Two Sorry Men Luke 22:62, Matthew 27:1-5

Hold on to me when it's too dark to see you When I am sure I have reached the end

Hold on to me when I forget I need you When I let go, hold me again

When I don't feel like I'm worth defending When I'm far off, I'm not pretending

Hold on to me when I start to break in Desperation I can eat the weight of identification

Hold on to me, hold on to me Hold on to me when it's too dark to see you

When I am sure I have reached the end Hold on to me when I forget I need you

When I let go, hold me again

I could rest here in your arms forever Cause I know nobody loves me better

Hold on to me, hold on to me

It has happened a number of times in my life that I have seen myself or somebody else

quote, get caught with their hands in the cookie jar unquote. You heard that term before?

It means we've reached a little too far, we've gone once too often and then are trapped, caught.

It's obvious that what we have done is not right or that we are guilty.

And today we're going to look at two men who were caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

They were trapped. It's interesting as we look at it you're going to see how it develops

because the truth is they were right in the open. They were obviously there.

They were so good at going to the cookie jar and taking another cookie right in front of people

and not being caught that they were brought up short, they were startled, they were surprised, amazed

and the natural emotional response was extreme when they were finally caught with their hand actually in the cookie jar.

It's like if you were a magician you could take a cookie over and over and over again and no one knew

and suddenly you reached in the cookie jar and somebody grabbed your arm and it's like that.

So the two men are Peter and Judas and you may know a little bit of their story already

but we're going to take a snippet from several spots along each man's story and then kind of compare them

and then compare them at the moment where they each got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

And one thing that you will see is that they were both very sorry for what they did.

But the outcome is completely different.

So we will not get to the actual text that's listed up there with the sermon until the end

and that is where we will actually do the comparison.

So grab your Bibles if you're working along with me and we'll read the first text together today

and it's in John chapter 12. Amen.

John 12 · chapter mention

Thank you Brother Ron. This is John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

What we're going to see here is an example of an offense where Jesus offends Judas.

Now you kind of expect it to be the other way around because Jesus is the weaker man in the occasions that we see them

but John chapter 12 we're going to begin reading in verse 3.

John 12 · chapter mention

It says, Mary therefore took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard

and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair

and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples who was intending to betray him said,

Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?

Now he said this not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief

and he had the money box. He used to pilfer what was put into it.

Jesus therefore said, Let her alone in order that she may keep it for the day of my burial

for the poor you always have with you but you did not always have me.

So Judas is offended and accuses Jesus.

Now understand this is Jesus and the disciples and the people that they're talking to.

So publicly in front of everybody Judas says, Hey this isn't right.

This perfume that she's wasting on your feet, you can use water for your feet.

You don't need three hundred denarii perfume.

He accuses Jesus of being wasteful, at least wasteful with regard to the resources

that could have been used to help the poor.

Now we see his motivations. Obviously he's already planning on betraying Jesus

but more importantly his motivations is he wanted that three hundred denarii to go into the coffer

so he could pilfer a little bit of it and no one would notice.

You got that much money and the coffer is pretty full.

You can take a little bit here and there and no one would notice.

But he shows public offense toward Jesus.

Now go a little further along then and you look in Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

So the story has advanced now and we're literally on the night of Jesus' arrest.

Matthew 26 and we read verses 14 to 16.

It says, I'm sorry this is not the night of his arrest.

I said that wrong. This is the night of Judas' initial betrayal of Jesus.

And then we'll get the arrest in a minute.

Then one of the twelve named Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said,

What are you willing to give me to deliver him up to you? And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver.

And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray him.

Now on the first day of the unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus saying,

Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?

Jesus then tells them go in the city, the donkey thing happens and all of that and the Lord's Supper begins.

So Judas has made an agreement with the Jewish high priest, the priests in the temple there in Jerusalem,

to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

Now if he was a follower of Jesus and offended at the moment of the wasting of the perfume,

he spoke up, he betrayed Jesus publicly essentially by calling Jesus a thief, calling Jesus a wasteral,

wasting the perfume and so on.

But then Jesus explains to him why let her alone, it's okay, she's preparing her for the day of my burial.

And then now he is going behind Jesus' back.

Now we realize every day he is with Jesus, every day he is with Jesus and he's been doing amazing things with Jesus.

So now continuing then on verse twenty,

Now that evening had come he was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples and as they were eating he said,

Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me.

And being deeply grieved they each began to say to him, Surely not I, Lord.

So each disciple going around the table saying, Surely not I, Lord, I'm not the one that's going to betray you, but watch this.

And he answered and said, He who dipped his hand with me in the bowl is the one who will betray me.

The Son of Man is to go just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.

And Judas, here's the phrase, who was betraying him, who had an active plan already to betray Jesus, answered and said,

Surely it is not I, Rabbi. He said to him, You have said it yourself.

Now did Judas say that he was betraying Jesus in what he just said?

He asked the question, Surely not I, Rabbi, just like all the others did, didn't he?

Or did you notice a difference?

What's the difference between what all the other disciples said and what Judas said?

He called him Rabbi and not Lord. What's a Rabbi?

A teacher, right? Or a master in instruction who can take disciples who will then learn his teachings and they will take it to other people.

So that is indeed what Jesus was. He was a Rabbi, but he wasn't the only Rabbi. There are lots of Rabbis, right?

But he was the only Lord. He was the only God in the flesh. He was the only God the Son.

So the other disciples say to him, Surely not I, Lord, but Judas says to him, Surely not I, Rabbi.

And in claiming that he is just a Rabbi or just a teacher, he is letting it be known subtly

that he doesn't recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior, Master, that Jesus doesn't have the right.

And so then Jesus says to him, You've said it yourself.

You're saying yourself that you do not recognize me for who I am. Jesus announces his betrayal.

Then look at Luke 22, 47 to 48.

We're following the story essentially of Judas throughout his path of betrayal.

And now we're going to see it kind of enacted. OK, 22, 47, 48.

And it says, While he was still speaking, behold a multitude came.

Now that was Jesus. He said, Why are you sleeping? Rise, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

That's what he was saying to the disciples there again in the garden.

While he was still speaking, behold a multitude came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve,

meaning one of Jesus' disciples, was preceding them. And he approached Jesus to kiss him.

He had told them, The one I kissed, that's the one who is Jesus, arrest him.

