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[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat jazz music) ♪ ♪

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(upbeat jazz music) ♪ When on the cross of Calvary ♪ ♪ The Lord was crucified ♪ ♪ The mob stood round about him ♪

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♪ And mocked until he died ♪ ♪ Two thieves were nailed beside him ♪ ♪ To share the agony ♪ ♪ But one of them cried out to him ♪

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♪ Oh Lord, remember me ♪ ♪ Oh, what a shame to kill him ♪ ♪ There out there on that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ For such a death was needed ♪

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♪ To rescue all that were lost ♪ ♪ His blood was made a ransom ♪ ♪ To set the captives free ♪ ♪ I know that I'm included ♪

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♪ And he will remember me ♪ ♪ Will the dog remember me ♪ ♪ That I'm gone too long ♪ ♪ When I have crossed that chilly sea ♪

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♪ Will he hear the band show ♪ ♪ Oh yes, he has my people, Christ ♪ ♪ From my debt you set me free ♪ ♪ And when I reach that holy gate ♪

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♪ He will remember me ♪ ♪ Oh, will the Lord ♪ ♪ Will the Lord remember me ♪ ♪ When I am called to go ♪

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♪ When I have been to Tennessee ♪ ♪ Will he hear his love there show ♪ ♪ He heard my feeble cry ♪ ♪ From bondage set me free ♪

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♪ When I've reached the pearly gates ♪ ♪ He will remember me ♪ ♪ When I've reached ♪ ♪ And when I've reached the pearly gates ♪

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♪ He will remember me ♪ - Amen, amen. Amen. When the morning was come,

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all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away

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and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver

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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."

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And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. And the chief priest took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury

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because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in.

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Wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying,

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they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the potter's field,

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as the Lord appointed me. And Jesus stood before the governor, And the governor asked him, saying, "Art thou king of the Jews?"

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And they said unto him, "Thou sayest." Thus ended the reading of our scripture. For several Sundays now, we have been considering messages

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based on the passion of our Lord. And we have focused on what has occurred and personalities that were involved around the cross.

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We have given a rather in-depth study of various personalities, and we come today to consider Judas, Judas the one who betrayed him.

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So he's usually referred to as Judas the traitor. I often think of him as Judas, the keeper of the purse. Now in the gospel according to John, these words, John 12, 4 through 6, "Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which was to betray him, why

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was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? This he said, not Not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had to bag and bear what was put therein. So another way of putting this is Judas, bag man.

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Shakespeare says, "Who steals my purse steals trash. "'Tis something nothing, 'tis mine, 'tis his, "and has been slave to thousands. "But he that filches from me my good name

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"robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed. For many years, from Old Testament times to the New Testament, the name Judas was a popular name.

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But in the New Testament, Judas is described as the disciple who betrayed Jesus So the name came to be identified with infamy by the gospel writers. Whenever the name Judas is mentioned, it's followed with some uncomplimentary remark,

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"Judas, the betrayer." So let's look into the background of Judas. He's from Kiriath in Judea. He's the only disciple from that region among the disciples.

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All the others were from Galilee. And so no doubt Judas is one in the group who speaks with a different accent. Maybe he was isolated from the rest because he inherited certain cultural differences. It's important that he became a disciple of Jesus Christ.

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We should understand the fact that Jesus selected him. might well ask the question, I wonder why did Jesus select Judas? Why? Maybe Jesus saw in Judas possibilities of nobility. He saw something that possibly we would Judas Iscariot, man from Kiriath, sort of like a Yankee

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in a bunch of southerners. A Judean, one from the southern part of the country, in company with Galileans who were regarded who were regarded as hillbillies. Certain language attached to our names

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served to define who we are, such as Alexander the Great, Richard the Lionheart, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

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I remember very well when I was a candidate for the city council, And I would go from place to place and during my candidacy, I would be introduced with these words.

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This is Reverend Griffin, who was on the school board, who instituted busing. That's usually the way I was presented. And they didn't have to say any more.

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That was enough. Judas, the betrayer. Judas the bag man. So that we might get into what is happening here.

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I went to the bank and I asked them for a bag. And this is what they gave me. For the bags that they give to their commercial customers. Holds quite a bit.

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And of course, the money that was handled in those days was quite heavy, silver. So, it's a bag, but it has a rather unpleasant connotation.

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A. Clayton Powell, who was congressman in New York a number of years ago, engaged in a political battle with a person in his district. And he referred to her as the bag woman.

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And she sued him. She won the suit. But I don't think Powell ever paid because he was out of the country.

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Every time they wanted to serve him, he was somewhere out of the country. He'd come back and preach at the church on Sunday and be out of the church,

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be out of the city the rest of the time. But she wanted because it was such an unpleasant reference, calling her a bag woman. But that's what Judas is called, a bag man.

