Don't Kill your chance

In this Biblestudy we take a minute to explore the journeys of Peter and Judas. Both are disciples of Jesus, and are not only apart of his administration but reside within his inner circle. Peter was referred to by Jesus as the rock that he would build his church upon. Judas was in charge of the finances, he was tasked with the responsibility of keeping them efficient and fluid whist they travelled with Jesus, preached and lived. We pick our study up at the point of reckoning, Peter has denied him, Judas has sold him out to the religious leaders, and now the grief, guilt and remorse of their actions are weighing heavily upon them. There is a parallel thread that runs through both men’s stories, but it is their individual decisions that will determine the arc of their destinies. No matter what you’ve done don’t kill your chance to make it rights 


Luke 22:31-34 - Christ tells Peter what he isn’t ready to hear.
Luke 22:54-62 - Peter’s story is complete of denying and abandoning Jesus. 
Matthew 26:14-16 - Judas seeks to betray Jesus.
Matthew 27:1-5 - Remorse and hopelessness
Mark 16:7 - Tell my disciples and Peter.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Rima Reloaded with me, Sean Williams. It is an honor and a privilege to have you all back with us again. And also thank you for our subscribers. We are very consistently, slowly but consistently. And I'm you know me, I'm into the consistency thing. Um, we're climbing and we're growing, and it's amazing just kind of having you lovely new people that are coming on. So please get involved with the interactive um parts of the platform, whether it's in the comments section, whether it's sharing, um, on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. We want to hear from you. So please interact, interact, interact, or in the most or the more modern term, engage, engage, engage. Please don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. You can do all of that below. But also don't forget to go onto our Patreon as well because we are now adding more content. I know, could you imagine? More of us. You love it really. Um, but go on there and you can get all of that free and early content, and you can also support in whichever way you want to. If you want to give lots, give lots. If you want to give a small amount, give a small amount. We don't really care about the size, it's about you and your intention to want to help in whatever way that looks like. So we appreciate you massively. Thank you for also last week. We had an amazing time in our Bible study last week where we spoke about do you know what you're asking for? And this week is a little bit of a continuation from that, not on the subject base, but the timeline of what's happening. We're gonna look at um some of the events that transpired after that. Um, we'll also touch on a couple of events and moments that happened before that moment. And just very um quickly to recap what we were speaking about last week, we were talking about James and John, um, the sons of Zebedee, they basically go to Jesus and well, Matthew's account, as we looked in, um, they they got their mum to basically ask on their behalf, like, so can the boys in your kingdom can they sit left and right? And Jesus was like, Bro, sister girl, listen, and boys, you man, don't know what you're asking. You don't know what you're asking because I'm not sure you can drink from the cup I'm gonna drink from. And at this time, they don't know that Jesus is gonna be crucified in the way that he's gonna be crucified. He's told them many, many a time. He's told all of them, he's like, guys, some really weird and horrible stuff is gonna happen. And they just weren't listening. Why? Because they were caught up in the fanfare of the moment. Jesus was the most famous guy in the region, right? Him being killed was so far removed from their minds, it was unreal. And it was done also on the basis that Jesus had been in a couple of close scrapes before. Don't forget, remember, there was that time in the temple where he basically tried to tell them, like, look, I am the fulfillment of the law, and they were like, We're gonna kill you, we're gonna take you to the edge of the city, and we're gonna throw you off one of the sides of the mountains. And you remember Jesus did his thing where he kind of was like, No, you're not, and he kind of waved through the crowd and ducked out. They had seen him evade arrest and attempts of harm to him on so many occasions, and also he liked to talk in riddles, so it's just I was like, Yeah, the son of man's gonna be offered up, okay, it's fine. They acted like they knew what he was talking about, but there was like we don't know what he's talking about until the moment came. And when Jesus was talking to James and John, he was kind of trying to let them know like, boys, you don't want the smoke that I'm gonna have to go deal with. You you don't want it, and they're like, Yes, we do, we we want all the smoke, and Jesus was like, Yeah, we'll see. Um, and then we obviously we we advanced and looked and examined and explored what that meant, okay? So we looked at why we asked God for certain things, okay. We looked at the intention to which we ask God for certain things and why sometimes the Holy Spirit's just like, I don't think you should have that right now. Not because he hates us, not because he doesn't like us, but he understands