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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27. I'll begin reading in verse 1. When 
morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted 
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. 
Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was 
remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the 
chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent 
blood. And they said, What is that to 
us? You see to it. Then he threw 
down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and 
went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the 
silver pieces and said, it is not lawful to put them into the 
treasury because they are the price of blood. And they consulted 
together and brought with them or bought with them the potter's 
field to bury strangers in. Therefore, that field has been 
called the field of blood to this day. Then was fulfilled 
what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took 
the thirty pieces of silver, the value of him who was priced, 
whom they of the children of Israel priced, and gave them 
for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, 
we thank you for the written word. We thank you that it's 
profitable to us for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, 
for instruction and righteousness. And as well, it sets before us 
in all of its glorious detail the gospel of our salvation. 
We thank you for what our Lord Jesus Christ went through on 
our behalf. We thank you that in the fullness 
of the times you sent him forth, born of a woman and born under 
the law, to redeem those under the law. God, as we see this 
played out in the Passion Narrative and Matthew's Gospel, may we 
stand in awe and wonder. May we indeed adore and praise 
and glorify this One who is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand. May You cause us to love, cause 
us to glorify, cause us to honor You in all things. And Lord, 
fill us with your Holy Spirit as we come to the Scriptures 
now. May the Spirit guide us and lead us and direct our thoughts 
as we consider this passage. And for any and all who have 
come here this morning, may today be the day of salvation. Those 
outside of Christ, we pray that they would end the day praising 
God Most High. May it be the case that you'd 
open hearts and effectually call sinners unto yourself through 
the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as well, Father, 
we pray this for your glory and for your honor and for your praise. 
Do forgive us now for our sins and our transgressions. Wash 
us and cleanse us and purify us. And we ask through Jesus 
Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, we have seen in our 
studies in Matthew's gospel very recently this Sanhedrin hearing 
or this preliminary hearing of sorts before the Sanhedrin. The Lord Jesus has been found 
or accused rather of having been a blasphemer in chapter 26, verses 
57 to 67. And then the narrative shifts 
and shows us Peter's denial. Three denials follow Peter's 
three naps in the Garden of Gethsemane. And now we resume the proceedings 
with the Sanhedrin. When we come specifically to 
verses 3 to 10, we'll note that they're thematic, or they deal 
with particular themes, rather than chronology. Because in verse 
5, the chief priests and the elders are in the temple. Judas 
is at the temple in one form or another. And so it's not strictly 
chronological. After the Sanhedrin make this 
decision to take Jesus to Pilate, they take Jesus to Pilate. So 
it's not chronological, but it is thematic, and I think we ought 
to ask the question, why is it here? Or what function does it 
serve? And I think it does various things, 
specifically verses 3 to 5. In the first place, it shows 
us the fulfillment of Christ's words. That's very important 
for Matthew. That affirms and confirms and 
authenticates who Jesus Christ is. Remember, Jesus said that 
Peter would deny Him. Well, He's just shown us how 
Peter denied Him. Also, Jesus has said, announced, 
or foretold that one would betray Him, and now this fleshes out 
that fulfillment. Secondly, we see a contrast here 
very specifically between Peter and Judas, and we'll draw some 
of that out in our application this morning. Thirdly, the narrative 
continues to emphasize the responsibility, the culpability of the Jewish 
leaders. And we will see that in two places 
in verses 3 to 10. And then fourthly, it shows the 
fulfillment, this narrative of Old Testament prophecy. That's 
precisely this reference to the prophet Jeremiah in verses 9 
and 10. And then, of course, fifthly, 
it answers the question that's not found answered in Mark, Luke, 
or John. Luke relates it in Acts chapter 
1, but in the other gospel narratives, we don't know what happens to 
Judas. And so verses 3 to 10 in Matthew 27 answer the question, 
what happened to Judas? Now this morning, we're only 
going to take up verses 1 to 5. Verses 6 to 10, especially 
his quotation there from the prophet Jeremiah, which is actually 
Jeremiah and Zechariah will require a bit of time to explain. So we're just going to look at 
verses 1 to 5 under two main considerations. First, the murderous 
decision of the Sanhedrin in verses 1 and 2, and then secondly, 
the miserable end of Judas Iscariot in verses 3 to 5. So let's look 
first at this murderous decision in verse 1 of chapter 27, when 
morning came. Now, it was in the early morning 
hours when they had this preliminary hearing, when they were with 
Jesus. That recorded in chapter 26, 
verses 57 to 67. So now it comes to morning or 
to daybreak, and it's well known, it's been observed that this 
is when the Roman prefects or the governors did their work. 
