Easter is this coming Sunday, and I want to invite you to join us to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus at Collinsville First Baptist Church. This Sunday we’ll have two identical Easter services, one at 8:30 AM and one at 10:30 AM. I would just thrill us to have you and your whole family come worship with us.

Today, we are continuing our journey with Jesus during the intense week of His life and ministry that led up to His crucifixion and resurrection. We call this week Holy Week, and today is Spy Wednesday.

Spies are a regular part of international gamesmanship, where nations try to get the upper hand on one another by secretly trying to find out what they are hiding. The most effective spies are no outsiders who creep in, but rather insiders who turn traitorous. For instance, like the spy ring in the United Kingdom known as the Cabridge Five. They were British citizens who, while at Cambridge University, were recruited by the Soviet Union to spy on their home nation during World War 2 and the Cold War. Their work went undetected for decades.

Spies are an effective tool in the enemy’s hands. And the devil knows this well. That’s why he recruited a spy from Jesus’ inner circle to help bring about the death of Jesus. His spy was a disciple named Judas Iscariot. On this day, during Holy Week, enticed by Satan, Judas made a traitorous arrangement with the Jewish religious leaders to become a spy on Jesus. They promised him 30 pieces of silver for his dirty work. And in the end, Judas made good on his promise the next evening when he’d led the police to where Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethesemene. There they promptly arrested Him and later turned Him over for crucifixion.

Jesus was betrayed by Judas. May he get everything he deserves for that.

But I wonder this day, have you ever betrayed Jesus? Have you ever played up your love for Jesus in one situation and then shown a serious lack of love for Jesus in another, basically stabbing Jesus in the back? Beloved, although our betrayal may not be on par with Judas’s betrayal, it is betrayal nonetheless. This Easter season, it is a change for you to turn from all that mess. This Easter season, may you reassert your loyalty to Jesus Christ by turning from anything and everything that is calling for you to betray Him, and give your heart completely and solely to Jesus. Leave the espionage to the pagans.

Change begins in you!