in the Lord's house and beyond. Chapter number 13, let me say thank you for being in the Lord's house and appreciate the service that we had this morning. And tonight should not be quite as weighty of a message as this morning. I'm not sure that I've ever, in the years that I've been preaching, preached on the judgment seat of Christ, but I sure appreciate what the Lord did and the message, and I pray that he'll use it. Maybe somebody here that was lost and never been saved, and I pray that the Lord will convict them, continue to convict them until they get their heart right with the Lord. But I want us to go to John chapter number 13, and we're going to pick up in a passage that's dealing with the Last Supper and it seems like we've visited this passage of scripture quite a bit recently in the church with different things that are going on. I want to look at a relationship that the Lord had and maybe this is really just some practical truth that'll hopefully be a help to us this week. So let's stand together, John chapter number 13, and let's begin reading in verse number 18. John 13 verse number 18. Of course, Jesus is speaking. He said, I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it come, that when it has come to pass, you may believe that I am he. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. And when Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in his spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him, and then said to Jesus unto him, That that thou doest, do quickly. Verse number 28, he said, Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag that Jesus had said unto him, buy those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. He then, having received the sop, went immediately out, and it was night. It's obvious from our text that this scripture deals with the revelation of Judas being the betrayer to the disciples. Of course, it wasn't a surprise to Jesus. He knew when he called Judas that he was going to be the one to betray him. But this was Jesus' revelation to the disciples. It really doesn't mean much to them right now because they don't even realize it. You look at this text and you think, how could it get any plainer? He said that whoever he gives the sop to after he dips it, that's going to be the one who betrays him. And still, they obviously had so much confidence in Judas that they didn't realize that that's who Jesus was talking about. But of course, later on when it does come to light, that Judas is the betrayer, these words that Jesus spake are going to mean a lot to the disciples. Now, here's what I want to preach on in a very practical way, is how to treat a traitor. We know that one of the purposes of Jesus' ministry, this is not the primary purpose, but one of the purposes of Jesus' ministry is to give us an example of how to live. You'll probably remember in the 90s, the little acrostic WWJD, what would Jesus do? That became very, very popular. There was t-shirts and bracelets. It's interesting if you research that little phrase from what I can tell it goes all the way back to a message that Charles Spurgeon preached in the late 1800s and he mentioned that phrase several times in his message but for some reason it resurfaced and even though it's very popular it's a good way to live your life. What would Jesus do? So one of the ways that Jesus, one of the ways we glean from his ministry is he was an example and he was especially an example on how to treat people. So I'm interested in this relationship and how do you treat a traitor. As we were walking out of the prayer room, Chris asked me what I was preaching tonight, and I told him the title, How to Treat a Traitor, and he said, well, you kill him. And that's the American answer, isn't it? Any good red-blooded American, if there's a traitor, you hang him high. That's always been the way we've dealt with things, but that certainly is a lot differently than the way Jesus did. So I want us to look at some truths here tonight. Let's pray together, ask for the Lord's help. Lord, thank you for the opportunity to gather together tonight. and I'm thankful for your love for us and I'm thankful that every time that we meet together and we open your word we're reminded of how much you love us and how much you care for us and we're reminded of how close that you are to us. You could have saved us and you could have put us on our way and left us alone but I'm thankful that you're with us and you're close to us And Lord, it seems like when we come together as believers, we can get a sense of that closeness greater than ever. And I'm thankful for that. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us as we open your word. that you'd help us to be challenged and to glean some truths from your ministry and your life. And Lord, I understand that in our flesh we'll never be able to be like you, but you have given us something to aim for, something to attain to, and I pray that that would be our heart tonight as your people. Well, thank you for all that you do. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for standing. You can be seated. Now, of course, when you look at the ministry of Jesus, you'll find that Jesus' ministry was really defined and identified by His relationships. Really, kind of the way I think about it is the fact that it's amazing that Jesus would have a relationship with mankind just in general. It's amazing that a holy, righteous God who is perfect and who there is no fault, there's no flaws, there's no sinless, It's amazing that Jesus would even be able to have, be capable of having a relationship with us as sinful and as depraved as we are in our humanity. But when you look at Jesus' ministry over and over again, you'll see these different relationships that he had and he was defined by that. One of the things that they always attached to Jesus was the fact that he was a friend of sinners and he became known by that and even today one of the things a lot of people know about the ministry of Jesus is that he was a friend of sinners and I'm thankful for that. That makes it possible for Him to be our friend. If He had just come to the rich and He had just come to the famous, then it would have been unattainable to a lot of humanity and society. But He was a friend of sinners, and all of us are sinners, so it's a picture that Jesus is a friend to us. One of the things I'll say, and I'll just say a few things as we, by way of introduction to this thought, But one of the things that I would say about his relationships is that he leaves us patterns in really all of his relationships. You'll find Jesus' relationship with his family. There's not a lot that is mentioned about his family, but in the dealings that he had with his mother, even when he was 12 years old, and that's the only place we see in his childhood, You'll see his relationship with his parents there. You'll also see his relationship with his mother at the cross and how he had John the Beloved take care of his mother. He made sure before he died that she was taken care of. He had a relationship with his brothers who were unbelievers up until the ascension of Christ back into heaven. And He gives us a good example of how to have a relationship with our family. He gives us a good example of how to have a relationship with sinners. As I mentioned just a moment ago, time and time again, Jesus would go out of His way to have a conversation and sometimes even develop a relationship with people who were lost so that He could change their life. We see a great relationship between Jesus and His disciples in His earthly ministry and the relationship that they had together. But to me, the greatest and the most amazing aspect of the love of Christ is the relationship that he had with Judas. You understand his relationship with his family. It's natural to have a love and a relationship with your family. You understand his relationship with his friends. Those were people who had followed him and dedicated their lives to him. You understand even His relationship with sinners as He looks at them as a holy God as being helpless and needing His help. But the relationship that Jesus had with His enemies was one of the defining relationships. And it's amazing when you look at this, and really what I want to do is just very briefly kind of highlight the relationship that Jesus had with Judas. Judas is a really, really interesting character. I mentioned some of the mystery that surrounds the book of Revelation this morning. And there's also some mystery that surrounds the life of Judas. There's some people who have some ideas about Judas and what happened after he died. Some of that, in my opinion, is definitely not worth arguing over. Some of that you really have to read into to get a hold of. But he's a guy who there's a lot of controversy surrounds him and people like to study his life. But we understand that he was the villain when you look at the story of the gospel. Judas was the villain. He was the one who sold Jesus out. It's bad enough to have an enemy. All of us I think know what it's like to have an enemy. not to the extent that Jesus did, but to have someone who doesn't like us and someone who tries to hurt us. But it's tough to have a traitor in your life. I looked up the definition of what it means to betray and here's what I found. It says it's to deliver into the hands of an enemy by treachery or fraud, in violation of trust, as an officer betrayed the city. You see this a lot of times in times of warfare and nations and government. There'll be someone who will take the position and the trust and the responsibility that they've been given and they'll use it to their benefit and to the detriment of the person they have a relationship with and that's what a traitor is. And when you look at Jesus' life, to me it's hard for us to understand the kind of betrayal that Jesus went through. Now I'm not minimizing our hurt because I think all of us have stories of times we have been hurt, someone who has done us wrong, sometimes we're hurt unintentionally, but sometimes we're hurt intentionally as Judas intended to hurt the Lord. You've experienced betrayal, I'm sure, to a certain degree. of someone who you loved and someone who you trusted and you really thought they were your friends, you really thought you had a good relationship and then they took your relationship as a tool to be able to make themselves better and to hurt you and that's a really, really tough place to be. But when you think about betrayal, I don't think any of us has experienced betrayal to the extent that Jesus experienced from Judas. I mean, I'm talking about this is as bad as it can get. That Jesus was crucified, and we understand in His supreme authority that they didn't take His life, Jesus laid it down, but Judas betrayed Jesus for Him to die, to be crucified so that He could gain from His death. That's about as low as low could be. That's the kind of person who Judas was and the relationship that Jesus had with him. One thing I'll say about the life of Judas, I read this from a writer and I thought it was really good. He said, sometimes we look at Judas as being a helpless victim of prophecy. As in the fact someone had to betray Judas or someone had to betray Jesus. So it had to be Judas and he was just helplessly a victim of the prophecy that had been given before. But that's not the case. Judas had a choice in the actions that he made in the life of Jesus. In fact, I think