I know that if I were to ask those of you here this morning if any have had cancer, several would hold their hands up. Likewise, if I were to ask if any have had heart problems, several would hold their hands up. And so it would be with most such problems, but if I were to ask this morning, which I am not doing, so don't raise your hands, but if I were to ask how many have been scarred & suffer from rejection and betrayal.
Very few topics in the Word of God will cover the majority of those present, saved or unsaved. But this topic does. In this decade of deception we are surrounded by betrayal. Every divorce is born in betrayal. Every case of child abuse is born in betrayal. The majority of lawsuits are born in betrayal. The massive political corruption in Washington D.C. is an act of betrayal.
Every act of gossip and tale bearing is an act of betrayal. For Christians to compromise with the world the flesh or the devil is an act of betrayal to the Son of God. It is treason in the courts of heaven.
History tells the story of Julius Caesar, the greatest of all the Caesars, who brought Rome to the very top of its awesome power. Rome had conquered its enemies from the outside, but Rome's troubles were inside. The constant feuding of military men for positions of power, threatened the stability of the Roman government. Then Julius Caesar came to power and by 45 B.C. he had Rome in his grasp. But not everyone was delighted. Julius Caesar was popular with the people but he was hated by the powerful Roman senate.
A conspiracy began by the men indebted to Caesar, especially Brutes. He was Caesar's dearest friend and when it came time to murder Caesar, it was agreed that each man would stab Caesar, so the guilt could be equally shared. Like vultures, those who Caesar had helped, those that were most indebted to Caesar, converged on him and then began to stab him to death. History records that he fought fiercely against his attackers until he saw the face of Brutes and when he saw the dagger in the hand of Brutes, he stopped fighting.
Betrayal took away his will to fight. Betrayal took away his will to live. The most powerful man on the face of the earth, succumb to betrayal. When Brutes plunged the dagger into the bleeding body of Caesar, Caesar had died already from rejection and betrayal.
Jesus gathered his 12 disciples in the upper room. Judas the betrayer, slipped into the darkness to sell the Son of God for 30 pieces of silver.
John records, in John 6:64, Jesus speaking to them, (John 6:64) ""But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him."
"Then Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"" (John 6:70)
Now isn't that an exciting text to preach from? "Have I not chosen you 12, and one of you is a devil." Then in verse 71, "He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve." (John 6:71)
The Apostle Paul was beaten by a Roman cat of 9-tails until the blood was running from his back, but the deepest scars that he carried was not from the cat of 9 tails -- it is when he said, "for Demos has forsaken me, having loved this present world, ..." (2 Tim 4:10) When he was rejected by the Christian world.
In Psalms 54 David describes his reaction to betrayal. Listen to his words: "Save me O God, for strangers rise up to consume my soul." Listen to this, sooner or later you are going to be betrayed by a dear friend. Someone in your inner circle, that's were Judas was. That's were Absalom was. That's where Demos was. And the agony of your soul is going to make death appear sweet, because that's what rejection & betrayal do.
I want you to learn this morning from the life of Jesus, from the life of David and from the life of Paul how to overcome rejection and betrayal.
First, notice in the life of David, he says in Psalm 54, "Save me, O God." David's first reaction to betrayal was proactive. Proactive means, you take the initiative. Proactive means you take responsibility for your life, for your modes, for your emotions, for your behavior. It means not to be controlled by conditions. Chuck Swindoll says "that life is made up of 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react.
Don't be controlled by the conditions around you -- be controlled by the decisions you make. There are 2 reactions to betrayal -- become bitter or become better.
Paul said, "Rejoice in the Lord always", even in betrayal and again I say rejoice.
Not only be proactive, but be responsible. Look at the word responsible -- divided it at respons-able. Respons-able. In other words you are able to choose your response to anything that happens to you. You are not controlled by manipulation, domination or intimidation, you are respons-able. You are able to make a response to what happens to you.
God holds you responsible for how you respond to things. He says in His Word, "Whatsoever you bind on earth I will bind in heaven, whatsoever you loose on earth I will loose in heaven. The fact is the initiative rest with you and not God. You act and God reacts.
You pray Moses and I will hold the sun still for Joshua until the enemies of Israel are defeated.
You pray church and then will I hear from heaven and forgive your land and I will send you a mighty revival, but not until the church prays.
You can command the mountain to move. You can command the depression to be broken. You can command the judgment of God upon your accusers.
David prayed. Listen to this prayer against his enemies. "Let them be confounded. Drive them as chaff before the wind. Let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery. And may destruction come upon them unaware." Don't pick on someone who knows how to pray.
When you are betrayed do not let yourself be controlled by circumstances or by conditions or by other people. Let your life be controlled by your God controlled choices.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can hurt you without your consent." You are not responsible for what happens to you, but you are responsible for how you respond to what happens to you. Until you can say, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday", you will forever be the victim and never the victor.
