Judas and the Danger of Hidden Sin

Praise God, brothers and sisters. I'd like to start off today's service by reading from Matthew 17:es 1 to4. Now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. if you wish, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And uh we see that Jesus brings here uh Peter, James, and John up the mountain to be alone with him. And Jesus is fully transfigured, showing his glory. His face uh it's shown with light. And Peter says, "It is good for us to be here." And as we come to, you know, to church, as we listen to the word, when we spend time with God, he changes us too. And our hearts, our faces and lives, they start to reflect his light. And um today we can have that opportunity to have our faces transformed like Jesus had on the mount uh by listening to the word and listening to the songs and everything else that's in the service today. So, with that being said, let's stand up and pray for the service. Lord God, we thank you for this beautiful morning you've given us. Lord, we pray and we ask, God, may your presence be in this place today, Lord. May the Holy Spirit be here and fill this place, God, we pray and we ask. Bless the preaching, bless the singing, God, touch our hearts, Lord, and show us something new today as well, Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. And as we're still standing, we're going to be singing a song by the name of All to Jesus I surrender. All to Jesus I surrender. All to him I freely do. I will ever love and trust him in his presence daily. [Music] I surrender [Music] all. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed savior. I surrender all to Jesus I surrender. All together at his feet I bow. Holy pleasure all forsaken. Take me Jesus. Take me now. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed Savior I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender. Lord, I give myself to thee. Fill me with thy love and power. Let thy blessing fall on me. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed Savior. I surrender all. All to be my blessed Savior I surrender all. [Music] When upon life's pillows you are tempest lost. When you are discouraged thinking all is lost. Count your many blessings. Name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God has done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God hath done. Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy? You are called to bear. Count your many blessings. Every doubt will fly. And you will be singing as the days go by. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings. See what God has done. Count your blessings. Stain them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God have done. So amid the conflict whether great or small do not be discouraged. God is over all. Count your many blessings. Angels will attend. Help and comfort give you to your journeys and count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God have done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what I have done. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God have done. Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters, for this morning that we can all come here together and listen to his word and um praise his name. And I want to read a Bible verse in John 11 25- 26. And it says here, Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Praise God. And we'll have uh Sister Esther play a song for us on the piano. And then right after that, we'll have her older brother Robert also play a song for us on the piano. And then right after that, we'll have brother Tim saying a word for us. God [Music] bless. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Praise God. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Praise God, my dear friends. Um, thank you Mozart, I mean Robert and Esther for uh being a blessing this morning. And um it's always nice to see when when young kids they um they use their talents wisely. Amen to that and for God's glory on top of that. Praise God. Yes. Yes we do. We need these kids. Um, I just prepared a sermon for us because we were going these past couple of weeks reminding of Jesus's sacrifice, his resurrection, and uh, reflecting on the story, I wanted to to share a special message with you. Um, and while everybody's opening up to John chapter 6, John chapter 6, we'll be reading from 61. I wanted to ask a couple questions. Um, who here knows a person Doug or Michael or Tim. Those are good names, right? Zach or Henry. I don't know what all of the Yeah. Yeah. Don't worry. Michael comes out of the Bible. He's actually one of the angels. Michael. Yeah. So, that's a really good name. And we uh like when we were still not in this world, our parents uh knowing that they're going to have a child, they were excited and they were thinking, "What should I name my child?" And they gave a name because this name for them meant something. This name was special. They would never name their child something that's that is that is evil. And looks like Anthony is uh time to wake up, brother. Amen to that. Um but it's uh names have meanings. Names have meanings. And there was a mother one time who was also expecting a a child and it was a boy and they were probably also thinking what should we name this child and maybe they had a list of names and they were excited to receive this child into this world and they called this child's name Judas. And sometimes I believe all the time a mother wants her child to be successful in life. She wants her child to be a blessing in life and she cared for that child and she loved that child just like any mother would. She took care of that child, making sure that the child grows healthy and strong. And as Judas was growing up, maybe he played with the kids, he looked the same as everybody. And as he grew up into a man, he was chosen as one of the disciples. But how does someone from walking with Jesus choose to betray him with a kiss? And I would like for us to open up to John chapter 6 and we'll be reading verses 61 and below. