m
with his insinuations, possibly causing him to slip and fall in
occasional sins, but finally he has control and then betrayal, denial
and murder are the results.
I looked the other day into the face of a man who said to me, "Do you
know me?" and I told him I did not, and he said, "I used to be a
Christian worker and influenced thousands to come to Christ. In an
unguarded moment I determined to leave my ministry and to become rich.
My haste for riches was but a snare. I found myself becoming
unscrupulous in my business life and now I am wrecked, certainly for
time--oh," said he, "can it be for eternity? I am separated from my
wife and my children, whom I shall never see again." And rising in an
agony he cried out as I have rarely heard a man cry, "God have mercy
upon me! God have mercy upon me!"
III
There are but three things that I would like to say concerning Judas as
I come to the end of my message.
The first is that he was heartless in the extreme. It was just after a
touching scene recorded in Matthew the twenty-sixth chapter the seventh
to the thirteenth verses, "There came unto him a woman having an
alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as
he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation,
saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have
been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it,
he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a
good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye
have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body,
she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this
gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this,
that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her." It was
after this that Judas went to the enemies of Jesus and offered to sell
him, and as if that were not enough, it was just after he had left
Gethsemane, in Matthew the twenty-sixth chapter the forty-fifth to the
forty-ninth verses, that he betrayed him with his kiss. "Then cometh
he to his disciples and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your
rest; behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into
the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand
that doth betray me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the
twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves,
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