SOLD OUT
SCRIPTURE: Zechariah 11:12, 13; Matthew 26:15
INTRODUCTION
No man in human history had a greater opportunity for success and happiness than did Judas Iscariot. Yet, since his death, he has ranked at the top of the list among those who also betrayed the Lord. Luke called him a traitor. John the Beloved labeled him as a thief. And even Jesus Christ, the tender Man from Galilee, said, "It had been good for that man If he had not been born" (Matthew 26:24).
CONTRAST OF LIFE
Let us discuss what Judas might have been over against what he was. The picture of Judas Is a typical picture of many thousands of our day. Judas was honored to have his flame Included by our Lord among the Twelve. Had he not sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver, his name would have been inscribed In the multicolored foundations of the City of God. Whereas, today It Is only a byword and a hissing among men.
In Bible days, the naming of a child meant a great deal more than It does today. In giving names to their children, the parents expressed their wishes and desires. The name Judas means "the praise of God" or "confessor," which is evidence that his parents had a great desire that he would glorify God and magnify His name.
He who had every opportunity to praise God became the son of perdition, went to a suicide’s grave, and caused a potter’s field to be purchased with his blood money. Judas might have been one like the Apostle Peter who, as he passed by the multitudes, they were made whole. Instead, his life has cast a shadow of reproach through which no noble person dares walk.
In the days of Judas Iscariot, the name Judas was one of the most popular. Today, no mother dares name her child "Judas’ because of the stigma. He might have been the praise of God, but he became the curse of hell. In the lines of Whittier, "Of all the words of tongue and pen, the saddest of these it might have been."
THE DESTINY OF A SOUL
Judas was not compelled to sin, nor predestined to be lost. The prophecy of the psalmist David concerning this betrayal and the foreknowledge of God did not affect the free agency of Judas. He acted entirely of his own will. Judas, by transgression, fell and went to his own place-that is, the place of his choosing, which is hell.
No man is born to be lost, for it is God’s will that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). And, again, "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Judas alone was accountable for his sin.
Judas was a man of opportunity. He had close and constant fellowship with the Lord. He had even been ordained of the Lord to heal the sick and to cast out devils. He was a bosom friend of the Lord, for at the Last Supper John sat on Christ’s right hand and Judas on His left. For three years, he had listened to the music of His Master’s voice; he had been guided by the light of His countenance; but now he had listened to the siren voice of the world.
In the light of all of these opportunities, the Bible said, "And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver" (Matthew 26:15). This was according to the prophecy of Zechariah, "And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord" (Zechariah 11:12, 13).
SOLD OUT CHEAP
Judas betrayed the Lord for a paltry sum, but when remorse seized his soul, he returned to the priests and made a confession, "I have betrayed innocent blood." Typical of the world, they said, "What is that to us. See thou to that."
When one lives for the world and its creature comforts, feeds his body at the expense of his soul, and the whole world bows before him and beats a path to his door, yet, there comes a time when human hands cannot render assistance. Those who have bargained with you in the sale of your Christ will turn again and rend you.
Jeremiah said, "All thy lovers have forgotten thee" (30:14).
Cyrus the conqueror, who for awhile thought he was making a fine thing out of this present world, wrote his own epitaph for his tombstone: "I am Cyrus. I occupied the Persian Empire.
I was king over Asia. Begrudge me not this monument." In afteryears the world plowed up his grave.
William Blane describes the remorse of this scene in these words:
Thirty pieces of silver burns on the traitor’s brain, Thirty pieces of silver, oh, it is hellish gain.
"I have sinned and betrayed the guiltless," he cried with fevered breath Then cast them down in the temple, and rushed to a madman’s death.
Judas tried the world and found that it was an unsatisfactory portion. He sold out cheap.
This has been the story of many men through the ages. Achan, the troubler of Israel, sold his soul for the yellow glint of the golden wedge, the white sheen of the silver shekels, and the bright colors of the Babylonish garment. He sold his soul for the accursed thing.
