Clean Transcript

Trading Jesus

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• Matthew, Matthew chapter 26, Matthew 26, and we'll be teaching a message on trading Jesus. By the way, may I remind you that I will not be here next Sunday because of the wedding. Have a wedding next Sunday, so that will be the time that I will not be here. So Matthew chapter 26, and let's begin reading there with verse 14. Matthew 26 verse 14: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me?"

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• "And I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him."

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• "Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born."

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• So think about this title, "Trading Jesus," or basically, "What Will You Give Me?" Everyone trades. I mean, we trade cars, we trade houses, we trade furniture, we trade guns, we trade baseball cards, products, vegetables, and a host of other things. I would imagine everyone in this room at one time has traded something. But however, I think about this: the only time we trade is when we think that we are getting a better deal. So, if Clay and I are to trade something, think about this: I value what he has more than I value what I have, and on the other hand, he values more what I have than what he has, or else we're not even going to trade. So when you stop and think about trading, you have to value something exceedingly great in order to do that. No one in his right mind is going to trade an extremely expensive piece of equipment for a piece of junk, unless he does it ignorantly. And there have been many pieces classified as junk that turned out to be worth far more

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• than most people realize. There have been people who have purchased junk and found out later that it really was not junk, and then they realized that they actually made the purchase of a lifetime. One such incident happened in France. This woman was getting ready to sell her house, so she brought in an auctioneer to appraise her belongings. The auctioneer quickly noticed a painting hanging over the woman's hot plate in the kitchen. It turned out that the painting was a 13th-century painting of a long-lost work of a Florentine artist, Cimabue. The masterpiece, known as "Christ Mocked," was part of a series of paintings that depicted the crucifixion of Jesus. It sold for $26.8 million. And she had it hanging over a hot plate in the kitchen. And then here's another one: another piece of junk was purchased 30 years prior to the realization of

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• its actual value. There was a woman in London who bought what she thought was a fake diamond ring from the West Middlesex Hospital in London in the 1980s. She paid 13 bucks American money for this large fake ring, and she wore it almost every day for 30 years. But in 2017, the woman wished to just see if it was worth anything, and to her surprise, what she thought was a fake diamond turned out to be a 26-carat diamond. Originally it sold for $400,000, but in the auction it brought $847,667. And I asked Alice, I said, "What would you do if you had a diamond ring or a ring that you thought was only worth 13 bucks and you wore it every day for 30 years?" I mean, if you lost it, you wouldn't think anything about it, you know. But here's a woman wearing this piece of junk every day, and turns out it's worth nearly a million bucks. Now, we always tend to think in economic terms when we think of trading. However, there are trades that have very deep spiritual implications. So think about the title of this message.

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• Have you ever really thought about trading Jesus Christ? Can He be traded? And would you trade Him? And the answer to those questions is yes. In fact, people trade Him all of the time, even Christians. Our Lord in Matthew 16 and verse 26 said this. He asked these questions: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Now the word "exchange" indicates a trade. The Greek word indicates an exchange, and that something is given in the place of the trade. So our Lord said the same thing in Mark chapter 8, verses 36 and 37. Again, He said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" So there are many people that value things far more than their own soul. They value things far more than their own life. In fact, oftentimes they're willing to trade their lives.

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• They're willing to trade their houses. They're willing to trade their families. They're willing to trade their children. They're willing to trade for their lusts, for their pleasures, basically their own life and their own soul. And our Lord is telling us that we better think very carefully before we trade not only our souls but the value that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, can anything in this world that you get do you think would be a good exchange for your own soul?

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• And the answer is no, because everything that you gain, you are ultimately going to lose. I want to give you a quote. It's a rather lengthy quote from Matthew Henry, three or four paragraphs. But I want you to listen, because he really nails this truth solidly. He said, "The worth of the soul, which lies at stake, and the worthlessness of the world in comparison of it. What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? The same word which is translated 'his life' in Matthew 16:25, and 'soul' in Genesis 2:7, for the soul is the life. This alludes to the common principle that whatever a man gets, if he loses his life, it will do him no good. He cannot enjoy his gains. But it looks higher, and speaks of the soul as immortal, and a loss of it beyond death, which cannot be compensated by the gain of the whole world." Now, he's going to give you six principles. I want you to listen to them, then he's going to tie