that we're not ready for a lot of the things that we ask for. Why? Because the things that we ask for are generally linked to the visual version or benefit of what we can see or what we can understand. I'll say that one more time. The things that we ask for are generally linked to the visual version or benefit of what we can see but don't understand. Okay, how do you mean, Sean? Jesus was basically saying, Can you drink from the cup I'm about to drink from? You remember the prayer he prayed, he prayed in the Garden of Gifts to me, Lord, if it is possible, please let this cup pass from me. And then he caught himself, like, but not my will, your will be done. So Jesus was like, Are you ready to be flogged? In that one statement, he was like, When he was asking, can you drink from the cup I'm gonna drink from? He was like, Can are you ready to be flogged? Are you ready to be spat on? Are you ready to be beaten within an inch of your life? Are you ready to be put on trial by the people that you've actually come to save? Are you ready to be handed over to the religious leaders that are not interested in bringing the kingdom of God to earth but to sustain and maintain their position so that they can keep what they think is their right to be in terms of the hierarchical structure that sees over the people of Israel. They weren't ready for that. They weren't ready to be baptized with the baptism he was baptized with, they weren't ready to be put on a cross, they weren't ready for half of these stuff, but they were ready for the visual representations of what Jesus was about to go through. They wanted to heal the sick and raise the dead, they wanted to do miracles, they wanted to talk to the wind and the sea and be like, yo, chill. And it actually listened. They wanted that stuff, but Jesus was like, before you get to that, you have to go through this. So the next time that you're praying, you feel like God isn't asking yourself, God isn't answering you, and you're like, Well, God, I want that, or I'm ready for this, but God is asking, are you ready to go through that? Don't ask for this if you're not ready to go through that. A lot of the time, the the success of our prayer isn't on the basis of the this that we're asking for. It's God's ability to know. Well, not his ability, but his his um God's ability to trust that you can handle the that that brings you to this. We've seen it in our Bible study already. Job was a perfect example. Why? Job was the victim of a conversation that he wasn't even present for, and God was like, I'm gonna give you everything back. You're gonna get everything that you thought you lost. Oh, you're gonna get that, you're gonna get all of this, you can have that. But are you ready and willing to endure that first? And obviously, we saw with Job, he was. Where else do we see that? Jesus, the 40 days of fasting, Matthew chapter 4, and Satan comes to him where on the last day he's like, So, if you're the Son of God, command that this happens. And even though Jesus was physically weak, spiritually, he was as sharp as anything. He's like, man won't live by bread alone, dummy, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And every time that Satan came to him, he came to him with three different things. Remember what they were? They were likened to what we see in the epistles the lust of the eyes, bread, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Am I right in saying that? The lust of the eyes, which was aha. The lust of the eyes was the kingdoms that was given, right? You remember he said, like all of these kingdoms I'll give you if you just bow down and worship me. Um, and then he said, Um, cast yourself off of the side of this um mountain. Because didn't he say that he'll give his angels rule over you? Pride, right? Honor, pride. Um, and then he said, Turn these bits of stone into bread, the lust of the flesh. Why he was hungry 40 days, not not eating. That's hungry work, okay? And so those three strands of temptation have not changed. That is still how the enemy seeks to get people into encapsulate and ensnare them. But we're going to today, we're gonna look a little bit further down the line. Um, I hope you enjoyed that recap. That you won't even need to go look at the other Bible study. I just basically gave it to you again in short and farm. Um, we're gonna look at today's topic matter, um, and it is a continuation and it is a carry-on from what we were speaking about last week, but it has a different title. Um, the title to this week's Bible study, this week's Rim Reloaded, is Don't Kill Your Chance. I'm gonna say that one more time. Don't kill your chance. Okay. Now, this can have many different and varied meanings, but it's going to speak to us individually and collectively in different ways. For some of you, killing the chance might be cutting off a relationship with a person or a thing, right? Or the the idea of it for another person, it could be moving into a different space of work or business, or it could be an opportunity for another person, it could be something within themselves, something that you're trying to do within yourself, and you're like, ah, I can't get there, right? So this is gonna have many and different permutations and connections um for each of us, depending on the season or the moment or the thing that we're experiencing. And I want you to allow the Holy Spirit to lean you into what this is going to mean to you and for you, okay. Um, this I want to give you a little bit of background of why I chose to teach this Remarie Loaded. Um, almost 35 years ago, maybe it was between 30 and 35 years ago, I had the pleasure and the privilege of sitting in a church service that I didn't really want to be in. Um I'll tell the truth, I'll tell the truth. When I was younger, what am I in church for? Like, I was in church all the time. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, a lot of Saturdays because you used to travel and go see other churches, go figure. And then like twice on a Sunday, I was like, bruh, my church hours are crazy. Like, I'm oh, I'm I'm owed time back. That's how I you know in work when you go, no, no, we need to give you some time back. Yeah, you do. I was owed time back, right? Um, but this particular Sunday evening, it was a cool service. Uh, I think my dad was actually away traveling at the time, and we used to have um these roles in church called deacons, okay? And basically, um, the deacons were much like how the epistles describe, um, they were the ones that would take care of a lot of what I would call the logistical workings of the church. And we had some amazing deacons. Um, we had three, the three standouts in our church were um Deacon Miller, Deacon Taweer, um, and deacon Steve, right? And these men were wonderful. Anything that used to happen in terms of the upkeep of the church, and sometimes when um we needed people to be physical presences with other members of the body of Christ that needed stuff or things that sometimes the elders or ministers couldn't do, the deacons would do. And Deacon Miller, um, God rest his soul, he was down to preach. And in my head, I was just like, Lord, Deacon Miller wasn't the most dynamic preacher, right? So even as a kid, you're not gonna sit and be like, Yeah, this is great, more, more, more. It was kind of like, get comfortable, we're gonna be here for a little minute, and you know, might get a little nap on. Um, but this particular Sunday, for whatever reason, and I would say that Deacon Miller was quite expressive, but he it wasn't anything crazy, it was just an amazingly delivered word with the most beautiful intention in mind, um and the execution was it was perfect. The reason it was perfect because the message preached itself, and it didn't need any assistance, it didn't need production, it didn't need dynamics, it didn't need sprinkles on top. It it was the cake, the sponge, the icing, and the cherry. And so what I'm planning to do today is I am hoping to teach um the sermon that he preached three decades ago because I believe it's still relevant. Um and it's been sitting on my heart. It's been sitting on my heart for a good week and a half. Um, and I was like, do you know what? I want to, I wanna, I wanna teach this a little bit. I want to teach this a little bit. So if you will, we're gonna go to the book of Luke, chapter 22, and I'm going to start at verse 31. Um, and I'm gonna move to verse 34, but I'm also going to run two stories parallel to what we are going to be reading, and I'm gonna give you a little bit of background before this. Um, we are Jesus' ministry, is getting to the crescendo point. Now, when I say the crescendo point, Christ is the fulfillment of the solution for what happened in the Garden of Eden. Okay, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell into sin, which meant that we were all plunged into sin, and there was a conversation that happened between God and Satan in the garden, where God basically does, like, you know, a riddle me this, um, and he tells Satan how he's going to solve the proposed problem that he has now given him through Adam and Eve falling. And Jesus is the fulfillment of that solution a couple of millennia later, right? Almost three or four millennia later, in comes God manifesting flesh as Jesus. Okay, and Jesus has basically been turning that whole region upside down, right? It started with the turning the water into wine at the wedding. Um, then it went on with him teaching, healing paralytics, opening the eyes of the blind, the lame or walking. He's having conversations with the religious leaders, they cannot answer the questions that he's asking them. He is confounding them with the answers to the questions that they're coming to him with. But yet there is this little niggle underneath where he keeps trying to tell his disciples, like, this isn't what you think. Why is it not what they think? Because at this time, the people of Israel are under Roman occupation, the Roman Empire is popping at this time, they run everything. Trust me, they are of that time, they were the America of that time. Just we want it. We want it, cool, we'll pull up, we'll take that. That's how they were moving. And there is this uneasy relationship between the people of Israel, the Jews, and the Roman government, because Rome understands historically who these people are, but Rome is also like, well, we're Rome and we're running stuff, and basically, you're going to do as we say. Um, but like I said, there was this uneasy tension because a lot of even the great Roman philosophers and those that were very high up in the government and the politics, they would often remark when they would get together for their state um ceremonies, or I should say their state parties and dinners and stuff, right? And they would often philosophize