The Last Supper of Judas

Did you know that God warns that sickness and death is a real possibility for anyone who partakes in what we know as communion unworthily. 1 Corinthians 11:29 says, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning, the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. Died. I mean, for not doing this ritual properly. I mean, this sounds strange, even like an overreaction. But what does it mean to not discern the Lord's body? What sins can lead to this? And why does the punishment seem so severe? In this teaching, we'll learn how this very issue was the cause of Judas downfall and death. And yet a sin that is as relevant as ever today. So, guys, this is something not talked about enough. And we have people who are sick and dying today, just like in the church of Corinth, because they partook without discerning Christ's body. I understand that people call partaking in the bread and the wine, the body and the blood different things. But to keep things simple in this teaching, we're going to use the most popular term, communion. As a quick recap, in John 6:53, Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, and you have no life in you. So this is an instrument that God has given his people to partake in the Passover sacrifice, the real Passover sacrifice of Christ himself, that if you were to go before God, the creator of heaven and earth, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you brought with you a Passover lamb as atonement, but yet you stood there with a heart full of greed, with sexual immorality or evil speech, with no actual repentance in your life, would that not be considered trampling under foot the lamb? And this is exactly what's written in Hebrews 10:29. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot and the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the spirit of grace? So now we're starting to get a taste of what 1 Corinthians 11 is warning against. It says in verse 27, Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged to understand exactly what was going on here in this ancient church of Corinth. We can see the context a little earlier in verse 20, where, where Paul describes when they come together, they're not coming together for the Lord's supper that they are eating. He says in verse 21, for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. And so we get this picture of how they were coming together, but their motives were evil. Communion became a time for them to just eat, just drink, just to hang out with friends. Fellowship with a focus on self pleasure and not on the Lord who died for them to be there in fellowship. See, it became self worship instead of God worship. It became idolatry, in this case using spiritual means. Communion, something God has given us to feel a fleshly desire to attend the fellowship in order to fit in among men, to uphold my image before others instead of partaking in the seriousness of the moment. The motive for coming together becomes self centered because there is a sin that has come in to dominate the heart of the person. We see that Judas did this very same thing at the Last Supper. His motive was not to worship God in that moment. It was to please himself, to fulfill his own desires. And this was likely, by the way, his motive for a long time for following Yeshua, for his own popularity, his own influence, his own goals. And then a mask was put up to hide that sin from other believers and to remain in good standing with men. This is what I'll call the spirit of pretension. A believer pretending to be a brother, pretending to be in fellowship and pretending to be repentant while actually lying to men and lying to God. And God is coming and saying that I will judge, inflicting with sickness and even by death when that person partakes in the sacrifice of Christ with pretension. Pretension is one of the highest forms of pride possible. This was the great sin of the Pharisees who came against Yeshua, who projected this false righteousness to the public, while in reality living in habitual sin in private. See, with Jesus, what you see is what you get. He was who he was in public and private. But with Judas, what you see was not what you get. He had a life of masking his true self. What you see on the outside appearance is a lie. And what you saw on the outside, though of Judas, it was pristine. I mean, he was entrusted with the finances of the ministry of the Messiah, right? Think about this for a second, right? If you think about who's going to handle the money in your business, in your family, in your country, you give that responsibility to the most trustworthy person you can find, right? So the disciples, they never could have expected any such thing of Judas, the one who Jesus is trusting with the finances. But in John 13:22, it's written, the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom Jesus spoke when he spoke of the one who would betray him. See, they thought, in fact, that when Jesus told Judas what you're about to do, do it quickly. They thought that he's just leaving to go give some money to the poor to steward the finances of the ministry properly. But things could not be further from the truth, for he was about to take in money for the literal body of the Messiah to deliver Jesus up to his enemies. See, up until that very last moment, the disciples had full trust of Judas as the treasurer of God. But instead, he was the treasurer of Satan himself. It is written that Satan entered Judas and while the disciples were so caught off guard, had no way of seeing this coming. God saw. God saw who Judas was in the private, innermost parts of his heart. Judas betrayal of Jesus occurred at the very table of communion. That which Paul warned us all about can result in our death if we partake in it improperly. Just look at Luke 22:20, where we zoom into this moment at the last Supper, where they are busy with the bread and the wine. And Jesus explained to them what it means. And it says likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me, who on this table. On this table, as they were drinking the blood and eating the body, he was sitting there with them. And it says in John 13:26. Jesus answered, it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped this morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And then, after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. And Jesus said to him, what you're going to do? Do it quickly. Think about it. A demon is entering Judas at the very table of communion as he is partaking with the Messiah. It was his curse that he received in that