Man, the title of my sermon this morning is
The Devil Made Me Do It.
The devil made me do it in this morning sermon.
I'm gonna show you that it was actually the devil
who led Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus
at every step of the way,
but I'm also gonna show you
that that doesn't make him any less responsible
for what he did.
The fact that he was being controlled
and manipulated by Satan is not an excuse.
And I'm preaching this sermon
in light of this whole Lindsay Clancy case
that's been on the news
that everybody's thinking about and talking about.
And for those of you who don't know,
Lindsay Clancy is a woman who admitted
to murdering her three small children,
but she pled not guilty by reason of insanity
because she heard a male voice
that kept telling her to do it and then to kill herself.
And so you've probably heard about it in the news,
but I just want you to kind of keep that situation
in your mind as I go through this story
with Judas Iscariot,
because you're gonna see
that there are actually a lot of parallels
between these two things.
So let's start out in John chapter six.
If you flip back a few pages,
I wanna show you an important foundational truth
about Judas Iscariot that you never wanna miss
when thinking about Judas.
Go back to John chapter six.
We're gonna start in verse 60.
It says many therefore of his disciples,
when they had heard this,
said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself
that his disciples murmured at it,
he said to them, does this offend you?
What, and if you shall see the Son of Man
ascend up where he was before.
It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life,
but there are some of you that believe not.
For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not
and who should betray him.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's preaching to a big crowd
and he says, look, some of you guys don't believe in me.
You're not saved.
You don't believe.
And he also knew that one of those people
who didn't believe in him
was ultimately going to betray him.
And that is Judas Iscariot.
And so the first point I wanna show you
is that number one is that Judas Iscariot
was an unbeliever.
He did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was unsaved.
And this is long before
he ever even thought about betraying Jesus.
He's just an unbeliever.
He's just not saved.
And so here's the thing.
The number one responsibility
for every human being on this planet
is to get saved.
God has commanded all men everywhere to repent.
And the Bible says
neither is there salvation in any other
for there is none other name under heaven.
Give it among men.
Whereby we must be saved.
So salvation is not optional.
Believing in Jesus Christ is not optional, right?
We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
So this is the mistake that Judas makes.
And here's why it's such an egregious mistake
is because he's literally hanging around
with the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh.
He's hanging around with the apostles.
He's hearing the greatest preaching
that has ever been preached ever.
And he's still not getting saved.
Think about how wicked it is
to hear the best Bible preaching ever
and you're still not saved.
That's Judas' mistake.
That's where it all goes bad for him.
And that is his own fault.
Why?
Because people believe what they want to believe.
The Bible says,
whosoever will,
whosoever wants to,
whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.
Jesus said, you will not come to me
that you might have life, right?
He's saying that to the unbelievers,
the Pharisees, the Jews that rejected him.
And so, you know, the Bible says to the unbelievers,
it says that they received not the love of the truth
that they might be saved.
And for this cause,
God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie
that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth
but had pleasure in unrighteousness, right?
People who don't believe in Christ,
it's because they don't want to believe in Christ
and that is a wicked attitude to have.
And that's where Judas made his own choice.
He made his own mistake here.
Of not believing on Jesus.
He's being rebuked here
along with other people for not believing in Jesus.
But jump down to verse 70.
And it says in verse 70,
Jesus answered them,
have not I chosen you 12?
And one of you is a devil.
He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon,
for he it was that should betray him,
being one of the 12.
And so the second thing I want to point out
is that not only was Judas Iscariot an unbeliever,
but Judas Iscariot was a devil.
Now, what does it mean
when Jesus says that he's a devil?
Obviously this is not saying
that he's a literal fallen angel
or that he's a literal demon or something like that.
When the Bible's calling him a devil,
it's basically saying that he has
the attributes of a devil.
And the word devil itself
literally means slanderer, accuser, adversary.
So this guy's not just unsaved.
He's also an enemy.
He's also an evil adversary crept in unawares
as a slanderer and an accuser, okay?
Now let's jump over to the book of Luke.
So go back to the book of Luke.
This can be the left in your Bible.
And let's look at Luke chapter 22.
So we said, number one, Judas is unsaved.
Number two, Judas is a devil.
But number three, what I'm gonna show you
is that Judas Iscariot was possessed by Satan
when he made the deal to betray Jesus.
So when he went and made the deal
and agreed on the 30 pieces of silver,
he was being controlled by Satan.
And here's one of the scariest things about being unsaved
is that you are open to demonic influence
and demonic control.
You see, those of us that are saved,
we could never be demon possessed.
Greater is he that is in us
than he that is in the world.
And you know, we in time past
walked according to the course of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
But those of us who are saved,
we're indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God.
But when you're unsaved,
you are either knowingly or unknowingly
a pawn of Satan in this world.
Even if you're not demon possessed,
you're still as an unsaved person,
ultimately Satan's pawn.
And you are liable to even be demon possessed
if you're unsaved.
Whereas getting saved is like a guaranteed
insurance policy.
I will never be demon possessed.
Getting saved is a guaranteed insurance policy.
I will never be a reprobate.
You know, that alone should scare you to death
if you're thinking, oh, I'm just gonna get saved later.
No, the Bible says now is the accepted time.
Now is the day of salvation.
And you gotta believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and be saved immediately.
And don't play around, say, well,
think about it later, I'll worry about it later.
No, no, it's easy to be saved, but you gotta do it.
You gotta put all your faith and trust
in Jesus Christ before it's too late.
So look at the Bible here in Luke chapter 22 verse one.
Now, the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh,
which is called the Passover.