there's even a good argument that Possibly Satan wanted to use Peter to do what Judas did. You remember shortly before the cross that Jesus told Peter, he said, Peter, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you. Now I can't prove it, but could it be that maybe Satan wanted to use Peter to play the role of Judas in Jesus' life? But it seems like that Judas was the only candidate that Satan could use to be able to betray the Lord. So he wasn't just a helpless victim of prophecy. He was a man who made a choice to betray Jesus. He was a man who was a fraud, and he was the one that was responsible for his choices in the life of Judas. You know, there's a lot of controversy over whether Judas could have been saved, and again, I wouldn't fall out with you on your opinion, but it seems to me from looking at Judas' life that if Judas, even after his betrayal, if he would have gotten right with God, I believe that Judas had an opportunity to be saved. And again, I wouldn't argue with it. You could say that maybe when Satan entered into him that that was his point of reprobation and there was no hope for him. But the problem with Judas is he never would repent. He regretted it and he threw the money back at the feet of the high priest and those men that were there. He regretted that it happened and he went out and took his own life because he couldn't live with it. But he never came back to Jesus. He never sought repentance. He never asked for forgiveness. In fact, when you look at what Judas did, Judas really didn't do anything much worse than we have done. All Judas did was put something before God. He loved money more than he loved God. And it ended up leading to the betrayal of Jesus. You know, Judas, I don't really buy into some of the mysticism in Judas' life and that he was ordained before the foundation of the world to betray Jesus. Judas had a choice in what he did, but he was the one responsible for that. Now, here's what I want to do. I'll try my best not to bore you with some of this, but I want to look at Judas, and let me first of all talk about the attributes of Judas. the role that he played and all of us could probably identify with the way Judas treated Jesus even though we've never experienced it to this extent we've been in situations in our life where we felt like we've been betrayed. One of the things you'll notice if you like you can turn back to the book of Matthew chapter number 10 But you'll notice the pretense of this traitor. In the beginning, Judas is called. Now there's very little that's mentioned about Judas. Really from his calling up until his betrayal, the only thing that is mentioned is a passage of scripture we'll look at in a few minutes where Judas was upset at Mary for breaking that ointment and anointing the feet of Jesus. And that's all that's mentioned about him. But you will find places where he was included with the 12. Anytime that the Bible mentions the 12, then Judas was one of the ones in that group. And there are a lot of interesting things that Judas experienced in being a part of Jesus' discipleship. Back in Matthew chapter number 10, this is a passage of scripture where Jesus was sending out the disciples. In fact, here's what verse 1 says, Now the names of the twelve apostles are these, the first Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew, the publican, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Labias, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas, the Iscariot. You'll find that term Iscariot is always attached to his name. What that was was an identification of where he came from. Judas was from a small town in southern Judah that was called Koriath, and that's what that title is scary, it means in his life. But in verse number five, here's what he said. These 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles and to any city of the Samaritans, enter ye not, but go rather the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he sends them out to go and to preach. And Judas was one of those. Here's what I want you to notice about Judas' life, is he was someone who pretended to be interested in the things of God. Now Judas was never saved, he never had believing faith in his life, I think that's undoubtedly true, but he was someone who pretended to be like everyone else. You know, believe it or not, you'll come in contact with people in your life that pretend to love the Lord, that pretend to be a Christian, that pretend to be your friend, that pretend to have your best interest in mind only to find out later that it never was true. You'll see the pretense of this traitor. Also one of the things you'll notice is the proximity of Judas as a traitor. Judas was someone who was very close to the Lord. You can turn over to Matthew chapter number 26 in verse number Verse number 14. And you'll see how this relationship that Judas had. Matthew 26 verse number 14. I'm in the wrong chapter. Verse number 24. 26 verse number 14. And here's what the Bible said. Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said to them, what will you give me and I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver, and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. You know, for someone to betray you, they have to have a relationship that's close to you. That's kind of the whole idea of being a traitor. So Judas was someone who had, he had cozied himself up to the Lord and to the disciples. In fact, we just saw how the disciples didn't even realize after it seemed so clear, they didn't realize that he was the one that was going to betray the Lord. So Judas had a close relationship. His proximity was very close. And we understand this, that it's the people that are closest to you that can hurt you the most. If you've ever experienced that sort of betrayal in your life, that's a difficult, difficult thing to deal with. Not only will you notice Judas' proximity to the Lord, his pretense, but it's also interesting when you look at the practice of Judas. And I won't turn to any of these passages, but when you look at places where the twelve are sent out and the twelve are giving power, if you looked at Judas, he looked like everyone else. He preached the same message. He had the same power. He had the same opportunities. And Judas was someone who was going through the motions. In fact, we understand that it was, I mean, it was something, we don't know exactly when the calling of Judas was, but it would have been something close to three years that Judas was with Jesus and with his disciples before it ever was revealed that he was a traitor. And three years is a long time to get to know somebody. And three years is a long time to be close to somebody just to figure out that they were going through the motions the whole time. But that's how Judas was. One of the other things you'll notice, if you'll turn with me to John chapter number 12 and verse number 5, and you'll notice the priority of Judas. This is really the only passage, and it's interesting that it's found in the Gospel of John. Because it seems like that John was maybe the only one that had a little bit of an idea who Judas really was. But in the Gospel of John, chapter number 12 and verse number 5, this is the text of course where Jesus is back in Bethany after he had raised Lazarus from the dead. and that's when Mary brings this pound of spikenard and she breaks it and pours it on Jesus' feet and wipes his feet with her hair. And you remember Judas' response, this is in verse number four if you're in chapter 12, said, then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? So one of the things you'll notice to get you an insight that Judas was a pretender is the fact that his priority was money. He didn't seem interested in worshiping the Lord. He didn't seem interested in what was going on. All he cared about was money. All he focused on was worldly things. And it's what's going to end up being his demise in his life. There's several things in fact that you'll see. You see his priority. Not only that, you'll see his pride. Maybe one of the things that upset Judas the most is that Jesus was always being glorified. Jesus was always being worshipped, and it didn't seem like any of the other disciples had a problem with that, but someone who is a traitor doesn't like it when someone else is being exalted above them. And Judas didn't like that. It hurt his pride that Jesus was the one that was always being glorified, and he had something to say about it. One of the other things we know is the privacy that was in Judas' life. Look in verse number 6 if you're still there in John chapter number 12. It gives us the reason that he said this. He said he said not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bear what was put therein. You know what Judas was? Judas was a manipulator. Judas was the one who had gained the trust of these disciples and he was trying to manipulate every situation to his advantage. Trying to manipulate every situation. All Judas cared about was himself. All Judas cared about was how he could better himself with a relationship. I'm telling you, that's a very dangerous thing. You have to be careful of that in relationships that you have with other people. Because if you're not careful, you'll think that your relationship is just to make you better and just to help you. And that's a very dangerous relationship to have. That's how Judas was. There were things that they didn't even know about. They didn't realize he was a thief. They didn't realize it seems like that he had been stealing from the money that the disciples had. He had this private thing going on that no one else knew about. And then you'll find, of course, the purpose of Judah. When you get back to our text in chapter 13 and verse number 2, the Lord's Supper here said, "...and supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him." Again, this wasn't something that Judas had thought about for years. This wasn't something that had been in Judas' heart, and he's thinking, man, I can't wait for an opportunity. But this is something that now, as Jesus is getting closer to the cross, the devil puts this idea in the heart of Judas. And because of his love for money, Because of his selfishness, and because of his manipulation, the devil was able to use him to be a traitor. So it's obvious that Judas was a traitor. He has the attributes of a traitor, and we've all probably experienced people in our life who were similar to Judas, not again to the extent that Jesus did, but was similar to Judas. Now here's what I wanna deal with real quick, and I'll try to get through this. I want you to notice, all of this being said, how did Jesus treat him? So it's easy for us to know how we're supposed to treat our family. We should love them, we should care for them. We forgive them when they make mistakes. It's easiest for us to know how to treat our friends and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We're identified by that. Jesus told his disciples two chapters later in chapter number 15 that this is how everyone will know you're my disciples if you love one another. So that's the identity of being a Christian is how we treat one another in the family of God. All that's easy. comes natural. Loving your friends comes natural. How do you treat someone who's going to betray you? Now, one of the things we understand is that the disciples didn't know Judas was a traitor, but Jesus did. Jesus had a unique insight in