moment for partaking in the Messiah unworthily, with greed and with murder in his heart. Judas was so called partaking in the body and blood of the Messiah. But actually he was enjoying sin with a mask of pretension. And this eventually gives Satan permission to enter into the person he's given over to evil, and that leads to sickness and death. See, after Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, it is written that he himself, Judas, thought he was successful based of how well he was deceiving the people in his life. But in the world that actually matters, the kingdom of God, he was a total fraud, an imposter, and destined to be hanged outside the camp. This means, therefore, that how religiously successful you feel based off how well you've convinced others of your appearance has no true bearing on your true standing with God. You can have the best front row seat at the religious feast. Men can say how blessed he is, a generous general, a man of God. But if your public life does not align with your private life, you'll be in trouble. Because people who see the outward, they're not going to be your judge. God will be your judge. And this, what I'm saying right now, was such good news for Jesus, who was falsely accused by men. They made him appear as a sinner in public, but yet in truth and in private, he was innocent. And so while men crucified him, God justified him, resurrecting him from the dead. But what I'm speaking about right now was really bad for Judas, who was justified by men. The religious leaders loved him, and yet he was crucified by God in a manner of speaking, judged because his private life revealed his true character. And so, brothers and sisters, I want to submit to you that what I'm speaking about now, you know, we're talking about a specific sin that Judas did bearing false witness, extortion, betrayal. But this is not the only sin that leads to the kind of death that Judas led. And we will soon be looking at the biblical list of those sins introspectively. We read in 1 Corinthians 5:11. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality, greed, who is an idolater, a reviler, a drunkard, a swindler, not even to eat with such a one. It's important to note here that Paul is making a distinction between believers and unbelievers. See, we can expect unbelievers to have some of these sins and evil works, for they don't know what they're doing and we should witness to them. But Paul is speaking about believers and saying, do not associate with those who bear the name of a brother, but who do these things. These things are unacceptable for believers. I mean, to tell someone they're not even allowed to eat with someone else is a big deal. And yet this is what Paul is saying about these sins. I mean, what's the big deal? Why such a strong response? Is that even helpful for that person? I want to submit to you that there are three reasons why we need to take such a strong stance against these sins. Number one, it compromises the body of Christ itself. See, if we normalize these sins as being acceptable for people who are in the faith and that they may live like those who are outside the faith, then what is our faith? I mean, if there is no difference in action, then there is no faith anymore. See, faith then only becomes mere profession, mere words, not true reality, not what is lived out, because true faith actually accompanies repentance. The second problem with continuing to eat with these people is that actually it's a lie to the very person and it injustice to them. It makes them feel like despite their departure from the faith by their great sin, they're still among the family of believers. And if they feel welcome at the table of believers here, but won't actually be welcome at the table of believers in heaven, in the kingdom to come, then we here are not acting like believers, but liars who tickle the ears of someone who is to be cut off. See, if someone falls into serious sin, we must allow them to experience the consequence of that sin, and we should not be protecting them from the consequences, because it is in experiencing the consequences of sin that they may be led to realize the severity of their sin and come to repentance. This is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:5. You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Tolerating the leaven of sin and the fellowship of believers contaminates everyone. 1 Corinthians 6, 9 says, do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And neither me nor the Bible, by the way, is speaking about just about any sin. It is particular. It is specific about the kinds of sins we are speaking about. Because there are differences in sin. And we all will fall short of the glory of God. We all will make mistakes and hurt God's heart in our life. But the question is, do we repent? Do we turn from our sin? Do we change our ways? Or do we, in rebellion, continue on as if nothing is wrong? I want us to quickly go through each of these and define them. Because sometimes we just read through this list and we actually don't even realize what all of these mean. Some of them are more clear than others, but there are some of them that aren't as clear. Number one, sexual immorality. This is sexual intimacy outside of a consenting mar. Relationship between a man and a woman. Okay, Sex is for marriage. It's not complicated. Number two, idolatry. Idolatry can come in many forms. Atheism, the worship of self, is a form of idolatry. The worship of other gods directly is idolatry. But also the worship of material things in our life that we put before God. The worship of people preferring people and their opinions and their satisfaction before God. Putting money and the pursuit of money before God. These are all acts of idolatry. Next, Paul mentions adultery, which means being intimate with a person sexually who is not your spouse, even though you are married or that person is married. Next up is homosexuality. This is sexual intimacy with someone of the same sex. Whether you're married or not, it doesn't matter. Your sex is biologically determined, meaning that it is determined by how God has made you, how you were born into this world. This is what Genesis 5:2 says, that he made male and female, female. He created them and he blessed them and named them man when they were created. There are only two genders. Next thing that is forbidden is thievery. A thief is someone who takes something of another that's not theirs, plain and simple. Next, he says the greedy. And this word greedy in the Greek is pleonektes. And this means someone who is eager to have