and say, How has the vanquished given rules to the conqueror? So they were basically saying, How are these, how are these Jews, right, who are basically our subjects, how are they telling us what will and won't happen in a region that we now run? This was the tension, this was the uneasy partnership that was happening in the region. Why? Because the Romans understood that historically the Jews were coming from a place where they had gone through great suffering, but there is this God that seems to do these miraculous things and allows them to exist beyond natural means that would make sense to most people, right? And also because of the festivals and because of the feasts and everything that makes up what we know to be the Jewish calendar, there were things that the Jews needed the Romans to help them basically still what's the word I'm looking for, execute and have, right? So when the Passover would happen, the Romans developed a tax system with the religious leaders so that everybody that would come in to Jerusalem for this holy festival and would buy their animals and stuff for sacrifice and everything else, souvenirs. Imagine modern-day kind of touristy, you know, commerce and stuff. That was what was going on in the temple. And the Romans and the Jew and the Jewish leadership, they worked out an amazing deal. An amazing deal. So basically, the Jews were okay because they were getting paid, but the Romans, I should say, were okay because they were getting paid. But the Jewish people were like, this is not what it's supposed to be, and they're obviously holding on to this notion and idea of a messiah, but their idea of a messiah was a military figure, a guy that was gonna come, get the Romans, kick them out, crown himself, and be like, right now we're gonna head back into another Davidic reign. Okay, and when you hear the term the Davidic reign, the Davidic reign is much like how the British Empire harks back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Okay, many historians will tell you that the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, that's Henry VIII's daughter, the one that was um the child of Anne Boleyn, of all of them. Can you imagine? The one who probably had the most ignominious death. Her daughter ends up being a better ruler than her dad. And so when you speak to a lot of historians, they will tell you that the reason why the reign of Elizabeth I was called the Golden Age was because of how powerful Britain had become in the world, what it was able to do, and how the rest of the world saw it. And for um the Israelites to hark back to a Davidic era reign. Remember, David was um the young child who slew Goliath. David was the one who God had said to Samuel, you're gonna anoint this boy, and his house shall rule over Israel. Right? That's why Jerusalem was called the city of David. So in the the Jewish people's mind, they just want to get back to this time of of the Davidic feeling era of kingship and rulership because it was the best that they'd known. But now Jesus is getting towards the crescendo of his ministry, and some uncomfortable truths are starting to come to the surface. Okay. Now, what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at Luke 22. I'm gonna read from verse 31 to 34, and it simply says this Simon Simon, that was the government name of Peter. Satan has asked to sift you all all. Sorry, I'm saying that wrong. Simon Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you, okay, every part of him, body, soul, and spirit, as wheat. But Jesus said, I've prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And this is very important what he says is, and when you have turned back, so where's he going? Strengthen your brothers. 33. But he replied, This is now Simon Peter replying, Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death. 34. Answered, I tell you, Peter, before that chicken, the Bible actually says rooster, but I like the chicken. Before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you even know me. Then Jesus asked them, When I sent you without purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything? Nothing, they answered. Okay, now I want to give this a bit of context. Peter, whose real name or government name is Simon, was one of the senior disciples. The reason he was one of the senior disciples was because he had leadership qualities, but also at this point, he has given to Jesus in the presence of the other disciples, probably the deepest revelation of who Christ was, to Christ. He's the one that said, I know who you are. Because remember, Jesus said to his disciples, who are people out there saying that I am? And then he said, Who do you lot say that I am? And Peter said, You, you're, you're the Christ, you're the Son of God. He he he knew and called him. And Jesus said, Jesus was so taken back by what Peter said, he said, Listen, brother, flesh nor blood have revealed this to you, but my father in heaven. So it would have felt very weird for Jesus to be turning around and saying to the guy, right, who Jesus has admitted, is getting revelational downloads from the Father, right? Yo, you see you, yeah. Satan desires to sift you as we desires to break you down to your smallest particle, and then Jesus then gives us a sneak peek into one of the most powerful spiritual weapons. He says, But Peter, I have prayed for you. And then his next thing that your