And the chief priests and scribes
sought how they might kill him
for they feared the people.
So, you know, they can't just grab him
and arrest him and broad daylight
because people will defend him.
It's gonna make a scene.
And so then entered verse three, Satan into Judas.
Notice Satan himself entered into Judas.
So people are often possessed by devils
or demons in the Bible,
but you know, not usually are they gonna be possessed
by the head honcho himself,
the prince of the devils, Satan.
And so Satan entered into Judas, surname to scarlet,
being of the number of the 12,
he went his way and communed
with the chief priests and captains
how he might betray him unto them.
And they were glad and covenanted to give him money
and he promised and sought opportunity
to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
So, you know, a way to betray Jesus
when people aren't around,
because usually the only time they know where Jesus is
is when he's in a crowd of people that would defend him.
Whereas Judas can tell them a place and a time
when they can catch him in the middle of the night
by himself and take him and, you know,
get him arrested and condemned and so forth.
And so what I wanna point out here
is that the premeditation of the crime here
is prompted by Satan.
This is the initial planning.
But notice they have not yet agreed upon a time and a place.
So far it's just, okay, I promise I will betray him to you
and you give me 30 piece of silver
and then I'm gonna look for an opportunity,
I'm gonna look for a time and a place that will work.
Okay, with that in mind, go to John chapter 13
where we started.
John chapter number 13, we're gonna see basically now
that not only did Satan enter him
and actually manipulate him
as he was making the initial plan to do the crime,
but now the actual timing of the crime
when and where it's going to happen
is also guided by Satan.
Look at John chapter 13 verse two.
This is the last supper and supper being ended,
the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son to betray him.
So first Satan enters him
and he makes the deal for the 30 piece of silver.
Then later at the Passover meal that they're eating,
now Satan puts upon his heart,
now's the time it's gonna be today.
Jump down to verse 27.
It says after the Sop, Satan entered into him.
So notice Satan is injuring him again.
Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest do quickly.
And then look at verse 30,
he then having received the Sop went immediately out
and it was night.
And so notice that Satan enters into him for the planning.
Satan enters into him for the specific timeframe
and then Satan also possesses him
when he actually goes to do it
and actually he hands him the Sop.
Satan enters into him, he goes and does it.
And so I think it's pretty clear
that in every single step of the way Satan is involved.
Does everybody see that?
That's what I wanna really drive in here, okay?
Now look at chapter 18, verse two.
This is later on the same evening
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And it says in verse two of chapter 18,
Judas also which betrayed him knew the place
for Jesus off times resorted thither with his disciples.
Judas then having received a band of men and officers
from the chief priests and Pharisees,
cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons, right?
So this is where the actual arrest of Jesus takes place.
Now go back if you would to Matthew chapter 27, Matthew 27.
So these are the facts that we've established so far.
Number one, Judas is an unbeliever
which opens him up to Satanic influence,
especially because number two, he himself was a devil.
You know, you start acting like the devil.
Well, guess what?
You're gonna end up being used and manipulated by the devil.
And if you're unsaved,
you're even liable to be demon possessed, okay?
Number three, Judas' scary was possessed by Satan
when he made the deal to betray Jesus.
The devil's the one who put into his heart
the timing of the betrayal
and then Satan entered into Judas and possessed him
while he carried out the actual betrayal
according to the Bible.
But point number six is this.
Afterward, Judas regretted what he had done.
He felt bad about what he had done.
However, nobody cared.
It was too late.
Look at Matthew 27, verse one.
When the morning was come,
all the chief priests and elders of the people
took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
And when they had bound him, they led him away
and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
Watch this.
Then Judas, which had betrayed him
when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself and brought again
the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders
saying, I've sinned
in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.
And they said, what is that to us?
See that of that.
That's your problem, buddy.
We don't care.
And you see here that Judas is sorry.
He repents for what he did.
Nobody cares.
It's too late.
It doesn't excuse what he did.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Oh, well, that's okay.
No, it's not okay.
Nobody cares.
God doesn't care that he's sorry.
Christians don't care that he's sorry.
The Pharisees don't care that he's sorry.
Satan doesn't care that he's sorry.
You made your choice.
You betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ.
You followed Satan.
You're going to hell, buddy.
It's that simple.
What happens then?
Well, Judas commits suicide.
Look at verse five.
He cast down the piece of silver in the temple.
So he tries to return the money
and they won't take the money.
They're like, we don't want the money back.
You betrayed him to us.
We gave you the money.
That's your problem.
What is that to us?
See that out of that?
And he just kind of spazs out
and just throws the money on the ground and runs away.
And then it says that he departed
and he went and he hanged himself.
Now, look, again, this idea
of going out and hanging yourself,
this is also very typical of demonic influence.
Now, look, obviously people do bad things
without being influenced by Satan.
And people kill themselves
without being influenced by Satan.
But the Bible is clear over and over again
that demons will often lead people to harm themselves.
This is like a hallmark of demon possession
or demonic influence.
Go, if you would, to Mark chapter nine.
Mark, actually, let's go to Mark five
and then Mark nine.
Let's look at Mark five, Mark nine.
But look, this is all throughout scripture.
Even in the Old Testament,
you have the prophets of Baal
cutting themselves open with stones until they bleed.
And it says that that's what their custom was.
That wasn't some special activity
for the face-off with Elijah
at the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.
No, no, no, it's just something that they do
as part of their religion.
Why?
Because they're worshiping the devil.
They're worshiping Baal, Baal's above.
Is there God?
And so they end up harming themselves.
Look at Mark chapter five, verse two.
