Coals of Fire

"Coals of Fire" – John 18:4 "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" Continuing a theme carried over from earlier services, the expositor applies to Judas the image of coals of fire heaped upon the head: three years of walking with Jesus, of eating from His miracles and of carrying the bag were burning coals Christ kept placing on him —not to destroy him, but to produce shame and repentance. The study runs through Matthew 26 and 27, Psalm 41:9, John 13, Luke 22 and Acts 1, and ends by turning the question on the hearer: every mercy we receive is a coal upon our own head.

I. "Friend, wherefore art thou come?"

A. It is the question we too should ask: why have we come? Whom are we seeking? Have you come upon the one you seek?

B. And what did those who came seeking Him do? They laid hands on Jesus and took Him, to carry Him off and to kill Him.

C. And those are the ones Jesus called friends: those who crucified Him and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver.

D. If we paid more attention to Scripture, this would strike us violently. For we are speaking of Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father.

E. And that is why every prayer is asked and ended in the name of Jesus: no mortal can come to the Father directly, and otherwise the prayer hangs in the air.

F. This ought to be known by now: it is time to be teachers.

II. The hour and the place

A. This is the moment Judas betrays Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, where they seize Him and take Him away.

B. These were the last moments, when Jesus was about to leave the earth He came to in order to give His life, so that we might have life, and life abundantly.

C. What makes us saved is not having something to prove: it is simply that Jesus came to the earth.

D. Israel is His land; and though it is at war and in hard straits, no one has more glory than Israel: small, and favoured by God.

E. They crucified the Master and sold Him, and it is still His nation: no one can change God's mind.

F. And from there, at once, grace moves to the Gentiles; and among those Gentiles we stand.

G. Judas was a Jew, and so were Peter and John and all the disciples. They wrote part of the New Testament; one denied Him, others ran, and Jesus came back to them and restored them.

H. Those men persevered so that we might be regenerated: when we come to Jesus, His blood cleanses us and the old creature disappears.

I. If your old creature is still intact, you are as carnal as ever and Satan will have the advantage. But where the devil knows the blood of Christ is, he cannot come near.

III. Where the coals of fire are

A. Jesus placed the coals of fire on Judas's head. Why? Because he walked three years with Him, and because he ate of His miracles.

B. And there was more: Judas carried the money, and was the one supposed to see to the food of the disciples and of the Master.

C. But Jesus had no need of food: He multiplied the loaves and fishes and there was more left over; if they wanted water, the waters opened.

D. So the dealing was not with the eleven: the matter here was with Judas. And he did not know the danger he was in.

E. The coals of fire are burning embers, of violent heat, upon the head; and wherever he went, the coals went with him.

F. Not so with the eleven: this had nothing to do with them. Peter would deny Him and Jesus knew it; but there was no scheming of sale and purchase there.

G. Jesus knows what is in Judas and still places the coals on him, as if to say: "Judas, I am going to trust you."

H. He could have said, "this far, Judas; go." But He kept him there.

I. And at first it was all spectacular: the multitude ran after Jesus, and one walked with the man who cast out demons and healed the sick. Miracle upon miracle.

J. For three years Judas had the coals of fire on his head. Three years.

K. And today we are in greater danger, because we know the Scriptures from end to end. The more God lets us see the truth, the more it is so that we may be free.

IV. The sale and the supper

A. Matthew 26:14-16 — "What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?" And from then on he sought opportunity to betray Him.

B. Matthew 26:23-25 — Jesus dips the sop, and Judas says, "Master, is it I?" And Jesus: "Thou hast said."

C. He all but said it himself. It was no innocent question: the thing was already fully prepared.

D. The coals of fire go deeper: if they fell on him and he still went on, it was something stronger than a sale of thirty coins. It was no bargain on any side.

E. Only one or another multiplication is recorded, for no book could hold the pages of all Jesus' miracles.

F. And all those miracles are coals upon the head, for what do they increase? Faith.

G. And yet nothing moved Judas: not the healings, not the raising of the dead. The eleven saw all that; Judas saw it too.

H. He might have been a man of faith. He might have been a righteous man. The rest died violent deaths —only John was not killed— and in heaven there are very special places for them.

V. What the coals of fire are for

A. That there should be conviction in your heart, and that it should stay there, is because of the coals God heaps upon our head.

B. We are what we settle in our own life: what we permit and what we do not permit.

C. If anything ought to happen in your life, it is that the cycle be broken: of sin, of violence, of hatred, of bad decisions. In obedience to whom? To God.

D. Judas walked with Jesus and had no obedience. He never loved Him: he defied Him, and thought Jesus was just another Jew.

E. Peter, by contrast, went to pieces when he heard the cock crow, because he knew there was no going back.

F. The disciples saw miracle upon miracle, and all of them are coals upon the head.

G. For we are flesh: on earth we look bolder than twenty, but when a person dies the body decays at once. Is there any glory in us? None.

H. And since there is no glory, God sets coals of fire on us, so that what is evil may shame us and we may do good.

I. They are not to destroy: when God sets the coals it is for repentance. For there are things that ought to shame us.

J. Those coals produce conviction; conviction moves us to ask God's forgiveness; and if God forgives, we are free. For what God does in the righteous are great things.