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• them together. He says, "First, every man has a soul of his own. The soul is the spiritual and immortal part of man, which thinks and reasons, has a power of reflection and prospect, which actuates the body now and will shortly act in the separation from his body. Our souls are our own, not in respect of dominion and property, for we are not our own; God says, 'All souls are mine.' But in respect of nearness and concern, our souls are our own, for they are ourselves. Secondly, it is possible for the soul to be lost, and there is danger of it. The soul is lost when it is eternally separated from all the good to all evil that a soul is capable of, when it dies as far as a soul can die, when it is separated from the favor of God and sunk under the wrath and curse of God. A man is never undone until he's in hell. Thirdly, if a soul be lost, it is of the sinner's own losing. The man loses his own soul, for he does that which certainly is destroying to it, and neglects that which alone will be saving.

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• The sinner dies because he will die. His blood is on his own head.

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• "Fourthly, one soul is worth more than all the world. Our own souls are of greater value to us than all the wealth, honor, and pleasures of this present time, if we had them. Here is the whole world set in the scale against one soul, and Tekel written upon it; it is weighed in the balance and found too light to weigh it down. This is Christ's judgment upon the matter, and He is a competent judge. He had reason to know the price of souls, for He redeemed them. Nor would He underrate the world, for He made it." Now watch, "...fifthly, the winning of the world is often the losing of the soul. Many a one has ruined his eternal interest by his preposterous and inordinate care to secure and advance his temporal wants."

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• "It is the love of the world and the eager pursuit of it that drowns men in destruction and perdition. Sixthly, the loss of the soul is so great a loss that the gain of the whole world will not countervail it or make it up. He that loses his soul, though he gained the world, makes a very bad bargain for himself and will sit down at the last an unspeakable loser. When he comes to balance the account and to compare profit and loss, he will find that instead of advantage, he promised himself he is ruined to all intents and purposes and is irreparably broken."

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• Now one last paragraph, I want you to listen carefully. "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Note, if once the soul is lost, it is lost forever. There is no counter price that can be paid or will be accepted. It is a loss that can never be repaired, never be retrieved. If after that great price which Christ has laid down to redeem our souls, and to restore us to the possession of them, they be so neglected for the world that they come to be lost, that new mortgage will never be taken off; there remains no more sacrifice for sins, nor price for souls,

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• but the equity of redemption is eternally precluded. Therefore it is good to be wise in time, do well for ourselves." Now I want you to let that sink in just for a moment, because he said once you exchange your soul for anything, once you deny the redemption that's found in Jesus Christ, there is no counter price. There's no redeeming it back. In fact, the Bible says in Psalm 49 and verse 8, "For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever." In other words, it's gone. It's gone. Now with that introduction, I want you to look back in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26, and I want to call your attention to verses 14 and 15.

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• Look what is said: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." Now here's what I want you to think about today. I want you to consider the question that Judas asked: "What will you give me?" Now before we actually consider that question, there's a couple of things I need to point out. If you look back in verse 14, "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?" In other words, Judas initiated the trade. Judas wanted the trade. Judas was concerned, and he is the one who went and began the bargaining. Now undoubtedly, the chief priests were thrilled with this because they wanted our Lord as well. If you will notice Matthew 26 and verse—well, let's see, verse 4. It is Matthew 26 in verse 4. Well, let's read verse 3: "Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him." So they wanted him dead.

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• Luke 22 in verse 2, the Bible says, "And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people." So clearly then, the chief priests and the scribes, they wanted this trade. So here's the question Judas asked them: "What will you give me?" I want you to think about that, because he's willing to trade Jesus Christ for profit. He's willing to trade Jesus Christ for gain. Or he's willing to trade Jesus Christ for something that he values far greater than Jesus Christ. He only asked, "What will you give me?"

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• He also said, "I will deliver him unto you." I will keep my part of the bargain. If you look in Matthew 26 and verse 15, it is, "And he said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him." Wow. When you get to Mark chapter 14 and verse 11, Mark puts it like this: "And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him." In other words, Judas was willing to betray the Lord, but he was not willing to do it publicly. He was not willing to do it in a fashion that would bring attention to himself. He wanted to do it conveniently. He wanted to do it when no one would notice particularly. And of course, you know when he came to betray Christ in the garden, what did he do?