And he approached Jesus to kiss him. But Jesus said to him, Judas,

are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?

And so here it is, the betrayal. When those who were around him saw what was going to happen,

they said, Lord, shall we strike with a sword? They knew that a betrayer was in their midst,

and they knew that the guards had come to take Jesus.

We'll read one more passage. And it is Matthew 27 verses 1 to 5.

Matthew 27:1–5

And we're going to see now what happens.

Matthew 27 verses 1 to 5. It says, Now when morning had come,

Matthew 27:1–5

all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

And they bound him, and they led him away, and delivered him up to Pilate the governor.

Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned,

he felt remorse, that means he was very sorry, his heart was aching,

and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying,

I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.

But they said, What is that to us? See to that yourself. In other words, you take care of that.

And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed, and he went away and hanged himself.

Pretty gruesome end to Judas' story of betrayal.

Okay, now we take up Peter's story. Look at Matthew chapter 26 beginning in verse 33.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

We're just back a little bit there. 26, 33.

Peter answered and said to him, Even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away.

Even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away.

Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, that this very night before a cock crows, you shall deny me three times.

Peter said to him, Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.

And all the disciples said the same thing too.

And look at John 18.

And we're going to verse 10. John 18 verse 10. And the story unfolds.

John 18:10

Simon Peter, this is in the garden. Simon Peter, therefore having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave and cut off his right ear.

And the slave's name was Malchus. Verse 11.

Jesus therefore said to Peter, Put the sword into the sheath, the cup which the Father has given me. Shall I not drink it?

So Peter was willing at the moment of Jesus' arrest to go down fighting.

He was willing to draw his sword and strike at whoever was nearby.

The armed men who had come, the high priest's servant in this case, got in the way and lost his right ear temporarily.

Now we know Jesus heals the ear and he doesn't suffer, but interesting things do unfold from that.

But what we see here is Peter is willing to fight for his Lord. He's willing to step up.

He said, I will not deny you, though everyone else might, I won't.

And he drew his sword and he struck. So he was willing to fight.

And if that had ensued into a fight, unless God had miraculously intervened, all the disciples would have died.

The armed guards and then Roman soldiers aplenty in Jerusalem, they would have killed them.

Unless they would have run and been hiding and whatever few of them might have gotten away, that kind of thing.

But then we see in that moment Jesus saying, No, you can't fight for me.

You cannot fight off this cup that God has given me.

Then we go to Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

And we're in verses 54 to 62.

And 62 is the first of our contrast verses.

We've already read the one from Judas, but we'll read it again.

Luke 22, 54 to 62 says this.

And having arrested him, they led him away.

And they brought him to the house of the high priest. But Peter was following at a distance.

So there is Peter who said, I will never deny you, Lord, and drew his sword at the arrest.

He's still, everybody else is scattered, but Peter is still following Jesus.

Literally following him. And he follows at a distance.

And after they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.

And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said,

This man was with him too. So the servant girl sees Peter and she says, This guy, he was with Jesus.

He was one of his disciples, or at least he was following him around.

But he denied it. This is Peter. He denied it.

Saying, Woman, I do not know him.

He didn't have to quite go that far to say I do not know him.

He could have said I wasn't a follower, I wasn't a disciple, and I was interested.

Lots of people were following him around. Lots of people were interested in what he had to say.

And I was interested. So yeah, you may have seen me there.

He could have lied or whatever, but he doesn't say it. He said, I do not know him.

He completely outright denied Jesus. 58.

And a little later, another saw him and said, You are one of them too.

But Peter said, Man, I am not.

So he denied being a disciple. So first he denies knowing Jesus, and now he has outright denied being a disciple.

And after about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, Certainly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean too.

But Peter said, Man, I do not know what you are talking about.

And immediately, while he was still speaking, a cock crowed.

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had told him before a cock crows today, you will deny me three times.

And 62 says, And he went out and wept bitterly.

And the words there where he wept bitterly are very similar in context and in language to the words where it says Judas had great remorse.

In Matthew 27, 5, it says, They said to Jesus, You take care of this. You solve this problem.

And he went out and hanged himself.

And here we have Peter with great remorse.

And you may know, probably do, that Peter repents, comes back to Jesus.

There's this great episode where he says, Do you love my sheep? Or do you love me, then take care of my sheep?

And that's all coming later. Right?

And Peter becomes one of the leaders of the early church. So we have two men.

Yes, Peter seems devoted, following around, but I want to be clear about something.

There was a time when Jesus sent out the twelve disciples.

You remember this story at all?

He sent out the twelve disciples.

And they were doing things.

And all but Judas was able to miraculously heal people by praying. Does that sound right?

That's not what it says, is it?

Judas as well, all twelve of them were miraculously healing people with prayer.

But only the eleven, not Judas, was able to cast out demons and evil spirits and free people from possession. Right?

No. Even Judas, in the name of Jesus, all twelve were casting out.

And everywhere they went, town to town, they were seeing people get saved.

And then it came that a man came and brought to them his son who was plagued by demon possession.

And the other disciples didn't try to cast out the demon, but Judas did. Right?

And Judas couldn't cast out the demon.

No, actually all twelve of them tried to cast out the demon and all twelve of them failed.

And then they went to Jesus and that's when Jesus said, this kind comes out only by prayer. Right?

Judas was a disciple in every sense of the word.

He was able to cast out demons, he was able to heal, he was able to teach the gospel and see people respond.

All of that was happening.

But he does betray Jesus to the high priests.

There's a lot of theories, you know, did he betray him initially thinking, well, Jesus can handle them?

Did he betray him initially thinking, well, Jesus said he had to be betrayed by somebody.

And at the dinner, certainly, Jesus dismisses him to go and do what he's got to do.

So Judas could be thinking, Jesus is part and parcel with this.

This is part of Jesus' plan that he'll be betrayed and all that has to happen. Right?

Now we know the word says that the devil came on Judas and led him in a certain direction and so on.

Someone has said that they thought that he was possessed himself.

You understand that a person doesn't get possessed if they are a true follower of Jesus Christ.

So let's compare for just a moment the stories of the two.

I've given you a synopsis here and I'll go through them first of all.

Both Peter and Judas were warned of their betrayal.

Now listen, if Jesus comes to me and he says, Dan, in the future, you're going to betray him.

