God meticulously lays out plans for an ark and a tabernacle so He can be known by people;
Judas and Peter both in the weakness of their flesh betray Jesus. What they do after their betrayals makes all the difference in their lives.
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Betrayal, Denial . . . Then What?
Some people deny Jesus right from day one. These are, in the Bible, called "unbelievers". This is not an insulting term, just descriptive, and consequential. Following the oft quoted promise found in John 3:16 are other words, more sobering in their effect:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."
Jesus clearly states that it isn't His mission in coming to the earth to condemn you and me in our sin; rather, it is to rescue an entire race of people who are already condemned in their sin. "Believing" in Jesus, then, is what makes the difference between eternal life and eternal condemnation. The significance of denying Jesus therefore, could not be overstated in terms of consequences. The Gospel witness John sums it up with crystal clarity: "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 John 5:11-12)
In Matthew 26, we are introduced to two key people, both of whom betray and deny Jesus. Both do this dastardly deed in different ways. Judas accomplishes this by losing confidence in Jesus as the promised Messiah, and selling out his former master to those who wished Him dead for the going price of a common slave. Peter does a similar thing, but by caving in to the mounting pressure of watching from afar his master being dragged into the kangaroo court of the day, and a simple peasant girl "accusing" him of being one of Jesus' close friends. Three times in the face of the guilt-by-association charge, he declares in escalating volume and anger: I DO NOT KNOW THIS MAN!!!
What differentiates between a follower of Jesus and unbeliever, is, well, unbelief. Unbelief may be a once for all declaration that is adhered to for a lifetime. but more often than not unbelief, like belief, is a growing, strengthening pattern of a person's life. How do I respond to God's revelation in His Word? Sensitively? Seeking more information? Wanting to understand the truth? Then I am on a path that slowly develops into belief, and somewhere along this path, develops into saving faith.
Or do I respond to God's revelation in His Word with skepticism? with anger? with rejection? with mockery? Then I am on a dangerous path of unbelief paving more and more miles on my path by the year. In time, if we do not reject this path, and turn off of it, it will take us to a point of ultimate destination: Condemnation of our sin,.
As Matthew 26 ends, we see Judas on a wickedly dangerous path of unbelief leading him to make decisions of perilous, historical, even scnadalous proportions. And as the record of the the Gospels leaves us with Judas, never is there evidence of repentance. Tragically his life ends in suicide, not a turning off that path toward belief, never willing to submit his own thinking to that of the Lord (Matthew 27:5).
Peter's story proceeds much differently. Even before Matthew 26 is over, Peter is stunned by the fulfillment of Jesus' promise when the rooster crowed three times, and he wept over his sin bitterly. As the record shows, his tears were tears of repentance, and he changed his course from denying Jesus to proclaiming Him throughout the then known world facing jeers, mockery, hatred, imprisonments and finally martyrdom without ever stepping again away from the path of increasing belief.
The question for you isn't "Have I denied Jesus?" If you are an believer, by your very nature, you have denied Him. Even as followers of Christ, under pressure of fear and unpopularity, rejection and persecution, we often deny Him by remaining silent when the opportunity is given to make it clear we know Him.
The question is this: What did you do after you denied Him? Did you continue the path of Judas in unbelief? Than you already have sene where this will take you.. Or, did you repent of your unbelief, and your betrayal and your denial? Then, the promise of Jesus in John 3:16 will truly be yours: You will not perish, but have eternal life.
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