Who Wants to be Judas?

That was a beautiful piece of special music. Very profound. I've not heard that before, but I've heard of that song, and so I'm really appreciative of Courtney Kavanas for proposing that. Well, thank you for taking the time to answer those polls. Boy, what a time we live in. And I don't think we're out of this yet, as we've seen, and the feast could be an interesting time. We're thankful in France that we're able to keep our venue.

The French members and other francophone people from Europe will be able to meet there. And that is a blessing that they waved all the minimums, and of course we're going to be following all the social, all the health protocols and so forth. But I know God is going to work things out for his people this year such that the right thing happens. And so thank you for answering those, and please continue to pray for the situation there with the Feast of Tabernacles.

Well, today I'd like to talk about an historical figure that I think we can learn a great lesson from, a number of lessons. There are certain historical figures that come to mind when we think about being a traitor. We speak of someone being a Benedict Arnold, in memory of General Arnold, who betrayed, be betrayed, excuse me, General Washington in 1780, by agreeing to a plan that would allow the British to capture West Point, New York. Interestingly, Canada's equivalent is a gentleman named Joseph Wilcox.

He's considered one of the most infamous traitors in Canadian history for his role in the War of 1812, which was a war with the Americans. He sided with the Americans and ordered the burning of his own constituency in Niagara, across the border from Buffalo, New York. In ancient history, Julius Caesar died at the hand of a young Brutus, a young confidant, someone he had groomed and was potentially one of his successors.

And today, we say that for every Julius Caesar, there is a Brutus, that is a traitor. But almost certainly the most famous traitor of all times is Judas Iscariot. Very few parents would want to name their baby Judas. I looked it up. You can look up most popular baby names. I think it literally on one side, it was the 16,000th most popular name. On another side, it was the 25,000th most popular name. It just isn't a name that most people are going to name their child.

And yet, at the time of Christ, the name Judas was an extremely common name for men. In fact, there were two disciples named Judas. Judas Iscariot is a complex figure, and learning from his mistakes can help us avoid repeating his errors. His life and death raise questions of how we make choices and set priorities. We also see in his story doctrinal issues of free will and predestination. And most importantly, I believe his life gives us a warning for what can happen when shame turns into despair. Today, I'd like to examine the key events from the life of Judas Iscariot and learn from those.

After the Apostle Peter, Judas is one of the most discussed of the 12 apostles in the Gospels. And so there's a lot of material which is really rich with insight. The story of Judas shows what it means to forget our calling.

It shows what betrayal looks like. And it shows what happens, as I said, when shame turns into despair and the consequences of that. The title of today's message is, Who Wants to be a Judas? Who wants to be a Judas? Let's begin our first point here by turning to Matthew 10 and reading verses 1-4. Our first point is, the story of Judas shows what it means to forget our calling. Matthew 10, verse 4. We have one of the lists. There's a list in Matthew, one in Mark, and one in Luke of the 12 disciples. And it says here in Matthew 10, verse 1, And when he had called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of disease.

Now the names of the 12 apostles were these. And he goes through the 12, and he concludes at the end by saying, And Judas Iscariot, verse 4, who also betrayed him. In the timeline of events, this is the first mention of Judas Iscariot. His calling as a disciple is not mentioned, but as I said, he's on this list and also on the list in Mark and in Luke.