You will never be able to overcome the pain of betrayal until you release the power of God. Listen, when you have been betrayed, when the truth has been assassinated by lying lips. When Justice has been delayed. Remember that God's delays are not God's denials.
Now comes the difficult question. How can a person who is saved betray another person? And it happens all the time. How does that happen? Here's an answer. Experiencing God's love toward you and giving love toward another people, is entirely 2 different things. Giving love requires a change of character. How many of you know that you can be saved and be a grouch -- don't be looking around.
You can be a nag, a complainer. When you are saved there is a process of character change. The Bible says, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. Fruit takes time to grow. It must be planted, it must be pruned, it must be fertilized, it must be watered. You do not plant an apple tree one day and go out the next and take an apple off of it. IT TAKES TIME.
And so it is in the spiritual maturing of a person -- it takes time before they can give the love of God, because any one or anything can receive love.
2 Peter 1:4 "by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, ..."
How many of you would like to have the nature of Christ? This is how you do it.
Verse 5 "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness divine love."
They are the 8 ingredients of the character development of a child of God. Faith is the starting point, then virtue, then knowledge, then temperance, then patience, then godliness, then the final 2 which I want to concentrate on. There is more to serving God than simply getting saved. I personally expect more from Christians because excellence is to be a by-word of your life.
The last two, Brotherly kindness and divine love. What is the difference between brotherly kindness and divine love. This is where I have been going in this whole point. Brotherly kindness is loving those who love you. Divine love is loving those who hate you. Oh, isn't it easy to love someone who thinks you're wonderful? But that jerk that you know that's a burr in your heal-- when you can love those who hate you -- you have reached the top of the hill of Christian character development.
Our goal is divine love. Two of the obstacles to divine love are rejection and betrayal.
How did Jesus meet rejection? With divine love. How did Jesus respond to betrayal? John 6:70 "Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?"
Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas was going to betray Him. Jesus knew the day He took Him in and He let him remain to give us an example of how to face betrayal. How did He face it? He faced it like you must face it. Jesus, when He saw Judas coming, on the Mount of Olives, He says in Matthew 26:50 "And Jesus said unto him, wherefore art thou come Friend? ,..."
Understand that this man had sold Him for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a prostitute and Jesus knew that he had done so. Jesus did not withdraw His friendship until the last moment, in the Garden of Gethsemane. Had Judas said at that moment, "I'm sorry" his soul could have been saved.
In summary of Jesus action. He did not withdraw when He was rejected. Just think, when someone rejects you, when someone betrays you, do you withdraw from them. 99.999% of humanity does. But I want you to listen to this: Divine love does not draw back. Divine love totally exposes itself at all cost.
If you are suffering from rejection and betrayal, I want you to know that the answer to every human problem is provided in the cross. The final agony of Jesus on the cross was rejection. He said, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And He died with a broken heart.
If you feel rejection, Jesus has already borne it. If you feel betrayed, Jesus has already borne the pain and there is no need of you carrying that burden any longer.
The opposite of rejection is acceptance. Now, listen to this. Jesus has accepted you into His family and it is the best family on planet earth. He is never too busy for you. He said, "Call upon me and I will answer you" I'll talk as long as you want to talk. You don't upset me with your problems. No matter how great, no matter how small. The only time you'll offend the Lord is when you stay away too long.
The mark of rejection is the inability to give love. The Bible says, "we love Him (speaking of Jesus) because He first loved us." We experience His love and because of that, we can love other people. He loved you first and because He loved you first, you can love the world, if you want too.
If you have suffered rejection and betrayal, He can heal it and it will be over and the pain will be gone because Jesus has already paid the price at the cross. He has suffered, you don't need to.
Some of you have been betrayed by your parents, some of you have been betrayed by your wives, some of you have been betrayed by your husbands and your reaction is, "I'll never let anyone get close enough to me again to hurt me like that again. No, not ever." And that is the opposite of divine love.
Divine love does not pull up the draw bridge and shoot everybody in sight. Divine love forgives completely. It is not thinking about self, it is thinking about the other. Refusing to forgive only poisons you. When you forgiven the past, you liberate yourself from the pain and poison of the past.
Forgiveness is not an act of emotion, it is an act of your will. Forgiveness goes beyond words, it produces trust. Trust will remove betrayal and rejection. And many of you here this morning need to be healed from rejection and betrayal and you begin by forgiving those persons that have hurt you deeply and forgiving completely.
Because the difference between brotherly kindness and divine love. Brotherly love loves those who love you, divine love can love those who resent you. And that's where the healing comes.
God can heal you right now -- can we stand. How many can say, pastor I have felt the pain of rejection and betrayal-hands -- I'm not going to ask more than that, I'm not going to ask who it was--if you are in this room and you know your life has been scarred by rejection and betrayal and you want to be healed from it, I want you to come right now and I'm going to pray with you and God's going to heal you in a very real and supernatural fashion. Come.