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Well, there was a Judas that was a brother of Jesus. And there was another who was a brother of James. But this one is from Judea, and he is the object of our concern

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among all the other Judas people we have in the scripture. Judas who betrayed him, we single him out. Judas is carried, one of his disciples, a disciple of Jesus.

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He kept the bag, and then they say in John here that he stole. You know, people have a way of keeping up with the treasurer.

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They always wanna know how much money do we have in the treasury. And some evidently kept such close records on it that they could report, and it gets into John's account,

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that this man was stealing from the treasury. no doubt they would ask him from time to time, how much money do we have? Judas would report and they would have their own records.

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No, that's not right. He's spending it. He's a bag man. Stealing from the Lord's treasury.

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So, I don't need to belabor the point of how significant a treasury is because it is usually a source of a great deal of trouble. I don't have to do that.

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We just had Enron here. It has to do with the records and finances. When we were young, we organized a social club and this social club functioned well for a while.

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We paid our dues. We wanted to have our social events. We were young, we were teenagers. And every time we met, the president would ask the treasurer

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how much money do we have. And after meeting a number of times over a period of months, they decided to ask the treasurer to bring the money to the meeting. And when he was to bring the money to the meeting,

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the first meeting or two, he forgot it. The next meeting he said he came from work and he didn't go by the house to pick it up. And it went on and on with one excuse after another until finally we decided to disband the club because we never got an accurate account of how much money we had.

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So he's the treasurer, the keeper of the purse. contradiction to be dishonest, disciple of the Lord, stealing from the Lord's treasure as the keeper of the purse. In fact, again, let's ponder over what Shakespeare says. "He who

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steals my purse steals trash. But he who filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, but makes me poor indeed." Judas, stealing from the common purse, cheating himself. Not really Jesus. He's not treating--stealing--treating,

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cheating Jesus. He's cheating himself. And sometimes we don't recognize that. In our fifth-grade class in elementary school, the parents came and they met with the teacher. They called the boy out of the class, met with the teacher,

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and they wanted to know from the teacher whether or not this boy had any extra money. And they, after talking with him, they decided that he didn't have any extra money.

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But the mother had been missing some money out of her purse. And she assumed that her son had stolen it. And so they dismissed him and told the class about it. And I said, I was at lunch with him,

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and he had a large sum of money. And they came back and took him to the office and found out that he had stolen the money from his mother's purse. So often we steal, we cheat, and we do not recognize that we are stealing from

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ourselves. A father had a business and he had his son working there at the cash register with him and he missed money from the cash register. He knew his son had taken it and then he took his son to the cash register and said, "Look at it, son. So look at it, hold it in your hands. He say it's yours. He say, "Oh, that's it! It's yours! You don't have to take it! You don't have to steal it! It's already yours! You're gonna have all this! It's yours."

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Judas, stealing from the common purse, stealing from himself. He takes it and uses it for his own advantage. Well, I'd like to know more about Judas. I see the record here is that he's a thief,

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but I'd like to know more. And so I'd like to bring in a psychiatrist to testify about Judas. You're a psychiatrist?

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Yes. You study human behavior? Yes. Well, how do you account for Judas

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stealing from the common purse? The bag man. Well, according to the studies that we've made, Reverend, there are some people who just have the inclination

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to do that. What do you call them, kleptomaniac? Yes, that's a pretty big word, doctor. Well, can you break it down?

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So, well, that's a person who has an irresistible urge to take that which is not his. So no matter what he said, not that he needs it, he doesn't need it, he just takes it in the hand.

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Just goes about taking it. Always tempted to take it. So I remember a parishioner of mine, doctor. She had everything her husband provided for her.

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Nice home, good clothes, and all of that. But every time she went to town, somebody had to be with her because she would take something that was not hers. She had an

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irresistible urge. Maybe--maybe that was Judas' problem. He was a thief. He has an irresistible urge, possibly. But maybe he did did also because he was just a person who was always money mad. You remember the account of this woman who came in while Jesus

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was in the home of Mary and Lazarus and the like? And she came in and broke an alabaster bottle of perfume that was very costly and she took it and just poured it out. She was extravagant. She poured it out, anointed the feet of Jesus and Judas speaks up, "Well, that's awful. That money could have

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been used to feed the poor. He became so interested in the poor. Bag man, bag man, wanting not the money for the poor, but for himself. But let's check and see what he wants. He makes a deal with the religious leaders, the politicians of his time. It makes a deal with Him. I will betray Him for 30 pieces

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of silver. What will you betray, Judas? Will you tell Him the secret place where Jesus meets with His disciples? Is that what you're telling Him? Well, why are you involved in this anyway? Well, maybe he's trying to force Jesus' hand. He knows Jesus has

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has the ability to call angels from heaven. And he hasn't used the power that he has. Maybe if I put him in that position, he will have his hand forced to do

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what I would like for him to do, and that is to go ahead and bring in the kingdom, set it up. And so he comes, he says, "I will do that for you

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for 30 pieces of silver." Ah, here they are, 30 pieces of silver. 30 pieces, 30 pieces of silver. Think of what I can do with 30 pieces of silver.