And we see here that Matthew records that he was Judas Iscariot, and that he was given the same power as all the other disciples to cast out demons, to heal. How amazing it must have been for him to have been with Jesus Christ for three and a half years, learning directly from him. Now, a lot of times we think about Judas as the traitor, but really, for three and a half years or nearly so, he was a faithful disciple. He baptized people. He healed people. He cast out demons. And he gave counsel to people. We know from John 1329, you don't need to turn there, but Judas also had a special responsibility among the twelve, and that he was the treasurer. He was responsible for keeping track of dispersing money to the twelve. He likely had a talent, and people trusted him with this talent. In Matthew 19, verse 28, you can make reference to this. Again, these are references here in Matthew. There was a prophecy where Peter was basically asking Jesus, you know, what will we receive for the sacrifice we're making? It's an interesting kind of dialogue between Peter and Jesus in that example. And Jesus goes on to say, Assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And the implication, I mean, Judas was there. Judas received that promise. He was not excluded. Judas, like his colleagues, probably began to imagine what it would mean to have that kind of responsibility and authority. And the positive changes he could make. And again, my point in highlighting this is that often we think of Judas as the traitor, but for some period of time, he was considered a faithful disciple, a faithful disciple who had this kind of responsibility here as described in Matthew 10. And then everything changed. When did things change? What caused them to change? Was it a slow descent or was it a shock to the system? Let's look in John 12, verse 2, and see sort of where there was an indication that there was a problem. John 12, verse 3 to 5. This is a story shortly before Jesus's death.

It says that then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. And then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray him, said, Why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 in Ari, nearly a year's wages, and given to the poor? This he said not that he cared. This is now something that's inserted likely later, because at the time people didn't really realize this about him. But John inserts this comment. This he said not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box, and he used it to take what was put in it. John tells us that Judas had become a thief, that he was using his special position now for his personal gain. And like I said, likely this was inserted afterwards, because when you read through the Gospel accounts, there's no indication that people believed that he was doing it at the time. Probably something that was discovered later.

You know, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once observed in a speech, where do we go from here, he said, If a man will lie, he will steal. And if he will steal, then he will kill. And indeed Judas, shortly after this point, betrayed his close friend and master, knowing that Jesus would probably be killed. Now there's some speculation about that. Maybe he just wanted to get him turned in or something like that. But clearly there's something going on. Something changed that led from stealing to risking and ultimately having his master killed. Some argued that he was perhaps disillusioned with the Jesus movement because he thought Jesus was going to liberate the Jews from the Romans. Others have argued that he was just greedy because he was the bookkeeper and he needed more money.

Well, you know, over the years, I've seen smart people cross a line and begin to do things that will eventually end up destroying their lives. Silicon Valley is filled with very rich people who have everything you could ever imagine from a material point of view, but who then lie or steal to get more. And in my experience, stealing, which is the case here as we see that Judas had this problem, is rarely about money. It's about pride and it's about fear. Pride that we think that we're smart enough to hide this from what's, you know, from people forever because eventually people are found out. And fear that there isn't any other way of solving our problem. Fear that we're going to lose something. And this fear and pride leads to stealing. And then from stealing, you get down a slippery slope, one thing after another. The point is that none of us here walked with Jesus. None of us saw his miracles. If anyone had a chance to believe and change his life, it was Judas. And even then, he still allowed fear and pride and sin, the things that led here to stealing. He allowed himself to get to the point where he was stealing. And once sin entered his heart, that led him to betray the person he once loved. You know, if we're doubting that God is real, if we're doubting that God is faithful, if we're doubting that God won't take care of us, if we're doubting that God really cares about us, it's time to reach out for help. It's time to reach out and talk with someone about these doubts, because these doubts will lead down a treacherous path, and we see that in the story of Judas. You know, most of us are not criminals. Hopefully we're not engaging in crime right now. But we can't pretend that we haven't committed wrongdoing. We can't pretend that if we were put under enough stress, we wouldn't do something extreme. I mean, look around us today. People are under stress with coronavirus. And in many parts of the country right now, crime is way up. The more stress, the more poverty, the more frustration, the more anger, and our thoughts can begin to turn. And when our thoughts begin to turn, actions eventually follow. You don't need to turn there, but Jesus predicted at the end time that many would be offended and will betray one another and will hate one another. And wow, do I feel like I see that. Man, people get so offended. And people are betraying one another. And there certainly is so much vitriol on social media and on the internet and in our media all around us. See, once a person gets to the point of hate, we know that is when someone can murder another person in his heart. That's what Jesus said. Rock a fool, these types of things. This is when someone can betray a trust. This is when a line gets crossed. And this is the process that Judas traversed. This is what he went through. It started someplace, and then it led to this, and it led to that, and it led on and on it went until it came to betrayal. Which really brings us to the next point, which is the story of Judas shows us what betrayal looks like. Now, I think if you were to walk up to somebody on the street and ask who Judas Iscariot was, you know, probably most people have heard of him and they might say he was the one that betrayed Jesus. He was the one who, you know, did that. And I think in this audience among us, we would know he was the one who conspired with the Jewish authorities to orchestrate Jesus's arrest. But I think we need to consider what actually happened that night. I'd like you to turn to Mark 14.

