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Judas Iscariot is the most famous -- or infamous -- of the twelve apostles of Jesus because it is he that betrayed Christ. Most of the original twelve would die martyrs for the cause of Christ, but Judas Iscariot stands alone as being the only one a martyr to the cause of self. In New Testament times, the name "Judas" -- meaning "praise of the Lord" -- was extremely common and there was another of the twelve apostles with the name. One of Jesus' half brothers, who would later write the Epistle of Jude, was also named Judas. Since the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot, however, there have been very few people to name their son, "Judas." Like the name "Jezebel" of the Old Testament, the tragedy of the Biblical person has tainted the name in society for forevermore. The scriptures say:

There has been no name rot like that of Judas'.

Like anybody who is infamous, many myths and false ideas have sprung up about Judas Iscariot from people who have heard the story but never bothered to verify the facts. In this lesson, we will build a biographical portrait from the scriptural record and bring attention at some of the many sobering and yet truthful lessons that can be learned from this ill-fated disciple's life.

In the four lists of the twelve, Judas Iscariot is always listed last, but this is probably more a result of the Gospels being written "after the fact" of his betrayal than anything to do with his standing within the disciples of Christ during the three years of Christ's ministry. The scriptures record that until the very end, when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with a kiss in the Garden on the night before the crucifixion, the other disciples had no idea of the sinister side of Judas Iscariot. He hid his agenda well, keeping it from everyone except Jesus, his Master!

As you read the Gospels, you will notice that we begin knowing almost nothing about Judas Iscariot and then as we get closer to the crucifixion, we have more and more details recorded. Unlike many of the other disciples, we are told nothing about how Judas Iscariot became a follower of Christ. Most casual Christians do not realize that the Bible says that the twelve apostles were chosen from the large group of believers by Jesus after a time of prayerful consideration:

It was after this time of prayer in the second ministry of Jesus that we first have mention of the Judas that would eventually become the betrayer. He obviously had been following Jesus for some time faithfully, and obviously had traits and characteristics that led Christ to choose him over the many other followers. Most forget that Jesus chose him as the result of an all-night prayer meeting because Judas' good traits and potential has been largely lost in the end result.

The first lesson of Judas Iscariot's life for us today, then, is that God chooses us according to our potential good to the kingdom of God, but that if potential is never transformed into end results, then they are worthless. It has been said that the "road to hell is paved with good intentions." And it is true that all men come to Jesus with faults and potential for good, but the difference between those that make it and those who do not, is that those who make it allow Christ to transform their potential to override and consume and eventually the end result of good overshadows their faults. Those who do not make it -- like Judas -- allow their faults to consume and overshadow their potential. God calls us and anoints us according to our potential good, but even that can be destroyed if we do not let Him deal with our faults!

The only solid evidence of Judas' life and call is found in his surname, Iscariot, which is a Greek term literally meaning "a man of Kerioth." Kerioth was a town that was in the southern area of Judah southeast of Jerusalem and this term was also used in reference to Judas' father, a man whom the Gospel of John informs us was named "Simon Iscariot" (John 6:71, see something other than the KJV) or "Simon, a man from Kerioth." It is likely that the surname of "Iscariot" was attached to Judas' name simply to distinguish him from all the other men named Judas at that time, and yet that very name tells us much, especially in the light that it is obviously the only fact that God wanted us to know about this Judas.