So you wanted to get there at daybreak to present your prisoner 
so that the proceedings could take place. Now, this isn't a 
second trial, but rather it is their particular decision. And 
this has been their desire all along. All the way back in chapter 
12, they plotted to destroy Jesus. More recently, in chapter 26, 
verses 3 to 5, they plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill 
Him. Certainly, when we read that 
section, rather, in 26.57 to 67, we see twice there that their 
desire is to execute the Lord Jesus Christ. And so now, it 
is not a second hearing, it is not a second trial, but they're 
plotting together. And I think one of the reasons 
why is they need to build their case. They need to bolster their 
case because if they present Jesus to Pontius Pilate as a 
blasphemer, most likely Pontius Pilate's not going to execute 
him for that particular charge. In fact, R.T. France makes this 
observation. A charge of blasphemy, which 
was the basis of their verdict, would carry no weight in Roman 
law. They needed a charge which was sufficiently political and 
sufficiently alarming to the occupying power to ensure capital 
sentence. In other words, they don't want 
him to go to prison. They don't want him to lose some 
privileges in the empire. They want him to be crucified. They want him to be capitally 
punished. They want him to be put to death. How do they do 
that? Verse 11 shows us, or demonstrates 
to us, They highlight the royal side of Messiah-ship. In other 
words, when Christ says in chapter 26, verse 64, it is as you say, 
I am the Messiah, I am David's son, I am the one, the son of 
man coming on the clouds of power, I am that one written of concerning 
the, or in the Old Testament prophecies, there's a royal side 
involved. And so the Sanhedrin plays that 
up. so that Jesus will be perceived 
as a threat to the Roman Empire. When you compare Luke 23, verses 
1 and 2, they really get it going there because they say, this 
man teaches that persons ought not to pay taxes. So you see 
why Pilate's getting on board in terms of wanting to do away 
with this particular man. Now, Pilate throughout maintains 
the innocence of the Lord Jesus Christ, but nevertheless, it 
couldn't just be a charge of blasphemy. So no doubt, verses 
one and two are dealing with that particular time. They've 
had the preliminary hearing in verses 57 to 67 in chapter 26. Now they're plotting together, 
they're consulting together, they're building their case, 
and they make this decision now to bring him to Pontius Pilate. Now notice that in this deliverance 
in verse 2, it is a fulfillment of Jesus' words. In chapter 20 
at verse 19, when he is specifying why he must go to Jerusalem, 
the last section he says, "...and deliver him to the Gentiles." 
This is Psalm 2. Verse 2 being played out right 
before our eyes. We see the rulers of the nations, 
we see the leaders, we see them all conspiring together against 
Yahweh and against His Christ. The apostles see this, they recognize 
this, they pray in light of Psalm 2 in Acts chapter 4. This is 
a grand scale cosmic conspiracy against the living and true God 
and His Christ. And we see it right in this particular 
narrative. Now, notice they bind Jesus. He'd already been bound at one 
point when he went to Annas' house, but here, specifically, 
from the Sanhedrin to Pontius Pilate. I think there's two reasons 
for this. Practically, so he wouldn't escape 
or be rescued. They're going to leave the confines 
of Caiaphas' palace and they're going to march him to Pontius 
Pilate. They don't want Jesus to escape. 
