Luke 22:3-4 (New International Version)
3Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.
John 13:27 (New International Version)
27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
Could Judas have repented from what he was doing? What was the final "gesture" by the Lord that sealed Judas fate? Judas's heart tended toward evil throughout Christ's ministry and his actions showed it; and finally by betrayal. So his mind conceived a plan to betray the Lord and his actions carried it out. Jesus Christ talked about Judas all during the last supper without using his name and the arrogance came to full bloom when Judas answered the Lord, "Surely not I, rabbi?" (Matt 26:25).
What is the difference, heartwise, between Judas Iscariot and us? We have the Holy Spirit within us as followers of Jesus Christ but the "old nature" has yet to be fully laid down!! We, through P & M, devise a plan to "satisfy ourselves" and then carry it out even though our church, our pastors, OUR WIVES, all "betray" the plan of our old nature. When we continue our P & M in the face of our Lord, are we NOT tiptoeing around the same condition that Judas placed himself? Judas had the opportunity to repent before satan entered him and we have that same opportunity. Do we in humility accept God's grace and ask for forgiveness, or do we in pride, reject God's grace and continue with our plan? Satan can not enter into those that are chosen for eternal life as he did in Judas but without examining our lives or confronting our P & M, are we so sure that we HAVE the Holy Spirit within us?
Luke 9:62 (New International Version)
62Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Can you see the seriousness of our sin in God's eyes? We men feel guilty about our P & M but do we fully understand the weight that it has on our "new nature"? It grieves the Holy Spirit, it sets our lives on fire, it grieves our wives, it ruins the lives of our children, it brings separation and divorce when God says " I hate divorce"!! And yet we continue making excuses and halfhearted attempts to quit. Do you think I am exaggerating the effects of P & M? Ask your wife how it effects her!!!
With Easter approaching, consider the effects of one man's selfish plan and the results of that plan carried out!!! Here is a commentary about Judas's plan as it relates to the plans of OUR hearts.
Alexander MacClaren (from preceptaustin.org)
There is a world of solemn meaning in that one little word ‘doest.’ It teaches us the old lesson, which sense is so apt to forget, that the true actor in man’s deeds is ‘the hidden man of the heart,’ and that when it has acted, it matters comparatively little whether the mere tool and instrument of the hands or of the other organs have carried out the behest. The thing is done before it is done when the man has resolved, with a fixed will, to do it. The betrayal was as good as in process, though no step beyond the introductory ones, which could easily have been cancelled, had yet been accomplished. Because there was a fixed purpose which could not be altered by anything now, therefore Jesus Christ regards the act as completed. It is what we think in our hearts that we are; and our fixed determinations, our inclinations of will, are far more truly our doings than the mere consequences of these, embodied in actuality. It is but a poor estimate of a man that judges him by the test of what he has done. What he has wanted to do is the true man; what he has attempted to do. ‘It was well that it was in thine heart!’ saith God to the king who thought of building the Temple which he was never allowed to rear. ‘It is ill that is in thine heart,’ says He by whom actions are weighed, to the sinner in purpose, though his clean hands lie idly in his lap. These hidden movements of desire and will that never come to the surface are our true selves. Look after them, and the deeds will take care of themselves. Serpent’s eggs have serpents in them. And he that has determined upon a sin has done the sin, whether his hands have been put to it or no.
