The thing that's on my mind today is Judas and Pilate

The thing that's on my mind today is Judas and Pilate. We know that they were both involved in the death of Jesus, in differing capacities; but they both also had a common characteristic that led to their downfalls. That is what I want to look at today, because what caused their downfall can also cause the downfall of anyone else, including you and I. John clearly told us that Judas had been stealing from the treasury of the ministry, seeing he was the one who held the money (Jn. 12:5,6). Certainly Judas didn't have to steal from the bag of money just because it was he who carried it. But he was obviously given to covetousness, and that is where the devil was able to begin operating with him, to get him to betray Jesus. In one sense the other apostles were sinners the same as Judas, seeing true deliverance from sin did not exist until after Jesus died, rose again, and went back to heaven. But none of the others were holding to a particular sinful inclination, and feeding into it. Judas was, and that was the difference between him and the other eleven apostles. It was also exclusively the reason that it was Judas who betrayed Jesus, instead of one of the others. The scripture that illustrates the point that I'm trying to make here is the following: "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil" (Eph. 4:26,27). If we allow "the sun to go down on [our] wrath," we WILL "give place to the devil." Anything that is not what we need to be thinking, feeling, or doing; that we allow to linger, will give space to the devil to come along and start working us into something that isn't good. Any kind of sin that we allow to go unchecked and un-purified, will draw the devil to us like sweat bees are drawn to a picnic. If we give place to any unrighteousness to remain in our lives, Satan will begin to influence the way we think and the way we feel about things. Judas was flirting with the devil all along the way by stealing money from the ministry. No doubt he had it perfectly justified in his mind, because it was THE DEVIL that was influencing his thinking!

So what happened to Judas was that Jesus WAS GOING to be betrayed by someone close to him, and Judas unwittingly volunteered for the job by practicing and continuing in sin. When the time came for Jesus to be delivered up, Judas was ready and waiting to do the job that he had been preparing for; and the fearful part is that he never had a clue as to what was going on, or at least not until it was too late. The result? "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself" (Mat. 27:3-5). I might add here that Judas was and is most assuredly lost forever, meaning he is damned. There are believers who sympathize with Judas, and argue that he was still saved in spite of his misdeed, but that my friend is a very dangerous place to be in one's mind. It is also contrary to what Jesus said, as the scripture clearly confirms: "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is LOST, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled" (Jn. 17:12). The word 'perdition' means 'destruction,' and destruction is what is inherited by the damned, not the saved. To add to that, Judas is one of only two people in the entire Bible who are given the title, 'son of perdition.' The other person is 'the Beast' of the book of Revelation, and we know that he will be forever damned as well (Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:10). Pilate's circumstance and position was certainly different that that of Judas, but it was the same in a sense too. Jesus was delivered by the Jews to Pilate, with the intent that they would convince Pilate to put him to death, he being the local Roman authority with power to accomplish that (Mat. 27:1,2).

So unlike Judas, Pilate knew that the Jews wanted him to put Jesus to death; but like Judas, Pilate also had an 'Achilles heel' that would tell on him in the end. Pilate tried in every way he could to get Jesus off the hook, so to speak; for one thing offering to release him instead of Barabbas, an insurrectionist who had committed murder. Pilate knew Jesus was a righteous man, and he knew that the Jews had delivered him up by ill motivation (Mat. 27:18,23). God was even trying to get Pilate off the hook, giving his wife a dream whereby she warned him to have nothing to do with it (Mat. 27:19). The Jews knew that Pilate wanted to let Jesus go, so they pulled out their 'ace in the hole:' "But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar" (Jn. 19:15). That was their ace in the hole because they instinctively knew that Pilate feared the emperor more than he feared God. So what was Pilate's response to that? "Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away" (Jn. 19:16). Yeah, simple as that. Pilate had lived his life exercising the sin of 'the honor of men,' especially because he was a man in great authority whom people revered. By the same token he had that same over-reverence for man when it came to the emperor, who could have him killed if he chose to. Pilate, in his mind, just couldn't afford for the emperor to hear that he had allowed someone that people were calling a king, to go free and continue on the Roman landscape after having been delivered up to him. It is ironic that it was in fact 'the honor of men' that had compelled the Jews to deliver Jesus over to Pilate to be executed wrongfully. Jesus had called them out for this sin, but they refused to come clean and repent: "I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you... How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" (Jn. 5:41,43,44). We can add this to the equation also: "And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine" (Mk. 11:18).

So even though Pilate didn't want to have Jesus crucified, he wanted less for his own skin to be in danger. That's what it amounts to, and that is what we want to avoid. There is a Judas moment or a Pilate moment just waiting for any and every child of God who allows some kind of sin to linger in their lives. Like I said before, Judas didn't have a clue what his fate was going to be. It never crossed his mind that he was betraying Jesus, or that the Jews would have him put to death. He had it all reasoned out in his mind that he was doing something really wise, and that he would be rewarded by Jesus for it after Jesus realized how wise he was. Not only so, but he managed to add thirty pieces of silver to his assets in the process. That mindset was dictated to him by the devil, and he was totally in the dark, literally. All because he held to a sin that was against God, and against his commandments. Pilate on the other hand knew what was going on, but in the end he was powerless to stop it because he feared man more than he feared God, which is also a damning sin according to the Bible (Rev. 21:8). I was just speaking with a brother in Christ last night about the ancient patriarch Joseph, who endured such a long and grueling trial of his faith. Joseph didn't have a clue as to what was coming. All he knew was two things: He was continuing to suffer great adversities on many levels, all unjustly; and he was determined to remain faithful to God in his heart and his life, refusing to allow any kind of sin to have dominion over him. Little did he know that it was all leading to him becoming in effect the major ruler of the existing world at that time, and to a grand reunion with his father, and with his brothers who had betrayed him. The moral of the story is that we never really know where we are headed, and what we will end up fulfilling; but one thing is utterly certain: If we refuse to allow sin to have dominion over us, and we continue to love and do the righteousness of God through all circumstances; we are going to fulfill a good purpose that God has purposed for our lives, and it will glorify him.

On the other hand if we entertain sin and allow it to remain a part of our lives, we will miss what God has purposed for us, and will rather end up working for Satan to fulfill some vain purpose that will surely be against God. The latter is a very fearful proposition, especially when we factor some sobering words of Jesus into it: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mat. 24:9-13). We are right on top of the time that Jesus spoke of there, and we are basically heading into a wood chipper, as far as what will soon be coming on this world. I don't know about you, but I for one am determined that if push comes to shove, I would rather be betrayed, than to be the one doing the betraying. There is only one way to be certain that we will be on that end of things, rather than the contrary end; and it is the same instruction that the beloved apostle gave us on how to be in the 'first resurrection:' "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:2,3). Jesus is VERY pure, and I intend to keep on purifying myself likewise, by means of the power of his Spirit that he sent back from heaven for that very purpose! (Acts 1:4,5,8; Tit. 3:5,6; I Pet. 1:22) God is very, very good my friend. In fact he is SO GOOD that in eternity to come he will never allow anything but good to dwell in his presence (Rev. 21:27). That is the lesson to be learned by these things, and Jesus died that we might be partakers of his goodness in our hearts, in our souls, in our minds, in our words, and in our deeds: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Cor. 5:21). Amen... and AMEN! By the way, that last verse; it is literal, not figurative. God bless.