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, he said to them, "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray him. And he said, "Therefore, I have said to you that one can come that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my father." From that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Then Jesus said to the 12, "Do you also want to go away?" But Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God." Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the 12, and one of you as a devil?" He spoke of Judas Escariat, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the 12. I guess the a question stands today. Did Jesus make a mistake by choosing Judas? We know that Jesus never makes a mistake. He never made a mistake. But I can imagine Judas when he first saw Jesus, there was a whole movement going on. There was this man that was healing, that was teaching like no other man was teaching. Everybody knew about him. And Judas, like so many others, he wanted to go after this teacher. But even though Judas walked with Jesus, Jesus, Jesus already knew his heart. But this story, this life lesson teaches us two things. It teaches us that the uh prophecies of the death of Jesus Christ had to be fulfilled. And it teaches us a second lesson which we're going to talk about that there are many Judases today in the church and this scene when Jesus was praying. I'm pretty sure we saw it couple weeks ago when Jesus was praying. It was a very intense moment. It was at the Mount of Olives. And he was asking God if if he can let this cup pass from him. But he said, "Let not my will but your will be done." And it says in John 18:2, "And Judas who betrayed him also knew the place." So this place was known by the disciples. It was Jesus Jesus's secret uh prayer closet. I would say he would go there to connect with his father and ask for guidance in his life. For Jesus often met there with his disciples. this quiet, this quiet sacred place, it actually became one of the most, I would say, intense moments in the Bible. And when we read this story, when we read this story, Jesus stood up from his prayer. He went to the disciples when they were sleeping. He went to them and he said, "It's time." And as he got up and as they got up, they met a group, a group of men, priests, soldiers. And out of that, I would say group of men came out one whom Jesus knew and his name was Judas. Judas says, "The one I kiss is the one to seize sees him." And as he approaches, Jesus looks him in the eyes and says, and as Judas approaches, he looks Jesus in the eyes and says, "Greeting Rabbi," and rabbi means teacher, and kisses the savior that he once walked with. It wasn't just a kiss of I'd say betrayal, but it was a kiss of death. And my friend, betrayal doesn't start with a kiss. It didn't start there. It begins in our heart way before that. What lessons can we learn today about the life of Judas? Point one, spiritual hypocrisy. We can say the right things in our life. We can say the right things. We can sing the right songs. But if we come with the wrong heart, all of that won't matter. John 124-6 John 12 4-6 But one of his disciples Judas's scariot Simon's son who would betray him said why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 dinari and given to the poor. This he said not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief and had the money box and he used to take what was put in it. So this was the life of Judas before the betrayal before the kiss. This was the life of Judas. So this woman came with this ointment with this I'll say fragrant. She spent her money on it to pour it out on Jesus's feet. From all the 12, one spoke up. One spoke up and said, "Why this waste? Why this waste? This could have been sold and given to the poor. Sounds so righteous, right? Sounds so right." the right answer that maybe some of us would say, but his intentions were different. Jesus saw his heart. His intentions were evil. He didn't care about the poor. He was a He was a thief that was stealing from that box. He cared about himself. He He cared about his wealth. He cared about his future. He was that selfish thief. And the point I want to say here is that playing a Christian doesn't mean you are right with God. If you claim to know Jesus, if you claim to know that he died for your sins, but your heart is not with him, that means zero in your life. Because Judas saw all the miracles. Judas saw the power. Judas heard the sermons. But his heart was not with Christ. It was with the money, the greed. Yet his mind was with the 12. Matthew 26, I would like to read 20-30. E when evening had come he sat down with the twel now as they were eating he said assuredly I