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Welcome to the Kenneth Out First Podcast, where we're building transformed lives one message at a time. Each week you'll hear Christ-centered sermons from Dr. J. Perry Fowler, rooted in the truth of God's Word. This is where real faith meets real life, because a life built on truth is a life that lasts.

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Let's look today at the rest of Jesus, John chapter 18. And when Jesus had spoken these words, it was an amazing Jesus. Anything that he says has such power. But after he had spoken these words, as he had obviously spoken about his glory, as you look at the passages above in chapter 17, in his glory he went forth with his disciples to the ravine of Kidron, where there was a garden in which he entered with his disciples. And now Judas, say Judas, one of our guys we're going to look at today. Now Judas, who was betraying him. Notice it doesn't say who betrayed him. Past tense, it was he kept on betraying him. Knew the place, for Jesus often met with his disciples there. And Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers of the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all things, all things that were coming upon him, he went forth and said to them, Whom do you seek? And they answered him, Jesus the Nazarene. He said to them, I am he. I want you to say that with me. I am he. And Judas also, who was betraying him, says it again, who was standing with them. So when he said to them, say it with me again, I am he, they drew back and they fell to the ground. Therefore, he again asked them, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus the Nazarene. And Jesus answered and told them that, say it with me again, I am he. So if you seek me, let these go their way. To fulfill the word which he spoke of those whom you have given to me, I have lost not one. And Simon Peter then, having a sword, he drew it, he struck the high priest's slave, and he cut off his right ear, and the slave's name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, notice this, put the sword into the sheath. The cup, which the Father has given to me. Shall I not drink it? This morning we're going to talk about kissing. I mean that sounds like a good idea. All the men say amen. All the women say oh me. When you look at kissing in the Bible, you learn the kissing verse is mentioned in Genesis chapter 27, verse 26 and 27. It's not a romantic kiss, it's a kiss from a son to his father. It's a reminder of the love between Isaac and his boys. And Isaac, though, was deceived with a kiss because Jacob was in disguise and he kissed his father. When we hear about kissing, by the way, not everybody believes the Bible. Imagine that. If you Google today, when did kissing begin? They will say in the Veldic Sanskrit, you read about kissing, and this is what it says. I got the quote for you. She set her mouth to my mouth and made a noise. I thought, I hope it didn't sound like a boot coming out of the mud. The first kiss that we see between a man and a woman was the kiss, of course, from Jacob to Rachel. And Jacob, of course, ended up becoming the husband of Rachel. But the Bible talks about kissing 46 times. And when you read about it, it's very intriguing. Every time you see this mentioning, the Bible even says, greet one another with a holy kiss. But there is no kiss in the Bible that has more focus than the kiss of Judas to Jesus. When you read the passages, what you'll see is that the Bible says that Judas kept on betraying Jesus. Furthermore, if you read in the book of John, it tells us even further that not only was Judas betraying Jesus, but in the other gospels that he kept on kissing Jesus. In other words, he went up to Jesus' face and he kissed and he kissed and he kissed and he kissed and he kissed. With my grandchildren, I call that kissy torture. But what was a symbol of true love, true care, was fake from Judas. And that's what we remember about Judas the best. We remember Judas' kiss. And what do we know from this? Well, we know that Judas was a man that did not take a second look at Jesus. And there were reasons why he didn't take a second look at Jesus, but a lot of it had to do with his heart. And when we often think about the heart of a person, we will connect that to an outward expression, in this case, a kiss. But what was it about Judas that he missed? What was it that he did not look back at? What was it that he didn't recognize? Or what is it that he didn't even care about? What was it about Judas that made him kiss Jesus? Well, there's some things that Judas missed. And the main thing is he missed understanding the value of Jesus. This morning I pray that one thing you will leave here with is an understanding of several things about the value of Jesus. And one of them is Jesus, we value him because Jesus is more than enough. Say that with me. Jesus is more than enough. But what this world offers often seems to be a distraction. Sometimes we're tempted to believe that