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• He said, "Hail, master," and then he kissed him on the cheek, just like this is a normal greeting. "I'm just greeting you. I love you so much." And here's the whole crowd behind him with swords and staves. So Judas said, "Yes, I'm willing to trade him. I'm willing to give him. What in the world are you going to give me?" And of course, now that they've covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver, he's looking for the opportunity to complete the trade. Now, many people have tried to give Judas a better motive than that of money. When I say that, they tried to imply that what Judas really wanted to do was to force the hand of Jesus Christ and make him declare himself King. Well, the interesting thing about that: if that was true, which I do not believe it's true, but if it was true, it would still be sin. It would still be wicked, because you can't force God. You can't make God do anything. But the Scripture never ever implies anything like that concerning Judas.

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• In fact, it implies something totally, completely different. If you would hold Matthew 26, but look in your Bibles to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. And look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 4. John chapter 12 and verse 4. Look at it: "Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him." Well, let's go back and pick up with verse 2: "There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?"

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• "This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." So Judas was a thief. Three hundred pence, that would be three hundred days' worth of wages. Back then it was a penny a day. So Judas wanted that money because he was a thief, the Bible says. So Judas then was willing to trade Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver. So let me ask you this question: How much was thirty pieces of silver worth? Well, let me put it to you like this: even in today's money, if—and it's a mighty big if—but if each of those pieces happen to be one ounce of silver, okay, thirty pieces of silver at today's price for one ounce of silver, $25, it'd be far less than $1,000. Well, at $30 an ounce it'd be $900. Most scholars say that the value of the thirty pieces of silver was somewhere between $300 and $600. Now, you and I certainly do not think that was a large amount, and it's not.

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• But when you consider a penny a day was the normal wage, well, that would probably last you maybe a year or two anyhow, something like that. But it was not much, not much money, not at all.

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• Now, there's a great significance to this thirty pieces of silver. Everybody understands it's the price of betrayal. But there's more than that. So I want you to turn in your Bibles, holding Matthew 26, if you would please, to the book of Zechariah chapter 11. Now Zechariah is right before the book of Malachi, which is the last book in the Old Testament. So if you'll go to Zechariah chapter 11, and we're going to read verses 4 through 14, and I'm going to come back and be making comments on this passage and let you see it. So look in Zechariah chapter 11, and let's begin reading there with verse 4: "Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I

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• will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock."

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• So now this is Zechariah as a shepherd. Then here it says in verse 8: "Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people."

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• "And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD."

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• "Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel." Now, in this passage, Zechariah happens to be a type of Jesus Christ. Please remember, there are other types of Christ in the Bible. Isaac was a type of Christ. Solomon was a type of Christ. Isaiah, at one point, was a type of Christ. And now we have Zechariah being a shepherd who is indeed a type of Christ. The interesting thing is, what is being portrayed clearly during the life and times of Zechariah, what was going on there was a perfect picture of the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because just as in Zechariah's time, the rulers thought they owned the people, likewise it was in the time of Christ.

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• So if you look in verse 5, we're talking about the flock, "Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not." So when we talk about this, we have to think about not only the princes and the kings and the rulers and the elders in the time of Zechariah, but also in the time of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So Zechariah then is showing us the absolute corruption and the absolute hypocrisy, as well as the wretchedness and the generosity of the rulers. They were tyrants.

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• They did to the people whatever they wanted to do. It's kind of like the hirelings that our Lord talked about in John chapter 10. For the hireling careth not for the sheep, but when the wolf cometh, what does a hireling do? He fleeth, and he leaves the sheep to be destroyed by the wolf. And so here is a picture of these rulers who are nothing more than tyrants.

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• And when you come to the New Testament, you're going to find that it was the high priest, it was the Sadducees, it was the Pharisees, it was the scribes. They sold the people, they could care less. They traded the people, they could care less. They sheared the people, they could care less. And here's a perfect picture. I want to give you one more quote from Matthew Henry. Listen to what he says: "In Christ's time the chief priests and the elders, who were the possessors of the flock, by their traditions, the commandments of men, and their impositions on the consciences of the people, became perfect tyrants, devoured their houses, and grossed their wealth, and fleeced the flock instead of feeding it. The Sadducees, who were deists, corrupted their judgments. The Pharisees, who were bigots for superstition, corrupted their morals by making void the commandments of God. Thus they slew the sheep of the flock. Thus they sold them. They cared not what became of them, so they could but gain their own ends and serve their own interests."