You're going to deny that you know me.

First of all, I'd be heartbroken because I love Jesus and I don't ever want to deny that I know Jesus.

I don't ever want that to be the case.

I'd say, please Jesus, don't let that be the case.

I really don't want to deny you. Right? I don't want to ever do that.

But it's Jesus, so whatever he says is how it goes. Right?

They were both warned of what they were going to do.

Peter was warned he was going to betray Jesus. Judas was warned.

Both of them received the reward that they were looking for.

And so I don't understand that with Peter, but Judas is pretty easy. Right?

He went asking for money and they gave him 30 pieces of silver and he received the 30 pieces of silver for betraying Jesus.

In Peter's case, I submit to you that the reward that he was looking for was safety.

He was denying and lying that he didn't know Jesus at all, that he wasn't a disciple of Jesus,

and that he wasn't a follower of Jesus at all. He completely denied Jesus.

And he did that because he was seeking safety. He didn't want to get brought into trial himself.

So he received the reward that he was offered and that he was pursuing.

Their betrayals were foretold by Jesus, not only to them, but to others.

All people were all present in the room when Jesus said that Peter would deny him three times before the cock roared.

They were all present in the room when they said, but they didn't catch that Judas was going out to betray them then.

What they caught was, they thought, well, Jesus might have been going out to buy supplies.

They didn't understand that Jesus was dismissing him to go out and betray him.

Both of these men hid in plain sight. Judas did it all the time.

Pretending to be a disciple and able to heal and able to cast out demons and whatever. All the time.

He was right in plain sight. He was getting away with it all the time.

Nothing bad was coming of it. Jesus wasn't confronting him.

Jesus didn't confront him and tell him he couldn't be a disciple when Jesus knew that he was going to betray him.

So he was like, you could still be my disciple, even though he was planning to betray him.

And Jesus obviously knew that because he said, the one who dipped his hand with me, that's the one who betrayed me.

You said it yourself. Remember? Jesus knew. And he didn't tell him, you can't be a disciple anymore.

So he was in plain sight, even though his heart was betrayal, he was in plain sight.

Judas arranged the arrest of Jesus. Peter, at the foot washing, who had their feet washed?

Peter and Judas. They both had their feet washed by Jesus.

He got down on his knees, took most of his clothes off, his outer garment, and had a towel on himself.

And he kept washing their feet and wiping his hands and wiping their feet with the towel that he was wearing.

Judas' feet and Peter's feet, there was no difference between the two men.

They were getting away with it right in front of everybody, hiding in plain sight.

Some say that Judas was affected by the devil, and we don't say that about Peter.

But he was recognized as a disciple, so was Judas.

In fact, they really only allowed him to betray Jesus because he was a disciple, because he could deliver Jesus over into their hands.

If he was just some guy, if he claimed to be able to deliver Jesus over and couldn't, he'd have been in big trouble.

But he could, because he knew where they were meeting, because Jesus had taken him to the garden for prayer and time alone, in peace, together.

Many times, he knew exactly where they would be, in the garden.

Judas had a position of extra authority and was trusted amongst the disciples.

Peter didn't necessarily have that.

Judas was the treasurer.

If there was any officer among the disciples, there was only one.

The treasurer. That was the only office that they had.

In fact, Jesus said, the greatest amongst you shall be your servant.

And who was serving the disciples?

The only one that was serving the disciples day in and day out was Judas, because he was serving as treasurer.

He was the only one who had a position amongst their body of people.

He was serving as treasurer.

And so the greatest amongst you will be your servant could literally be Judas.

Not Peter.

So, in the status of the Kingdom of God measured out, it looked like Judas was the greater, because he was the only one serving.

Peter promised to abide in Jesus and to never, ever betray Him.

He literally promised to never do what he did.

Judas didn't make that promise.

Judas didn't promise, I'll never betray you, Lord.

In fact, at the dinner, it was clear to him that it looked like Jesus knew that he was going to betray Him.

And then Jesus said, okay, go quickly and do what you have to do.

So Jesus was literally setting Him up or allowing Him or pushing Him in the direction it seemed like to Him, of course.

Both men, when they realized what they had done, wept.

But Peter called Jesus Lord and Judas only called Him Rabbi.

Both promised to abide.

Both betrayed Him.

Both preached repent.

Both cast out demons.

Both healed the sick.

And then both had great remorse when they realized that they had betrayed Jesus.

The primary difference is their belief.

And we'll come back to that in a moment.

So we've compared these two men.

And now there are three points I want you to see.

The first one is that in some sense all men have betrayed God.

Now before you look at Judas and you think, man, he's a jerk.

And if I was there, I'd slap him in the face for doing what he did.

Or I'd beat him up.

Or I'd follow him to the temple and stop that from happening.

Or before you think anything like that, your adventurous soul starts to think about how bad Judas was and how much he deserved justice.

Once you understand that you and I have betrayed Jesus pretty much just as much.

If you're in this room and you've heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether you're saved or not,

if you've heard the truth that Jesus died on the cross for your sins,

and then you have sinned after you heard the truth that Jesus died on the cross for your sins,

and I'm going to submit to you that that's all of us,

then we have betrayed him.

Indeed, Paul says, we have crucified him again by knowing that he paid the price for our ultimate sins and then continued in our sin.

I submit to you that all people have betrayed God.

And so that makes us much like Peter or much like Judas.

Now, we can't physically betray him to the point that he would be arrested and crucified again.

Only Judas could do that in his day.

I guess Peter could have done it too if he wanted to.

They had that choice.

We cannot deny him on the night of his crucifixion for our own safety

because we don't live in a time where people are regularly being crucified for Jesus, thank God.

But our betrayals are no less poignant and no less powerful. We have betrayed Jesus.

Now, when I realize I have done something that Jesus wouldn't want me to do, I am sorry.

The truth is these men both had remorse for their actions. They were broken.

They were beat up over the fact that Jesus was so good and they were so bad.

I was doing youth ministry in our church, a matter of fact.

There was a young man who came to Bible study and he thought it would be funny to throw a bean bag intentionally

from just about three or four feet away and hit me in the side of the head.

And it hurt.

And then there was another young man there who was in the youth group as well.

And he said, you know, why would you do that?

He's like, he's the nicest guy I know. Why would you ever do that?