what the world offers is more than Jesus. This was the case with Judas. When we begin to learn about him, we learn not only did he kiss Jesus with the betrayal kiss, but we understand that he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. When you study that, you'll learn quickly that those coins were coins that were often used inside the temple. On the front of them is a picture of a Phoenician god, and on the back the Roman eagle. They used them often in the temple, and when Jesus went to deal with the money changers, these coins, some of them were shekels, some of them were half shekels that were used for the temple tax, but they were strewn all over the floor when Jesus cleansed the temple. But these were the large coins, and these large coins were valued as basically a day's work, a day's labor for a slave. Sometimes they would consider to be that the value of a day's labor of a Roman soldier. But in today's currency, let me tell you what Judas sold Jesus out for. The value of 30 shekels of silver in today's money, I looked it up in a Tyrenian shekel, is$355.32. The value of Jesus to Peter or to Judas, not Peter, but to Judas, was$355.32. In Jesus' day, that was the cheapest price for a crippled slave. It was almost as if Judas just said, I'm gonna go missing, I'm gonna go get Jesus arrested, and what I'm gonna do is I'm going to lowball Jesus. I want to ask you today, when it comes to Jesus Christ, how valuable is he to you? For Judas, he lowballed Jesus. You know, when Jesus dismissed him from the Passover, what we know happened is that Jesus went over the Kidron Valley, which would have been a very unique and almost a symbolic moment in the life of Jesus because years before David had crossed over the Kidron, running from Absalom, his son, who was betraying him and seeking for his life. It seems like almost the symbolism is uncanny. Because as Jesus had gone over to the Garden of Gethsemane over the Kidron Valley in hot pursuit, was Judas with a Roman cohort as well as with a group of religious leaders. And the Bible tells us what happened. It says in Judas, verse 3, received the Roman cohort and the officers from the chief priests and from the Pharisees and came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Look at verse 4. So Jesus, knowing all things or all the things that were coming upon him, he went forth and he asked a simple question whom do you seek? We look at the motive of Judas and we wonder, why in the world would he sell Jesus out for a measly$355.32? And in John chapter 12, we get a little bit of an understanding of that because Judas shows up in a town called Bethany. It's just over the hill. It's not far from Gethsemane itself. And there was a lady named Mary who came and she anointed Jesus' feet with a perfume bottle, which was something that she would have saved. It was something that was for preparation for her marriage. And she took that perfume bottle and she poured it out on Jesus. You remember the story, and what happened was, of course, Judas is there, and Judas looks at this commodity. He looked more at the commodity than he looked at Christ. And he said, Could we have not sold this? Can you imagine? He's figuring it in his brain. What's the value of the perfume? We're 300 denari. We could have taken that commodity and sold it off. And when we sold it off, we could have fed the poor Jesus, but yet John 12 tells us in John 12, verse 5, what Judas' real motive was. The Bible says that he was intending to betray Jesus. This was a premeditated betrayal. But not only that, he was a thief according to John 12, verse 6, and he was carrying the money box of Jesus, and he often pilfered through it. As if Jesus did not know that he was a thief. But what does this tell us about Judas? It tells us that Jesus was worth 30 shekels of silver as Peter would have been with them, and John would have been with them, and Mary would have been with them, and he was calculating in his head the value of the perfume. And it was worth ten times more than Jesus Christ to Judas. What a sad scenario. What a sad man. He didn't see Jesus even as valuable as perfume. He didn't see Jesus as valuable. He'd say, well, he's worth about the value of a crippled slave. Can you imagine the devaluing of Jesus in this way? And what he was saying with his actions was simply this: Jesus is not enough. And maybe that's where you're at in this world today. Maybe you say, well, Jesus is worth something to me. I came this morning, I'm watching online. Jesus is worth something to me. But let me ask you: do you pause with Jesus today in his story of the Pearl of Great Price and realize he is the king of the kingdom of God? Do you recognize how valuable he really is? Michael Jackson, by the way, I was reading this week, is worth a hundred and five million dollars dead. In 2025, according to uh David Reeder, who reported this amount, he said in 2025 he was worth$105 million per year. And this was his quote the death of Michael Jackson puts in focus crashly and quite frankly