and salt or into one containing a sauce made of mashed fruit.

1. Jesus dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas as a token of kindness to a favored guest.

2. Why did Jesus answer John in this way?  Why did He not just simply say, “the traitor is Judas”?  Jesus answers in the way that He does to give Judas a final warning.  Judas was about to betray one out of whose hand he had been fed.

 

III.      VSS 27-30, THE TRAITOR DISMISSED

A.       Vs 27, In 13:2, the Devil injected an evil thought or suggestion into the heart of Judas.

1. Now Satan puts himself into the heart of Judas.  Judas was not possessed by Satan, controlled by him fully.

2. This same thing happens today when men reject the light and love darkness.  They become the tools of Satan.

3. “The warnings of Jesus had not been heeded.  Now they will no longer be issued.  Jesus is through with Judas” (Hendriksen 247).

4. Jesus dismisses Judas by saying, “that thou doest, do quickly” ; or “What you are doing, do it fast.”

B.       Vs 28, The disciples, as a whole, did not know why Jesus had said what He did to Judas.  He was a deceiver, but not a believer.

C.      Vs 29, Judas was so good at being a hypocrite that he deceived the other disciples right to the end.

1. When Jesus dismissed Judas to do his ugly deed, the others thought Judas was going out on an errand or to do charity work.

2. Judas was a member of the church, but he was lost.

D.      Vs 30, Judas now realizes that Jesus knows all about his wicked plan.  Judas immediately disappears.

1. When Judas left the upper room, it was night outside physically; but it was also night inside the heart of Judas.

2. For Judas, night has never ended.  The Bible says that at his suicide Judas went “to his own place” (Acts 1:25).

a. A place of outer, eternal darkness.  “Where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.”

b. “To his place,” an eternal prison house, he is forever without hope.

c. In Matthew 26:24, Jesus says concerning Judas: “It had been good for that man if he had not been born.”  Judas Iscariot will forever burn in hell, not because he betrayed Jesus, but because he died without ever believing on Jesus as Lord an Savior.