When he was come out of the ship, Jesus, that is,
immediately they're met him out of the tombs,
a man with an unclean spirit, right?
So this guy's demon possessed.
Look at verse five.
And always night and day,
he was in the mountains and in the tombs,
crying and doing what?
Cutting himself with stones.
So again, you see the self-harm
and cutting himself.
Go to chapter nine,
and we're gonna look at another example.
And look, if you're interested in the subject
of people being demon possessed,
the book of the Bible that hammers this more
than any other is the Gospel of Mark.
In the Gospel of Mark,
somebody's demon possessed in like almost every chapter.
Okay, so obviously this is something
that comes up throughout the four gospels.
But I mean, the Gospel of Mark is big on this subject.
So, you know, if you ever wanna do the deep dive,
just read the Gospel of Mark
and you'll get all kinds of stories on this,
all kinds of information about this.
Look at chapter nine, verse 17.
One of the multitude answered and said,
Master, I brought unto thee my son,
which hath a dumb spirit.
Now, what does this mean, a dumb spirit?
This is the literal meaning of dumb,
which means that you are unable to speak.
So because he is possessed by a demon,
his faculty of speech has been taken away.
He can no longer talk.
And again, if you read the Gospel of Mark,
you'll see that a lot of times
there'll be physical manifestations
to people being demon possessed.
And again, we don't wanna make the mistake of thinking that,
oh, every deaf person, every dumb person,
every person who has a seizure is demon possessed
or something because obviously,
there are also physiological things
that can cause these things, right?
But they also are sometimes caused by demons, okay?
And the Bible records both types.
The Bible records totally innocent people,
struggling with these things.
And then the Bible also records people
having these problems because they are demon possessed, okay?
And so we wanna make sure that we make that distinction.
Also when it comes to being mentally ill,
not everybody who's crazy is demon possessed, right?
Because there are chemical imbalances.
And look, I've known good Christian people
who have had nervous breakdowns and gone crazy and stuff.
You know, I've personally known two separate people
and these are people that I knew pretty well,
both of whom when they got their amalgam fillings removed
because the amalgam fillings contain toxic heavy metals,
mercury, whatever, the amalgam fillings.
When they got their amalgam fillings removed,
they got them removed improperly
because it's very difficult to safely remove
the amalgam fillings without releasing
these toxins into your body.
I've known two different people in my firsthand experience
where they got their amalgam fillings removed
and just went completely crazy for like a week or two.
So like a temporary insanity,
like before and after this person was totally normal,
both people, but during that period
while they were being hit with this heavy metal toxicity,
they went totally nuts.
And I mean, I don't know if you've been around somebody
who is totally crazy, who's ever,
who would ever say I've been in the presence of someone
who was totally crazy, having nervous breakdown.
And when it's someone that you've known previously,
it's very weird, it's very surreal
because it's like, you know this person
and they're just completely crazy
and just saying all these wild things.
And we're gonna talk more about craziness later
in the sermon.
But for now, I just wanna explain to you
that obviously there are such things
as physiological causes, why someone can't talk,
why someone's deaf, why someone goes crazy.
So we don't wanna just automatically
say everything's the devil or something.
But it's also impossible to ignore the fact
that a lot of people who are flopping around
and foaming at the mouth
and having these type of issues and going crazy,
they are demon possessed.
And it's like, do you really think
that demon possession just doesn't exist anymore
and that it just only existed at the time of Christ
and that now it's just over?
Because even after Christ was buried and rose again
and ascended up to heaven, in the book of Acts,
there's still people that are demon possessed.
And there are hundreds of millions of demons
because there are hundreds of millions of angels
according to the Bible.
And Satan took one third of the angels with him
that rebelled.
And so there are all kinds of demons
and unclean spirits in this world.
Demon possession's real, if you don't believe it,
just, I don't know, spend a little time
in our parking lot throughout the week
and you'll probably see some examples of it.
It's like those tornado hunters or something.
They go to certain places, Kansas or Oklahoma or something.
You don't have to go far demon hunters.
Just within a couple miles of this place, you'll find it.
It won't be difficult.
So anyway, I don't wanna get too off track with that.
But it says here that he has a dumb spirit,
verse 18, where so ever he taketh him,
he teareth him and he fometh, right?
So he's like foaming at the mouth
and gnasheth with his teeth.
So he's grinding his teeth, foaming at the mouth,
pining away, right?
And pining away is usually associated in the Bible
with someone like starving to death or something.
They pine away.
Basically just like, you know, just,
I don't know, just being worn out as it were, okay?
And then it says, I spake to thy disciples
that they should cast them out and they could not.
Look at verse 22, we get a little more detail.
And off times it, the spirit,
not only does it tear him and make him foam
and wear him out physically,
but off times it has cast him into the fire.
So how many times did it throw him into the fire?
A bunch of times.
So this kid, because he's demon possessed,
is throwing himself into the fire, okay?
That's not normal.
Every human impulse is to protect yourself
not to throw yourself into a fire, okay?
Imagine you're out in the woods,
you're out in the desert, you're camping,
you got a big campfire going, right?
And then somebody runs and just throws themselves
into the fire, just lays down in the fire.
I mean, that would freak you out.
That is weird, that's crazy, that's not normal.
Nobody does that.
And it says also into the waters to destroy him.
And the to destroy him means
that the intention is suicide.
So this is jumping into the fire to kill oneself,
jumping into the waters to kill oneself.
The goal is to destroy him.
The demon inside this kid is trying to get him
to kill himself, okay?
That's what the Bible says.
But if thou canst do anything,
have compassion on us and help us.