Mark 14 and verse 50.

This is not the first reference to the betrayal. Interestingly, the first sort of reference in history was actually in 1 Corinthians, where Paul talked about Jesus being betrayed. He probably wrote that in the 50s or so. Mark was probably written maybe a little after that.

But in Mark 14, when it describes the betrayal, I'll find it. I'll get to Mark 14. Mark 14 and verse 50. We actually see something that describes a betrayal which was much, much broader. Mark 14 and verse 50 says, Then they all forsook him and fled. So Mark says they all forsook him and fled. The NIV says deserted him. They left him. They were going to hang out and be arrested too. Now you can talk about degrees of betrayal. There is a difference between leading a rebellion and following a rebellion, but the fact is you're still involved with a rebellion. You can lead the betrayal and you can follow the betrayer. The point is you've still betrayed. It's just a matter of degree. In the case of Judas, he actively brought the guards to arrest Judas. He kissed him to show who it was and he betrayed him.

Look over at verse 27. We know what Judas did, but what did the others do? Mark 14, 27. Then Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. From Jesus's own words, we understand that all were going to stumble. That is sin. The Greek word here for made to stumble is scandalizo, the word from which we get scandal in English. The word scandal comes from this word. In fact, in the French Bible, they actually use the word scandal or scandalize. You could say, all of you will be involved in a scandal this very night because of me. There's going to be a scandal and you're going to be involved in this scandal that's going to lead to my death. How would you like to be involved in a scandal that led to the death of Jesus Christ? Well, if you're baptized, you know you were involved with that scandal. Yes, I was involved and you were involved. That's what we come to understand when we come to the point of baptism. Now look at verse 28. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. But Peter said to him, even if I were made to stumble, even if I were involved in this scandal, yet I will not be.

Peter specifically thought that he would not be involved, but we know the story well. Only a few hours later, he cursed and claimed he never knew Jesus. You know, I think it's very likely that Peter had Christ's words from Matthew 10, verse 33 rolling through his mind. If you don't know Matthew 10, 33, mark it down. Go read it. It says, whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. Ouch! You deny me, you deny my Father who is in heaven. That's pretty serious stuff. And yet Peter denied Christ three times.

If we're going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, we cannot deny our association with Jesus. And yet that's what he did. Continue in verse 30. And Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he spoke more vehemently. Even if I have to die, Peter says with you, I will not deny you. And they all said likewise. Every single one of them said they weren't going to be involved in this scandal. And yet they were. They all refused to believe that they would disavow their relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, Judas had already left. So this is the 11. Judas left church early. He left and he's out organizing what was going to be the betrayal.