VI. Near on the outside, far within

A. A person can be very close to Jesus outwardly and still have his heart far from Him.

B. Many sought Him out of interest in something He might do for them.

C. If there is anything to fight for daily, it is that the heart be near God; for no human being will give you anything in your heart.

D. If a person does not draw near to God, he grows cold; and when he grows cold, he suffers.

E. The negative cycle is this: fear, anger, sin, bad decisions, harmful relationships. And the cycle we must be in is seeking the Lord, and obedience.

F. There is nothing more beautiful in a person than being obedient. What does a father most admire in his children? That they are obedient.

G. When the Lord is sought, a person prospers. What often happened was that they forgot; and forgetting God, one falls. But if they repent, God restores them.

VII. Letting no one drive you to hate

A. The scientist George Washington Carver said: "I will never let anyone ruin my life by making me hate him."

B. And have we ever made that decision? You think of someone and a seed stays lodged inside, like a fish bone.

C. In that man's day, being Black, he was mocked and rejected. And still he said he would not hate, and that it did not trouble him.

D. What does that mean? That the man was full of faith from head to foot.

E. And that is what we should carry. Then we would be more blessed; and to be blessed is to be happy, and to be able to say at night: I am going to sleep in peace.

F. For when someone ruins your life is when you too skid into hatred. And that does no harm to the one hated: the harm stays where it is deposited.

VIII. The betrayal foretold

A. Psalm 41:9 — "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."

B. That is prophetic, from the psalmist David, and it was written hundreds of years before Jesus came to the earth.

C. Heaven keeps silence about nothing: heaven says it all, so that we may learn.

D. John 13:18 — "He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me."

E. Matthew 26:14-15 — Judas goes among Jesus' enemies, the priests of that day. One would not do that even to a neighbour.

F. Thirty coins; the deal was struck. It was thought, and then it was acted on. And in acting, the sin was consummated: while it stayed in the mind it was one thing, but once acted on it is a fact.

G. Luke 22:3-4 — "Then entered Satan into Judas."

H. John 13:26-27 — Jesus dips the sop while serving them, and says: he to whom I give it will betray me.

I. That was the last moment when the most beautiful words in existence could have been said to Jesus; and instead it all turned into a curse.

J. There Jesus identifies the traitor. The eleven knew his conduct, but had not gone into those deep waters. And Judas, Jesus lays bare before them all, in the most sacred moment.

K. Matthew 26:21-25 — "One of you shall betray me." The disciples asked "Lord, is it I?"; Judas all but said: I am the one who will betray you.

L. Matthew 26:49-50 — A multitude came, the rabbis and those who had long sought Him. And Judas arrives all friendliness, feigning love: "Hail, master." And kissed Him.

M. Luke 22:48 — "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" And you have slept where I slept, and stood in every miracle.

N. Did Judas kiss the Master on other occasions? No. For an act of love requires loving; and love is always, love is not sometimes.

IX. The end of Judas

A. Matthew 27:3-5 — He goes to return the coins and says: "I have sinned."

B. But Judas's confession found no place. In the tribunal of Christ, it does not stand.

C. The priests told him: "that is your business, see thou to it." And so he threw them down in the temple.

D. When those coins came into his hands, they burned his hands; that is why he ran about trying to give them back. For the sentence had already fallen.

E. Acts 1:16-20 — David spoke it, and it was fulfilled exactly as the Psalms said. Is there anything that is not fulfilled?

F. Matthew 26:24 — "It had been good for that man if he had not been born."

G. These passages show four things: Judas's outward closeness to Jesus; the danger of an unsurrendered heart; the love and patience of Christ, which stand on record for judgement; and how greed and spiritual hardness can destroy a person.

X. What the church is for

A. That is why God has a church: because He sets coals of fire on the head.

B. And those coals, through the Scriptures and through prayer, bring heat to the conscience, fall upon the heart, set free, and break the chains.

C. For we mortals are stubborner than twenty, and are good for nothing but defending ourselves: we are better than lawyers at it.

D. But every love and every mercy God shows are coals of fire upon us, to burn away in us what does not please God. And that is called sanctification; that is called purity.

E. And correct your children and teach them the word. When a child is corrected, tell him plainly: I am going to speak with Jesus, and I am going to speak about you.

F. In reverent fear a household is raised up in holiness and purity, and lies and what defiles come to be hated.

G. See that the coals never fall, for they have a purpose: to set you free.

H. The church is no joke. If a person wants to live the world, let him live the world; but it is better not to have been born than to go against what is holy, pure and sincere.

XI. Application

A. Count the coals you already carry: every mercy received and every miracle seen is on your head.

B. Understand what they are for: not to destroy you, but to shame you out of evil and bring you to repentance.

C. Break the cycle —sin, violence, hatred, bad decisions— with obedience to God.

D. Examine whether you are near on the outside and far within, for that was exactly Judas's case.

E. Let no one drive you to hatred: the harm stays where it is deposited.

F. And do not wait for the act to stop yourself: while it is in the mind it is one thing; once acted on, it is a fact.