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• That almost descriptive of those ruling today, is it not? And when you stop and think about those who are extremely wealthy in our land, who are willing to do anything and everything for money and then claim that they are above the law and that they are blessing the Lord and they are great and wonderful Christians. Isn't that astounding? Well, let me show you. Turn in your Bibles. Hold Zechariah. We're coming back there. But turn in your Bibles to the book of John, chapter 11. And let me just show you how corrupt and how degenerate the priesthood, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, elders and scribes really and truly were. So here we go. John, chapter 11. Look, if you would, in your Bibles, at verse 47. Here it is. John 11 verse 47: "Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we?

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• for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." Now, what were they concerned about? Were they concerned with the people being healed by our Lord? Were they concerned with our people being delivered from all the demonic influences? Were they concerned about the people being healed that were blind and lame? No. They said, "We can't deny; we've got to do something. If we don't do something, everyone's going to believe on him, and the Romans, they're going to come and they're going to take away our place." That is our power, our position, our nation.

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• In other words, we won't have anybody to rule over. We won't have anybody to be tyrants over. So here, indeed, was a perfect picture of the tyranny that existed in the time of Christ brought to us by the prophet Zechariah. Now, go back, if you would, to Zechariah chapter 11 and verse 8. Look at this. He says, "Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me." The three shepherds I cut off in one month. Hmm. Let's see. We could interpret that probably one of two ways. We could just simply say princes, prophets and priests, or we could say chief priests and scribes and elders. When did our Lord cut them off in one month? How about 70 AD? When He actually destroyed the nation, He did indeed cut them off. Now Zechariah also breaks two staffs. One of the staffs he named Beauty, and the other he named Bands. Now the staff he named Beauty, or Favor, was given to us here in the book of Zechariah as God breaking His covenant

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• with these people, because they had already broken the covenant. I don't know if you remember the messages I preached years ago in Romans chapter 13, but here is a legal as well as a biblical principle that when one party violates the covenant, the other party is loose from obedience. See, so if Clay then promises me he's going to cut my lawn and he's going to edge everything and trim everything for 50 bucks, and he only cuts half of the lawn and does nothing else and then demands 50 bucks, I'm sorry. He violated his end of the covenant. I'm not obligated to give him 50 bucks. I might give him five. Or if he wants to get 50, he needs to finish the job. So, but that's true whether it is governmental, whether it is personal, whether it is biblical. So here he is. He says this band, this Beauty, this Favor is going to be broken, and I'm going to send my judgment upon this nation. What did He do in 70 AD?

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• He judged them. He destroyed them. He scattered them. Now He also broke the staff which was called Bands, which of course meant union, which foretold the breakup between Israel and Judah, which was accomplished again by the Romans in 70 AD. So everything that is given to us here is pictured in the time of Jesus Christ. Now if you look in verses 12 and 13 of Zechariah chapter 11, what's this? "I said to them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD." Now when he said in verse 13, "a goodly price that I was prised at of them," it was tongue-in-cheek. It was really a sarcastic statement. And I'm going to show you that momentarily. So it's kind

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• of like, I had a flat tire this morning. Gotta buy a new tire. And so Marshall comes along and he sees that I have a flat tire and I've got that donut tire on my car now. And he said, "Oh, Pastor," he said, "I see you have a flat tire." He said, "I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll give you 20 bucks for that car now." And I look at him and say, "Well, I guess you would. Will you give it to me all at one time?" I mean, obviously, that would be tongue-in-cheek because the car's worth far more than 20 bucks, even if it's got a bad tire on it.

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• So I'm just pointing out the fact Zechariah, who was the shepherd here, took thirty pieces of silver and said, "That was a goodly price that I was prised at," and then the Lord said, "You take this and throw it to the potter." So if you'll hold Zechariah, but turn in your Bibles to Matthew 27 and let's begin reading there with verse 6. Matthew 27 in verse 6, look at this. And in fact, let's go back to verse 4 because Judas now is bringing back the money, saying, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." That is the innocent blood; the only blood that was innocent was Jesus Christ. And they said, "What is that to us? See thou to that." In other words,

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• "That's none of our problem. It's your problem. You're the one that did it, not we." But yes, they did it, but that was their attitude. Now watch what he said: "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood." Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. It was lawful for them to take it out of the treasury to give it to Judas to betray an innocent man so that they might murder him, but now it's not lawful for them to put it back into the treasury. Well, you know, that's their thinking. And now watch what happened in verse 7: "And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they

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• took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me." So now you have thirty pieces of silver in Zechariah was thrown to the potter, and Matthew 27 it bought the potter's field to bury strangers in. So I said that when Zechariah made the statement, "a goodly price that I was prised at," I said that was tongue-in-cheek. Why would I say that is tongue-in-cheek? Well, let me show you. Hold Zechariah but turn in your Bibles to the book of Exodus. The book of Exodus, and we're going to look at Exodus chapter 21 and verse 32. Exodus 21 and verse 32. This may surprise you. Exodus 21 and verse 32.