But all 11 denied they would be involved, and yet they were. In regard to Judas' betrayal, Luke 22, verse 3 says that Satan entered Judas. So clearly his role was a chief role in the betrayal. But in speaking of Peter, Jesus said, Get thee behind me, Satan. In Matthew 16. So Satan had a role in influencing the other disciples as well at different times. In terms of betrayal, all the disciples had a role in this betrayal. It was really only a matter of degree. They were all involved. And when we begin to understand that we are all involved, that's our starting point. The starting point of our journey in being a Christian is saying, I'm involved in the scandal. We understand that the world is filled with people who struggle to do the right thing, and we are just part of that world. We struggle. We're involved. We can't blame anybody else. Sin is in ourselves. And from that starting point, after many years, we really understand the truth about our human nature and the truth about our journey. We come to a point that the Apostle Paul came to where he recognized the magnitude of his sin. He said that in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. You can note that. He says, Jesus Christ came in the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. He realized he was a chief sinner, and we have to realize that about our lives. You see, after we get baptized, it's not like, I'm getting better and better. You know, I've got less and less. No, we realize the depth of what we're capable of as we mature. And when we come to the end of our journey as a Christian, we understand the real meaning of the prophecies to the same. And when we come to the end of our journey as a Christian, we understand the real meaning of the prophecies to the same. We realize that we are here to overcome, and every day we put one foot in front of the next to overcome. You know, in a foot race, if you're in track and field, maybe the coaches are here to overcome, and you're in the middle of the next step. And when we come to the end of our journey, we realize that we are here to overcome. And every day we put one foot in front of the next to overcome. If you're in track and field, maybe the coaches told you this before, don't be looking to the side. When you're running, don't look to the side. How am I doing? Don't look behind you. You look straight ahead. You focus on what you've got to do to reach that goal. What does betrayal look like? Well, it looks like what Judas did that evening in Mark 14. You can read it. It's right in front of you, verse 43. Immediately while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. And now his betrayer had given them a signal saying, Whoever I kiss, he is the one. Take him and lead him away safely. Interestingly, they said, lead him away safely. And as soon as he had come, immediately he went up to him and he said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi, and kissed him. And then they laid their hands on him and took him. That's what betrayal looks like. And you can't get from casting out demons and healing people and counseling and baptizing by the authority of Jesus Christ to that kind of betrayal without a long process.

But what about the other disciples? They didn't stand up and be counted. As we said, Peter denied Christ. Who wants to be a Judas? The word itself has come to mean betrayal. But if we don't consistently represent the ideals spoken of in Scripture, we're denying the power of Jesus Christ to the world.

If one person around us lies or steals and we go along with it, we're betraying Jesus, the Christ, just like the disciples who fled after Judas arrived here with the soldiers. Betrayal takes many forms. Adultery is a betrayal of our spouse. Lying is a betrayal towards the person we are lying to, not honoring our parents as betraying them. Working on the Sabbath is self-betrayal as we take that one special day set aside just for us and we treat it like any other day. And of course, breaking God's law is betraying God and God's love for us and the sacrifice of his Son for us. Many years ago, I saw this movie and it depicted events prior to the flood. You've probably seen these stories of Noah and so forth. And the movie showed Noah, and Noah is fairly pious, and he and his sons are working on the boat, and people are around the family. They're mocking them for what they're doing. And the way the movie shows people are very violent and angry, and there's this implication of sexual perversion. But you know, after about an hour into the movie, the scenes of those people all around Noah kind of became one-dimensional. I think the producers kind of ran out of ideas on how to show evil or something. They had to kind of have those sort of go-to things of violence and so forth. But in actual fact, if we think about what evil looks like, I think it pretty much looks like what's around us today. That's what Jesus said. He says, as in the days of Noah, so shall the time of the Son of Man be. What do we see around us today? It looks like parents abusing their children. It looks like crime in our cities. It looks like businesses, you know, spending, you know, doing unethical things, producing products that hurt people, politicians arguing about things, brothers in the church not speaking to one another. That's what betrayal looks like. That's what it looked like in the days of Noah, and that's what it looks like today. Every time we participate in any of these things, as the 11 participated in this betrayal, we betray Jesus Christ, even if we weren't the ones that brought the guards.

Which brings us to our third point. The story of Judas shows us what happens when shame turns into despair. Because now we have a situation. Jesus has been betrayed. He's been taken away. The 11 have dispersed everywhere. Everybody, as it said, in verse 50, they all forsook Him. They all forsook Him. Let's go to Matthew 27, and let's see what happened next. A lot of times, obviously, we go to what happened with Jesus because, you know, these were these dramatic events of His illegal trial and the scourging and the beating and the crucifixion. But let's see where Judas is at this point. Matthew 27, verse 3. Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.