So again, Judas, it's no wonder
that if he was unsaved, he was a devil,
and he's just being influenced by Satan
in every step of the process,
then afterward he feels bad about it.
He's sorry, he repented himself.
And then what does he do?
He goes out and kills himself.
Now the Bible doesn't explicitly say
that the devil has anything to do with him
killing himself.
But again, it's consistent with someone
who's under the devil's influence to harm themselves.
And that's what he does, he goes out and kills himself.
Okay, go to Acts chapter one.
Acts chapter one, because I'm just,
I'm trying to blow through the story,
but I wanna get all the facts to you.
And then I'm gonna make application
with what's going on in the news right now
with the whole Lindsey Clancy thing.
Because of course, this is another parallel
with Lindsey Clancy, because guess what?
After she murdered her children,
she slit her wrists, slit her own throat,
and then jumped out the window,
which is again consistent, people in the Bible
that are demon possessed are cutting themselves
and throwing themselves in the fire,
throwing themselves in the water,
throwing themselves out the window.
And so it's like, I heard a voice that told me,
go kill these children and then go kill yourself.
And then she's cutting herself and throwing herself.
I mean, look, it looks to me a lot like demonic influence.
You know, that she's demon possessed.
That's what the evidence would point toward.
But here's the question,
does that mean that Judas is off the hook?
It wasn't Judas' fault, because the devil made him do it.
Well, let's see what the Bible says.
Acts chapter one, verse 16,
men and brethren, this scripture must needs
have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost
by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas,
which was guide to them that took Jesus.
Look at verse 18.
Now this man purchased a field with the what?
Reward of iniquity.
And falling headlong, he burst a sunder in the midst
and all his bowels gushed out.
And so what's interesting here
is that he purchases a field with the reward of iniquity.
Cause remember the reward was they paid him, right?
In order to betray Jesus, that was the reward of his iniquity.
And then he throws the money on the ground,
but then they end up taking that money
and buying a cemetery with it.
So what did Judas actually is purchasing
with the reward of his iniquity?
Here's the reward you get, you gon' die.
So this is basically a poetic justice
that the money that he received,
the wages of his sin is death.
Because the money that he gets for doing the crime
is spent on a place of death
so that he is going to die.
And it says here that he perched a field
with the reward of iniquity
and falling headlong, which means head first,
falling head first, he burst a thunder in the midst
and all his bowels gushed out.
And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem
and so much as that field is called in their proper tongue,
a seldom, that is to say, the field of blood.
So basically Matthew tells us he hung himself.
Here it says he fell headlong
and burst a thunder in the midst.
So probably what happened is he hung himself
and then eventually over time the rope breaks over time.
Eventually, and his body comes crashing down,
bursts open and all his bowels gush out
and it's a gross, ugly mess.
Verse 20, for it is written in the book of Psalms,
let his habitation be desolate
and let no man dwell therein
and his bishopric let another take.
So what I wanna point out again is verse 20.
So first of all, he received the reward
of his iniquity, death,
meaning that he's guilty, he did wrong
and he's getting punishment.
Because another way of saying the wages of sin is death
is that the reward of sin is death
or the punishment for sin is death.
That's what that means.
But not only that, the book of Psalms is cursing him
for what he did and holding him accountable
and holding him responsible
and asking for condemnation upon him for what he did.
Now go through it to Psalm 109.
We're not gonna go to both places for sake of time,
but we could look at Psalm 69
and we could look at Psalm 109
because Acts chapter one just quoted
from both Psalm 69 and Psalm 109 about Judas.
And so let's just look at the highlight here.
Psalm 109, verse six,
set thou a wicked man over him.
This is about Judas Iscariot
and let Satan stand at his right hand.
Well, that's exactly what happened.
That's what we saw in the story, right?
Which again, supports the fact
that Satan was also leading him to kill himself.
When he shall be judged, watch this,
let him be acquitted, not guilty.
He was temporarily made insane by Satan.
He was crazy.
He didn't know what he was doing.
He regretted it afterward
because he wasn't in the driver's seat when he did it.
No, no, is that what the Bible says?
No, the Bible says,
when he shall be judged, let him be condemned.
Let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few
and let another take his office.
This is what's quoted in Acts one,
his bishopric, his office, let another take.
Now, go if you would to James chapter one.
The next point I wanna make is this.
Many people commit horrible crimes
without Satan being involved, right?
I mean, Satan doesn't necessarily have to be involved
for people to do horrible things.
In fact, most of the horrible things that people do,
they dream up on their own
with no help from the devil at all.
Because unfortunately, humans are very sinful by nature.
It says in verse 13,
let no man say when he's tempted,
I'm tempted of God, James 1, 13.
For God cannot be tempted with evil,
neither tempted he any man,
but every man is tempted
when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed,
then when lust has conceived to bring it forth sin
and sin when it has finished bringing forth death.
So when the book of James here
is just kind of speaking in generalities,
he says, hey, don't blame God when you're tempted.
You know, God cannot be tempted with evil
and neither tempted the any man,
but every man is tempted by the devil.
Is that what it says?
No, it seems that the main or primary tempter
is your own lust,
your own sinful heart.
Now look, is the devil also a major tempter?
Absolutely.
The devil also is out to devour you
and he wants to tempt you
and he wants to deceive you.
I get that, but you know what?
The heart is also deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked who can know it.
So not everything can be blamed on the devil
because a lot of people just dream up wickedness
out of their own heart.
And it's really most of the time
not the devil leading us into sin
as much as just our own wickedness,
our own sinful nature, our own stupidity.