say to you this is uh Jesus speaking one of you will betray me and they were exceedingly sorrowful and each of them began to say to him Lord is it I he answered and said who he who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me. The son of man indeed goes just as it is written in him. But woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas who was betraying him answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?" He said to him, "You have said so. In this story, we see two things. At the last supper, Jesus says, "One of you will betray me. One of you will betray me." He's speaking to the 12. And the disciples ask, "Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I?" But then one of them says, "Rabbi, is it I?" You see the 11 understood who Jesus was. He was their Lord. He was their redeemer. But one of them did not. He saw Jesus as just a teacher. Maybe a good teacher, maybe a teacher that speaks with authority, but he never accepted Jesus Christ as Lord. And we and we read, "But Simon Peter answered him,"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the son of the living God. The 11 of the disciples knew that Jesus was not just a teacher. He was not just a prophet. He was the son of God. He was the man that came to redeem them from their sins and from this world. But for three and a half years witnessing every miracle, every healing, every sermon, Judas never made Jesus his Lord. Matthew 23:27 it says, "Woe to you scribes and teachers of the law, hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but full of death on the inside." Judas is a mirror of so many so-called Christians today. They claim to walk with Jesus. They hear his word. They witness his power. They are the churchgoers. Maybe some of them are really involved, but their heart is far from God. They have their hidden sins that nobody knows about and they think that they can hide it from everybody including God. So they play their role but they live a different life. Their heart is not with Christ. It's with their money. It's with their pride. It's with their selfish ambitions. It's with this world. It doesn't matter how much you and I know about Jesus Christ. You could me you could memorize the entire Bible. Memorize from Genesis to Revelation. But if there's no transformation in your life, if there's no transformation in your heart, if you are not renewed, if you are not a different person from where you were before, my dear friend, there's a big question mark. Is Jesus Christ our Lord? Or is he just somebody that you talk about, that you know about, that you hear about, that you claim to walk, that you claim to accept, but your heart is nowhere near him. Judas teaches us that hidden sin, sin that we refuse to confront, sin that we refuse to put out to the light to repent from it, doesn't just stay hidden forever. It actually produces fruit. Point two is I named this skeletons in the closet. Skeletons in the closet. Those are the unrepented sins that gives room to the enemy. Hey, brother Zach, can I have that? Uh, yeah. Get the cup with water. Let's open up to first John. 1 John 3 and I'll be reading 8-10. 1 John 3:8-10. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. nor is the one who does not love his brother. And we read in Luke 22:3-5, this is about Judas. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Escariat, who was numbered among the 12. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him to them. And they were glad and agreed to give him money. You see, Judas had an unrepented sin. He had an unrepented sin that finally finally brought forth its fruit. And that sin gave access to the enemy. He gave that sin opened the door of Judas's heart for Satan to come in. And now he's controlling Judas to do what he wants to do with him. Judas how we would say he was a thief but he was a thief addict. He was a practicer of sin. You see when we read in the Bible, those who practice sin, practice sin, they are not of God. It does not say that you won't sin. But those who keep on sinning because they love it, they enjoy it. See, Judas's sin was he was a thief. That was his sin. He loved it. He enjoyed it. Maybe he thought when this teacher will depart or whatever I will become rich. Maybe he was saving his money. Maybe he was building a house. I don't know what he was doing with that money. But whatever he was doing, he was loving it. And maybe there's a sin in your life that is deep down inside that nobody around you knows. You are playing the game. You're coming to church. You're hanging out with your friend. Nobody knows. And we might think that we can hide it from God. We can hide it from everybody. But God sees the heart. God sees the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at your and my heart. And if there is something that we are holding on to that we're not letting go because we love it so much, we are inviting the enemy. And when he enters into our heart, he's going to make us do things that we can't even imagine. And Judas's love for money was where his heart was. His mind was with Christ, but his heart was with money. And that's a very dangerous place to be in when our mind is at the church when our mind is with Jesus, but our heart is with something else. Because when our heart is with Christ, we're going to constantly be renewed into a righteous, a holy generation. Christ is going