And they said, What is that to us? You see to it. And then he, Judas, threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and... and I'm going to stop there. I'm going to stop there. I don't want to finish this verse yet because I want us to think for a moment about how many places Judas could have gone at that moment because it says he departed. He went, he departed. Now he could have gone to see a friend. He could have gone to his family. He could have gone and prayed for forgiveness. He could have done a thousand things instead of what he did. Was he afraid of what the disciples would do to him? Was he afraid they would kill him? We see here he had remorse. He was remorseful. He acknowledged he had sinned. But instead of asking for forgiveness, he gave up. He took his own life. Suicide is an act of hopelessness, and it's an act of extreme self-hatred and anger. Modern culture and its despicable moral decline sends messages that suicide is an act of courage. I've literally heard that quote. An option, but it's not. It is a needless outcome that forts endless positive outcomes. Let's read verse five again. Then he threw down the thirty pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself.

But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, it is not lawful to put them into the treasury because they are the price of blood. They took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day, and then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of him who was pierced, whom they of the children of Israel, Christ, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed. Matthew records a prophecy associated with these thirty pieces of silver. And I just want to take a brief parenthesis here, as it were. If we try to find this prophecy in the book of Jeremiah, as it says it's spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, you're not going to find it. You're going to find this in Zechariah. And why is that? Well, you see, at the time, books in the Bible were on scrolls, and it was common to refer to the name of the scroll by the name of the first scroll in that scroll. So Zechariah was a prophet, and the first book of the prophets is Jeremiah. And so when Matthew says Jeremiah, he's really referring to the Jeremiah scroll, which has a whole series of things after it. So just a clarity there in case you're like, why can't I find this in Jeremiah? It's actually in Zechariah. But the question here was, I think we have to look at this prophecy, was Judas's death required for the prophecy to be fulfilled? Or was it just required that there would be a betrayal, and that these thirty pieces would be given back? And that brings up the question, are some people predestined to eternal life? Well, others are not. Was Judas predestined to eternal death? Was he predestined to die by suicide?

I want to just share something interesting from a mainstream Christian YouTube video. It was created by an American Protestant organization called Cross-Examined. This particular video that I'm going to cite has 560,000 views. So this is a well-watched video. And the question, actually the title of the video, you can look at it if you want to see it, is, why did Jesus say it would have been better if Judas had not been born? Why did Jesus say it would have been better if Judas had not been born? You can turn over to Matthew 26 while I'm sharing this verse 21 to 22. We're going to read those passages. But the response to this question in this video, again, mainstream American Protestant, the pastor said that by having free will, by God creating humans with free will, God must imagine and create a world with a set of outcomes that gives the best chance for the most people to be saved and for the least number of people to die. And so the story of Judas and his outcome of suicide was the best possible outcome among a range of outcomes that God would have imagined and therefore created. And so Judas was just one of the deaths among the few possible, the fewest possible deaths in this scenario that God created, that we live in today. I find that really remarkable because it's actually sort of this human reasoning of, okay, how do you make this work? And it kind of sounds plausible, but is God limited in that way? Is God like, okay, so I've got to just kind of create this scenario and, you know, some people are going to die and that's inevitable and, you know, it had to happen. My son had to be betrayed. Somebody had to betray him. There's even this gospel called the Gospel of Judas, which National Geographic put on their cover in 2005 that posits that Judas and Jesus were very close friends and that Judas was doing exactly what Jesus told them to do because of what had to happen. I mean, there's all sorts of strange ideas out there about this. But if you're turned back to page Matthew 26 verse 21 to 22, let's read what is actually said here. Now, as they were eating, he, that is Jesus, said, assuredly I say to you, one of you will betray me.