And obviously that is the bigger problem
which is why it's the primary tempter
that's brought up in James chapter one.
Okay, so let's kind of tie all this together
and let's talk about this in light of Lindsay Clancy.
Now look, it's possible that what she did was demonic,
but it's also possible that it wasn't demonic.
It's possible that she's just making that up
about hearing the voices
or that she was hearing voice for another reason, whatever.
But whether it was demonic or not,
even though to me it has all the hallmarks
of being demon possession, whether it was or not,
she's still guilty and she's still accountable
and still needs to be punished, okay?
So whether she did it out of her own evil will
of her own wicked heart, she's guilty.
Or if she wasn't in the driver's seat
and it was the devil that made her do it
and the devil's saying all these things to her,
still guilty, okay?
You say, well, no, Pastor Anderson, you don't get it.
It's not that she was wicked
and it's not that she was demon possessed.
It's just that she had postpartum depression,
postpartum psychosis, whatever.
Here's the thing about that is that first of all,
from what I read, her kid was eight months old.
So this woman didn't just give birth.
This is eight months later, okay?
And look, I understand that postpartum depression
and the postpartum psychosis are real.
As I said on Wednesday night, I've seen it.
I've dealt with it in counseling.
I've been a pastor for 21 years.
My wife has never had it, thank God.
And by the way, this isn't just me like,
oh, I got a little sad after I had my baby.
You know, when we talk about postpartum depression,
postpartum psychosis,
you're talking about something way more serious than that,
okay?
And look, I've seen women go literally crazy
after having a baby.
I've dealt with that.
I've seen that.
I understand that mental illness is a thing
that's not demonic.
That's just a chemical imbalance, hormones,
making you crazy or whatever.
But here's what I want to point out though
is that there's nothing in the Bible,
in the criminal code that basically says,
hey, you're off the hook for these crimes you committed
because you were crazy or because you were drunk
or because you were high
or because you were under the influence of demons
or whatever.
So where is the Bible verse saying
that that's a valid excuse?
I think that's kind of a modern phenomenon
to say, hey, we're going to let people off the hook
because they were temporarily insane or what have you,
okay?
And here's the thing.
Yeah, postpartum depression
and postpartum psychosis are real.
But you know what, there's a big step from that
to turning into a psycho baby killer, okay?
And I don't believe that being a psycho baby killer
is ever on the table for any normal Christian,
even if they do lose their mind
and go crazy and have a nervous breakdown.
Now why do I say that?
Because here's the thing,
when people go crazy,
obviously weird things of their own personality
are coming out.
Weird things from their heart are coming out.
Weird parts of their brain,
weird things are happening.
But you know what, they don't just become
a completely different person.
It's a crazy version of the same person, okay?
So let's go into that a little more, okay?
And if you would flip over to Philippians chapter four.
So what do we do to avoid going crazy
and doing something evil
and doing something horrible and doing something wicked?
Well, number one, we already said
the first step is to get saved.
Because then at least demons are out of the equation.
That's right?
So number one, you gotta get saved.
But number two, here's what you should do.
You should be renewing your mind with the word of God
so that even if you go crazy,
even if you're just on autopilot,
even if you're just totally beside yourself,
you'll still act like something of a normal,
decent person.
Because that's just who you are through and through.
You won't do anything super horrible
because even when you're crazy, you're still you
and you're just not that sick and evil of a person.
Okay, let me give you an example of this in the Bible.
Uriah, okay?
Uriah is a person who has a lot of integrity.
He's a man of honor.
And to him, it was like really important
to have solidarity with the troops.
His whole life is he's this military guy.
And so, David is telling him
to go home to his wife.
And he's saying, no, I'm not going home to my wife
until all the troops come home.
They're out in the field.
I'm not just gonna come home and party and everything.
Like I need to sleep outside.
They're sleeping outside, right?
This is like a core value for him
of solidarity with his battalion or whatever, okay?
So then, David gets him super drunk
and figures, well, I'm just gonna get him so drunk.
He's not even gonna know what's,
but he's saying, even super drunk,
Uriah doesn't go home
and he still maintains his core value, even super drunk.
Kind of reminds me of there's this video online
of this guy that's super drunk
and some false prophet is trying to give him a wrong gospel
and he's totally drunk out of his mind, totally wasted.
And he's just like, oh, I know I'm going to heaven.
Jesus is my savior.
Like he knew he was saved.
He knew why he was saved.
He knew he couldn't lose his salvation
even though the guy's drunk out of his mind.
Right, because that is deep inside of him, you know?
And obviously, look, I'm not saying,
hey, don't worry about getting drunk
as long as you're a good person.
Because here's the thing.
Being drunk, being high, going crazy
is gonna bring out the worst side of you.
It's gonna bring out the worst aspects of you.
It's gonna bring out your worst character traits
and we all have bad character traits.
We all have bad thoughts, bad character traits,
bad attitudes, all that stuff's gonna be magnified
and amplified if, God forbid,
we're going through some kind of a nervous breakdown
or getting high or getting drunk
or something stupid like that.
For example, I was talking to somebody
who said that they knew a guy
who basically, he's kind of into conspiracies and stuff.
So then of course, when he has a nervous breakdown,
the government's after him and it's the CIA.
Because that's kind of who he is.
And I was reading about some cases
of some other psycho women
who've murdered their children and stuff
and then when they're giving what the voices are saying,
this wasn't Lindsay Clancy,
but I was reading about other cases
and it was like, what the voices are telling them to do
sounded a lot like some weird preaching
from the church that they went to.