faith, and now we're just gonna insert this in here. Remember, faith is the substance of things hoped for, it is the evidence of what you can't see, but you know spiritually, intrinsically, right? And he said, That I've prayed that your faith fail you not. So here we are, we have Peter, he's in a situation where he's feeling good, then Jesus is telling him that something crazy is gonna happen. Peter's like, No, it's not, I'm never letting this happen. Then Jesus tells him something that he doesn't want to hear. Peter's not ready to hear that he's gonna deny Christ. When you love a person, the last thing you think you're gonna do is be in a situation where that person needs you, and A, not only you're not gonna be there, but B, you're going to join everybody else. That is trying to bring that person down, or is trying to abandon that person or separate that person, you are going to deny any type of connection or idea of knowing that person. Now, if Jesus wasn't God, I believe this is the type of thing that absolutely breaks your heart. There is nothing worse than when you're going through a moment and somebody you expect to do better, be better, know better, willfully chooses to go the other way. There is nothing, nothing worse than that. And yet Jesus finds himself having to tell one of his chief disciples, listen, when this thing really gets on top, right? And I'm gonna need some help, you're not gonna be there to help me. Okay, so Peter's having a tough time going through this, handling this information. Now, what we're gonna do is we're gonna drop down to in the same verse, we're gonna drop down to verse 54, and we're gonna read from 54 to 62. Um, and we're going to almost bring a bit of a bow around Peter's story. Okay, so Christ has just told Peter, listen, before the before the crow roost three times, you're gonna deny that you even know me. Okay, he's tried to tell them, listen, they're gonna kill me. They're gonna kill me, but don't be afraid because I'm gonna rise again on the third day. Now we know why they can't hear it, because they believe Jesus to be the Messiah, and their idea of a Messiah is a military figure. So, what do you mean they're gonna arrest you and kill you? They can't arrest and kill you if you're the Messiah. Now, we're not forgetting that in this whole process they've seen Jesus do miracles upon miracles upon miracles or upon miracles. So, in their mind, they kind of feel like what Jesus is saying and what he's doing is kind of contradicting a little bit, right? But yet Christ knows what they don't have the capacity to understand. I need you to understand that God knows what you don't have the capacity to understand, which means your job, your only job, is what? To trust him, and trust is going to become an anchor and a cornerstone in our Bible study and in what we see. Okay, verse 54, right? Then seizing him, so this is the the soldiers who um have found Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane, we will understand how he's done this because don't forget, I'm gonna tell you two sides of the story and they're gonna run parallel. So we're we're looking at Peter's story right now. So then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. So this is the soldiers that were sent to grab Jesus from the Garden of Gethsemane to bring him in, so they could now go through the process of um convicting him and then killing him. Peter followed at a distance. So already we can see what Jesus said is coming into play because if Peter was Jesus' boy, he'd be all up in there fighting, but get off my mate, get leave him alone. He ain't he's like, Okay, this is techie. I'm gonna just keep a safe distance and just wait back here. Um so it says Peter followed at a distance, verse 55, and when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, This man was with him, but he denied it. Woman, I don't know him, he said. Then a little later, someone else saw him and said, You're also one of them, aren't you? Peter got vexed. He goes, Man, I am not. Just shut it down. No, I'm not. I went with them. I don't know them. I ain't never seen them in my life. That's how Peter's moving. This is Jesus' best friend. And then about an hour later, another asserted, No. This fellow was with him. He's a Galilean. Peter replied, Man, I don't know what you're talking about. Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord, this is Jesus, turned and he looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him. Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times. And verse 62 is is the real it's the it's the real crux. And he went outside, this is Peter, and wept bitterly. It's one thing to disappoint yourself. It's a completely different thing to disappoint someone that you love. That pain is something that is very hard to get over on your own. I would almost say it's it's nearly impossible. It's nearly impossible. Because in that moment, Peter remembers that Jesus called to him from the side of the shore. He remembers that Jesus told him to cast his net down on the other side. He remembers that this Nazarene is the reason he caught the biggest catch of his life. He remembers that this Nazarene was the catalyst to transformative change in his life. This guy that he's just denied is the guy that saw beyond what he was and invested in who he could be. How do we know this? His name wasn't Peter, his name was Simon. His name was