what someone can be worth dead. Then he added, yet unfortunately, he's not here to enjoy the benefit of it. In this world, I want to tell you Jesus is more than enough. And I want to tell you in the world to come, Jesus will still be more than enough. But Judas did not see that. The Bible says, What does the prophet of man? Judas would have heard Jesus saying this. What is the prophet of man to gain the whole world and lose the soul? Judas would have known the book of Ecclesiastes that says, You arrive from the womb of your mother naked, and you'll leave in the same condition with nothing. Naked you came, naked you leave, and then Solomon said this. So what's the point of working for a salary of smoke? This person of Judas causes us to recognize something about the things of this world, about money. Money might have value in the marketplace, but money can't pay your entrance fee into heaven. Only Jesus can do that with his life-giving blood. Money can buy little and maybe some temporary comfort. It might give you a little bit of influence for a few short years, a few opportunities to appreciate, but only Jesus can provide forgiveness, eternal security, and a hundred percent guarantee of a real and meaningful life that never ends. Judas should have looked again. Maybe this morning God is saying, look again. If all you have in this life is Jesus, you have more than enough. Judas should have looked again. He should have looked again and found that there's real peace. And it's a priceless gift that only Jesus can give. When we read more about him here in this text, we read verse 5, and it says, And Judas, who was betraying him, was standing with them. Very interesting language that is used here because we know that Jesus had spoken about the real peace. In John chapter 14, Jesus said, Peace I leave with you. He said, Don't let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms, but yet Judas never got to go there because he didn't find real peace. The Bible says he was standing. The word standing there is a very strong word. And it literally means in a continual state of alignment. Literally, he had taken sides, he had chosen the mob over the Messiah. And this is precisely the tense of the word that communicates that he was standing. He was in this position of taking sides with the mob, taking sides with the Pharisees, taking sides with the Roman cohort, taking sides with the high priest, and he left Jesus to his own. But interesting enough, he went and kissed Jesus goodbye. People do that. And they would do that as a medal of respect, more or less, a symbolic medal or reminder of respect, and it was unthankfulness for imparting wisdom. But the wisdom that Jesus gave to him, Judas just kissed it goodbye. Why? Because he didn't value Jesus. He obviously recognized Jesus' kindness. He obviously recognized that Jesus was at least a man of God. He heard Peter say, You are the Christ, the Son of a living God. But Judas, his kiss was despicable. It was fake. It was a false affection. It was like the hot breath of a dragon breathing down the neck of its next victim. But Jesus' response was one of kindness. He simply just asked the question, Who do you been, who are you men seeking? Who do you seek? And they answered Jesus of Nazarene. And Jesus said something that God said to Moses in the burning bush. He said, Tell them I am who I am. And Jesus said, I am He. And they fell on their, can you say this in a church? But one breath. One statement. This is a Roman cohort. This is the people. Who were the large and in charge in Jerusalem. These are the people that are trying in every way to keep peace in Jerusalem. And now they, with one breath of Jesus, end up on their butts. Why? Because of the power of Jesus. Because of the authority of Jesus, because he is not just simply man, he's divine Son of God. So Jesus, what do we understand from this? Jesus wasn't forced for this arrest. Jesus did not draw a sword, although Peter did. No one was stronger than Jesus. By his own voice, they ended up on their rear ends. So what's this tell us about Jesus? It means that no one in any way forced Jesus to the cross. No one forced him before the high priest. No one forced him to his death. Jesus was not murdered. Jesus gave his life. In the early 2000s, there were people who were in Japan that were offering up something that they said would bring real peace. You know what it was? The name of the company is called Alibi. So if a man's out doing something he shouldn't do, he can call alibi. And if a woman's out doing something that she shouldn't be doing, it is called alibi. I'm sure many politicians have used alibi. And they will provide for you counterfeit airline tickets, counterfeit business reports, counterfeit ticket stubs. They will quote unquote cover your trail. I would say they also covered what these Roman cohorts were laying on. And this is what Alibi says. They said, We provide total peace. But yet Judas, although he may have appeared to be a man of peace, although he may have been