Balaam sold his soul for the promise of a house full of money. Peter wrote, "Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15). Then in the words of Jude, verse 11, "Woe unto them! for they . . . ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward."
Esau sold his soul for a mess of pottage. Ahab sold himself to carry out the wicked deeds of his evil wife. His devotion to evil outweighed his devotion to God. The Scripture says, "But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up" (1 Kings 21:25). Some men barter their souls as though they were trinkets purchased in a toy shop. Isaiah said, "Ye have sold yourselves for nought" (52:3); that is, sold out for nothing.
You are possibly saying to yourself, "If I had been in Judas’ place, I would not have sold Christ. I would have stood for Him." The fact remains that you and multiplied thousands are guilty of the same crime that Judas committed. Christ is still being sold-sold for silver and for many things of less value than silver. Anything, whatever it may be, that stands between you and your God and causes you to refuse to yield yourself to Him, is the price for which you are selling Jesus Christ.
EMPTINESS OF SIN
Judas received 30 pieces of silver but never received benefit from it. Man soon discovers that, with God left out, the world is empty and must cry forth as Solomon, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2), which simply means, "Emptiness of emptiness; all is emptiness."
When a man faces eternity without God, he realizes what a fool he has been to be enchanted by this world. T Dewitt Talmage said, "Many of you have tried the garden of this world’s delight. You have found it has been a chagrin."
There comes a point in human existence when all earthly values fail. If all of the wealth of the Federal Reserve System were put in the pocket of your shroud, when you stand before God you would not be able to pay five cents for your redemption. Many people have sold out to the devil and have nothing to show for it but remorse, guilt, a wrecked life and a blasted past.
A philosopher once said, "Every man has his price." He meant that there was a price for which any man would sell his soul under certain circumstances. This statement is not altogether true, but the masses of our day can be placed in this category.
For what are you selling your soul? Think about the words of this poem:
It may not be for silver,
It may not be for gold,
But still by tens of thousands
Is this precious Savior sold.
Sold for a godless friendship,
Sold for a selfish aim,
Sold for a fleeting trifle,
Sold for an empty name.
Sold where the awful bargain,
None but God’s eye can see.
Ponder my soul the question,
Shall He be sold by thee?
Sold and a weeping angel
Records the fatal choice.
Sold but the price of the Savior
To a living coal shall turn.
With the pangs of remorse forever,
Deep in the soul to burn.
If you have sold yourself for silver, remember, "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver." (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Ezekiel wrote, "Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls" (Ezekiel 7:19). Though you may not have sold Christ for silver, what have you accepted in exchange for your soul? "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
THE PRICE OF A SOUL
No man has ever gained the world, but Christ said in effect, "If a man could gain the whole world and yet lose his own soul, there would be no profit." It would be a bad transaction.
There are some who, like Pilate when he was convinced that Jesus Christ was a faultless man, heard the cry of the crowd, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend" (John 19:12), and so, for a godless friendship, they forsake the friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
If you are selling Christ for godless friendships, remember:
Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his day. After his death, he remained unburied for 30 days because no one would shovel him under.
The highest honor that could be paid a man in the days of Rome was to be made an emperor; yet, out of 63 emperors, only six of them died a peaceful death. If you have sold your soul for a name of fame, the Bible says, "The name of the wicked shall rot" (Proverbs 10:7). If you have sold your soul for a selfish aim and seek to spare yourself at the expense of Christ, the Bible says, "He that loveth his life shall lose it" (John 12:25).
Friend, is it well with your soul? Do you have perfect satisfaction about your future? Did you know that when all of your real estate is gone and friends have deserted you, there is a soul within you that will spend eternity somewhere?
"There is a life that always lives; there is a death that never dies."
If you are not prepared to meet God, your soul is ever dying, yet never dead. It will be ever burning but never consumed. It will be ever agonizing but never relieved. Consider your soul and turn your feet to Calvary today, for nothing but Christ shall be able to satisfy you in the day of death.
If you live for this world, all you will ever receive out of life is your board, clothing, endless worry now, and endless anguish in the world to come.
The End
Amen