And the first young man said, because it's fun.

Now, I'm not saying it's fun, but the bottom line is we betray him because there are certain results that we want.

And sometimes we get the results. They both got the results they were looking for.

And then we betray him again later and we get the results that we're looking for.

A lie will sometimes get you what you want.

If you lie the right lie to somebody, like for example, if you did something wrong and you lie to your parents or lie to an authority figure,

you may get away with what you did wrong. So we betray Jesus and then we get what we want.

That's what we do.

But then ultimately, we realize that we have done wrong. We shouldn't do that.

I mean, we think about it. We go, oh, man, you know, Jesus, I realize you died for me.

I really shouldn't lie. I shouldn't steal.

I shouldn't do these things that whatever it is that you know that he doesn't want you to do,

or I should do these things that I know you want me to do.

And we say to Jesus, I'm real sorry.

Maybe you pray to Jesus and you confess your sins to him.

And John writes that he is faithful and just and he will forgive your sins and he will cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

And so you do that.

You maybe learn that somewhere along the way. If I confess my sins to Jesus, he is faithful and just to forgive my sins. Why?

Because he paid for them all in the cross, past, present and future.

And then I do that and I say, I'm sorry, Jesus, I'm real sorry.

I feel sorry. And then he does it. He cleanses me.

And then I feel better. He makes me feel better after the fact.

I don't really feel like I'm hurting so bad anymore that I did something so stupid again.

These men show remorse for their actions, both of them.

Now, they can't physically go at that time on the night of his arrest and confess to Jesus and say, Jesus, I'm sorry.

I betrayed you. They can't do that. It's not available to them.

Not physically anyway. And Jesus is still present physically on the earth at that time.

So notice, they both betrayed him and they both showed remorse.

And so I submit to you that in this room, here's what we have.

We've all betrayed him.

And if you recognize who Jesus is and you realize that he died on the cross for your sins, then you're probably sorry for having done that.

So you could be Peter or you could be Judas.

But notice the difference. One winds up a dead body hung.

It says that they took that 30 pieces of silver and they bought a field for the poor to be buried in because the temple treasury couldn't accept it back because it was blood money.

So they believed in the uncleanness of money. It was soiled by what had been done with it.

And so they couldn't take it back. So they bought the potter's field for poor people to be buried in.

They didn't have anywhere else to be buried.

And that's where Judas hung himself.

And after a while, because no one would have anything to do with him, hanging in the tree, the rope burst, he fell down on the ground and his guts poured out all over the place.

All nasty and wormy and disgusting.

That was Judas' end.

And not his eternal end. His eternal end was probably in hell forever.

Eternal damnation separated from the one that he really didn't want to be with anyway.

Forever.

That's a pretty severe end.

One man wound up a dead body gushed out on the ground in a field while the other man is alive, repents, and becomes a leader in the church.

The first high priest of high priests, if you will, under Jesus in the new church in Jerusalem.

Both were warned. Both received their desired reward.

Do we want to go over the list again?

Bottom line is they had all those things in common, but one man winds up dead, a body gushed out on the ground after hanging himself, profiting not at all.

And the other man winds up alive, a Christian serving God.

We'll see who do you want to be.

I want to be alive, a Christian serving God, don't you?

So we need to know the secret.

We need to find somewhere in those texts the words that we read.

And we read them together.

So you can do this if you're processing it in your head.

Do that.

Do this if you're processing it in your head.

What was the difference?

Where did we see a difference?

An undeniable, definite difference in the presence of Jesus.

What was the difference?

What was the difference between Peter and Judas?

Don't say, well, Judas betrayed him and got him killed, right?

Because the betrayal of Peter is no less than the betrayal of Jesus.

In fact, I submit to you that the betrayal of Peter is more so.

Because Judas could have betrayed, Judas could have betrayed Jesus the way he did and still been a disciple.

It's not right.

What he did was wrong.

But he was named a disciple and his position was never taken away.

So by name, by position, even by his belief, remember?

The greatest amongst you should be the servant.

And he was the treasurer.

He could have thought of himself as the greatest disciple.

Now that would be pride and arrogance.

I understand another betrayal of Jesus.

I get that.

He could have betrayed Jesus seven ways till Sunday and still been named a disciple.

His sin is no greater than the sin of Peter who said, no, no, I do not know the man.

No, no, I am not his disciple.

I was not following him and learning from him.

He publicly betrayed.

He renounced his position as a disciple.

You see?

His betrayal is equal at least to Judas' betrayal.

But there is a reason why the guilt, the culpability, which means you get punishment for what you did wrong, right?

Is brought down on Judas but not on Peter.

In the verses that we read, what is the reason?

We read the verses.

We compared.

There was a moment of time.

Both men are present.

One man did one thing.

One man did another.

What is the difference?

Did you hear it?

One man still recognized one another.

That is right.

That is it.

Peter still recognized him as Lord.

What does that mean?

He said, you are my Lord.

It is not me that is betraying you, is it?

What can your Lord do for you?

Well, he is master.

He is ruler of your life.

Even when you are in sin, he is still master ruler of your life, right?

And he can forgive your sins.

What can your teacher do for you?

What can your teacher do for you?

He can add to your reason.

He can add to your wisdom.

He can even point you to the Lord.

But what he can't do is forgive your sins.

So faced with this problem, Peter says,

I am a screw up.

I am a sinner.

I am wrong.

I have horrible remorse for what I have done, which Jesus prophesied that I would do it.

I have horrible remorse for what I have done.

But that being said, there is still a Lord.

There is still a Savior.

There is still someone who, if he so chooses, can forgive my sin and make something out of me that I may be with God for an eternity.

He recognized there was a Lord.

Somebody who could do that.

And that was part of the process of what Jesus was doing.

Peter, on the other hand, only saw, I am sorry, Judas, on the other hand, only saw Jesus as a rabbi, a teacher, not a person who could forgive sins.

If you come to God this way, I recognize you God.

You are an awesome God.

I want to try to do whatever it is that you want me to do.

I want to follow your commands.

I am going to be your child, like a family member, that one day I may come to be with you.

I see that you teach great things.

I see that your commands are excellent.

I see that your creation testifies of you.

But if you do not come to God through Jesus, who is able to forgive your sins, you will never have a right relationship with God.