the one that was carrying around the money box, I mean, who carries around somebody else's wallet? But Jesus said, here, Peter, carry around the wallet. You be the treasurer, you be the distributor. And the Bible tells us that Peter saw Judas, John saw Judas, the disciples saw Judas, Jesus saw Judas, and probably most of them, except for Jesus, had no idea of what was truly in Judas' heart. And one thing was missing was the peace of God. You know why? Because the Bible says in Isaiah 48, verse 22, there is no peace for the wicked. The word peace literally means to set to one again. It's a blessing. And by the way, in Israel today, if you go on the street, the street grating is not how are you? It's simply the word shalom, which means peace. It is a way of saying, listen, real peace is not just simply getting along. Real peace is reconciliation. Real peace is the two becoming one. But Jesus and Judas were not one. Not because of Jesus' decision, but because of Judas' decision to not look again at Jesus. The word peace is found 400 times in the Bible. But let me ask you, in your life, do you have real peace? No peace means there's no prince of peace. But you know, one of the things that people talk about is real rest in your soul, real rest in your spirit. When you know that there's something missing in your life, there's just a lack of peace. And the only one that can fit in that space in your life that will give you true and lasting peace is the Prince of Peace. As he was prophesied of in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. Jesus is the Prince of Peace that can give peace to your soul. Maybe you're here today and you say, I'd like to have peace on the inside. And maybe on the outside it appears that you have all the peace in the world. Maybe you're like Judas, who carries around and seems like, well, I have all the peace that I need, but really what you're doing is carrying around the world and what it offers while you wear a disguise and say, I trust Jesus. Judas should have looked again and he would have found peace. But as we read about him in Scripture, he hung himself. Why? Because he refused to look again and find the peace of Jesus. Why is Jesus so valuable? No one will ever love me like Jesus. That's what the whole text seems to be screaming at us today, because Jesus here reads into the heart of Peter and speaks into the heart of Peter who wants to pull out a sword. You read the story of the sword, and we read that he says to him in verse 11, put away your sword and your sheath, the cup which the Father has given to me, shall I not drink of it? Jesus' focus was on drinking of the cup. If you were to go to Passover, there are four different cups that are provided in Passover, and the third cup is simply a cup that even the Jews during Passover pick up and they raise it sky high and they say these words, I will redeem you with outstretched arms. Jesus was prepared to redeem with outstretched arms on Calvary. He was ready to take the cup. But Peter was not willing. And we read about this, it says that Peter, having the sword, verse 10, drew it out and struck the high priest here. I love this because it first reveals that Jesus has authority, and it also reminds us that Jesus has a plan. And his plan is to redeem, not to judge. And so what happens here is as we read that Peter's now in recognizing Jesus is about to be arrested, Jesus is about to be judged himself, and so he pulls out the sword and he cuts off the right ear of Malchus, who was the slave of the high priest. Now notice what happens here. It's really interesting. In Luke chapter 22, we read this and it gives us a little bit more of insight. And Luke, by the way, was a physician, so he was a doctor, and this is what he says. He says, then a certain one of them, that was Peter, of course, struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Now listen to this. But Jesus answered and said, Stop, no more of this. And he, here it is, touched his ear and healed him. Now, most people look at this and they say, Well, okay, Luke the physician says that he picked up the ear and he reattached it. That's not what Luke said. Luke said this. He said, and he touched the ear or his ear and healed him. And the picture that's provided here through Luke the physician, through the Greek languages, where this ear was missing, Jesus placed his hand and he recreated an ear. I like to say this is the first time you actually see miracle ear. I'll leave it at that. This was not a miracle reattachment. This is a miracle recreation. And what we find is we find Malchus, now I'm going to let my mind groam for a second, if you don't mind. Just join me as we just kind of think about the what-ifs. Malchus would have returned with Jesus. He was the slave of the high priest, obviously given opportunity, beginning given the responsibility to stand in the gap of the high priest to go make sure this arrest took place. And Simon Peter, I would guess, was trying to take the head off of Malchus. In turn, what happened is