And so it's like, it took weird preaching
and weird doctrine and then turned it into like,
oh, this is what I'm gonna do, this evil, sick thing.
It just amplified the weirdness, okay?
So here's the thing.
Hopefully, you just don't have any bone in your body
that just wants to murder babies.
But I can see how if you're like pro-choice
and you're just for abortion,
maybe you even had an abortion and then you go crazy.
Well then yeah, you might start thinking
that killing your toddlers is fine
because you thought the killing your baby was fine already.
You're already a baby killer.
Now you're just gonna become a worse baby killer,
a different kind of baby killer.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
So here's the thing.
Look, I would rather lose any part of my body
than my mind, right?
That's the worst thing you wanna lose, right?
I'd rather be physically harmed in other ways
than to lose my mind.
Losing your mind is terrible.
Sometimes losing your mind is a punishment from God.
Nebuchadnezzar, Romans one, okay?
But sometimes again, people can just go crazy.
They get old, they have a stroke,
they hit their head, something bad happens, whatever.
But here's the thing.
One of the things that you could seek to do though
is try to cleanse your heart, cleanse your mind,
try to have a wholesome personality
so that even when you go crazy, it's not that bad.
It'll be bad, but at least it won't be that bad.
But if you're already a quasi baby killer,
well then yeah, now you're liable to go off the cliff
because some of these women will be like,
oh, the babies will be damned unless I kill them,
it's the only way to save them.
Here's the thing.
Anybody who has a firm grasp on the gospel of Jesus Christ
isn't gonna believe that even when they're crazy.
And again, you'll see people that are crazy
still knowing what the gospel is.
People that are drunk still knowing what the gospel is
because that's a deep-seated, deep-rooted belief.
So here's some good advice for you
while you're saying before this happens to you.
And hopefully, God forbid,
I hope that this never happens to me or you.
I hope that none of us ever has
any kind of a nervous breakdown or goes crazy or whatever.
I mean, that's like one of the worst things
that could happen to you.
Obviously we are not susceptible to demons,
but we are susceptible to just getting hit on the head
or something and hopefully God forbid
that would never happen to us.
But you know what, just in case it ever does happen to us,
here's some good advice, Philippians 4-8.
Finally, brethren, what sort of things are true,
what sort of things are honest,
what sort of things are just,
what sort of things are pure,
what sort of things are lovely,
what sort of things are of good report,
if there'd be any virtue
and if there'd be any praise,
think on these things, right?
Filling your mind with good things,
filling your heart with good things,
and not filling your mind and heart with garbage
is probably gonna help you even if you go crazy
to still be a somewhat normal person.
I just wanna get so inundated with truth and righteousness
that even if I went crazy,
it'd be like a good kind of crazy
or a benign kind of crazy, a harmless kind of crazy,
like, okay, grandpa, let's get you back to bed,
but nobody died.
No harm, no fouls.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
And look, I'm telling you,
I'll tell you who's crazy are the 11 jurors
that are trying to give a not guilty verdict
to someone who admitted to murdering their children.
Okay, this is the crazy world that we're living in.
It's sick, it's evil,
but let me explain something to you, my friend.
As soon as you get untethered
from the Bible's justice system,
anything's on the table, everything's up for grabs.
And let me just say this, sadly,
I would say 90 some percent,
probably 99% of evangelical churches in America
and independent fundamental Baptist churches in America,
90 some percent believe
that the Old Testament criminal code
has zero relevance to our legal system in America today
and that it shouldn't.
That it should just be completely ignored,
completely discarded,
and that it just has nothing to tell us
about today's legal system.
I mean, if I had to guess, I'd say 99% believe that.
I mean, you know, people think that we're crazy
for saying that our laws should be based on the Bible.
You know, where the Bible says,
hey, this is the punishment for stealing.
Hey, this is the punishment for murder.
Hey, this is punishment for adultery.
Hey, this is the punishment for injuring someone.
Like we would look at that and say
it's a blueprint for good government.
So if we're making government in 2026,
it's not that we're under the law.
It's not that we're trying to have a theocracy.
It's just that we're thinking, well, God's law is perfect.
So these punishments fit these crimes.
God teaches us about justice and rights.
To me, it's common sense.
And this has been common sense throughout history,
which is why in America, 1600s, 1700s,
the laws were based straight out of the Bible.
You know, and I remember my pastor back in Sacramento,
he used to preach constantly
and he would quote Sir William Blackstone in his sermons
because Blackstone's commentary on the law
was considered like a major text
that people would study to be lawyers
and judges and things.
Blackstone commentary on the law is a seminal work
of, you know, of English, jurisprudence,
and whatever, obviously that carries over to America.
And you know, it's basically just constantly talking
about Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
You know, because of the fact that obviously
that was the influence for common law is Christianity.
You know, it's a common law is based on Christianity.
And then it's like we get into the 1800s
and we start to become untethered
from the legal system of the Bible,
completely untethered from it
to where now everything's up for grabs.
You know, and that's the way it is in your life too.
As soon as you become untethered
from the morality of the Bible,
who knows where you're gonna end up?
It's a slippery slope.
Who knows where you're gonna land?
You know, I mean, if you don't get the standards
for how you live your life from the Bible,
if you don't go by the Bible standard,
then eventually anything goes.
Like, and we could pick any subject you want.
You name any subject you want.
Okay, let's just name the subject of let's say,
you know, fornication, right?
The Bible's saying no sex outside of marriage.
Pretty simple, right?
Virgin when you get married, stay faithful to your spouse.
That's God's will, that's God's plan.