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Silver. This looks like the silver that you see in the slotting machines in Las Vegas. (audience laughing)

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That's what it looks like, 30 pieces of silver. 30 pieces of silver, I could put this in the bank and have it for my retirement. 30 pieces of silver.

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"Oh, better still, that's the price of a slave, "and I could buy a slave, and I could farm the slave out "the rest of the slave's life, "and I would have the income from it,

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"I would be in good shape." 30 pieces of silver. So, but I've gotta have it right now, I've gotta have it cash on the spot, no check.

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spot, no check, cash. And so Judas takes it. And we see him under the cover of darkness as he goes to the upper room. He leaves early. Some theologians argue about whether Judas took Lord's Supper or not. And some say He left before it was

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served. Some say He left afterward, but He was there. And then He comes later while Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He betrays Him with a kiss. Oh, how terrible it is to use a a symbol of affection to betray the King of kings and the Lord

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of lords. That's what he does. If you don't get it right, you can't keep it. You may put it in your pocket, but your pocket will have holes in it. You can't hold it. That's what happens So, Judas wants to get rid of it. He thought he was going to

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be better off, and he's worse off. The more money he has, the worse he'll--you've seen people like that, never happy. So he comes--and he comes to these men who are the leaders. He comes to and he says to them, "Take back this money. Take it back. Take

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it back. I don't want it. Take it back. You're not going to take it? I don't want it. I can't keep it. If time hits my mind, you can take it or go away from me. I don't even want to see you what has happened to my life since this dastardly deed has been done.

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Take it, it's blood money. This is the money for the life of the precious Lamb of God. Take it because it's blood money. I can't--I can't keep it. I can't keep it. So you take it. Blood money. Blood money. Blood money. So, he realizes that he can't live

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Jesus. Jesus is in my mind. Every thought I think, I think about the things He said, the things He did. I can't keep this money. It's blood money. So, I want to get rid of it. Jesus is in my hands. Everything I touch, it reminds me of Him.

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him. Everything I hear reminds me of the words he spoke when he was with us for those three years. I have blood and money that I must get rid of. It's too heavy. I've got to get rid of this bag. Take it and buy a field, a cemetery for the poor,

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but get it away from me. He loves, sometimes we don't miss the things we have until they're taken from us. Some old folk used to say, "We don't miss the water until the well runs dry." So, this is what happens when he cries out. I hear him

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crying in the night, crying, saying, "I'd rather have Jesus." Oh, I've got the bank, but I'd rather have Jesus. I've got silver here, but I'd rather have Jesus. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.

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I'd rather have Jesus than riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus. Thanks be to God that on the other side of the cross that we have Jesus.

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He's with us. He's the lover of our souls. He's the captain of our salvation. We can have Him every moment of our lives. One of my professors used to call Him the eternal contemporary. The eternal contemporary. Contemporary is someone you know that you have with you. Well now, to be eternal is to have Him with you

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always. Isn't that wonderful? You don't have to worry about the pitfalls. You don't have to worry about what's going to happen because you have Him always, no matter what happens. Thanks be to God who has given us a Savior who's with us in every condition and circumstance, who will never, never leave us alone. That's

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That's good news. That's good news in a world at war. That's good news in a community that's tormented by violence. That's good news in a home that's confused

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about what direction to take. That's good news to have Jesus with us. If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere. 'Tis heaven to me wherever I be,

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if he is there." That's a good word for disciples who are willing to follow the master. We come now to extend the invitation to Christian discipleship for those who would walk with him, who talk with him, who fellowship with him, to

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consider him the eternal contemporary. We extend the of uniting with the family of God here. As we sing, we invite you to come. (soft piano music)

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(Piano music) and forgiveness is in him. Renewal, a new chance, come. (choir singing)

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(singing in foreign language) [music] [ Music ] If I am holding my life within my hand,

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Jesus, Lord, forgive me. If I am lost in my own past, [MUSIC] ♪ Let all the dreams come true ♪

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♪ Let strength be all ♪ ♪ For me ♪ ♪ If I can be true ♪ ♪ I will be true ♪

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♪ If I have loved thou shalt I be ♪ ♪ As old and night has given me ♪ ♪ So to old be all glory ♪ ♪ For you, who sings like an anthem ♪

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♪ To me, I give ♪ ♪ The secrets that I need ♪ ♪ I sing all my freedom ♪ ♪ To you, and me ♪

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♪ To you, I executive ♪ [ Music ] [BLANK_AUDIO]