he clipped the ear. Peter wasn't a very good shot. And when he did, he took the ear off and imagine the blood. Imagine the blood that was all over the clothing of Malchus. Imagine him returning to the high priest. And the high priest says, Where does this blood come from? This makes you unclean. I wonder if Malchus picked up the other ear and showed it to the high priest. We'll never know. Not on this side of heaven. But either way, do you know what Jesus just proved? He proved his authority. He proved that he was the divine creator of the world. Because if you can recreate an ear, try that on for size. I promise you can probably create a world. But Jesus, nobody loved like Jesus. Because Jesus here, he heals him, he recreates. We have a the miracle ear story in verse 11 that says, so Jesus said to Peter, put your shord into your sheath. The cup which the Father has given to me shall I not drink of it? Can you imagine if Jesus would have said, That's not my cup of tea? But yet Jesus not only embraced the cup, but Jesus took the cup of our judgment. By his stripes, we are healed. By his blood, we are redeemed. By his grace, we are recreated. By his goodness and by his matchless sacrifice on Calvary, we are justified and put in a position just as if we had not sinned. So this brings us to a conclusion. Have I looked back at Jesus? The story of Judas could have been probably the greatest story of grace ever told. But Judas would not look back. He would not look again to Jesus. And what we find him doing is that Judas felt regret and he ran from Jesus. Judas was consumed with remorse. Judas believed that his sin was final. Judas turned his eyes away from grace. But we see another character in his name was Peter. Peter, just moments after Judas' betrayal, would sit and warm himself around the fire, making himself comfortable close to the high priest's house, and he would use filthy language to deny Jesus and prove his disloyalty. Both Judas and Peter were disloyal. Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter denied Jesus, same night, same Jerusalem, same Jesus. But while Judas felt regret, he ran from Jesus, but Peter felt grief and he ran back to Jesus. Judas felt consumed with remorse, but Jesus transformed him by repentance. Judas believed his sin was final, but Peter knew Jesus' grace was greater. That's what you see when you look back and you look again at Jesus is that he can save you not just from the uttermost, but as often was said from the guttermost. No matter what you've done, by grace you have been saved. And one of the most powerful passages is and while you were yet sinners, Christ died for, say it, us. Don't look away. Take another look. Look again. Because your sin was never meant to define you. God's grace was meant to deliver you. So, Lord, we praise you and we thank you. And we're called today to look again. Look again to see the grace of God on display. During this season, we pause and we recognize the sufficiency of our Savior and the love of our Lord. God, I pray this day that, Lord, that as we stand together in just a moment and as we respond, that we'll not just look again, but we'll, if we're believers, return again to Jesus. Return again to the cross, return again to the tomb, and return again to the hill of Golgotha as well as the hill of Triumphalian tree. And we'll look again and we'll recognize that no one will ever love us like Jesus. Christian, what are you going through today? What is it that has your attention? What is it that is the one central focus of your life right now? Here's the good news. No matter what it is, Jesus is with you. In your fear, he calls you to faith. In your pain, he reveals his passion. In his love, he's embracing you today. That's just what Jesus does. Maybe you're here today and you'd say, I've never really come to Jesus. Truly looked again and considered how worthy is Jesus. And maybe the Spirit of God is speaking to you today and saying, Will you see the value of Jesus now? He's not just a religious figure. This is not just a celebration. This is historical fact. Jesus died for me. And he died for you. And historical fact is that Jesus rose from the dead and is the central focus of our faith. Today and right now, in this moment, would you just say to Jesus, I believe. And not only I believe, but I receive your grace that you're offering. I'm taking a look again. And I say, Jesus, you are more than enough. While I'm yet a sinner, you died for me. You paid the price for my sins. And on the third day, you rose again from the tomb to prove to me where eternal life truly comes from. And I receive your grace today as I respond to your goodness. Say, come into my life now, Lord Jesus, come.

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We're glad you joined us for today's segment. We believe a life built on truth is a life that transforms everything. To stay connected, share this message, subscribe, or visit us online at Kennesaw First.church. We'll see you next time. Keep building your life on truth.