Simon. And after he received the revelation of who Jesus was, Jesus was like, Your name ain't Simon anymore. People aren't gonna go by what they remembered you as. To then present and produce his best version of you. God had to allow Peter to set fire to the only version of him that he knew. Because he realized after this moment, you'll never cling to Simon again. But you'll hold on to Peter. There are things that God allows you to go through because it means that you're going to set fire to that thing that is holding you back, stopping you, not allowing you to get forward. Because if you set fire to that, he knows the revelation of who he always meant you to be over here. Oh, that's just within arm's reach. Oh, say that with me. The revelation of who you're supposed to be is in arm's reach, but you gotta reach out. Okay? I'm getting a little bit excited, and I can feel myself getting ahead of myself. Very quickly, I'm now gonna show you the parallel. Go to Matthew chapter 26, and we're gonna look at verses 14. So, as we've just seen, Peter is here, he's having a terrible time because he's just denied Jesus, and Jesus just looked at him, which is even worse. Because it's not even like Jesus cussed him out or called him a waste man. It's like you little chief, I always knew I can trust you. You know what I mean? Didn't call him a punk. Look at you, little little fish person. Didn't call him none of that stuff. The Bible says that the Lord just looked at him. There's nothing worse than when a person gives you a look that says everything that they don't need to verbally express. I know about that look. I've probably given a couple to be fair. But here he is. The look was so bad that Peter ran out and cried. Do you know when I get to heaven, I'll be like, Lord, show me the look you gave Peter. And he'll just be like, Really? I'd be like, Yeah, I need to see it. I want to know what made a grown man cry like that. I'm joking, I I know what made him cry. It was his own little conviction in his own heart. Um, if we're gonna look at Matthew 26, 14 to 16. Um, I now want to show you the parallel, okay? So we've seen that Peter has this amazing moment of spiritual upliftment. He's told um he's told Jesus who he is, the revelation. Um, and Jesus said to him, I love that, but you're gonna deny me. And we get to the point where Peter is denied Christ, and then we get to the place where he's weeping bitterly. And when we say bitterly, we mean really bitterly. He's going through it, okay. Now, there is a parallel to this point, okay? And if you would go with me, verse 14 of Matthew 26. Then one of the twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you? So they counted out for him 30 pieces of silver. From then on, Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. Now, let me give this a little bit of context. Judas was in charge of the treasury, so he was looking at the finances as what was happening. So he was almost looking at the ministry or managing the ministry from a business perspective, right? Of course, 100% he understood who Jesus was, in quote, inverted commas, and he understood what was going on, but it was also his job to make sure that they were fluid, right, in terms of resource and everything else. And also, Judas is completely sold on the idea that Jesus is this military messiah that is going to get rid of the Romans, unite their people, and bring about this utopia that is going to just see Israel as the light of the world and Jesus as their king. Okay. And so Judas is kind of, Judas is like a lot of us, right? When there are things that we want, we will then sometimes push the situation to get what we want out of the situation happening quicker. I know you know what I'm talking about. I know that there's been some stuff where you're like, I should wait for three months, but I want it now. And maybe you buy that thing on a credit card. Or maybe you go borrow some money, or maybe you use your electric and gas bill money to go buy that thing, but it's alright, I can do that in another couple of weeks. Judas was thinking just like you, man. He was he's sitting there thinking, well, I know Jesus does his Houdini thing because I heard about when they wanted to throw him off the side of the mountain and he just dipped out. And it's not like they didn't try to stone him in the temple and he dipped out. And it's not like he didn't go into the temple and crash out for you young people. Jesus went to the temple and crashed out. How do we know? Man was overthrowing tables, made a cat nine tails, couple lashes was going out, and he didn't get arrested. He did not get arrested, he just dipped out before it got crazy. So Judas is like, boy, I see, I see, I see a double play here. Judas is like, firstly, I can help push him to purpose. You see, that's what happens when we think too much and we start getting in God's way. Because the reality is you can't get in God's way to the point where his will won't be done, but you can get in his way to the point where you're gonna hurt yourself. Let me keep one up, mind yourself. One of my bandmates, um, he's fantastic, Marshall. I love you. And there are certain times where there's certain things going on, and we'll look at each other and sometimes we'll pass and be like, so and so about mine themselves in. I'm like, and I know exactly what he means. Because you're heading for a stumble, catch yourself, mind the gap.