Well, as soon as you become untethered from that
and you're gonna say that fornication's okay,
well then what's wrong with polygamy?
What's wrong with polyamory?
What's wrong with, you know, pretty soon,
homos are fine.
And that's where we're out in America today,
where now all of a sudden,
homosexuality's considered normal and legal and fine
and oh, they're born that way.
Why?
Because once you become untethered
from the Bible standard, everything is on the table.
You know, you think about like,
what is the Bible standard?
The Bible standard says that we should have our loins
and our thighs covered with clothing
to cover our nakedness.
So the loins and the thighs should be covered, right?
So then it's like, I saw a historic picture
from a beach near New York
where they're measuring women's swimsuits
to make sure that they weren't too short
and they had to be six inches above the knee
or longer, but hold on.
Where does the Bible say six inches above the knee?
You know, the Bible's saying that it needs to reach the knee.
The garment should reach the knee.
So here's the, if you're gonna allow six inches
above the knee, why not seven?
Why not eight?
Why not a foot?
Why not just a string bikini?
Because once you become untethered
from the Bible's rule, anything goes.
I mean, here's the thing.
You can sit there and say,
well, you know, what does the Bible say about drinking?
You know, I believe the Bible's clear
that we should not drink alcohol
and that any level of drunkenness and intoxication is wrong.
We should be sober.
We should not drink alcoholic beverages, right?
But if you're gonna say, well, you know, social drinking,
what then, what's wrong with smoking a little pot?
If you're gonna drink a little beer, smoke a little pot.
And the next thing it's like,
why not just microdose with a little bit of hallucinogens?
I mean, we're not talking about just a full tap of LSD.
We're talking about microdosing.
Because you're microdosing your booze,
you're microdosing your pot,
you're gonna microdose hallucinogenic drugs.
And you know, the bottom line is that it's just,
once you become untethered from what the Bible says,
you know, like, if I can divorce my wife
and just marry someone else and God's fine with it,
then why not be Jennifer Lopez at that point?
I used to say Elizabeth Taylor,
but I'm trying to update.
Because Elizabeth Taylor had like seven marriages.
I think Jennifer Lopez also is getting up there.
So, you know, at least I'm getting a little more
up to date here, okay?
So why not just go full Jennifer Lopez at that point?
You know, because once you become disconnected
from the Bible standard, everything's on the table.
You know, and here's the thing.
Once you're okay with murdering babies in the womb,
then you're gonna be okay with partial birth abortion.
Why not?
Then you could be okay with murdering toddlers.
You know, and that's where,
and you say, this has nothing to do with that.
Nobody's saying it was okay.
Yeah, but here's the thing.
The same mentality that's okay with the one,
just add in a cocktail of postpartum hormones
and boom, we can go all the way
to just killing children outside the womb.
And look, folks, there is an army
of liberal white women right now
that are cheerleading Lindsey Clancy,
raising money, praising her, cheerleading her.
I mean, her lawyer got up
and I understand that it's the lawyer's job to defend
and I'm not against defense lawyers
and I'm not against even defense lawyers
defending the worst possible criminal
because everybody in America, you know,
by law has the right to a rigorous defense
and so I don't think that defense lawyers
are necessarily immoral people for defending the worst scum
because, you know, it's their job
to provide a rigorous defense so that the system can work.
Amen, I get it, it's part of our rights, America.
But does that mean that you have to get up
and just say, after the trial's over,
you have to get up and get in front of the camera
and say, she is such a wonderful person.
The poor little thing is in a wheelchair
for the rest of her life and she's so wonderful.
He literally was just talking about
how she's just the greatest person.
She's a wonderful person.
Well, you know, the Bible says,
they that forsake the law, praise the wicked.
Did you hear me?
They that forsake the law, praise the wicked,
but such as keep the law, contend with them.
And here's the thing, yeah, defense lawyers
are supposed to provide a rigorous defense
for the defendant no matter how bad the defendant is
and I'm 100% for that, I believe in that.
But at the same time, you know,
defense lawyers are not allowed to lie.
Did you know that?
Defense lawyers are not allowed to get up
and knowingly lie to the jury.
That's why often when they're talking to their client,
they're like, don't tell me, don't tell me that,
don't tell me stuff,
because they wanna make up theories
and they don't want to know that they're false
because if they know it, it's a lie, they can't say it.
Everybody understand?
There are certain ethical standards.
So I'm saying like, you don't have to go that far
to get up and say, this woman who murdered her children
is such a wonderful person, poor little thing.
But again, they that forsake the law praise the wicked.
So why are evangelical churches forsaking the law?
Independent fundamental Baptist are forsaking the law.
And I understand the Bible says the priesthood being changed,
there's a necessity made a change also of the law,
meaning that we don't do the carnal ordinances,
the meats, drinks, the carnal washings,
we don't do the Levitical priesthood,
the animal sacrifices, that stuff is all specifically
repealed in the New Testament,
but nowhere does the New Testament say,
hey, we're just totally overhauling morality.
Killing's okay now, stealing's okay.
No, no, no, killing is still wrong,
adultery's still wrong, lying's still wrong,
drunkenness is still wrong,
going public nude is still wrong,
go down the list, right is right,
dressing and drag is still wrong, okay?
Adultery's wrong, all these things are still wrong, okay?
Bearing false witness is wrong.
It's not, none of that changed.
And also, the punishments for crimes
in the Old Testament were fair,
because the law of the Lord's perfect.
So again, if we wanna learn about legal matters,
the Bible's a great place to look.
That's what Sir William Blackstone thought.
You know, that's what all these other great lawyers
and legal scholars have thought throughout history.