Because it was Jesus, God the Son, Jesus, Lord, Jesus, Savior, who died to pay for those sins.

It is Jesus now, more importantly, who stands every day making intercessions.

So who is standing making intercessions for Judas at the right hand of God?

You would want to say no one, wouldn't you?

But that is not so.

It is Jesus.

Jesus is standing daily willing to make intercessions for Judas.

But Judas was not willing, did not recognize him as Lord, did not call him Lord, did not allow him to save him, did not allow him to pay the price for his sins.

So that when the high priest or the priest in the temple say, okay, you deal with it.

Here is my question to you.

How are you going to deal with the fact that you lied?

How are you going to deal with the fact that you stole?

How are you going to deal with the fact that you were lazy when you should have been diligent?

How are you going to deal with the fact that you did not study his word or pray or worship the way you should have after you recognized supposedly who he was?

That is the same exact betrayal as Peter.

You are betraying Peter this way when you do not do what it is that God would have you do in the way of the spiritual disciplines.

Why?

Because you are not practicing the spiritual disciplines because you have a reward that you want to seek in this lifetime.

When you do not spend an hour a day in prayer or worship or in your Bible or whatever, you get to use that hour some other way.

You might get to use the watch TV, which causes you a sensation of peace.

It removes your stress.

I get to divert myself.

I do not have to think about what I am doing at work.

I do not have to think about what I am going through or what my friend said.

I do not have to think about just being in this fantasy world for a while.

Let us say you do not spend time on spiritual disciplines and you work.

If you work your job and you are working more hours, maybe over two jobs, I have to work more hours and get more money and put away.

If somebody comes and asks me for help, I can give it to them.

If I want to have a better house or I want to have a better car or I want to have a better retirement or I want to have more stuff to give on birthdays or I want to be able to buy.

I do not have to say I do not have enough money to buy what I need.

I have to work more and more and more.

Because you do that, you do not take the time to focus on Jesus.

You do not take the time to read this word and understand that this book, cover to cover, is all about Jesus from Genesis 1 to the end of Revelation.

The theme of the entire Bible is written by over 40 men over 1,400 years in 40 different countries.

That theme is Jesus.

We are not going to take the time to spend time on this.

You are betraying him in the same way that Peter did because when you do that, you get some result.

You feel safe.

You ever read your Bible and go, oh, that hurts.

I have done that.

Oh my goodness.

I feel terrible.

So when you do not read your Bible, you do not get those feelings.

At least not in the same way.

You may be convicted by the Holy Spirit.

But over time, you can get him to quiet down.

You get out of bed and you choose not to serve him and you go, oh, you know, I should have read my Bible today.

I should have prayed.

Instead of listening to my secular music and trying to figure out whether God's saying anything at all through that, which he does, I should have listened to some Christian music.

I could have had some worship.

Or I should have spent some time mulling over the memory verses that Pastor Dan asked us to memorize for the week.

Or I should have spent some time meditating on that sermon from last week or that verse that we read.

Or I could have gone on the podcast for the church and listened to a sermon from six months ago and see what was going on then.

What God was saying and what God's saying to me now through that same thing back then, his living word.

But if you put all that aside, you can find lots of times to entertain yourself, to distress yourself, to feel good about yourself or others,

to try to manipulate your family members to get them to do what you want them to do.

And you get a lot of resources and you're betraying Jesus in the same way that Peter did.

But I submit to you that when you realize it, like during a sermon like this, whatever, you start thinking,

okay, well, I feel bad. I feel sorry that I'm not spending it.

And Satan uses guilt. Jesus doesn't. Jesus is not interesting and you're feeling guilty.

If you insist upon feeling guilty, that is your choice.

Right? And it's no different than what Judas did.

He said, ah, there is no Savior and Lord.

So when the priest told him, what's that to us that you betrayed him that way?

You betrayed innocent blood. What does that matter to us?

We can't do anything about it. You go and deal with that yourself.

So you know what he did? He dealt with it. He dealt justice to himself.

He killed himself and sent himself to hell for an eternity because he was the betrayer who deserved what he got.

But so do I. I deserve it too. And I don't want it.

Even though I deserve it, I don't want it. And we deserve it.

And even though we deserve it, we don't want it.

So what I'm asking you is, do you see Jesus as Lord and Savior?

A Lord is a person who tells you what to do.

And then you will eventually at some point in time fail to stand up under those commands.

You won't get them all right. And you're going to need a Savior.

As John also writes, that he is an advocate for us.

We have an advocate before the Lord so that when we sin, and by the way, he says,

he who says he has no sin makes God out to be a liar.

So that when we sin, we have an advocate. You've got to keep coming back to Jesus.

You've got to be willing that he should hold the reins of your life.

A long time before Jesus was ever on the earth physically walking with his disciples.

A very wise man named Solomon wrote a lot of Proverbs.

I know that it was the entire book. I think a lot of it was he collected them up and so on.

He collected them all up into this volume.

And we'll look at one last verse today and it is Proverbs 29.

So if you're with me in your Bible, go for Proverbs 29. I'm going to read it to you.

It's just 29.1 is all we're going to read.

Proverbs 29 verse 1, it says this.

Proverbs 29:1

This is before Jesus came to the earth, before Judas betrayed him, before Peter betrayed him.

But the truth is, remember, they were doing things right out in the open.

They were being false right in front of Jesus.

Like saying, I'll never betray you. I'll die before I'll betray you.

False bravado, false pride, arrogance, believing in themselves that they were so good.

And that how would anybody ever dare think otherwise?

That was Peter. We don't even know necessarily Judas did that.

Although Judas promised not to betray him. We know that.

But Judas served and was the treasurer.

And probably in his own mind was the greatest of all the disciples and the followers of the rabbi.

Proverbs 29.1 says this.

A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

Do you hear me?

You can get away with it as many times as you are willing to try.

You can feel remorse as many times as you realize and recognize that you've screwed up.

And you can come back to Jesus, recognizing him as Lord and Savior and be forgiven.

But the truth is a man who hardens his neck, that means you continue to be stubborn.

You continue to not do what it is that the Lord want you to do.

Samuel said the sin of rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft.

He said rebellion. He left out the sin part.

He said the rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft.

What do you know about witchcraft?

It's the pursuit of power in the spiritual realm.

What else do you know about witchcraft?

It's attractive. Right? Am I getting this right?