unknown 39:12

Doop, doop, doop.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Judas was not minding the gap. In in his mind, he was like, there ain't no gap. So he's sitting here and he's thinking to himself, well, if I get with the religious leaders, I'm like, yo, listen, he's gonna be here at this time with this many people. And then Jesus is thinking, I can get paid for this. Because don't forget, Judas was at the moment when um Mary decided to anoint Jesus' head and feet, and what she used, the ointment, it was so expensive. And let me give you the the the idea of of the investment of the gift. The ointment she bought was the equivalent of a year's salary. Okay, so let me make let me help you like make that make sense. The average salary, let's say, is probably between, and I'm talking average salary, um let's say it's between 18 and 26,000 pounds. Okay, let's say the average salary is between 18 and 26,000, maybe a little bit higher depending on the area or where you're living in. But she spent that on a single bottle of ointment to anoint Jesus from Nazareth because she believed him to be exactly who he was. Judas and the man there were so annoyed because in their mind they're like, could you imagine what 300 denarii would have done in the treasury? And you're here anointing Jesus who ain't even taking a bath, and you're giving you you're giving him aftershaving and rubbing his feet and wiping off your hair. She was going against everything that they thought was normal. And so Judah sits and he thinks to himself, now's my chance. And he negotiates a deal with the religious leaders. And in this deal that he negotiates with the religious leaders, he gets 30 pieces of silver. And he's thinking to himself, this is a win-win for me. You want him, I know where he is, and I also know that you can't, you're not powerful enough to subdue him. So in Judas's mind, this is going to go exactly the way that he's planning. However, he misses the point the same way Peter does. His idea of what should happen isn't a part of Jesus' plan and mission and reason for being here. He hasn't come to overthrow an earthly government, he hasn't come here to sit on David's throne. He hasn't come here to uphold the law. He has come to deliver all of mankind from spiritual death and sin. He has come so that we might become the righteousness of God again. He has come so that what was lost in the Garden of Eden can be reforged and reconnected. So Jesus, or Judas, should I say, he makes this deal with the Romans and he's feeling good about the deal until it's time to deliver. And then as he's delivering, we see in Matthew 27, I'm gonna read from verses 1 to 5. Okay, so at this point, they now have they now have Jesus. The Garden of Gifts enemies happened, they have him. And it says, and Judas has now had to watch Jesus give himself over. So this has just gone peak tongue, and we all know a person that's got involved in something, and then it doesn't go the way they think it is. That's what half of the horrendous stories and situations we read about people ending up in in prison, that a lot of the time they were working towards a plan that didn't go the way they thought it should go, or the way that they planned it should go. And all of a sudden, now they're trying to work their way out of it. Um, 27 verse 1. Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. So they bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor. Verse 3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was Condemned. He was teased with remorse.

unknown 44:05

Okay?