more, especially coveting that which belongs to someone else, someone who is greedy of gain. Next he mentions a drunkard. This is someone who gets drunk habitually. And then he mentions a reviler. And this word, reviler, is one I want to talk about for a minute, because it's A word that we don't use often in modern English, but in the Greek it's the word loi doros. And this term refers to a person who wounds with words, one whose habitual speech is that of insult, slanderous or abusive. What we call today as verbal abuse. The verbal abusers will not inherit the kingdom of God, is what God is declaring. Next. He mentions the swindlers, the Greek word harpax. And this is also known today as an extortioner. The practice of obtaining something, anything at all, especially money, through force or threat. Also what we know today as blackmail. When you don't get what you want, and then you threaten someone by exposing them before others, slandering them, using information you know about them against them to get your way. This was the sin of Judas. He used the information about where Jesus would be and how he could be captured in order to get his 30 pieces of silver. He used extortion to sell Jesus life. See, brothers and sisters, those who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Let me just make sure that we understand how serious this actually is, because this is being spelled out for us here. The Bible says that these people will be sent to hellfire. These people will not be in heaven. These people can call themselves believers, they can go to church, they can sit in the fellowship, they can drink of the cup of the wine and eat of the bread. They can do whatever they want. But as long as they continue in this, they will be sent to hellfire. Can I spell it out any more clearly? Can the Bible spell this out any more clearly? Jesus calls the place that these people will go the place of the unquenchable fire. Mark 9:43. He said, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. See, brothers and sisters, you know, I think it's so easy for us to listen to this and maybe even to listen to me right now, and to think that's what he's saying. That's what he's saying. Now. This is not what I am saying. This is what the Bible says. This is what has come from the mouth of God, from the Holy One, of Israel, the Holy Spirit. So I want to ask you, would you rather have me say this to you as bluntly and directly as I am today, or would you rather hear it from God when it's too late and when you are sent like a goat into a place of everlasting punishment? A place of gnashing of teeth, as the Bible describes it. Hebrews 11:26 says, for if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. So you can wonder, why am I speaking about this today? You know, we just finished the feast of Passover, the days of unleavened bread where we were supposed to take out the leaven, the sin, the pride from our homes and lives. But some have still partook in Passover unworthily this year. And if that was you, this Passover, I want you to know that this, right now, this moment, is your warning from God himself. This right now is a breath that you can breathe in and out of mercy of time afforded to you by the living God. His mercy is like. I can hear it, I can feel it. I can see it. You are experiencing his mercy right now. The revelation of your sin, number one. Number two, the opportunity to repent. And number three, the time to do so. And that time to do so is now. This is what the Lord is saying right now. And I ask of you to take a hold of this opportunity right now to change your life, not by your own strength, because you can't by throwing yourself on God and coming and saying, God, forgive me, a sinner. Lord, I have pointed the finger like Judas at Jesus. I have pointed the finger at someone who is righteous so that I can just not have to deal with my deep, murderous sins. But, Lord, now I come before you and I am going to do what Judas never did. So I don't have to experience what Judas experienced. God, I am. I'm going to repent right now. So, Father, I ask that right now you would come and forgive us of our sins of the leaven. The leaven, O God, that we have allowed in our midst. Forgive us even if we partook unworthily this Passover. God, may we never do such a thing to your body again. May we never desecrate your covenant in such a way again. God, forgive us. God, give us mercy. God, give us life. Help us. Deliver us from our Egypt of sin and death. Lord, you are our only hope. We cannot save ourselves or cleanse ourselves or change ourselves. You're the only one who can do it. And I ask that you would do it by your spirit, now, powerfully move upon your people, those who do have repentant hearts. Give them grace and empower them right now. Lord, I thank you that you make us white as snow. You forgive us of all of our transgressions and sins. When we come to you with them. And as for those who are in our midst, to have the spirit of Judas who have been filled by Satan because they have murder in their heart, they have refused to turn even though you gave them chance, even though you warned them, even at the table, you warned Judas. And he still decided in his heart what he would do. Ask for those who decide that let them be exposed among us, just as Judas was exposed among the disciples. Father, I ask that we would be able to cleanse our fellowships of Leaven, that we would follow the command that you gave to the Church of Corinth to no longer dine with those exposed. As a Judas, I just feel I need to say this. Anyone listening? You need to just understand that it is not too late for you. No matter what. No matter what you've done, how long it's been. You are here right now. You're hearing me. It's not too late for you. The Lord wants you to know that. But there is a moment when it becomes too late. Judas had time, but there was a moment that came and went. And it became too late for him. I ask of you that you would not allow that to happen to your life. For I desire for you to live. God desires for you to live. He loves you. Yeshua went to the cross of joy for those who pierced him. That includes me and you. And that means that you can have a new chance in your life, in your relationships, in your everything you touch, your family. But it means that you must take accountability, responsibility in turn. That's the only hope that there is for you, so that God can then come and deliver you. Thank you, Yeshua. May the Father bless and keep you. Shine his face upon you, lift up his countenance upon you, and give you his grace. Shalom. Thank you for joining me, Sa.