They certainly don't want anybody to come and break him out, so 
they bind him. As well, think about the psychological 
impact this will have on Pilate when they present Jesus bound. You bind a man or you handcuff 
a man who is a threat, who is a danger. It creates an image. It asserts guilt prior to anything 
ever transpiring. So I think those are the practical 
reasons so that he wouldn't be escaped, he wouldn't be rescued, 
and it would create this impression that he was already guilty. But 
theologically, We have the binding of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love 
how Spurgeon made this observation. He says, as Isaac was bound before 
he was laid upon the altar, so was the great Antitite, bound 
before he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and delivered 
up to the Roman governor. Origen says, they bound Jesus, 
who loosens them that are bound. and the language delivered him 
to Pontius Pilate. We have seen in our studies in 
Matthew's Gospel, this word delivered is a very theologically charged 
word. It's applied to these religious 
leaders. It's applied to Judas Iscariot. It's applied to, ultimately, 
God Most High and the prophet Isaiah, because Yahweh was pleased 
to bruise him. And we'll see how that underscores 
the entirety of the passion narrative. But then it mentions specifically 
this Pontius Pilate. Now the term governor is a general 
term. The specifics was a prefect. And a prefect had command over 
auxiliary troops of about a thousand men. And they governed smaller 
provinces. And Pontius Pilate answered to 
the legate in Syria. And specifically, he would have 
lived in Caesarea Maritima, but he would be in Jerusalem during 
these feasts. Remember, they were very scared 
about uproars taking place. So Pilate, his auxiliary troops 
would be in this particular city at this particular time. Now, 
it's recorded, and our gospel narratives bear witness of this, 
that Pilate was extremely brutal to the Jews. Josephus and Philo, 
not Philo the other, the Roman one, Tacitus, record that he 
was an extremely brutal man. And as I said, in Luke chapter 
13, you see that very thing as well. And that's caused some 
to consider what we find in the Passion narrative a bit inconsistent. If he's so brutal to the Jews, 
why doesn't he jump on the fact to execute Jesus? I mean, as 
we'll see, Pilate's always a bit reserved. Pilate's not fully 
into this, if you will. Well, perhaps because Jesus isn't 
the sort of threat that they have made him out to be. Perhaps 
because Pilate knows that if he messes up and he gets reported 
to headquarters, he will be moved or removed. So he is walking 
delicately, walking this fine line. So on the one hand, he's 
very brutal in his history or in his career, but he comes across 
almost as spineless and full of cowardice and full of whimpery 
in the passion narratives. I think they can be squared. 
He's got a lot of external pressure. He doesn't want to lose his job, 
and so he engages with these Jews according to their particular 
plan. So that's the miserable decision 
of the Sanhedrin in verses 1 and 2. Let's move now to the miserable 
end of Judas Iscariot in verses 3 to 5. Note the connection. 
In verse 3, then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned. 
Again, it's a thematic link, but it's a strong thematic link. 
Knowing that Jesus had been condemned, this overtakes him. Knowing that 
all of these things had transpired, this overtakes him. Now, we might 
ask the question, what did he think was going to happen? What 
in the world did he think was going to happen? Did he think 
they were going to just slap him on the hand and tell him 
not to act like Messiah anymore? He would have heard Jesus' prophecies 
concerning his coming death in Jerusalem. Matthew 16, Matthew 
17, Matthew 20. He would have seen the opposition 
that the religious leaders posed to Jesus all throughout Jesus' 
history and career. They would have seen these things. 
And so when it gets to this particular point, he sees now that Christ 
has been condemned and he starts to have this sort of pain in 
his conscience. Again, France, I think, explains 
it well. He says, the actual occurrence 
of what he had willingly set in motion has at last brought 
home to him the enormity of what he has done. I mean, a man goes 
to kill himself in this particular passage. Now, I'm not going to 
preach this morning that he repented and that he has everlasting life. Some commentators do that. Some 
persons put him in heaven. I don't believe that's the case 
at all. But even this reprobate was seized with some sort of 
a pang in his conscience at having done what he's done. I think 
that really is a reproof to any and all of us who never feel 
the sense of our own sin. I'm not talking feel in some 
mystical, nebulous, weird way. But we engage in things, and 
we don't ever consider the consequences of such things. We engage in 
activities, and we don't think, well, what's it going to be like 
down the road? I'm going to quote Matthew Poole 
a couple of times this morning. He says, sin is sweet in the 
mouth, but it's bitter in the belly. And that's what's happened 
here to Judas, a reprobate, a wretched man, a godless man, the man responsible 
for handing over the Lord Jesus Christ to these murderous thugs 
that then present him over to the Roman prefect. What's happening 
with Judas in this particular instance? Notice his mental state. The remorse in view demonstrates 
that this was not repentance. See, genuine repentance does 
not drive a man out to hang himself, and we'll consider that in just 
a moment. The King James Version is a bit 
unhelpful at this particular point. It says, it repented him. 
There's actually two different words used. terms of repentance 
like what we see when sinners are converted and what's happening 
here. Remorse is a good way to sort 
of capture the meaning here. Calvin says, he says that Judas 
repented. Not that he reformed, but that 
the crime which he had committed gave him uneasiness as God frequently 
opens the eyes of the reprobate so as to begin to feel their 
miseries and to be alarmed at them. And John Gill adds, it 
was not such a repentance by which he became wiser and better. You see, this remorse led him 
to destruction. It didn't produce betterness 
or goodness. Gill says, but it produced an 
excruciating, tormenting pain in his mind by which he became 
worse. This is a bit of a terrifying 
scene, I think, in this particular section. Again, some of us or 
some of you perhaps have never felt your own sin, have never 
thought twice about the fact that you transgress a holy God's 
law, that you do not conform to that righteous revelation 
of who God is and what he demands of his creatures. You've treated 
the Ten Commandments as if they're ten suggestions. You know, if 
you want a better life, a happier life, more sort of wholeness, 
then don't have other gods before me, but it's just a suggestion. 