Judas' life that none of us have in our relationships. He knew that he was going to be the one to betray. Let me show you just a few things. The first thing that I noticed of how you treat a traitor is that Jesus invested in him. Now, none of this is going to make sense to the natural man. None of this is how probably a modern psychologist or therapist would tell you to treat a traitor in your life. But this is how Jesus treated a traitor. And even though he knew Judas was a horrible investment, he still invested in his life. Everything that Jesus puts into Judas is going to be wasted. It's never going to come to any benefit. Judas is going to ruin it all. And yet Jesus still invested in him. Here's an interesting verse. Go with me to Acts chapter number 1. Acts chapter number 1 real quickly and look with me at verse number 16. This is of course during the time of Pentecost, which is gonna be the beginning of the church. And in this text, it's going back to the previous days and recapping some of the things that had happened. And when Peter stands up to preach, here's what he says in verse number 15, or excuse me, verse number 16. He said, men and brethren, the scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was a guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and notice this statement Peter makes in verse number 17, and had obtained part of this ministry. Even though Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas was going to ruin it all, he still invested in him a part of the ministry. You know, honestly, as a Christian, sometimes you're going to invest in bad people. That's just the reality of it. Sometimes you're going to give your life to people who are going to hurt you. Sometimes people are a bad investment if you're looking for a good return. But Jesus invested in Judas anyway. He still loved him. Here's one of the things that's kind of a term that's thrown around a lot, and that's toxic relationships. Most of the time what people will say is that you've got to cut people out of your life. You've got to cut out toxic relationships. And I understand there are sometimes lines that have to be drawn, but a lot of that is just our own selfish nature. A lot of that is because we wanna make sure that we're not gonna invest in someone that's gonna hurt us, but sometimes you're going to invest in people who's going to betray you, and Jesus invested in Judas anyway. Not only did he invest in him, but here's another interesting aspect about Jesus' relationship with Judas, is that he included him. When you look through the scripture, you would think that there would be places, because of Judas and who he was, you would think there'd be places where he's left out. You would think there would be places where he's not allowed to go. But when you look through the scripture, Judas is included in everything else that the other disciples were included in. Let me give you just a few for instances. And I'll give you some of these references. You'll find that Jesus included him in his message. Mark chapter number four and verse number 10, here's what the Bible says. And when he was alone, they that were about him with the 12 asked of him the parable. And Jesus began to speak to them and specifically mentioned in this verse the twelve disciples which would have included Judas. And you know that Judas got to sit at the feet of Jesus and he got to hear every message that Jesus gave to his disciples. all of the truths, all of the insight, all of the parables. Jesus didn't take a time out and say, okay Judas, you're a traitor, so if you will just step aside, I have something I want to say to the people I love. He still included Judas just like he included everyone else. No, I didn't include him in his message, but he also included him in his ministry. Luke chapter 8 and verse number 18, I mentioned this a little bit earlier, but it said, And when it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, that the twelve were with him. He was willing to let Judas, this is hard to understand, but he was willing to let Judas represent him in his ministry. I would think this would be the point, if I was Jesus, that I would say, okay, Judas, I appreciate you being the disciple, but when it comes to going out and it comes to preaching, then you're gonna have to step aside, you're gonna have to stay here, I'm not gonna let you do that. That's what happened, Jesus included him in his ministry. Not only that, you'll also find that he included him in his miracles. You understand, one of the ones you can look at in Luke chapter nine and verse number 12, it says, and when the day began to wear away, then came the 12 and said unto him, send the multitude away, that they may go into towns and country round about and lodge and get victuals, for we are here in a desert place. That was the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. And Judas was one of those 12. Again, the reason I read that verse is because the Bible specifically mentions the 12. Judas was one of them who got to witness that great miracle. Every miracle that we read about in the Gospels that Jesus performed and we think, wow, wouldn't that be amazing to see? Judas the traitor got to witness all of those miracles. I think if I'd have been Jesus, I'd have said, listen Judas, appreciate you being here today, but you're gonna have to take a step aside. I'm not gonna let somebody like you be involved in the miracles that I'm gonna do, but Jesus didn't, he included Judas. To me, maybe one of the most interesting things is the fact when you get to our text, back in John chapter number 13, is that Jesus included Judas in his meal. Now again, if it was me, I would think, Judas, you shouldn't be the one preaching and