For starters, it reveals to us that of the twelve, Judas Iscariot was the only apostle to not come from the northern Galilean area and the only one to come from the southern Judean area. This gives us some clues to the nature of his life because the differences in the cultures of the two regions were vast. The Galilean region was primary the middle and lower "working" classes of Israel, whereas the higher classes and religiously educated lived in the southern area of Judea. It is very likely that Judas Iscariot was raised in much more wealthy surroundings than the other apostles. It is also very likely that he had a higher religious education than the fishermen and tax men of Galilee. That he had easy access to the Jewish leaders at night when he decided to slip out and meet with them secretly, indicates to us that he had friends in religious leadership circles. The people of Judea were caught up with the idea of their Messiah being their "king" and beginning a political revolution against the Romans and setting up a new kingdom. Because in the end when he realized that Jesus was not going to fight and escape and was going to die, Judas Iscariot threw the money back in the temple and was grieved, means that it is likely that Judas Iscariot had the same notions and was simply betraying Jesus to force Him to act -- or so he thought. Whereas the other disciples left all they had and forsook their dreams to find in Jesus as master and a savior and a teacher, Judas Iscariot likely followed Jesus for possible political power and monetary gain. That the Bible never records about Judas Iscariot that he "left anything" to follow Jesus is significant in the light of the stories of the other Apostles' sacrifice and decisions.

So Judas Iscariot came to Jesus with a different perspective and different ideals and different background, and probably vastly different expectations, than the other disciples. He may have left home and mother and father to serve Jesus, but he never left his personal agenda, and that became his downfall. And Judas' personal agenda as the scriptures reveal, were his own welfare and profit. He would serve Jesus as long as there was something to profit his life and welfare by doing so, but the moment that a cross loomed, Judas Iscariot bailed out. This is evidenced by the very low amount of money that he sold out Christ for: thirty pieces of silver, which the Amplified Bible values at about the equivalent of a modern day twenty-one bucks. A week earlier, we find that Mary had anointed Jesus' feet by breaking an expensive alabaster box of ointment upon them:

Judas Iscariot griped that the ointment could have been sold for three hundred denarii which was the equivalent of a year's wages for an average workmen at the basic rate, a sum that would relate into the tens of thousands of dollars today. His concern -- in words -- was that the money could have been given to the poor, but in reality Judas Iscariot had been put in charge of keeping track of the contributions that were given to support Jesus' ministry by some of the wealthy women who were followers and he had been skimming money and stealing the entire time. He saw the giving of the precious ointment of Mary to Jesus as a waste, only because he saw an opportunity to steal a large amount of money if the ointment had been sold and the money placed in the treasury in his possession.

Jesus' answer to Judas Iscariot of "me ye have not always" and the reference to his burial, indicated to Judas' mind that to keep following the Christ was to soon lead to a point of intense personal sacrifice on his part. It also indicated to Judas, that the source of his monetary fraud was about to be ended, and that no hope for great riches were to come of it after all. The fact that it was the very night that Mary anointed Jesus and Judas raised this opinion about such a waste, was the very night that after supper Judas slipped out and met with the Pharisees agreeing to betray Jesus is significant in understanding Judas' decision. He agreed to betray Jesus for such a small sum of money because in his mind "he was getting out while the getting was good." Serving Jesus had not as he had thought, brought him the great wealth and power that were his personal goals, and so it was time to get out and get what he could get.

The second lesson of Judas' tragic life, then, is that a lack of faithfulness is always the later result of an earlier lack of commitment. Let me say that again. In our lives, a lack of faithfulness is always the result of a lack of commitment at the first. The one who did not leave anything or sacrifice anything at the first would not sacrifice at the last. And such it is in our lives today. The parable of the sower and many other teachings of scripture support the fact that when you first begin to serve God, you will suffer great persecution. And this great persecution is usually very intense. "All that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). The scripture say that the disciple preached:

When you decide to live for God faithfully according to His Word, it is usually going to be a fight to do so, and it will likely be "through much tribulation" that we enter into the kingdom of God. Hear this preacher: this persecution is not from God, but He allows it to come. And the reason is this: He knows that if you are to be faithful to the end, then you will only hold dear and treat as precious and be faithful to something that cost you in the first place. Simply put, if you through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God, then you are not going to give in to every little wind of doubt or unbelief that would try to blow you off course. You are not going to soon leave something that cost you so much to get into! And so God allows the persecution and trials and tribulation to come when we are first entering the kingdom of God and beginning to make the commitment to live for Him so that we will hold precious His Word and His way of living and so that we will not forsake it easily!