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• God says, "If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." So here's a man who has a servant, who has a slave, and the ox gores a slave, whether man or woman, and kills that individual, then the owner of the ox has to give the man thirty shekels for the burial of the slave. In other words, the thirty shekels was the price of a slave and his burial as well.

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• Now you understand why it was cast to the potter's field as well. So listen to me. When Judas then went to betray the Lord Jesus Christ and trade the Lord Jesus Christ, he traded Jesus Christ for the price of a slave's funeral. Which should bring us to these questions: What did those chief priests have in mind when they said, "We'll give you thirty pieces of silver"? Were they thinking of Exodus chapter 21 in verse 32, saying, "This is how much we value your so-called Messiah. He's nothing more than a slave. He's nothing more than an imposter. We don't care one thing about him." So little did they value Jesus Christ. But here's an astounding thing: Judas accepted the thirty pieces of silver. And whether he knew it was the price of a slave and his funeral, I have no earthly idea.

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• But you have to stop and think about this. Judas at least walked with Christ for three years. He had seen the miracles. He knew Him personally. He may not have recognized Him as the Son of God. He may not have been genuinely saved or converted, but Judas should have understood the value of the Lord Jesus Christ. So you'd have to ask, what in the world were each one of those thinking about? So here's the question in light of this message that we have to ask ourselves: How much do we value the Lord Jesus Christ? What would you trade the Lord Jesus Christ in order to possess, in order to

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• have a—what would be your bottom line? You've heard the old expression, "Every man has his price." What would you be willing to deny the Lord Jesus Christ for in order for you to possess and to have in this life? So here's some other questions. Is it possible to sell Jesus Christ today? Yes. Is it possible to trade Jesus Christ today? Yes. And is it possible to betray the Lord Jesus Christ today? And the answer is yes. And the truth of the matter is, we do trade Him, usually on a daily basis. I want you to stop and think about this. Anytime we prefer sin over obedience to Jesus Christ, we're actually trading Jesus Christ for sin. It's what it amounts to. We're trading Him for pleasure. We're trading Him for profit. We're trading Him for whatever we want to possess, because what we're doing at that particular time, we're valuing that which we want more than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. You have to remember, Jesus Christ is the living Word, and the Bible is the written Word. So if Steve came up with a brand

  #43 | 39:01 to 40:21 | cleaned

• new four-wheel drive pickup truck all decked out, and I think to myself, "Oh man, I've wanted one like that for years and just not been able to afford it. But look what Steve has, and I sure want that thing. But there's no way that I can get it." And I'm just here lusting, and I'm just coveting, and I'm desiring, guess what I'm doing? In my mind, I'm trading the Lord Jesus Christ for that pickup truck. Because I'm valuing that truck more than "Thou shalt not covet." We're willing to trade Jesus Christ. So many people are willing to trade Him and think so little of His value. They take His name very lightly. I'm not even just talking about where God said, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain." And there's more to taking God's name in vain than using His word with slang and curse words. I have heard people use the name of Jesus Christ as a form of surprise, and they just cry out, "Jesus Christ!" And they're using it as an expression so flippantly, so wickedly, like He's nothing. It's like saying "Mickey Mouse." How in the world can people not value even the name of the Lord

  #44 | 40:22 to 42:04 | cleaned

• Jesus Christ, when the Scripture says, "Thou hast given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"? And yet we're willing to trade Him sometimes just for an expression. Wow. Do you value Him enough not to take His name lightly? Do you value Him enough to obey Him? Do you value Him enough to worship Him only? Do you value Him enough to obey His Word and follow His commands? Do you value Him enough that you're willing to honor Him in every area and every sphere of your life? The truth of the matter is, we do trade Jesus. I want to give you a couple of applications, and I want you to really think about these things.

