Pastor Martin expounds on the frightening reality of Judas Iscariot's apostasy, despite immense spiritual privilege, to warn his congregation, especially children and young people, about the danger of neglecting inward grace. He argues that external privilege without the transforming power of God's grace is utterly fruitless and only increases culpability. Martin uses the foot washing incident as a backdrop to highlight Judas's betrayal and draws parallels to spiritual blindness and the gradual hardening of a heart that rejects divine light, urging immediate repentance and a turning to Christ for cleansing.
Primary Texts
menu_book
John 13:1-30This passage, particularly the foot washing and the identification of Judas, serves as the primary narrative and theological foundation for the sermon's warnings about spiritual privilege without inward grace.
The Frightening Reality of Judas's Privilege and Betrayal0:03
Application to Privileged Children and Young People1:28
The Fruitlessness of Privilege Without Inward Grace4:14
The Analogy of Physical vs. Spiritual Blindness5:40
The Gradual Path to Apostasy: From Small Sins to Betrayal8:11
The Invitation of Jesus to Children10:39
The Danger of Rejecting Light and the Path to Darkness12:14
Key Quotes
“All of that privilege devoid of the power of grace was absolutely fruitless.”
“Yet you sit here this morning, and your heart, is fertile soil for the devil to plant in you. Betrayal! Because you think that somehow or other, with no effort and endeavor on my own, all of this privilege will somehow produce something good.”
“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.”
“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.”
“And your spiritual retinas are detached. And you'll sink into hell. That's what happened to Judas.”
“It's time to stop mucking about with these issues. When you find in your Bible that there's a special hell for eight-year-olds and ten-year-olds and twelve-year-olds, come and tell me and show me where it is. I haven't found it yet.”
“With a towel in the basin and He says, Oh, my dear boy, my dear girl, nothing would thrill me more than to wash you. Think of it. Jesus is glad to wash us. You've got to go to Him.”
Applications
Parents & families
Tremble at the thought that spiritual privilege without grace is dangerous.
Stop messing about with issues of light and sin; do not entertain lustful thoughts or other sins.
Respond to the nudging and urging to come to Jesus; we cannot drag you to Him.
All listeners
Do not let this day close until you know you have inward grace and that Jesus has washed you.
Do not pillow your head tonight until you know your heart is not fertile soil to betray Jesus, but attached to Him.
Do not shut your eyes to the light that comes through godly examples, family worship, and the church assembly.
Go to Jesus, who is glad to wash you.
A full transcript is available on the
tab. 34 paragraphs, roughly 13 minutes.
Machine transcription
The Frightening Reality of Judas's Privilege and Betrayal
Now I want to ask you something. Could any man from infancy to adulthood be surrounded with more and greater spiritual privileges than Judas?
Yet this passage says, the devil literally having cast into the heart of Judas to betray him. The devil found in that man fruitful soil to betray the Son of God. Why? All of that privilege devoid of the power of grace was absolutely fruitless.
I tell you, it has made my soul shudder as I've pondered this passage in the last couple of days. All the others were. Clean, but not Judas.
You see where I'm going in my application?
Application to Privileged Children and Young People
I hope some of you children and young people are already trembling.
You, like Judas, through no choice of your own, were born the elect among the elect. In a home where the light of special revelation touches the entirety of the fabric and climate and function of that home. You can't remember when the Bible was not a part of your life. Mom and dad, at great cost of time and energy, some in the home, some by sending you to the Trinity Christian School, have sought to give you a view of life that is filtered through the light of God's word in your light.
As we read this morning, we shall see light outside the light of scripture. All is darkness.
You've had all of that surrounding you. And though Jesus in the flesh is not here, He is in a special place. In a special way in the assemblies of His people, where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I. You've been brought into the orbit where Jesus is present, where Jesus speaks, where Jesus exerts His power, not primarily in physical healings, but in spiritual healings.
He opens blind eyes and cleanses defiled sinners. And you've seen His work in others.
Yet you sit here this morning, and your heart, is fertile soil for the devil to plant in you. Betrayal! Because you think that somehow or other, with no effort and endeavor on my own, all of this privilege will somehow produce something good. No, no, my friend.
It produced nothing good in Judas. It only increased his culpability and his damnation. And that scares the liver out of me.
Does it scare you? Does it scare you, children? Does it frighten you to where you're ready to say, Oh God, I won't let this day close until I know I have inward grace. Until I know that Jesus has washed me and that I am clean.
The Fruitlessness of Privilege Without Inward Grace
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 in my right eye, and was virtually blind, could only see light and darkness, that's all, couldn't see my hand that far in front of my face, because I was blind looking out,
The Analogy of Physical vs. Spiritual Blindness
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And the Bible teaches God does that. He has blinded their eyes. And some of you, shut your eyes to the light that comes through the godly example of mom and dad, the light that comes from family worship, the light that comes sitting here today, and you say, no light, no light, I want no light, I want no light. The time comes when God says, you want darkness?
I'll give it to you. And your spiritual retinas are detached. And you'll sink into hell. That's what happened to Judas.
The Gradual Path to Apostasy: From Small Sins to Betrayal
That's what happened to Judas. The Scripture says he was a thief. He was covetous. Where did it start?
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.
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.
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.
If I were to tell you, the day will come when you'll sell your virginity, you'll violate marriage laws, break up your family. Yes, some of us know it, all too experientially, not in our own lives, but in those we dearly love. I tell you, kids, you've got to stop messing about with these issues of the light that God is bringing on your spiritual retinas, nudging you by His law, drawing you by His law, His gospel. It's time to stop mucking about with these issues. When you find in your Bible that there's a special hell for eight-year-olds and ten-year-olds and twelve-year-olds, come and tell me and show me where it is. I haven't found it yet.
The Invitation of Jesus to Children
It says Judas went to his place. And you'll go to the same place. Now why? Jesus, as then, so now, is among us.
With a towel in the basin and He says, Oh, my dear boy, my dear girl, nothing would thrill me more than to wash you. Think of it. Jesus is glad to wash us. You've got to go to Him.
I was struck with that driving it today. Suffer the little children to come to Me and forbid them not. I said, Lord, we're not forbidding the children to come. We're behind them, pushing them.
Nobody in this place puts a barrier between you kids and Jesus. That's what the disciples were doing. Parents were bringing their kids. They were apparently old enough to walk, brought them to Him, put them down, and when the kids began to come, the disciples said, Hey, get away.
He's got no time for you. Jesus said, No, no. Suffer the children to come to Me. He didn't say, Suffer the parents to bring them to Me to get some water on their head.
Let the children jump into My arms. Let Me smother them with the tokens of My love and My grace. Dear children, you're not forbidden in this place. Dear young people, nobody forbids you.
We nudge you. We urge you. We do everything but drag you to Jesus. But we can't take you to Him.
The Danger of Rejecting Light and the Path to Darkness
God help you. God help you. As you think of that upper room, and the Jesus with the towel in the basin, and in the midst, Judas, this greatly privileged man who didn't get there overnight. There were signposts all along the way where he shut his eyes to light.
And as the light got brighter, he had to shut them all the tighter until God says, Darkness is what you want. Darkness is what you'll have.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors.
It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
John 13:1-30
This passage, particularly the foot washing and the identification of Judas, serves as the primary narrative and theological foundation for the sermon's warnings about spiritual privilege without inward grace.
Texts Expounded
auto_stories
The sermon uses the context of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, specifically mentioning Judas, to illustrate the theme of spiritual privilege without inward grace.