In Judas Iscariot, we have someone who did not give up anything or endure great tribulation to enter into following Jesus, and so despite his great potential in the kingdom of God, at the end, he had no qualms about jumping ship because it had not cost him anything in the first place. If the trials and tribulations that you are enduring now, cause you to grab hold of truth and never let it go, then one day -- even if it is in eternity and you can't see how at this present time -- one day, you will praise and thank God for those trials and hard times because that commitment kept you in the end. Matthew, who gave up everything to follow Christ, isn't going to sell out as cheaply as Judas Iscariot. Peter, James, John, Andrew, Nathanael Bartholomew, Phillip -- those guys are not going to sell out so cheaply because it cost them too much to get here! Somebody here, today ought to thank God if coming to truth cost you dearly, because it is likely that great cost that is the reason that you are here today!

And on the other end of the spectrum, we must be willing to sacrifice anything in the beginning in order to serve Jesus! If there is an area of commitment in which you are hesitant to commit to Him, then know that if you continue following Him, it is likely to be that area that grows into the cause of your fall. We do not know where the greed started in Judas' life, but it is obvious that at first, he began to steal a small amount here and there, probably in a self-justified manner. When he did not get caught, he began to steal larger amounts, and then began to look for more and greater opportunities to steal even bigger sums. The scene of Judas Iscariot griping about the "waste" of Mary's ointment offering leads us to even more important lessons to apply to our lives:

The next lesson revealed by this scene is that small, unrepented sin grows up to taint your actions and more importantly your view of spiritual things such as worship. Where all the other disciples saw an act of worship and sacrifice by Mary, Judas saw a waste of money. Whether or not something is a "waste" to be poured out depends upon your view of the object that is lavished upon. If you are a worshipper of Jesus, then to pour such an expensive ointment upon Him, seems a great thing. If you are worshipper of money then to worship Jesus in such a way appears as a waste! This story reveals to us some startling facts about our worship:

1. Viewing sacrificial acts of worship of Jesus Christ as a waste is a direct sign that you are worshipping something else more!

2. We can go through the motions of "following Jesus" and even "minister to Jesus" with our abilities and yet not worship Him.

3. True worship involves sacrifice and action and will always lead to criticism from others who are not as committed.

4. Our attitude toward money is often linked to our worship. Find out where your money goes, and you will see what's most important to you. Find out where you are willing to finance sacrificially for, and you will find what is it that you worship the most!

Another lesson is that Judas Iscariot voiced his criticism over something that He himself secretly had a personal problem with. He criticized Mary over the loss of the money for the ointment, when the whole time, he was stealing from the treasury himself. Those who are the most critical of obvious flaws in others tend to be the ones who have those flaws themselves because you criticize most what you have a problem with the most. In my brief stint of pastoring, I have had no less than four people come to me and in the course of a meeting complain about other people being a "hypocrite." In all four cases, it was the gripers who ended up having some secrets and being the hypocrite! Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and so what you criticize in others reveals to you best what issues are within your heart!

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One of the most often repeated myths and misconceptions about Judas Iscariot's sad existence is that he had to become the traitor to fulfill the scripture. Some people believe the lie that Jesus chose Judas so that he would betray Him. Nothing is further from the truth, and let me counter some of that way of thought.

First of all, there is nothing in Old Testament scripture that says that it had to be Judas Iscariot or even one of the inner twelve to betray Jesus to fulfill scripture. One of the other disciples of Jesus who were not chosen to be an apostle, and yet followed Him could have betrayed Jesus and all the Old Testament scriptures have been fulfilled. The only criteria was that the Messiah must be betrayed by a "friend." Someone who knew Him and spent time with Him. There were many more men and women that fell into this group other than the twelve.