representing Christ. Judas, you shouldn't be here when Jesus is giving all these truths to his disciples. Judas, you shouldn't be here with all these miracles. But if there's any place in the scripture that Judas shouldn't have been, it was in John chapter number 13. This was the last meal that Jesus had with his disciples. This was his last words to them of I love you and let me give you this comfort and let me give you this insight of what's going to take place in the next few days. And if any time I would have said Judas you're going to have to step out for a while, it would have been here at this last supper. But even here at this Last Supper, all of these words of affection that Jesus gives to the 12 disciples, they included Judas. Even though he knew he was going to hurt him, he knew he was going to betray him, he still included him in this meal. In fact, he even washed his feet. One of the craziest things in these verses. You'll see this in chapter 13 if you begin reading in verse number 4. It says, when he rises from supper, he laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. After he poureth water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded. Then came Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter said unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, he that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, ye are not all clean. In fact, I wonder if this was not even an invitation to Judas. If this was not even an invitation to say, Judas, here's one more chance. You're not all clean. Judas knew who Jesus was talking about when he mentioned that. And Judas watched the Son of God Get down on the floor and wash the dirt off of his feet. What kind of love is that? Again, you're not gonna hear that from this world. You don't wash the feet, you don't give your traitor an opportunity to betray you, but that's exactly what Jesus did. To me, one of the interesting things that you'll find in scripture is places where people would have an excuse. For instance, I think one of the most interesting to me is in the book of Esther. And you remember when Esther requested the king to come to the banquets so that she could tell him what was gonna happen, so she could tell King Ahasuerus that there's this plot from Haman. Do you remember what happened? She didn't just request for the king to come, but she requested for Haman to come too. Now that's a toxic relationship. That's somebody who would say, okay, I'm okay with the king coming, but here was Esther's heart. Even though she had someone she could be mad at and she had someone she could be bitter at, she wasn't going to let bitterness destroy her relationship with the king. I think David is another great example of that. When David and Saul, I'm telling you, you wanna know a toxic relationship? Saul was a toxic relationship in David's life. So much so that Saul was throwing javelins. You don't get more toxic than that. Saul was throwing javelins at David when he was angry at him. And even in David's life, even when he had the opportunity, you remember in the cave, he had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he didn't. David, even though Saul let David come between him and his purpose, David never let Saul come between him and his relationship with the Lord. And here Jesus is doing the exact same thing when his traitor is sitting in the room. I'm telling you, if you're not careful, I hope this makes sense. I feel like this is a really mundane Sunday night message. I hope this makes sense. If you're not careful, Satan will slip a traitor into your life. And you'll become so focused on that traitor. So focused on that person that hurts you and that's done you wrong. And it's legitimate, it's real. But you'll become so focused on them that you can't even have a relationship with the people around you that love you. And here Jesus, he could have been so focused that he missed out on this time that he had with his disciples. But he said, my relationship with my disciples is so important and it's so good that even if there's a traitor in the room, I'm going to love him anyway. I'm going to wash his feet anyway. I'm going to give him one more invitation. I'm going to tell him one more time, you're not all clean. I honestly think that Judas could have repented in this place, and we understand that it had to have happened so that the Word of God would be fulfilled, and it's hard for us to grasp that, but Judas had a choice. He was confronted with a choice of, do I repent or do I continue to do what's been put in my mind and my heart by Satan? And of course we know that he chose to still betray the Lord, but God still included, Jesus still included him in this life. Do you know sometimes in your life you're gonna have to be nice to people who don't like you? Because your relationship with God is more important than anything else. Sometimes you're going to have to include people in your life that have hurt you. It's been the detriment of so many people, and I don't mean to belabor this, but this has been the detriment of so many people in their Christian life that Satan couldn't get them to fall with sin, so he used hurt to get them upset and angry and bitter. So bitter that they never have any fellowship with the Lord. So bitter that they can't enjoy church. So bitter that they can't even enjoy their relationship with people who love them and who care about them. And Jesus was a great example of even though there's a traitor in the room, a traitor's not gonna stand between me and my relationship with my disciples. It's so important in our life. Really, you could boil it down to this. I'll make this statement and we'll close here in just a moment. You could boil it down to this, that