East Baptist Church – Denison, TX

The Upper Room Teaches Us How to Deal with Betrayal

John 13: 1-4

Before we look at the lesson of our Lord washing the feet of the apostles I would like for us to look at a subject we do not hit on much and that is “Dealing With Betrayal”. There is almost no one that has not felt Betrayed.  

It seems like sometimes when it rains it pours. Satan excels at sucker punching us when we are at a low point. 

Luke 22:47-48 (NASB77) ⁴⁷While He was still speaking, behold, a multitude came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him.⁴⁸But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”

If you and I think we are going to minister to people even in the church and not get hurt, we are in for a very hard and rude awakening. 

Satan worked in the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. Judas is mentioned eight times in the book of John. Notice the word “put into the heart.” This word “put” comes from the Greek word which means “to throw or pour.” The word reminds us of the fiery darts of Satan.

Paul speaks to this when He addresses the full armor of God in the Book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 6:16 (NASB77) ¹⁶in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.

The difference between Peter and Judas is that Peter was saved and Judas was not and we know that Peter repented.

Luke 22:61-62 (NASB77) ⁶¹And 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.” ⁶²And he went out and wept bitterly.

Now we come to the hard teaching by example that our Lord gives us as one of our very first lessons in the Upper Room. Being hurt by the church and her members is not an excuse to quit. I can’t tell you how many people tell me they dropped out of church because they were hurt or disappointed in people in the Body that had hurt them or even made them mad. Our Lord picks up the towel to wash the feet of the very one that would wound Him before the rooster crows that morning

We should strive to do the same thing. We are to look to the cross when we are double-crossed. Ouch! That is not easy to do, is it? Our flesh likes to fight back or take revenge.