SPEAKER_00 44:06

And returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. And listen to what he says. I have sinned, he said, for I have betrayed innocent blood. Verse 5. So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. So he no longer has the thing that he's taken as payment based on the little move that he was trying because he realizes the plan has gone super left. Then he went away and hanged himself. Now, let me ask you a question. What is the difference between Judas and Peter in terms of the severity of the crime? There is none. I'd almost say that Peter's was worse. Why? Judas betrayed Jesus on the basis of his association with him. Judas went to the very people Peter was scared of to do a deal based on the guy they wanted. Knowing he planned to double cross those very same people. Judas weren't expecting Jesus to be handed over. He weren't expecting Jesus to do his Houdini thing and dip, dip, dip, and I thought I mean that's a little 30 piece of silver. Peter sold Jesus out by denying he even knew him. Peter did the ultimate. To me, to deny you know a person or to disown a person is the ultimate act of betrayal. Because you invalidate everything that you both shared. Because to say you know a person is to say that you have nothing to do with them. To say you have nothing to do with them is to basically say that we have no communion, interaction, or fellowship. Which means if you have moments together, depending on what those moments were, this person is saying, I don't know you. It invalidates something that could have been life-changing for you in that time or in that moment in that space. Both of them bitterly remorseful. One of them so remorseful. He could not see a way back, and after he begged them, he begged them, please take back the money. Judas missed his redemption because of his own ambition. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That boy missed his redemption because of his own ambition. What do you mean, Sean? His redemption was in what Jesus had already said. The Son of Man will be put to death, but three days later, he will rise again. All he needed to do was to hold on to that word in his spirit. If you ask me, there is nothing that says that Peter held on to that, but something in me says that in that moment, Peter's spirit grabbed onto the only thing that would keep him afloat. What was that? Jesus' word. Could he see it? No. Because everything that was happening to Jesus pointed against what his spirit was trying to tell him. Could he change it? No. Because it was fear that caused him to deny the thing and the person that he loved most and knew the most. But what did it do? It bought him time. It bought him enough time so that as the third day rolls around and the desperation is getting worse. You know what it's like when your mind turns in on you and starts to speak that negative commentary to you. Could you imagine what Peter's mind was saying to him? But the difference between Peter and Judas. Judas killed his chance. How do we know this? Because we're going to turn to the book of Mark, chapter 16, and verse 7. And it says, Actually, let me read chapter 1, uh, verse 1 from chapter 16. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and Saloon bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. So he was in the tomb, they just want to go and basically tend to the body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other who rolled the stone away from the entrance of the tomb. But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. Don't be alarmed, he said. Looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not here. See the place where they laid him, but go. Tell his disciples and Peter he's going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. Peter allowed the living word to keep him on spiritual life support long enough for him to see the risen Savior. Don't kill your chance. Don't do it. Only God knows what he hasn't told you. Him. And he loves you enough to never want to hurt you or harm you. And no matter how scary what you're going through is, do not kill your chance. I don't care what you've done. I don't care what you've done. He doesn't care what you've done. This long night, it is the catalyst for a transformative moment that will change everything you've known. But you have to endure the night. Hold on to his word. Hold on to his word that says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hold on to his word that says, For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son into the world that has rather believed on him, should not die, but have everlasting life. Hold on to his word that says, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Hold on to his word that says, My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. Not as word give, give I unto you. Hold on to his word that says, I'm going away to prepare you a place. You can't come with me now, but you will come with me. And behold, I don't call you servants, but I call you friends, because the servant knoweth not what the Lord doeth, but I've told you what I'm doing. Hold on to his word that says, I am the resurrection and I am the life. He that was dead, yet shall he live. Hold on to the word that says, In the beginning was the word, the word was God, the word was with God, and that same word was made manifest in flesh. God knows. He knows. But only you are in charge of keeping that chance alive. Let's pray. Father, thank you for another day. Thank you for this lesson. I pray everybody that comes under the sound of my voice and the sound of this Bible study, that this goes deep, far beyond their natural self, their emotional self, and it hits their eternal self. Let this provide connectivity in their soul and in their spirit. Lord, allow your Holy Spirit to speak to everybody that comes into contact with this Bible study. Help us not to kill our chance, God, by holding on to what you say about us because what you say about us is older than what we think about us. And that's the anchor that keeps us sure in every storm. Have your way. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Guys, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share, and I'll see you next time.