Second of all, the omniscience of God does not mean a predestination of action on our part. In other words, just because God knows all things, including the future, does not mean that we all must blindly and like a robot do what has already been determined. We are free will moral agents and the choices are ours. The easiest analogy that I can give you is one of playing checkers with God. First move is yours. You have four different checkers that you can move one of six ways. No matter what you move, God will know the best response to make and all other possible responses. For any of those paths, God will know all your possible moves and then all possible moves that He has in response. Furthermore, God knows all possible paths and choices and the end results of every combination. In that way, He knows all, but the choice of which checker to move is still yours.

In life, the choice is yours to make which way that you go, and God knows the end of each path, and that is why He has given us His Word and preachers to try to influence you down His way of doing things, because He knows the end result of those paths are blessing and good things. If your path is already chosen and you are predestined to be lost or saved, then why would He bother giving us His Word and calling preachers to preach His messages?

So get it out of your head that Judas Iscariot was pre-selected by God to be lost and a betrayer. Not so. It's just that Judas Iscariot was unfortunately the one who chose that path. There were plenty of others who had the opportunity to do so, also. At one point Jesus told Simon Peter, "Satan desires to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you." Jesus prayed for Judas Iscariot, too, but he did not allow Jesus' influence and teaching to change him, but rather played the part of the disciple and hid the secret agendas until the secret agendas consumed his discipleship. Judas' end was the result of gradual steps in that direction over three years of Jesus' ministry.

And so the next lesson of Judas' life is that people do not suddenly backslide and grow cold. They never "suddenly leave" church or "suddenly stop" serving Jesus. Because we often -- like the other disciples -- are not privy to see the small increments, it sometimes seems like people self-destruct in living for God all in a flash, but really if the whole story was known, it would be found that their demise was the end result of a long and every widening gap in their relation with Jesus.

Thought becomes Act,

Act becomes Habit,

Habit becomes Character,

Character becomes Eternity.

And so when we see the end of Judas Iscariot, we realize that even though not all of the steps are recorded and visible in scripture, that we are witnessing the end result of a gradual growth of sin in his life. Somewhere, the false motives and impure heart of Judas Iscariot led to the thought that "I deserve more than I am getting." As often as the scriptures teach about giving responsibility to proven men and women leads me to believe that Judas Iscariot had been an honest person before Jesus entrusted with him the treasury. I have heard preachers of the opinion that "Jesus knew Judas had a problem with money, therefore He made him treasure to test him." I don't believe that, and the scripture says that "God tempts no man to sin" (James 1:13). I believe that it was some time AFTER the bag was given to Judas that the thought came in "you could use this to your advantage." The thought entered into his mind, and when he did not quench the thought, but rather entertained it, then the thought became action.

The devil cannot make you do anything, but he can put a thought into your mind. If you act upon that thought, then what you have done is dwelt upon it and entertained that thought and let it linger there. There is no sin in thinking something evil. The sin comes with lingering it and allowing it to remain. We have little control over what thoughts come into our head, but we have much control over what we dwell on and meditate upon! Spiritual warfare is fought, then, between your two ears by not allowing your mind to dwell upon unholy thoughts or desires. Paul said:

How do we win spiritual warfare? By "taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." We must guard what we allow ourselves to think upon continually. Because what we think will turn into what we do, and then what we do becomes a habit, and then our habit becomes our character, and then our character becomes our eternity! In the case of Judas Iscariot, his response to the waste of the ointment was his character being revealed, and that character was a result of a gradual process of sin in his life! Beware the process of sin, because like Judas Iscariot, you too will reap the consequences in eternity!

Understanding that the development of the end was a gradual process in Judas' life reveals to us also how God deals with such a process in our own lives. God's response towards the progression of sin depends upon the level that it is at in our life. Did Jesus know when Judas entertained the first thoughts of stealing and deceit? Yes. Did He know when Judas first reached in and stole something? Yes. And yet Jesus did not deal with it directly in confrontation until the habit had become a character.

In those first few months of the thoughts being entertained by Judas about stealing from the bag, and even the first few acts of thievery, Jesus hardly mentioned money in His teaching. But when you get into the middle and end of the year, when the act had become a habit in Judas' life that we find Jesus saying such things in His teachings of the crowd as:

And then later in the year such things as:

What about the many parables of Jesus that deal with money and being faithful and warns against what will happen to someone who does something secretly against their master? It was at the stage where the deception and thievery had become a habit in Judas' life that Jesus tried to reach him through preaching and general statements.