Tommy's got personal experience, don't you? Right?

So it's the pursuit of power.

You think you can control things in the spiritual realm.

You're pursuing a reward.

It may make you feel a certain way.

But here is the truth.

It's attractive. It's alluring.

It's leading you forward into it all the time.

That's what it is.

He said the spirit of rebellion is like witchcraft.

You can't keep saying no.

You know what passive aggressiveness is?

You ever hear anybody say,

I don't need your passive aggressive attitude. Right?

You say things like, I hear what you're saying,

and clearly I need to listen to you because you're smarter than I am.

That's passive aggressive. Right?

Clearly you know better than I do. It's passive aggressive.

You're challenging the other person.

You're exercising your authority in a way that you're saying,

I know that you think it's passive aggressive.

Peter and Judas sinned against Jesus by betraying Him.

They hardened their neck.

Peter did not betray Jesus once.

He did it three times before the cockroach sang,

I do not know the man.

I am not one of his disciples,

and nor was I even traveling with him.

There were thousands who it were, but I wasn't.

A man who hardens his neck after much reproof,

correction, redirection,

Jesus is saying you don't want to be like that,

will suddenly, all of a sudden, one time,

your hand is in the cookie jar one more time,

will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.

Now I'm not talking about you being unsaved.

If you're saved and you're playing these games with Jesus,

you will remain saved, but at a point in time,

you will send the sin unto death,

as it's described in the New Testament.

You will send the sin unto death, and Jesus will say,

you're no good for me anymore,

so you can stand your ground for a little while,

but eventually you're going to die,

and you're going to come to heaven,

because you're not really being productive for the Kingdom of God.

You're playing too many games.

You keep doing it over and over and over again,

and God will just say, that's it.

There's no value in your salvation.

You're not changing.

You're not growing.

You're not transforming Romans 12, 1, and 2.

You're rather being conformed to the sense of the world,

and if you're going to do that anyway,

you're hurting the Kingdom more than helping it.

You may as well just come home.

A man who hardens his neck.

If you continue to be stiff-necked over and over again

after much reproof, you get corrected,

and you continue to go in the way of rebellion,

you continue to not do what it is that you're supposed to do,

or do what it is you're not supposed to do,

even if you have remorse afterwards,

you will suddenly be broken beyond remedy,

which means there's a moment in time in which Jesus will say,

I am done using you.

I cannot make out of your life what I want to make out of your life

because you continue to refuse.

You're a stiff-necked.

I correct you, and rather than learning from correction,

getting better and better and better,

you continue to commit and do the same things over and over again.

I'm not talking about losing your salvation,

but you continue to put me on the cross again and again.

That's what he said.

He said it was like as if we were crucifying him again.

You continue to deny me.

You continue to betray me, and you've got to stop,

and you won't, okay, you won't.

Finally, there's nothing more.

I'm done.

And I'm going to bring you home, and you're going to be with me,

but your opportunity to lead other people to Christ,

your opportunity to be the church,

your opportunity to serve God in this lifetime,

and to continue to progress forward

and maybe live until a ripe old age,

still preaching the Gospel, still growing in me,

still reaping rewards on earth

and storing up treasures for yourself in heaven, I'm done.

And that's what happened with Judas,

and Judas wasn't saved, and he had no Savior,

and he had no Lord,

and so he took matters into his own hands,

and he hung himself, and his guts fell out in the potter's field,

and then he went to hell for an eternity, most likely.

I only say most likely because it's not my position to judge.

But according to what we see in the Word,

it looks like that's the case.

Peter, on the other hand, recognizes Jesus as Lord,

repents, turns back to Jesus,

and continues to grow under our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

and becomes a leader in the church.

If you love Jesus, you will follow His commands,

but if you follow His commands without loving Jesus,

you will ultimately betray Him to the point of no return.

But if you love Jesus and intermittently follow His commands,

feeling remorse and continually coming back to Him,

He will continue to forgive you,

bless you, and cleanse you of all wrong righteousness,

but eventually He's going to be done with your antics.

He's going to be fed up with your foolishness.

Understand, we don't get everything right on this side of Heaven.

You're never going to do that.

I'm not talking about being perfect and never sinning again.

I'm talking about stopping, betraying Jesus,

and doing what you know to be doing, as Paul would say,

holding on to that which you have attained.

Know the difference between a Savior and a Lord.

A couple of closing illustrations.

A party of tourists was on its way to Palestine,

and its guide was describing some of the quaint customs of these.

Now, said he, you are accustomed to seeing the shepherd

following his sheep through the English lanes and byways.

Out in the east, however, things are different,

for the shepherd always leads the way, going on before the flock,

and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

The party reached Palestine, and to the amusement of the tourists,

almost the first thing that they saw was a flock of sheep

being driven along by a man.

The guide was astonished, and immediately made his business

to accost the shepherd.

How is it that you are driving these sheep? he asked.

I have always been told that the eastern shepherds lead his sheep.

Oh, you are quite right, sir, the shepherd said.

The shepherd does lead his sheep, but you see,

I am not the shepherd, I am the butcher.

If you allow the things of this life to become your motivation,

you may be part, or in your own mind, part of the flock,

pushed along by your desired rewards, and who controls those?

Satan, evil spirits, and the dark kingdom.

In contrast, the word says this, you may be familiar a little bit

with Psalm 23, and in the beginning it says,

he maketh me to lie down by green pastures.

The force of maketh me to lie down there is very strong.

It is not.

God arranges for me to have the opportunity to lie down

by green pastures.

It is this, he compels me, he forces me,

and when I don't want to, he makes me to lie down.

That's the force of that phrase,

compels me to lie down in green pastures.

An American traveling to Syria became acquainted with a shepherd.

Each morning he noticed the shepherd carrying something to the sheep.

The traveler followed him one morning and found that he was taking food

to one of the sheep that had a broken leg.

As he looked at the animal, he said to the shepherd,

how did the sheep break its leg?

Did it meet with an accident, fall into a hole,

or did some animal break its leg?

No, said the shepherd, I broke the sheep's leg myself.

Let me say that again.

No, said the shepherd, I broke the sheep's leg myself.

You broke it yourself?

The traveler, who queried the surprise traveler,

yes, you see, this is a wayward sheep.

It would not stay with the flock, but would lead the sheep astray.

