The Judas Principle Trust God not man

JUDAS

John 6:70-71 Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.”
 He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.

The Judas principle: These things must come to past.

Judas has always been a bit of a mystery to me, I think that there is a reason to question both the wisdom and the sanity of Jesus in having Judas as one of his disciples and to then to give him control of the treasury.

John 12:1-6

 ¹ Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. ² There they made Him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. ³ Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
⁴ but one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simeon's son, who would betray Him, said, ⁵ “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” ⁶ 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.

Judas was a thief, Jesus knew before He called him, knew that he was a thief and yet he put him in charge of the money box; if Jesus wasn't insane then what would be His reason? The reason Jesus put Judas in charge of the money was that He (Jesus) trusted the Father's plan for His life, not the man that followed him (Judas).  God uses our weaknesses all the time.  Paul even said: "I take pleasure in my weakness because Through Him (Jesus) I am made strong." 

In order for Judas to betray Christ he had to have the weakness of the love of money, it had to be so strong that it could cause deception in his life. 

2 Corinthians 12

⁷ And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. ⁸ Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. ⁹ And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distress, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 One thing I have discovered by years of experience is that people's weakness and strength are usually the same things.

  So why did Jesus call Him and then give him charge over the money? The reason was that the purpose and plans of God and how He would use Judas to fulfill His purposes, were more important then the sin Judas would carryout. 

The other thing Jesus tells us about Judas is that he's a devil. 

a Declaring War on Ungratefulness and Grumbling

by Francis Frangipane 

June 18, 2011 at 9:58pm facebook

From my earliest Christian years I've heard questions about Jesus' comment concerning Judas Iscariot: "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" (John 6:70).

What did Jesus mean? Was Judas genetically a devil and not a man? (Jesus didn't say Judas had a devil; He said he was a devil). Can a devil actually live among people as a human? While I am no scholar in ancient Greek, I think the truth is better served reading the literal translation of this verse. The word translated as "devil," diabolos, is the same word translated elsewhere in the New Testament as "slanderer" or "malicious gossip" (see 1 Tim. 3:11; 2 Tim. 3:3).

When Jesus says that Judas is a devil, He is saying one of you is a "false accuser," a "slanderer," a "malicious gossip." Judas could not keep his negative perspective to himself.

Remember, just before Judas delivered Jesus to the Pharisees, he was offended that Jesus allowed an expensive ointment to be poured upon His hair. Judas indignantly complained: "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor people?" (John 12:5). His words spread strife among the other apostles as well (Matt. 26:8).

Judas said, in effect, Who permitted this thoughtless luxury? Well, it was Jesus. The woman had anointed Him for His burial. Yet, to Judas, this was an extravagance that Jesus shouldn't have taken. In the angry mind of Judas Iscariot, there was justification to go to the chief priests. He had grounds to break ranks with Christ (Matt. 26:14-15).

The preceding message is adapted from a chapter in Francis' book, A House United (published by Chosen Books) and available at www.arrowbookstore.com.

(En Español) -https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000226763388

 Jesus loved and accepted Judas' weaknesses and all. So maybe this tells us that even though people will betray us or disappoint us maybe we should not trust in them but rather that God will use them and even the situation that happened to fulfill His purpose, in our lives.
Romans 8:26 
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. ²⁷ Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰ Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The world and even some Christians believe that if you claim to be a Christian then you are claiming to be perfect, so Christians tend to portray perfection even when they are not.  This belief system keeps Christians from receiving freedom from sin or even bringing sin into the light."If I tell someone I am not perfect then I will be telling them that I am not a Christian. We are not immediately turned to a perfect person but rather we are being renewed to that person through the renewing of the mind.

 Luke 22

¹ The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is also called Passover, was approaching. ² The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the people’s reaction. ³ Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, ⁴ and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. ⁵ They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. ⁶ So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest him when the crowds weren’t around.

The life of Judas actually gives me hope because even though Judas likely believed he was doing what he was called to do and others would have thought he was just evil, that is not how Jesus saw him at all.  At the moment of the betrayal Jesus still called him a friend.

 FRIEND

In Luke 22 we see that Satan entered into Judas. Even though Judas was a devil a slanderer, Judas was not always possessed with Satan, it only happened when the betrayal was necessary. 

Deception almost always starts with us, we make decisions to believe what we know is not true. 

We don't challenge the entire thought process of evaluating what is and isn't true with our thoughts.

