Why Judas Iscariot Went to Hell (It's Probably NOT What you Think)

I want you to think of the best actor you've ever seen, not Will Smith, not Denzel Washington, not even Matt Damon. I'm talking about someone who could look you dead in the eyes, who could eat dinner with you, shake your hand as you leave, and completely fool you. The person I have in mind is Judas Iscariot. Judas is the greatest actor who's ever lived. He won an Oscar every day for three years. He fooled the 12 men who wrote the books of our New Testament. He even fooled the inner circle of Jesus. And you know what the most terrifying part is? He may have even fooled himself. Here's what I need you to sit with before we go any further. You can be close enough to Jesus and still be lost and still go to hell. And by the end of this video, you're going to know exactly how to tell the difference in your own life and the life of others as well. Welcome back to Get Into the Word. My name is Robbie Gallaty. Have you ever noticed that nobody names their child Judas anymore? You won't find a little Judas on the little league baseball team or a part of the soccer club. But in the first century, Judas was a common name. It was actually a respected name. It literally means God leads. Now here's something most people miss. Iscariot is not Judas's last name. It comes from two Hebrew words, Ish, which is the Hebrew word for man. You may remember from Genesis, God created them Ish and Ishah, man and woman. Kerioth is a town about 23 miles south of Jerusalem. So his full identity is Judas, the man from Kerioth. Now you may be wondering, why does that matter? Because it means Judas was the only non-Galilean in the group. He was an outsider. Nobody knew who he was. Nobody had history with him. That anonymity, I want to suggest to you, gave him the perfect cover to hide. So Judas probably hears about this rabbi from Nazareth who has power over sickness, power over storms, power even over death, and something clicks in his mind. I wonder, is this man my ticket to power and control? You have to remember, Judas's interest in Jesus was never spiritual. It was actually financial. He had a fundamental misunderstanding, really, of what Jesus came to do. He believed Jesus was going to overthrow Rome, set up an earthly kingdom, and Judas wanted a front row seat to the greatest power grab in human history. He wanted proximity to Jesus for what Jesus could do for him, not for what Jesus could do in him and through him. Follow me on this, because this is where it gets personal. Jesus is not someone you add to your life in order to get what you want. Jesus must become what you want. I like to say it this way. If you seek his hands and not his face, you get neither. Meaning, if you seek what he can give you and not who he is, you probably won't get either. But if you seek his face, who he is, and not his hands, what he gives,

you'll get both. Judas, unfortunately, got neither. And I'd be willing to bet some of you are following Jesus for what he can give you. A blessing, a relationship, a job, security, success. Those aren't bad things. But if that's why you're following Jesus, you're walking a path that has Judas's name on it. I like to say Jesus isn't someone we follow for a treasure. Jesus actually is the treasure. Now, some scholars have tried to defend Judas at this point, and I even went down this road early on in my faith. They say Judas was really a good man that went bad along the way. He got impatient with Jesus, tried to force his hand, and things spiraled out of control. It's an interesting theory, but it's biblically wrong. John chapter 6, verse 70 shuts the entire argument down. Let's look what the Bible says. Jesus is speaking to the crowd about following him. It's funny how Jesus works. Just when they're gaining momentum, the feeding of the 5,000 men or 15,000 women and children, the disciples have to be high-fiving in the back. Man, this thing's about to take off. Peter's excited. Matthew's excited. Look at the crowds. Look at the potential. Judas is excited. Look at the financial offerings we're about to take up. And then, have you ever noticed every time the crowd gets big, Jesus thins the herd? He says something provocative, something in your face. And at this point, he says, if you don't eat my bread or flesh and drink my blood, you can't be my disciple. And then, all of a sudden, the crowd disperses. People start to leave. In John 6, it says even the disciples start to go away. Jesus looks to the 12, and he says, hey, boys, y'all want to go too? And Peter stands up and says, well, where are we going to go? Where would we you have the words of life. And then Jesus says, remember, I'm the one who called you, you didn't call me. And then he says this, didn't I choose you one of the 12, yet one of you is a devil. Now, who is he referring to? He tells us Judas, Simon Iscariot's son, one of the 12, because he was going to betray him. After Jesus delivered this hard teaching, the crowd walks away and Jesus gets real with them and says, listen, I know exactly who you are

because I called you. And one of you is not, watch this, acting like the devil. No, one of you is not struggling like the devil. No, one of you is a devil. Jesus knew Judas's intentions before he ever invited him in the group. He knew Psalm 41.9, even my close friend, it says, in whom I trust, who I ate bread with, has lifted his heel against me. You see, in the first century, sharing a meal with someone was the highest sign of trust and intimacy. You don't eat bread with an enemy. You eat bread with a friend. And the Psalm also talks about the betrayer who will come from the inside. Jesus also knew Zechariah 11, verse 12, that the Messiah would be sold out for 30 pieces of silver, which is the price of a slave. And that is exactly what happened. Matthew 26 tells us that Judas bargained with the religious leaders. If you ever wanted to know what Jesus was worth to Judas, you don't have to look any further than this. Jesus was worth to Judas the price of a slave. And then Judas does the unthinkable. As Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas arrives leading a band of soldiers behind him. The signal to arrest Jesus is sealed with a kiss. He walks up to Jesus and says, greetings, rabbi, and then kisses him, as crazy as this is, on his cheek,

which should have been a sign of love and honor, became a weapon of hatred and betrayal. And Jesus responds, surprisingly, in a way that stops all of those there cold. He says, friend, do what you came to do. In the moment of, feel the weight of this, in the moment of ultimate betrayal, Jesus looks at the man who is selling him out to be crucified, and he calls him friend. Now, I need you to feel the weight of this, because Jesus does the same for you and for me. Isn't it encouraging to know that even when you and I reject him, he still welcomes us back as friend? Even when we sin consistently, he still reaches out his hand as friend. It doesn't matter what we've done. It doesn't matter how far you've strayed or the games you've even played. God still welcomes you home. But here's one thing Judas never did. He never came home. You see, Judas remained a condemned man. I believe Jesus gave Judas every opportunity to repent. Every single time Jesus taught, Judas was there. Think about it. When Jesus said, no one can serve two masters, for you'll either love one or hate the other. You'll either serve one or hate the other. He says, you can't serve both God and money.

