Satan Entered Him

March 25, 2022

So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night (John 13:26-30).

There are two statements made in this text that sends chills down my spine - Satan entered him, and it was night. At this very moment in the life of Judas Iscariot any hope of salvation had passed. I’ve said earlier that I believed if Judas would have made his way to Jesus, repented, and asked forgiveness, Jesus would have forgiven him. But what Judas would have done, what Judas could have done, and what Judas did do are altogether different things. Judas did not make his way to Jesus. He did not repent. He did not ask forgiveness. He didn’t because he couldn’t. On Tuesday evening of Passion week, Then Satan entered Judas . . . (Luke 22:3). On Thursday evening, during the last Passover, Satan entered him (John 13:27). 

Early Friday morning, after the 3rd trial in the court of the Sanhedrin and before the 4th trial in the court of Pilate the governor, sometime between 6:00am and 9:00am Judas made his way to the Chief Priest and confessed that he had sinned by betraying innocent blood. He gave back the 30 pieces of silver, but the Chief Priests rebuffed him - they didn’t care. He threw the silver on the floor and went out and hanged himself (Matthew 27:3-10). Judas didn’t go to Jesus. He went to the Chief Priests. His confession was to them, not to Jesus. He was filled with regret and remorse, but not repentance. His was not an act produced by godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:8-11), but of personal, emotional anguish that led to despair and death. Why the one and not the other? Because Satan was in control of Judas. He could not repent for there was no godly sorrow. There was no godly sorrow because Satan cannot produce godly sorrow in a person. Only the Holy Spirit can. And the Holy Spirit had left him.

And it was night. Divine love, grace, and mercy had given way to divine wrath and judgment. Judas was handed over to Satan. What a horrible thought is this - to be handed over to Satan by the Lord God. There can be only one outcome from this - destruction (1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 1 Timothy 1:18-20). With Hymenaeus, Alexander, and the member of the church in Corinth, God’s judgment was intended to produce godly sorrow that leads to repentance and restoration. We don’t know that they did. Scripture doesn’t say. But we know that Judas didn’t. The darkness within his mind, heart, soul, and spirit was overwhelming to the point it led to the taking of his own life. And we know that his place in eternity had been prepared for the devil and his angels. Jesus said of him, woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born (Mark 14:21). The same can be said for all who find their place in the Lake of Fire for all eternity. Amen.

Pastor

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