The
Devil Finds A Home
John 13:18 “I speak not of you all: I
know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may
be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath
lifted up his heel against me.
19
Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come
to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
20
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he
that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
21 When Jesus had thus said, he was
troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray
me.
22 Then the disciples looked
one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
23 Now there was leaning on Jesus'
bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned
to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom
he spake.
25 He then lying on
Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
26 Jesus answered, He it is, to
whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And
when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas
Iscariot, the son of Simon.
27
And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said
Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.
28 Now no man at the table knew for
what intent he spake this unto him.
29
For some of them thought, because Judas had
the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those
things that we have need of against the feast; or,
that he should give something to the poor.
30 He then having received the sop
went immediately out: and it was night.”
1. Lifting Up The Heel
2. Guaranteed
Reception
3. The Insider
4. Watch The Sop
5. The Devil Made Me Do It
1. Lifting Up The Heel
Verse eighteen: “I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.”
This was a prophecy [made by David a thousand years in advance of an event] and it was fulfilled that day [concerning the Messiah] when Judas “lifted up his heel against” Jesus Christ.
The heel is the salient point of interest here. Now the heel of a man can be used in two ways.
• The first way a heel can be used … is to use the heel as an implement for the destruction of one’s adversary [as in lifting up the heel to deliver the final blow to the head.
• The second way a heel can be used is to make it a target. The heel is the vulnerable point “targeted” when the victim steps into the gin [or a trap]. You can be snared [or taken by the heel]. [Job 18:9] “The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.”
In verse eighteen, Judas is called “mine own familiar friend” who lifted up his heel against the Son of God exactly as it was foretold by the SCRIPTURE. With a friend like Judas, who needs an enemy? Good question!
Turn to Psalm forty-one, verse nine and ten: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.” [Psalm 41:9-10]
2. Guaranteed Reception
Verse twenty: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.”
This is a promise! You can “BANK” the store on it. Amen!
God has sent down through the millennia of time his servants the prophets to Israel:
[Jeremiah 25:4] “And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.”
And now, He has sent HIS SON. Will they [Israel] receive HIM? [Luke 13:34] “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”
Furthermore, since 33 A.D., HE has sent his evangelists and preachers to us [who are the Gentiles.]
If they [Israel], or we [the Gentiles], receive whom GOD has sent [that is, believed and obeyed them], we will have the promise that GOD will receive us.
Receive The SON and you will receive The FATHER Who sent The SON!
3. The Insider
Verse twenty-three: “Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.”
Those who lean on Jesus’ bosom are “the insiders”.
There is where you and I ought to be: “leaning on Jesus' bosom.”
Have you ever noticed how some people when they get saved [or born again] just seem to grow so radically in their love for the Book and the LORD Who wrote that BOOK?
You can see that striking change or transformation in their life. You observe their old ways fading away, and concurrently, their new ways of life coming in. You can see those new affections with that accompanying excitement abounding for those spiritual things God. It is, as the Bible says, in Second Corinthians chapter five, verse seventeen: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
You can see this proved here in John’s life. John has an affinity for God Who has come in the flesh. Indeed John is pointing the way for us all. John is one of the “insiders”. Peter, James and John were the insiders. We need to be “insiders”, too. Amen!
Here, John is “leaning on Jesus' bosom.” John is that disciple “whom Jesus loved”.
Something else! John is the one whom He turned to as He hung that CROSS to direct for the provision of His mother’s care in [John 19:26-27].
Turn there, and see how the “insider” Christian is the one Jesus goes to for those “special missions” of His.
Let us read: “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”
4. Watch The Sop
Verse twenty-six: “Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.”
Watch and see who gets the SOP. Whoever gets the SOP is the traitor who will “sell you out”! The traitor is that seeming friend who sells you out because he has that secret “love of money.”
Watch out now, the LOVE of money will do a lot of bad things to you. This love of money will cause some to sell their own soul to the Devil literally. [I didn’t say money would do this. I said the LOVE of MONEY would do this.] Listen to me. Money itself is not the problem. The love of money is what will turn you and I away from God.
How do we know this? We know this because God told us. God told us about this love of money and what it will do to us in the First Timothy chapter six.
Now, I have something else to tell you. This is a real eye opener. Are you ready for this?
The Devil doesn’t want you to know about this truth concerning the love of money. He wants to obscure it or hide this truth from you, because by it he has destroyed many a soul.
Now, here is a fact for you to ponder in your hearts. The King James Bible is the only Bible in the English language to preserve the exact God breathed text which warns you and I of “the love of money”. “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” [1 Timothy 6:10]
What is the lesson we need to learn here? We need to stick with THE BOOK GOD wrote to get this particular truth so that we do not err from the faith and pierce ourselves through with many sorrows.
Now, let’s go back to Judas. Judas loved the bag, he loved money. Look what it did to him. [Acts 1:18] “Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.”
The love of money drove Judas sell himself to The Devil, and The Devil drove Judas to his death, and landed him in a devil’s hell.
5. The Devil Made Me Do It
Verse twenty-seven: “And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.”
Earlier, I gave two verses from Psalm forty-one. Didn’t I? Well I purposely didn’t go into something found there in verse ten. Let me read it now again.
Ready? “But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.”
Did notice the word: “them” in: “that I may requite them.”
Now, according to John thirteen we only see Judas … he is only one man, a mere man [in the singular].
Now, here is my question for you. Who are the “them” [in the plural] who are facing the coming wrath of God shown in verse ten? Here is the answer. According to verse twenty-seven in John thirteen, SATAN himself entered inside of Judas … to co-inhabit and to run him from the inside. Judas and The DEVIL are the “them” in Psalm forty-one verse ten.
Can you see it “put together” now? The “THEM” is referring to Judas and Satan.
Not long after this Judas goes out and hangs himself. “That thou doest, do quickly” must of rang in his ears. The old statement: “the DEVIL made me do it” is rooted here in this very sad story of Judas.
Judas sold his soul to the Devil because of the love of money. Judas betrayed a friend for the love of money. “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.”
Thus we have this sad ending here for Judas.
You are I need not to have such a sad ending!
Turn to Jesus Christ now with a whole heart.
TRUST HIM for salvation! Amen!