Then it would not let me near it.

I could not approach it, and so I had to break the sheep's leg

that it might allow me day by day to feed it.

In doing this, it will get to know me as shepherd,

trust me as its guide, and keep with the flock.

Are you a wayward sheep?

Are you doing things that God would have you to do,

or doing things that God would have you not do?

Does God need to break your leg

so that you will learn to be fed by Him?

Before you say that, it doesn't happen.

Two stories from relatively earlier,

we were planting in New Heights.

The first one was, I ran into a woman at a block party.

She accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Didn't see her for a long time after that.

Then I ran into her at Christmas caroling.

We went up on her front porch on Platte Street,

right behind the church building is where she was living.

I said, you said you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

and I let her pray the gospel to be sure, blah, blah, blah.

Pray the gospel prayer.

Then she said, yeah, okay, I believe.

I said, okay, well, you need to come get in the church.

She said, well, I can't.

I work two jobs.

I babysit my grandkids so my daughter can work.

She can survive.

I said, well, you can bring your grandkids to church.

She said, well, the truth is I mostly sleep on the couch.

I'm so tired because I work 40 hours at one job

and 35, 40 hours at the other job.

I just don't think I can do it.

I said, well, you really need to.

I said, you're going to grow in the Lord as part of the body.

You really need to do the things that God would have you to do.

And she said, well, I'll give it some thought.

And she still didn't come.

So ran into her again later in Christmas caroling the next year.

Christmas caroling.

She came out.

She was so grateful.

And I said, okay, come to church.

She said, okay, I'll do it.

I'm going to do it.

She said, in fact, just recently I had a minor illness and so on,

and so I can come to church because I'm only working one job right now.

And she said, I'll be there Sunday.

So she started coming.

She came about three, four Sundays in a row.

She was loving it.

She brought her grandkids like the second or third Sunday.

She was loving it.

She was worshiping God.

She's like, Jesus is awesome.

And it was going good.

I remember her sitting in the back row of the building at 609 Main Street

in the new sanctuary that we built over there.

Then suddenly she stopped coming.

And I went and visited her.

I said, why did you stop coming?

She said, well, I went back to work at my second job and I'm so tired.

And I babysit my grandkids every Sunday.

And I mostly sleep on the couch while I'm babysitting them

and just let them play, blah, blah, blah.

And she said, so I don't think I can come.

I said, you don't want to do that.

I said, that doesn't sound good.

I said, you were really getting into it, right?

You heard the voice of Jesus talking to you, right?

She said, yeah.

And then suddenly I said, you really need to come back.

And she said, well, I'll think about it, but I wouldn't count on seeing me.

And she didn't come back.

Christmas caroling the next year.

This is the fourth year in a row.

Christmas caroling.

Christmas caroled her house.

And knocking on the door, she took a long time.

She said, I'm coming.

I'm coming.

Don't leave.

And she comes to the door.

She's on a cane with those four post feet.

And she's walking like this.

And she comes up to the door.

And I said, oh, I'm so sorry.

I said, what happened?

I thought maybe she was in a car accident.

She said, I was working my second job.

She worked at Tom's Barbecue down on Front Street.

She said, I worked at my second job.

And all of a sudden, I had a massive stroke.

I fell over in the middle of the lobby of the restaurant.

She said, now I feel totally ashamed because this is what I said to God.

And I know she said it because she told me she said it before it happened.

She said, I told God He's going to have to strike me.

He's going to have to get control of me.

He's going to have to do whatever He has to do to get my attention.

And then two weeks later, she had a massive stroke in the restaurant.

And then she couldn't work two jobs anymore.

She couldn't work at all.

She was filing for disability.

She was losing her house and everything else.

She couldn't hardly, she couldn't have sung worship because her speech was so slurred.

And she would have made some sounds.

But she couldn't do the beautiful singing that she was doing before.

How many times are we going to put our hands in the cookie jar before we realize

God is seeing every one of those transgressions?

And you're coming to Him with sorrow and He's cleansing you of all unrighteousness.

But then you go and do it again.

That's willfully picking up that which you said you were going to put down.

We need to be growing.

And if we keep playing games, He's eventually going to strike us to remind us who the shepherd is.

You say, I don't believe that.

Ephesians 2 says, you were once objects of wrath and you are no longer.

If indeed you are following the Lord and doing the things that He has set aside for us to do.

One more guy, this Hispanic guy came to one of our block parties.

He said to Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, I made about five visits with him.

And I kept going on my fourth visit.

I said to him, I said, look, are you going to, because he kept saying he was going to come.

I said, are you going to do this or not?

You said you're following the Lord, you need to come.

You get involved in the church, get baptized, whatever.

You need to start taking steps, stop playing games.

And he was very adamant that he had become a follower and he was determined to be a follower of Jesus.

And he said, I don't know, I think God's just going to have to do something to get my attention.

Standing on his back porch, the corner of, someone tipped my tongue, green lawn, green, green wood.

Green wood that runs this way up to Main Street and his house is about three blocks up.

I think it's on the corner of White Street.

Anyway, standing on his back porch, he said, God's just going to do something to get my attention.

God's going to have to correct me himself.

Once I see that God has done something, then I'll move.

And until then, I'm just, I don't know, I just can't find the motivation.

Every Sunday I find something else I have to do.

I just can't find the motivation to start working again.

I went back, I told you, I went back five times.

I went back the fifth time.

The first four times I went, his wife never came to the door because she was sick.

She was very overweight, had asthma real bad.

She was sick. She was struggling.

She could never come to the door.

But the fifth time she came to the door, she said, just a minute, just a minute, I'm coming.

And she came to the door and I met her for the first time ever.

And I said, hello.

I said, I came to talk to, and I said his name.

And she said, well, he can't come to the door right now.

And I said, I'm sorry.

Is everything okay?

She said, no.

She said, he's down in bed, has been for about a week, week and a half.

She said that he had a massive stroke and he has congestive heart failure.

And they think, you know, he may not live a couple more months

because his health condition isn't good enough for him to have the surgery.

And she said, I wanted to come and talk to you at the door because I need you to pray for him.

And I said, absolutely.

And she bowed her head and I bowed my head.

We prayed together for him, but he never recovered.

He died about a month later.

Is your hand going in and out of the cookie jar?