how did Jesus treat Judas? He treated him like he treated everybody else. Even though he would have had a right to treat Judas differently. He would have had a right. See, we like to be proud of ourselves. We like to be proud of ourselves when even, and I say this a little bit sarcastic, I don't mean anything by it, but even sometimes when a brother and sister in Christ hurt us, And we'll say, we like to be proud of ourselves when we forgive them. But that shouldn't be that hard because we know that they love us and we know they're a part of the family of God and it really shouldn't that be, I tell you what, the real test, the real test of your love of God and your love of people is how you treat those that hurt you. How you treat those that are your, how that you, again, this is the worst. I can't think of anything worse to happen to anyone than for a relationship to be used to take their life. That is the ultimate betrayal. And yet Jesus still treated Judas just like he treated everybody else, even though he knew he was gonna hurt him. Let me take you to one place. Go with me to Matthew chapter number five. You remember a few weeks ago when I preached We talked about those even as mentions throughout scripture. Talked about how we're supposed to forgive even as Christ forgave. We talked about how we're supposed to serve even as Christ served. How we're supposed to obey even as Christ obeyed his father. Let me show you another one of those even as mentions through the scripture. In Matthew chapter number five, this of course is the sermon on the mount. In this text, Jesus is not just reiterating the law, but he's even going further than the law. One of the things you'll see mentioned over and over again, verse number 21, I think is the first mention. He said, ye have heard it was said by them of old, time thou shalt not kill. But verse 22, he says, I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Another familiar part is when he said in verse 27, you have heard it was said, thou shalt not commit adultery. I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman and lusts after her hath committed adultery already in his heart. So he takes some of these Old Testament laws and he takes them even further. And he says, you've heard it said that it was wrong to do this, but I say unto you that it's wrong to do this. He goes through some of these truths, and then you get to verse number 43, and here's what he said. He said, you have heard that it hath been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. That's how our nature is. You love your neighbor, someone who loves you, someone who cares about you, and you hate somebody who doesn't love you and who's trying to destroy you. He said, I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good. And here's this verse we quote all the time. That he sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. He said, for if you love them which love you, what reward have you? That's not impressive to love somebody that loves you. He said, do not even the publicans the same. If you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so. Why is there a need to be a Christian if you're only loving people who love you and support people who support you? And here's the statement he makes in verse 48, Matthew five. He said, be therefore perfect. And we hear that word perfect and we think it means to be sinless and you think I can't be perfect as in the way Jesus is perfect. Here's how Jesus and God identifies perfection. Of course it means maturity, it means a completeness. It doesn't mean a sinlessness. But he said be you therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect. Again, it's in the context of loving your enemies, those that are trying to hurt you, those that are trying to do you wrong. And again, that's a command. I don't see any way that you could say that's just as much a command as anything else. Here's what he said, Be ye therefore perfect. And here's your example of perfection, just as the Father in heaven is perfect. The fact that He loves those who are His enemies, so much that when we were at enmity with God, He sent His only Son to die for us. That's the example that we've been given in how to deal with a traitor in our life. Try to put it into perspective. Listen, again, I'm not trying to take away from the hurt you've been through. I'm not trying to take away from what's bothering you. I mean, that's a major thing. Betrayal, I mean, that's a tough thing to deal with. And outside, in our own flesh, it's hard for us to get over. It really takes the Lord and the Holy Spirit working in our life. But try to think about the way Jesus was betrayed. Try to think about what he went through. Whatever it is in your life, I promise you, I'm not belittling it, but I promise you it's not the betrayal that Jesus faced. And Jesus still loved his enemies. Jesus still loved Judas. He loved him so much that I really believe he would have forgave him if Judas would have repented and asked for forgiveness. This may be a very general message. This may be a very specific message for somebody here tonight. That you have allowed betrayal, you've allowed betrayal to to hurt your relationship with the Lord, to hurt your relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, to hurt your relationship with your family. And Jesus leaves as an example. So many times our traitor has, if you have someone who's betrayed you, they have more power over you because they're controlling your life. They're controlling, you can't have a relationship with the Lord, you can't have a relationship with your church, you can't even have a relationship with your Bible because it's controlling your life and that's a miserable place to live.