And at the start of the third year, when Judas Iscariot had not changed the habit and it had become his character, then we find Jesus saying things as this:

And then we find Jesus later in the year rebuking Judas directly at the house of Mary and the scene of the offering of the alabaster box. And then finally at the last week, the character of Judas leads to a moment of eternity and in one desperate attempt to give him an opportunity to repent, Jesus at the Last Supper says:

It was the first direct confrontation, and it was a moment of eternity! Judas went out to gather the Pharisees and soldiers and before the night was over, he would betray him, but the betrayal was just the result of the gradual process of allowing a thought to grow into more!

When you first begin to entertain a thought of sin or first partake of it secretly, it is likely that God will not send thunder or even the preacher to come to you. At that level, God is allowing you a moment of mercy to repent and get things right. Unfortunately, too many people take the lack of instant judgment of God as a sign that their sin is "okay" and their actions and thoughts become habit. When it becomes habit, God will often use the minister to preach a general message about the subject. That is again God being merciful and trying to give you an opportunity to repent before it become common knowledge and escalates further. If you refuse to heed the warnings and allow the habit to become a part of your character, then it takes harder preaching and a more direct route to shake you to the fact that you need to change. If a preacher preaches hard seemingly right to you, then you should realize that it is a sign that you have sin in your life that is progressing to a dangerous stage! And then will come a moment of confrontation where eternity rests upon your decision. If God has to send someone to you to point out your fault, then your are in a dangerous place where eternity is at stake! Such is the way God deals with us even today!

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The events of the ending of Judas Iscariot's life are presented in scripture. He led the army to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he knew Jesus would be praying. He came up and kissed Jesus as a sign of betrayal, faithful to act sincere until the very end. Hauntingly, the last words that he would ever hear Jesus say to him were that night: "Friend, why have you come?" Jesus told him in a sentence that no doubt still rings in his head: "I consider you friend despite all that you have done, why are you doing this Judas?"

After throwing the money back to the Jewish leaders, the scriptures record that Judas Iscariot went and hanged himself, becoming the only person in the New Testament to commit suicide. A man so guided by his own agenda and motives, found that Jesus would not change for him, and in despondency took the very life that he had worked so deceitfully to bless! And what is even sadder is that if Judas Iscariot would have sold out to the will of God in his life and been faithful, then in eternity, he would have found the power and wealth that he was looking for! And so yet another lesson of Judas' life is that only by submitting to God will we truly have our dreams fulfilled! Instead, when the twelve apostles sit upon thrones and rule the twelve tribes of Israel, another apostle will take Judas Iscariot's place.

Some preachers have tried to put Judas Iscariot in heaven, but I find that very hard to prove in scripture. Matthew records:

From the terminology of "repented" preachers have preached a doctrine that he found forgiveness, but there are two words that the KJV translates as repentance, one which means "to feel sorry for" and the other which means "to change directions." The word here simply means that Judas Iscariot felt sorry for what he had done, but he did not repent in the sense of changing directions and coming back to Jesus. Surely he had heard many times Jesus prophesy of how he would get up in three days! If Judas Iscariot would have waited and came to Jesus asking for forgiveness, I believe with all my heart that our merciful God would have forgiven him. But Judas Iscariot did not truly repent as to his direction and went on through with the self-destruction.

The final and sobering lesson of Judas Iscariot's life is that when people go beyond the mercy of God it is because they place themselves there by believing the lie of failure from their sin. God did not drive Judas to suicide, but rather Judas listened to the voice of his failures which drove him to such a place. If Judas would have just refused to buy into the lies of his past, he could have still found a place of forgiveness and his story would have been a great champion of mercy for us to preach about today. Instead, he will forever be known as the "betrayer." May we make a different choice with our lives today!