to constantly do his work in us. But when there's no transformation in our life, when we were the same before and after, we are not renewed. Unrepented sins lead to destruction. But Jesus Christ offers life. You know, hidden sin, it it has roots. Just like holiness has roots, sin also has roots. And when we don't repent of it, when we don't bring it out to light, when we don't say, "God, forgive me. I have sinned. Please, Lord, set me free." Sin is going to bring forth its fruit. And the the thing that sin does is that it makes us blame everybody around us. That person is this. That person did that to me. That person said this to me. That person betrayed me. That person ripped me off. He took my money. But the real enemy at work, we are not blaming. We're blaming everybody else around us. But the real enemy who is destroying your and my life, we are not blaming. And Jesus Christ over here says, "But I give you life." The devil, he's like a proud lion. He came to deceive, to kill, and to destroy. But I g I came to give you life. And sin does its work. It drags people into depression. It drags people into anxiety, in hopelessness. How many times have I heard in my life from people saying that I don't even know the purpose of my life. I don't even know why I'm here. I don't care why I'm here. Sin removes the purpose for your life. It destroys you. It destroyed Judas to the point of where he went and hung himself. That's what sin does. It doesn't discriminate poor or rich, black or white. It doesn't discriminate if you're smart or dumb. It doesn't discriminate. If sin is unrepented of, it will produce its fruit. It will drag you down. It will keep you hopeless, and it will destroy you at the end. In John 10:10, it says, "The thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." Jesus is the only giver alive. While I said Satan, he's like that lion who prowls. Who am I going to devour today? Who am I going to enter into today? He's seeking. He's seeking everybody out. Billions of people into this world in this world. He's seeking each one. Who can I take down today? That's his job. His job is not to give any of us life. His job is not to give any of us future. His job is not to give any of us eternal salvation in paradise. His job is to destroy us, to take us down because he knows he's going down. And he wants to take us down with him. But there's these two things that Jesus offers. One is grace and the other one is mercy. What is grace? I like how one pastor put it. Grace, it's an undeserved gift. And the undeserved gift that Jesus gives is eternal life. This is a gift that we cannot work for. This is not something that we can do with our good deeds. It's a gift and and anybody who has that gift, anybody who accepted that gift will receive eternal life. But many today foolishly reject that gift. They reject it. They don't want to spend eternally in heavens with our Lord because they have hidden sins. Like Judas, he was playing the show. He was a good man. The the 11 were saying, "Lord, is it I who's going to deny you?" They didn't even know that it was Judas. They had no clue that it could have been him. They were saying, "Lord, is it I Judas was a very good, I'd say, Christian, very good churchgoer." But what we see here is that his heart was from Christ. And the second thing that Jesus offers is mercy. Mercy is when we deserve punishment for our crimes, but somebody came and paid for the penalty. And these are the two things that Jesus Christ offers. He offers grace and mercy all those who haven't received him yet. He says, "My dear friend, I don't care about your past. If you give your life to me, I will pay your penalty. I went on the cross just for you. Just to pay your penalty. Just to to wash you from your sin. I paid that penalty. If you receive it, if you accept it, if you say, "Yes, Lord. Please pay my penalty. I submit my life to you. And then once we are able to do that, then he gives the gift, the gift of grace, the gift of eternal life, the gift of salvation. And nobody can give it to me. Not me. Nobody can give it to you. Not anybody sitting here. only the one who is the king of kings, Jesus Christ. And last point very quickly I'd like to make is unrepented sin leads to things that you wouldn't even expect yourself to do. Matthew 27 Matthew 27 3-25 Matthew 27:3-25 Then Judas his betrayer seeing that he had been condemned was remorseful and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and el and elders saying I have sinned by betraying innocent blood and They said, "What is that to us? You see to it." Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. After everything happened, after everything was done and finished, it's as if Judas's got an understanding. What did I just do? You see the devil when we give him access he uses us to do his work and then sometimes in our life we're like why did I do that? What did I just do? Then we realize it later and over here it says Judas was remorseful. He didn't say what did I do Lord forgive me. You are the son of God. You are my savior, my redeemer. You are. Please forgive me. I accept you. No, Judas never said that. He was remorseful and he walked away. Unconfessed sin is like a wound that gets infected. The longer it stays hidden, the worse it becomes. It leads to destruction. It led Judas to destruction. It leads to lies. We lie to oursel. We lie to people around us. What we see from the story is that Jesus preached, showed miracles, healed. And those three and a half years, Judas never gave his life to Christ. My dear friend, many today feel guilt over their sin. You might feel guilt. Why did I just do what I did? Why did I go there? But it doesn't mean anything if you don't repent. That sin is still there. that sin is actually starting to to root out into your heart. We try to sometimes fix it on our own. Just recently, I was speaking to somebody and he's trying to live righteously on his own, but he keeps on stumbling. He keeps on stumbling. He keeps on departing. But Jesus is offering forgiveness, not condemnation. He is offering freedom, not enslavement. And finally, he is offering salvation, not eternal life in hell. Today, you don't have to carry the guilt that Judas carried. Yes, he betrayed Christ. Yes, he he was a lover of money. But check yourself. Check your heart. What is it that you can't let go of? Just understand that if you submit, if you confess to Jesus Christ, he will forgive you. He will wash you clean and you will have the assurance that you will be with him when he comes for you. Judas is an example that today there's many of them. And Jesus is showing us that if we lie to ourselves, if we lie to everybody around us, God will never be lied to. He sees your heart. If there's any hidden skeletons, unrepented sins, don't carry them to your destruction. Bring them to Jesus Christ and let his blood wash you clean. Confess your sins to God because his blood still washes. His grace still saves and his mercy still lives. A sin repented brings freedom. A sin unrepented leads to destruction. So my dear friend, if you have that in your heart, don't wait but repent. Amen. Let's pray. Amen. And all and all standing, we're going to sing by the song by the name of Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. [Music] Ask me not, oh gentle [Music] Savior, hear my humble cry. [Music] All others [Music] are not saved. [Applause] [Music] [Music] One others thou are calling. Do not pass me by. Let me at thy throne of mercy. Find a [Music] sweet my [Music] Saveior [Music] [Music] Siors thou [Music] are not as we are trusting only in thy mit. But I see thy face. Heal my wounded broken spirit. [Music] Save me by thy grace. Saveior. [Applause] Saveior. Hear my cry. Call on others now that are calling. Do not pass me [Music] by. The spring of all my comfort more than life to me. Whom have I on earth beside thee? Who in heaven? Saveior. [Music] Say here my heart others thou [Music] are not passing by. Saveior, [Applause] Savior, hear my humble [Music] cry. While on others thou are calling, do not pass me by. [Music] Praise God. My dear friends, our service has come to the end. And uh the the Bible also says, "Confess your sins to one another." If there's somebody you trust, if there's somebody that can help you, that can lead you to repentance, confess your sins to one another. but most importantly confess them to God. And um we also are happy to see brother Doug here. He's he's back. I was speaking with him yesterday. Uh we'll still pray for healing on his foot. He says it's one day good, next day not, but we believe in the healing power of our God. Um does anybody have any needs? So, I just want to uh mention that next week for the next two months, we're actually starting the book of Revelation. Uh Pastor Henry, he's going to be leading that. It's actually an exciting book. A lot of I would say pastors are afraid to touch that book because it talks about endday prophecies. So, I encourage for everybody to invite your friends, invite those that that want to learn about the book of Revelation. It's going to be something good that God is going to be opening up to to each one of us. So, be here. We'll see you here next week. Also, there's uh Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. We meet at the Cafana Kitchen Coffee Shop in downtown right by the shelter. Uh over there, we just talk, we read the Bible, I read the Bible, we talk about it, um we pray together. So, I'll see you there. Uh also, Bible study Thursday at 6 PM here at church. We'll see you here as well. Um, and of course, Sunday service at 9:00 a.m. Does anybody else have any needs? If not, then we'll pray. Lord God, we thank you, Lord. We thank you for this wonderful morning, God, that you blessed us with, Lord God. You You always take care of us, Lord. You always take care of us, Lord God. And today, we heard, Lord, from your word, God Jesus. Help each person here to to test to to look into our lives, to look into our hearts, Lord. If there's some unrepented sin, Lord God, before it leads us to destruction, may we uh take it out to light. Repent of it. Give each person here, God, an understanding of what it could be, Lord, and give us the strength to repent of our sins because you died for them, Lord God. And we trust in your blood. We also pray for brother Doug, Lord. You see, God, we we pray healing, Lord God. Heal him, Lord God. You see, he's been like struggling with this for months and months, God, but we believe in your healing power, Lord. May you touch him with your hand Lord with your healing hand Lord God. May you bless him God and bless our church and bless this week in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Kingdom, your power, and glory forever are yours. Amen.