And so, at the end of the day,
the Bible is right concerning all things.
And so, the reason I'm preaching this sermon is again,
just to show you a biblical principle
that here's Judas Iscariot,
a guy who did not really fully have control
while he was committing the crime.
He was out of the driver's seat.
When he made the deal with them for 30 pieces of silver,
Satan is literally possessing him.
When he picks the day,
the devil made him pick the day.
When he goes and does it,
he's possessed by Satan at every step of the process.
And I think there's a strong case to be made
that Satan is influencing him
even as he goes and kills himself.
Every step of the way.
But does the Bible ever give him a pass?
But let me ask you this,
do liberal white women give Judas Iscariot a pass?
And the answer is yes.
You'll see a meme and a graphic
and a statement going all over the internet that says this.
The real test of Christianity
is not how much you love Jesus,
it's how much you love Judas.
So liberal white women on the internet are telling us
that we need to love Judas Iscariot
and that if we don't love Judas Iscariot,
we are bad Christians.
Like we're up here saying,
no, no, we need to love Jesus Christ.
Hate the devil, love Jesus.
They're saying, no, you must love Satan.
I mean, I've sat in an independent fundamental Baptist church
and had the pastor ask at the front of the church,
how many of you believe that the Lord loves Satan?
And I watched half the hands on the room go up,
including Roger Jimenez's hand, by the way,
going up that the Lord loves Satan.
And I was just thinking like,
this is the most insane thing I've ever heard.
This is crazy.
And then the pastor said, yeah, me too.
I think, but like half the hands stay down
because people are like, wait, hold up.
He's just like, I, he's like, God loves everybody.
Who thinks he even loves Satan?
Yeah, I do.
Yeah, God loves Satan.
It's like, what?
Where does the Bible teach you to love Satan?
And let me tell you something.
Loving Judas Iscariot is tantamount to loving Satan
because Judas Iscariot at that point is a reprobate.
He's the son of perdition.
It'd be better for him.
He'd never been born, the Bible said.
Jesus said, it'd be better for that man
if he had never been born about Judas Iscariot.
Satan entered into him.
He's a devil.
He's filled with the devil.
It's like, oh, you guys are bad, Chris,
because you don't love Satan enough.
You just don't love Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer enough.
Folks, this is the sick, bizarre, strange time
that we're living in because when you forsake the law,
you praise the wicked.
And so we're living in a time that's crazy.
And you know what, I exist and people can criticize me.
People can act like my preaching is too mean or too harsh,
or whatever they say about me and slander me and trash me
and hate on me, but here's the thing.
I serve a purpose in this world.
I serve a function in this world
because I am up here telling the truth
and shining the light on the darkness
and actually bringing some sanity to an insane world.
I'm not the only one.
Lots of other people are doing the same thing.
Every good Bible-believing preacher's doing the same thing.
But you know what, this is why we need godly preachers
in 2026 to be able to at least bring some sanity
to the conversation.
See, oh, you're mean, oh, you're harsh, oh, you're rude.
But here's the thing.
I'd rather have a harsh, mean, rude person come
and tell me the truth than people be nice to me
as they tell me how I need to love Judas Iscariot
and love the devil more.
Yeah, we all just need to love the devil more.
That's the problem with Christianity.
People just don't love the devil enough.
But literally, I mean, these graphics that say that
have millions of views, millions of likes,
millions of shares.
I'm talking millions of a graphic that literally tells you
you need to love Satan.
You need to love Judas Iscariot.
And these are so-called Christians, what?
But you know what, one thing leads to another, doesn't it?
When you start forsaking what the Bible says
and you leave out all the negative stuff
and it's just good sin, good God, good hell,
good Satan, cold hell, you know, whatever.
It's just, all of it goes out the window at one point.
And so Judas Iscariot, yes, he was demon-possessed
when he did the deed and God holds him
100% accountable.
So I don't care if you're crazy or demon-possessed
or postpartum, if you're murdering your children,
you should be put to death
because it's premeditated murder, you know?
And she planned it and everything.
And she had eight months to get her crap together.
You know?
And here's the thing about that,
is that when you're going through life
and you start having these wicked thoughts,
and interesting, I think every single person
is gonna have wicked thoughts,
invasive thoughts, isn't that what they call them?
Intrusive thoughts, maybe that's the word.
Intrusive, invasive thoughts or whatever.
People have these crazy thoughts,
but here's the thing, you know,
normal people are gonna stop and get some help,
fix their mind, talk to someone, do something.
They're not just gonna keep going down this road
and keep going down, you know?
And it's like I said on Wednesday,
everybody who murders their kids is crazy.
Anybody who murders a toddler is crazy.
So if that's a defense,
then you could just never convict any of them.
You know?
25% of women in America have had an abortion.
That's why you see the support, you know?
And if you say, oh, that's a weird connection to make.
Well, it's a super obvious connection.
If you can't make it, you need to get right with God
because you're probably just sympathizing
with the devil over here,
and you just love Judas so much.
So let's bire as enough word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
We thank you so much for the clarity
that it brings, Lord,
because we live in a crazy, insane world
with just all kinds of gray areas,
and nobody believes in any moral absolutes anymore, Lord.
And so thank you for the word of God being a rock
upon which we can stand to have clarity
and to have a strong sense of right and wrong
and justice, Lord.
Help us to read our Bibles every day
and help us to fill our minds with good things
so that even if we do go on autopilot,
even if we do go crazy,
we are still not gonna do horrific things, Lord,
lest we be rightfully punished
for the horrific things that we do.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.