 Satan can not enter us unless we have a doorway open to us. We deceive ourselves into believing that we are doing what is right when it is obviously wrong.  Judas was trying to figure out the Best way of betraying Jesus.  I think that Judas knew the prophetic words concerning the Messiah and even had a better understanding of much of what Jesus had taught them then the other disciples, Judas believed that he had to betray the Christ to fulfill the prophecies. Jesus often uses the "these things must come to pass." 

The twelve disciples are all together with Jesus at the last supper and Jesus tells them that one will betray him. When Jesus said that one would betray Him, Judas thought that he was doing what God had called him to do.  I think Judas thought that Jesus expected him to go and betray Him because Jesus told him to go.  Judas knew that the betrayal of Jesus had to happen and he believed he had to do it. I think that Judas was actually excited about this; God was going to use him to save God’s people, to help the Messiah. This is similar to the Balaam spirit; both knew the truth but were convinced that they had the answer to God’s problem. The problem with this thinking is that God doesn’t have a problem

and if we choose to do what is truly right, there are others ready to do the dirty deeds. 
James 4:7-10 tells us that if we humble ourselves and resist the Devil he will flee from us.

 

James 4:7-10 (J.B.Phillips)

⁷ Be humble than before God, but resist the devil and you‘ll find he’ll run away from you.^8-10 Come close to God and he will come close to you. Realize that you have sinned and get your hands clean again. Realize that you have been disloyal and get your hearts made true once more. As you come close to God you should be deeply sorry, you should be grieved, you should even be in tears. Your laughter will have to become mourning; your high spirits will have to become heartfelt dejection. You will have to feel very small in the sight of God before he will set you on your feet once more.

It always seemed to me to be unfair to Judas if God had predestined him to betray Jesus why didn’t Jesus want to save Judas? He did and He even taught them ahead of time about trusting in God for their needs. Judas was there He knew this yet still He beloved that He had to do this to help Jesus become king of the Jews and the Messiah

Luke 22: Supplies for the Road

³⁵ And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?”
So they said, “Nothing.”
³⁶ Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. ³⁷ For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning me have an end.”
³⁸ So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.”
And He said to them, “It is enough.”
 It made me wonder if some people were meant to be evil and others righteous.    Even after Judas betrayed Christ he could have returned, humbled himself and drawn closer to God, except that he did not yet have the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 26:14-25

¹⁴ Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests ¹⁵ and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?” ¹⁸ “As you go into the city,” he told them, “you will see a certain man. Tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹ So the disciples did as Jesus told them and prepared the Passover meal there.²⁰ When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the twelve disciples.²¹ While they were eating, he said,” I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” ²² Greatly distressed, each one asked in turn, “Am I the one, Lord?”²³ He replied, “One of you who has just eaten from this bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. How terrible it will be for the one who betrays Him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!” ²⁵ Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, “Rabbi, am I the one?” And Jesus told him, “You have said it.”

To understand Judas we need to look at some things that happened after the betrayal.  When Judas discovered that they meant to kill Jesus, he was devastated.  He went back to give the money back, he hadn’t betrayed Jesus to destroy Him but to help him fulfill His purpose; however, when he realized that they were going to kill Jesus, Judas was full of remorse. Judas wished he hadn’t betrayed Jesus. He tried to give the money back...why?  Judas wanted to stop the death of Christ.  When they wouldn't accept it he Hung himself.

Matthew 27:1-10

¹ When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. ² And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

³ Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” 
And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” 
⁵ Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. 
⁶ But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” ⁷ And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. ⁸Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 
⁹ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, ¹⁰ and gave them for the potter’s field, as the LORD directed me.”

Judas realized the whole picture of what he was doing but it was too late to stop it.  
In Luke 22  

 We find ourselves in the same situations we have sinned and the consequences of what we have done are going to happen and there is nothing we can do about it, however, Jesus dying and rising from the dead allows us to be forgiven and we can just trust Him. Judas could have done the same, but he didn't. Judas knew what he had done went and hung himself.  Jesus had given Judas everything that he needed to repent of what he had done but instead of repenting, he hung himself.

So the Judas principle is two-fold:

      1.  You do not have to trust in men because things in your life have to happen, you can trust that God will use even that person to get you to your purpose

      2. When we sin we only need to turn around and ask for forgiveness then head in the right direction.There is a part 2 to the Judas Principle, that I will bring up at a later time.