There is a warning in this for all of us. Hypocrisy always grows. As soon as Judas began to pretend, he fooled the disciples. He always nodded his head in agreement at the right things – most of the time anyway. When everybody closed their eyes for prayer, he did also. He had considerable charm in his personality. The disciples didn’t suspect him, even when he left the room at the Last Supper to betray Christ. They still thought he was going out for some good purpose. So he was obviously a man of attractive personality outwardly, and he could fool everybody, but he was a hypocrite. The greatest injuries ever done to the church of Jesus Christ are done by people who were once disciples, or supposed to be. They do the greatest harm. The worst heresies that have so discredited churches and caused much unbelief have been by insiders.
At the same time, we have to be very careful not to be too precise and exact when we receive people in, because when people are converted, they are newcomers. There will still be faults in everybody, and if we were to say, ‘We will only receive a person in, if we are absolutely and utterly convinced that there is no spot, or blemish in them, then we would never let true children in Christ into membership of the church. We are all imperfect people, so we have to have a balance. We have to try to be reasonably sure, but not so exacting that it is impossible for less than perfect people to join the church of Jesus Christ. Consequently, there are going to be mistakes, and we are going to be let down and that has always been the case, and the disciples are going to be taught this. Even among the twelve, there is going to be one, who was not merely insincere, but was extremely evil, and wicked and that was tragic. We want to believe people’s profession of faith. We are inclined to receive people, but often we make mistakes, and get let down, and that is as it should be. We must not be so exact that we leave babes in Christ out in the cold, on the doorstep, as it were, uncared for in Christ.
Why was he chosen? Why did the Lord ever choose him as a disciple? He knew his heart; he knew what he was capable of, what he would do. He knew that there was one who would be there who would follow him and yet would betray him. He told the disciples as much on several occasions (John 6:70; 13:18; 17:12). Why did he choose him? It was all part of the plan of God. It was also, no doubt, to train the eleven and us. The church of Jesus Christ will never be 100% pure; it can never be. We are to do our best with reasonable, human judgment to make sure that when we receive people into membership of the church, they are converted. We try to ensure that they are true Christians, that they have repented of their sin, and experienced the new birth, that Christ has worked in their hearts, and they love him and believe in him. But we are not infallible, and we are going to receive people in, in good faith, thinking they are truly the Lord’s, and yet they may be hypocrites. They may be deluded; it may not be true, and they let us down and things will go wrong.