Judas Iscariot: some Applications (excerpt)

The point: Do not pillow your head tonight until you know your heart is not fertile soil to betray Jesus, but attached to Him.

Martin recounts his recent experience of excessive hemorrhaging in his right eye, which left him virtually blind and unable to see his hand. This personal story sets up the analogy for spiritual blindness.

I won't pillow my head tonight until I know that my heart, is not fertile soil to betray Jesus, but a heart so attached to Jesus, that I'll confess Him, if necessary, even unto death. The incident of the foot washing sets before us this frightening reality, that the best of spiritual privileges is utterly fruitless, without the transforming power, of inward grace. I'd hoped to bring the flip side of that in the life of Judas, but in the interest of time, I won't. But let me say this. One of the most frightening things in the experience of the past weeks, when I had that excessive hemorrhaging ...

4:14 - 5:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not shut your eyes to the light that comes through godly examples, family worship, and the church assembly.

He describes the eye surgeon's fear that his retina might be detaching, leading to multiple ultrasounds. This detail emphasizes the seriousness of the physical condition and foreshadows the spiritual analogy.

and the eye surgeon was blind looking in. He didn't know what was going on. And one of his fears was that the retina might be detaching. And so I had the four ultrasounds of the eyeball, trying to see if the retina was still intact.

5:40 - 5:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not shut your eyes to the light that comes through godly examples, family worship, and the church assembly.

The surgeon's instruction to call immediately if he saw a 'dark curtain coming down gradually' is shared. This specific image becomes a powerful metaphor for the onset of spiritual blindness.

And then he said to me this, he said, Reverend Martin, he insisted calling me Reverend. I didn't want to be called Reverend, but he called me Reverend. He said, you must call me on my personal beeper number, day or night, if you begin to see a dark curtain, coming down gradually. Call me immediately.

5:56 - 6:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not shut your eyes to the light that comes through godly examples, family worship, and the church assembly.

Martin explains that a detached retina leads to blindness because the cones and rods can no longer transmit images to the brain. This serves as a direct analogy for spiritual blindness when God detaches one's 'spiritual retinas'.

It's an indication your retina is detaching, and you must undergo emergency surgery to address it. What's it mean when the retina is detached? You go blind. That thing that God has made with its cones and rods to receive the images and transmit them by the optic nerve to the brain, when that is detached, sight is gone.

6:17 - 6:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not shut your eyes to the light that comes through godly examples, family worship, and the church assembly.

He describes how hemorrhaging formed clots that looked like the 'curtain coming down,' causing him genuine fear. This personal experience of fear is used to underscore the even greater fear of spiritual blindness.

And there were several times when the hemorrhaging formed clots that looked like the curtain coming down. And I tell you, it was frightening. I don't scare easily, but I tell you, I was scared. I confess without shame, the thought of going blind was frightening.

6:49 - 7:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not shut your eyes to the light that comes through godly examples, family worship, and the church assembly.

Martin directly compares physical blindness from a detached retina to God detaching one's 'spiritual retinas' when they continually reject divine light. This illustrates the consequence of spiritual hardening.

But I tell you, there's something more frightening than physical blindness. To have the shade of divine light, it enables us to grasp light, to have God say, all right, do you want darkness? I'll give it to you. And for God to detach your spiritual retinas.

7:10 - 7:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop messing about with issues of light and sin; do not entertain lustful thoughts or other sins.

He creates a hypothetical scenario of young Judas stealing a diamond from his father's dresser, knowing it was wrong. This illustrates how small acts of disobedience and covetousness can be the beginning of a path to greater sin and betrayal.

Maybe his little boy saw a diamond in his daddy's dresser. And when he went to take it, he knew the law of God. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet.

8:21 - 8:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop messing about with issues of light and sin; do not entertain lustful thoughts or other sins.

In the hypothetical scenario, an observer warns young Judas that his spirit of thievery could lead him to betray Jesus for silver. This highlights the long-term consequences of unaddressed sin.

And he turned away from that light and took the diamond, put it in his pocket. Had you or I seen him taking him aside and said, Judas of Kiriath, you're just a little boy, but I saw you steal that diamond from your daddy's dresser. Do you know that that spirit of coveting and thievery, if you don't deal with it one day, you will be prepared to hand over incarnately for thirty hunks of silver. Little Judas would have looked and said, Oh, Mister, I wouldn't do that.

8:31 - 9:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop messing about with issues of light and sin; do not entertain lustful thoughts or other sins.

Martin draws a parallel between Judas's early covetousness and young boys entertaining lustful thoughts from catalogues or flyers. This illustrates how seemingly small sins can lead to greater moral failures.

But he did it. And there was a connection between that first diamond and the thirty pieces of silver. Just as there's a connection with some of you sitting here, the lustful thought, the glance in that catalogue at that flyer that comes to the house and the lustful burning of thought. Some of you boys entertain.

9:08 - 9:33 Read in full sermon