Are you transgressing against the Lord and Savior of the entire universe?

Is he there trying to make intercession for you and you're refusing?

Or are you being found faithful with that which you know?

Will you hold on to that which you obtained?

You say, well, I know, but I'm busy and it's hard and whatever.

Listen, ain't nobody, nobody on the face of the planet ever been busier than Jesus.

They would try to pull away for a short period of time to get a little bit of rest

and the crowds would hound them.

Read the New Testament.

And before you say, but it hurts or it's awkward or whatever,

ain't nobody went through more hurt or awkwardness than Jesus.

They took his clothes, put a purple robe on him, put a crown of thorns on his head, beat him.

First of all, beat him about the head with the crown of thorns on with a rod

so that it punctured his skin, probably cracked his skull, minor stress cracks.

Then they whipped him until you could see the sinew, the bones, the muscles in his back.

Then they made him carry his cross, but he couldn't because he was so beat up near death.

So they grabbed a sign and made him carry the cross.

Then they hung him on the cross with his back chewed up like that.

He had to push up on the nail that was through his feet, grinding his back on the wood of the cross

to be able to exhale to take another breath.

And he was like that for hours.

And we're inconvenienced by what he desires us to do.

Now it's time to repent and turn to the God of the universe.

It doesn't matter what you've been through, what you've done.

Time to repent and turn and say, okay, I'm going to progressively do more.

When you're a hundred, if you live to be a hundred and you're not working

and you're on disability or you're in your deathbed or whatever,

you're going to be reading your Bible every moment you possibly can and praying

and thanking Jesus that soon you're going to come to be with him.

Why not bring some of that devotion and that faithfulness forward to now?

Let's get busy being the kingdom of God.

Let's get busy practicing the spiritual disciplines.

Let's stop being Judas or Peter and denying him.

Let's do what it is that he's called us to do.

Let us stop finding our solace in entertainment or games or whatever

and realize that Jesus alone can provide the peace of God that you need inside you.

Not that you can't partake of all the good things of this life,

according to Galatians 6, they were all given to us to enjoy.

There's nothing wrong with it.

If it's blatantly sin, then cut it out.

Don't have anything to do with it.

There are many things in this world that are good and you can enjoy.

But God is a God of mercy and kindness and grace

and he wants to save our souls and lead us like that wonderful shepherd,

not like that butcher, not driving us, but lead us

because we love him and we're willing to follow.

And not like that shepherd that has to break his sheep's leg

to get his attention and get him focused on the shepherd.

But like that shepherd that just says, come on, and you say, yes, Lord.

Not, yes, Rabbi, not, yes, teacher, not, yes, I'm almost in,

not, yes, I'll almost understand or reason when it makes sense

that I'll do what it is you want me to do.

But yes, Lord.

Now I'm giving you an opportunity here with a song,

but the truth is it's not from me.

It may even be for me.

That we would repent and turn to Jesus again today and say, yes, Lord.

Who betrays you, Lord?

Surely not I, Lord.

It is me.

I am betraying you.

I am filled with remorse.

Save me, Lord.

It is he who will be saved, not the man who says, I'm good,

but the man who says, Lord, forgive me.

I'm a horrible sinner and I'm trusting in you alone.

We'll have the praise team come forward at this time

and lead us in our closing hymn.

But I'm asking you today to take very seriously the appeal of Jesus

and continue to stick your hand in the cookie jar

and continue to not be faithful.

Continue to do little things and then afterwards you always have to go,

oh, I'm so sorry, oh, I'm so sorry, oh, I'm so sorry.

We're in Proverbs 29, 1.

If you continue to step back and continue to do those things

and never grow, never learn, unwilling,

you're eventually going to be caught with your hand in the cookie jar

and you will be stuck.

And it's not just two sorry men who have been stuck

since the beginning of time.

It's millions.

Let us not be sorry men and women.

We're in Proverbs, we're in May, we're just standing here.

We're in Proverbs, we're in May, we're just standing here.

Mr. Dan, I just want to thank you so much for tuning in

to our New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo podcast today.

I hope you were blessed by the considerations of whether we're like Judas or like Peter.

Let us not betray the Lord, not once, not many times.

If we do get stuck betraying Him,

we will head into destruction in a new and different way.

This is not about salvation per se.

Jesus Christ paid for salvation.

So if you've trusted the Lord completely for salvation,

Him alone, then you will be saved. Praise God.

But if you've decided to play games with your salvation,

then you will eventually be caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

Hey, check us out online at ChurchToledo.com.

If you want to give to the ministry, you can text G-I-V-E,

that's G-I-V-E, to 419-419-0095.

That's 419-419-0095.

You can give an offering to the ministry of New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.

And those offerings will help to support this podcast.

So I hope you're blessed by listening and perhaps God will lead you to give.

If you're thinking about tithing to New Heights, I would give you this consideration first.

Please consider that you are to tithe to your church, the church that God has called you to.

The first 10% of income, first fruits, 10% gross off the top goes into the tithe.

And the New Testament standard of tithing is not really tithing.

It's sacrificial giving, which is usually above 10%.

And so if you're working toward 10%, it may be sacrificial giving for you right now.

But when you get above 10%, then that's truly sacrificial giving.

And that's when you've honored God with your finances in the way that Jesus would honor God, I suppose, is the way of saying it.

But anyway, if you're thinking about tithing to New Heights, let me say this.

Check out our Can I Be a Member page on our website or in the Life of Toledo app.

And you might find that you can be a member non-resident until God moves you to residency and you can attend.

You might be in California or you might be in Uruguay.

We've got listeners literally all over the world.

And so if you happen to be out there in the world somewhere and you know that God is calling you to be a part of New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church,

then you could consider tithing to us, although I still recommend you consider tithing to a local church near you.

And then you could send an offering to us. That might be more in line with the way God would normally do it.

But check out our Could I Be a Member of New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.

We believe that there are members of our church that might be scattered all over the world.

We can make whatever kind of connections we can make.

And if God is leading you to be a member, you need that information so you can figure out how to be a non-resident member

until God moves you to near us or until we plant a church near you that you can be part of.

So check us out online at ChurchToledo.com or NewHightsFolkshipChurch.org or in our app at Life4Toledo in the App Store.

God bless you today. I hope he leads you to serve him right where you are, reaching new heights in Jesus.