And they were exceedingly sorrowful. Each one of them began to say to him, Lord, is it I? And then he answered and said, He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written to him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better. It would have been good, excuse me, that that man, if he had not been born. So here's big news. Jesus is saying that one of his disciples is destined to betray him and it's someone in the room. And then he goes on to say, this betrayal is going to be so devastating that this person is going to wish that it had never been born. In verse 25 it says, then Judas, who was betrayed, who was betraying him, literally in the middle of betraying him, answered and said, Rabbi, is it I? And he said to him, You have said it. Now some have argued that this means that Judas was destined to die and therefore it would have been better if he had never been born. This was the view of this cross-examined YouTube video. But really, if we look at it, all Jesus is saying is that the consequences of this circumstance would be so enormous and so terrible and so painful and so awful that the person would wish it had never happened. And we can kind of sense that as we read about how Judas fell afterwards. He was remorseful. He realized what he had done. He just, you know, the guilt, the pain that was deep inside of him.

You can note Luke 17 verses 1-2. Christ uses similar language to describe the feelings of those who would offend others. It says it would be better for them, but they would have a millstone around their neck and be thrown into the sea. Now, there's no predestination in Luke 17 with that regard. It's just the point whether in Luke 17 here in Matthew 26, this was going to be a terrible thing that was going to be done, and it had terrible consequences, such that the person would just wish they had never been born. But nothing can separate us from the love of God, as it says in Romans 8.35. Nothing can separate us. Even Judas' betrayal could have been forgiven. You know, Judas probably began with the sin of covetousness, the accountant who was working with money, and that led to stealing, as we saw. And then perhaps there wasn't enough to steal, and greed and frustration began to grow. And then anger entered, and then stronger anger until his thoughts turned to betrayal. And then the thoughts grew until he took action that led to this arrest and murder. And then afterwards, his thoughts turned to shame, and regret, and finally hopelessness. And all that anger that had been directed outward was now turned inward on him. Because to commit suicide, you've got to be angry enough. You've got to be in such hopelessness and such despair that you turn and you take your own life. You know, the greatest tragedy of Judas' life was that he gave up on God. He gave up. He gave up believing the message that he had heard for three and a half years. He gave up believing that no matter what, God would be there. Even in the darkest moments of anger and despair. Even after what he had done. Because Jesus, here in verse 25, probably looked him in the eye and said, you said it. It's you. Jesus knew who it was and Judas knew that he knew.

He had time to think about that. And yet he decided to take the most extreme course and kill himself. He gave up on God. That is what happens when shame and hopelessness turns bad. And we, none of us need to be in that situation, no matter what we've done. Let's in conclusion go to John 21. John 21 verse 15. And let's read about the Apostle Peter. Because if you think about that night of Passover, how everyone betrayed Jesus. There's two people that are discussed the most that night. One is Judas and one is Peter. And they both denied him. Peter denied him vehemently three times. And Judas betrayed him actively, bringing the guards. Judas committed suicide and that was the end of the story. Now, I believe there will be another story for Judas. Judas never received the Holy Spirit. I personally think Judas will be in the second resurrection, but that'll be a discussion here that we can have. Peter repented. And we can see his restoration before Jesus here in John 21 verse 15. And so when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? And he said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, tend my sheep. And he said to him, verse 17, the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved. And I think he was grieved because he knew that he himself had denied Christ three times. And now Jesus was asking him three times the same question. And he was grieved.

Because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Three times Jesus denied knowing Jesus and betrayed him, and three times Jesus asked him the question, do you love me? And in verse 19 he says, follow me. Peter was restored and forgiven and told to move forward in the work that had been given to him. I wonder what the scene would have looked like if Judah, if Judas had chosen to repent and asked for forgiveness as well. Who wants to be a Judas? No one. No one wants to be a Judas. Let us not forsake our calling. Let us not betray our faith by hiding our light under a basket and deny Jesus Christ. Now's the time to realize that no matter our sin, God is great and can forgive us. Let us not allow our frustration to turn into despair and our despair to turn into shame and our shame to turn into anger. Let's follow this example here and answer not once, not twice, but three times that we love God and we will follow Him.