e this. He might have been all that God could
have approved of; he is throughout eternity a murderer, and all because
grace was rejected. Numerous lessons may be drawn from such a story.
Certain things might be said concerning hypocrisy, for he was in the
truest sense a hypocrite. Reference could be made to the fact that sin
is small in its beginnings, sure in its progress, terrific in its
ending, for at the beginning he was doubtless but an average man in
sin, possibly not so different from the others; but he rejected the
influence of Christ. Or, again, from such a character a thrilling
story could be told of the end of transgressors, for hard as may be the
way the end baffles description. Judas certainly tells us this.

II

However much of a warning Judas may be to people of the world, I am
fully persuaded that there are four things which may be said concerning
him.

First: He gives us a lesson as Christians. There were many names given
him. In Matthew the tenth chapter and the fourth verse, and in Mark
the third chapter and the nineteenth verse, we read that he was a
betrayer; in Luke the sixth chapter and the sixteenth verse he was
called a traitor; in John the sixth chapter and the seventieth verse he
is spoken of as a devil, but in John the twelveth chapter and the sixth
verse he is mentioned as a thief. To me however one of the best names
that could be applied to him is that which Paul feared might be given
to him when he said, "Lest when I have preached to others I myself
should be [literally] disapproved" (1 Corinthians 9:27). It is indeed
a solemn thought, that if we are not right with God he will set us
aside, for he cannot use us. I have in mind a minister, who once
thrilled great numbers of people with his message. Under the power of
his preaching hundreds of people came to Christ. There was possibly no
one in the Church with a brighter future. To-day he is set aside, for
God cannot use him. I have in mind a Sunday school superintendent, who
used to be on every platform speaking for Christ, and then yielded to
undue political influence of the worst sort, lost his vision of Christ
and his power in speaking, and to-day is set aside. But of all the
illustrations, I know of nothing which so stirs me as the story of
Judas. He might have been true and faithful and he might have been
with Christ to-day in glory; instead, he is in hell, a self-confessed
murderer, with the clinking of the thirty