  #45 | 42:04 to 43:17 | cleaned

• The first one is this: Many are willing to trade Jesus Christ for money, for power, for fame, for position. And yet everything that we bargained for in those areas is destroyed at death. Fame is gone. Our power is gone. Our position is gone. Our money is gone, because we leave this world just as we came. It's a bad trade to trade the Lord Jesus Christ and your soul for temporary gain. And yet people do it all the time. Look at some of the most wicked people in America today and in the world today who are

  #46 | 43:17 to 44:08 | cleaned

• extremely wealthy, who somehow think that they are going to overthrow God and rule and go contrary to His Word, and they're extremely wealthy. Guess what? When they die, everything they've ever possessed is gone. It's done for. And when you trade Jesus Christ for anything, you're going to end up the loser, that is for sure. Now I want you to listen carefully this next obligation. There is not a Christian, a real genuine Christian, who would not condemn Judas Iscariot. He's the traitor. He sold our Lord. He traded Him for thirty pieces of silver. Why are we so hard on Judas Iscariot when he traded Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver, and we're willing to trade Him for something much less than that? Huh? Think about it now. If I want another man's wife, what am I saying? God says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Jesus Christ said, "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." But if I really want that woman, what am I doing? I'm saying, "Lord,

  #47 | 44:08 to 45:49 | cleaned

• I'm willing to trade You for her." I'm willing to trade You for that truck. I'm willing to trade You for that money that's laying over there. I'm willing to steal it even though Thou hast said, "Thou shalt not steal." You see what I'm saying? We trade Jesus Christ just for our lust, just for our pleasures, just for our pride, just for our fame. We're willing to sell Him down the drain just to please ourselves. I think if this thought really became prevalent in our minds at any time sin, wickedness, anything that's contrary to Jesus Christ, anything that's contrary to the Word of God came in our mind, I think it would help us immediately put it out of our mind. Because we're willing to trade Him for whatever we're meditating upon or thinking about or considering. We cannot trade Him and trade His Word. I ran across a poem. There was no author's name, so I cannot give credit.

  #48 | 45:49 to 47:02 | cleaned

• Obviously, I did not write it. But the title of this poem is "30 Pieces of Silver." I want you to listen. "What's the bottom line? Or what's the price I'd take to leave it all behind? To trade a cross of shame for the glory of mankind, to sell a crown of life for pennies on the dime, and trade eternity for one moment in time. For if the key to life is right here in my hand, why would I trade it for an hourglass of sand, or choose the riches of this mortal coil, forego the incorruptible for the praises of man? All the treasure in the world is so blinding, 30 pieces of silver shining. Tell me what's the price you seek to place the kiss of death upon his cheek? Blood money and the serpent winding, 30 pieces of silver shining. Treasure fades away. What price to pay anyway? What's the price you've named? Well, is it money, power, acceptance or fame? And when you sell out for a temporary gain, or dare to stand up undeterred and unashamed, and let the glory fall to whomever it may, when all the world is asking you to sell your soul and to deny the cross for silver and gold, the kiss of Judas, or on

  #49 | 47:03 to 48:34 | cleaned

• the bended knee, vain glory or humility, the ultimate goal. All the treasure in the world is so blinding, 30 pieces of silver shining. Tell me what's the price you seek to place the kiss of death upon his cheek? Blood money and the serpent winding, 30 pieces of silver shining. Treasure fades away, sold out for the price of a slave." And the truth is, most people will trade Him for something for cheaper than the price of a slave. Judas said, "What would you give me?" He may have been purposely and deliberately and premeditatedly thinking of trading Jesus Christ, but we may trade Him without all that clear premeditated thinking. We may trade Him without thinking when we value Him as worthless and willing to sell Him and plant the kiss of death upon His cheek. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ,

  #50 | 48:34 to 49:59 | cleaned

• we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And Lord, we have to admit our guilt so many times in trading Christ to satisfy our lusts, our pride, our ambitions, our desires, our goal. Lord, I ask that You would help us to understand the value that Thou hast placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, especially when the Apostle Paul said, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." The value of Christ is unspeakable. He is God in the flesh. He is the God-man. He is salvation. He is wisdom.

  #51 | 49:59 to 50:47 | cleaned

• He is sanctification and righteousness. He is truth. Help us to value Him above anything and everything else and to bring our lives into conformity to His Word. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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• so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T13:04:22Z