Who was standing there holding the traveling treasury, the money bag in his hand? It was Judas. When Jesus said, don't store up your treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. Rather, store up your treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is, your what? Heart is also. Who was within arm's reach of Jesus? It was Judas. When Jesus exposed the rich young ruler, and he said, you are so close to the kingdom, just sell what you have and give to the poor and come follow me. Judas heard every single word of that dialogue. Judas was given every opportunity to repent, and I believe he refused every single time. The same message that broke the heart of Peter, hardened the heart of Judas. The same message that brought love to John and weeping, caused Judas to scheme and manipulate. Now we see this on full display at the Last Supper. And what I'm about to show you is going to change the way you've looked at Judas up to this point. Matthew 26, 21 is the Last Supper, and I want us to go there and look at what the Bible says. Jesus is reclining with his 12th,

and he speaks up and says, one of you is going to betray me. Watch this. Truly I tell you, verse 21, one of you will betray me. Deeply distressed, each one began to say to Jesus, surely not what? Surely not I, Lord. Now, I want you to notice the responses. They all begin to speak up. Surely not I, Lord. Now, you would expect them to say, when Jesus says one of you is going to betray me, you would expect them to say, of course we know who this is, Jesus. It's about time you figured it out, that old nasty, dirty Judas. Judas, we've been waiting for you to catch ya. That money bag has a hole directly into his pocket. But that's not what they say, right? Notice what they say. Is it I, Lord? Matthew, is it me? James, is it I, Lord? John, is it I, Lord? Peter, is it I, Lord? Instead of focusing on Judas, they focus and indict themselves. It's pretty sobering to think that even at the end of Judas' life and Jesus' life, you see Judas still confusing the disciples.

Now let's go back and see what Judas says because Judas is about to speak up and when Judas speaks up, it's very telling. Judas speaks up, verse 25, his betrayer. He replies to Jesus, surely not I, Rabbi? Wow. Not Lord, which means I'm gonna follow you, I'm gonna submit to you. I will do your will. No, Rabbi, not Lord, but teacher. After three years with Jesus, after watching him walk on water, after being sent out with the 12 to cast out demons and then the 72 after that, or 70, after hearing every parable, every teaching, every warning, Judas is still calling Jesus teacher. He's never surrendered his life. He's never surrendered the throne of his own heart. He's still calling the shots. He's still the captain of his own ship. He's still doing it his own way and this is what Judas teaches all of us. I want you to get this. You can be, and feel the weight of this if you're watching as a believer or been in church all your life, you can be a second or third generation Christian. You can sing in the choir. You can attend a small group. You could have been to VBS and every choir

and camp you had an opportunity to go to as a child. You can sit under great preaching. You can grow up in a church. You might even admire Jesus. You could even cry when you sing about him and yet for some of you, he's still rabbi. He's just a teacher because you're still making your own rules. You're still calling your own shots. You haven't given up the throne of your own heart. Jesus said in Matthew 721, probably some of the most sobering words in the Bible. "'Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, "'will enter the kingdom of heaven, "'but only the one who does the will of my father "'in heaven.' "'On that day, I will hear from them, "'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? "'Didn't we cast out demons "'and do many mighty works in your name?' "'And Jesus said, I will say to them, "'Depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity.'" Friends, you can fool your family. You can fool your best friends. You can fool your coworkers. You can fool your parents. You might even fool yourself, but you cannot fool Jesus. Here's the question I want to leave you with. How do you know if Jesus is actually Lord of your life? See, the question is not, do you know Jesus?

If you live in Middle Tennessee like I do or in the Bible Belt, everybody knows Jesus. Everybody's a Christian, right, or think they are. The question is, does Jesus know you? You see, on that day when you stand before the Lord, you're gonna say, hey, Jesus, remember me, Mike. I went to Bible camp. I even went to a Bible, do you remember me? I went to church sporadically. Would Jesus turn around and say, do I know you? Hey, you remember me, Jesus, Susan. I went to camp as a little kid, VBS, even got wet in a tank one time. Do you remember me? I hadn't been to church in a while, but do you remember me? I said a prayer years ago, walked an aisle. Do we know each other? Do I know you? See, the question is not, do you know Jesus? The question is, does Jesus know you? Have you placed your faith in Christ alone for your salvation and made him, crowned him Lord and Savior of your life? Have you genuinely repented of your sin? Do you bear fruit in your life? Jesus says you can tell a tree by the fruit it bears or the lack thereof, which proves there's no root. I like to say it this way. The fruit of one's life reveals the root of one's heart. Do you have a real hunger for God's word?

Do you long to spend time with him? Not for what you can get from God, but you simply just want him. Do you love others? Do you serve others? Now, you don't earn your way to salvation, but after salvation, you will work for God. These are the natural outflow of a life that actually loves Jesus. Judas had none of this. He was close to Jesus for three years, and Jesus still said, I never knew you, Judas. Don't let that be your story. The door is still open. and he's still calling you his friend. If this video helped you see something new in God's word, do me a favor, share it with someone. And if you're new here, make sure you subscribe to the channel. And if you hit that bell, you won't miss any upcoming episodes in the days ahead. Until we get together next time, get into the word until the word gets into you.