You need to understand that you have rebelled against a holy 
God, a God who has commanded his creatures in a particular 
way. So at least on the one hand, Judas feels a sense of remorse, 
but we ought not to be led to think that this remorse was in 
fact repentance. Notice his particular action. He brings back the 30 pieces 
of silver to the temple. And then notice words. He declares 
that he has sinned by betraying innocent blood. Isn't that an 
amazing statement in the mouth of Judas, the betrayer? I have 
betrayed innocent blood." You will see that in Luke's gospel, 
in Luke 23, on three occasions. Specifically, if you're taking 
notes, you can jot this down. Verses 4, 14, and 22. You know 
what Pilate says three times in that section? I find no guilt 
in him. Now Pilate wasn't a piker. He 
reigned or he reigned. He was governor from about AD 
26 to AD 36. Ten years, pretty good, pretty 
long career. He had probably seen it all. 
He had probably seen all sorts of things. Again, he's not the 
king. He's over a particular, a small-ish 
area. Nevertheless, he has seen it 
all. And yet when he meets Jesus Christ, he says three times, 
I find no guilt in him. Judas Iscariot says the same 
thing. I have betrayed innocent blood. Listen to Gil here. He says, that a testimony should be born 
to the innocence of Christ from the mouth of this vile wretch 
that betrayed Him, to cut off the argument from the Jews that 
one of His own disciples knew Him to be a wicked man." You 
see what Gil is saying? God has so orchestrated things 
that even this wicked, vile wretch confesses the innocency of Jesus 
Christ. So later generations of Jews 
can't say, well, you know, one of His disciples, those who knew 
Him best, gave evidence against Him. No, He gave evidence quite 
the contrary. that one of his own disciples 
knew him to be a wicked man and as such delivered him into their 
hands. For though Judas might not believe in him as the Messiah 
and the Son of God, at least have no true faith in him as 
such. Yet he knew and believed in his 
own conscience that he was a good man and a righteous and innocent 
one." Now remember that I said that this is going to show, this 
whole narrative is going to show the culpability of the religious 
leaders. What do they do when they hear this claim from Judas 
that He's innocent. That brings us to consider the 
remorse, or rather the response of the religious leaders. They 
show no remorse, do they? Who's more to be applauded in 
this narrative, at least up to this particular point? Judas 
knows what he's done. It's wretched. He knows that 
it's terrible, such that he's going to take these 30 pieces 
of silver and cast them either into or in the temple. We'll 
deal with that in just a moment. Judas at least feels the pangs 
in his conscience. These Jewish leaders show no 
remorse whatsoever. Note their response to Judas 
in verse 4. He said, I have sinned by betraying 
innocent blood. And they said, what is that to 
us? You see to it. You know what that means, essentially? 
So what? We don't care. It doesn't fit 
our narrative. We plotted way back in Matthew 
12 to destroy Him. We don't let pesky things like 
facts get in the way of that. You see the conspiracy here. 
You see they're raising the fist at Yahweh and against His Christ. 
They will have blood, the claims that Jesus is innocent, notwithstanding. So what? You see to it. Interesting, same language that 
Pilate will use later on. You see to it. It's everybody 
trying to do. They're all trying to pass the 
buck of responsibility at this particular juncture. But these 
men, these religious leaders, the highest council in Israel 
at the time, both ecclesiastically, civilly, these men say, we don't 
care. We want to be rid of this troublemaker. 
You want to see the animosity and the wretchedness and the 
wickedness of men? I suggest that Matthew 27, verses 1 to 
10 is a great place to go to. You will see the account of Judas. 
And those of you who are young, those of you who continue to 
pursue sin, those of you who have no remorse, no repentance, 
those who continue to plunge headlong into wickedness, look 
at sin's rewards in this passage. All your friends say, oh, it's 
so fun to do this or to do that. It's so fun to look at porn. 
It's so fun to engage in this sort of thing, this rebellion. 
It's so fun to smoke this or to drink this or to shoot this. 
This is sin's end. Paul says the wages of sin is 
death. For any of us that think that 
somehow sin is a kind taskmaster, I think 27.1-10 illustrates just 
the opposite. It does demonstrate what Matthew 
Poole says. It's sweet in the mouth, but 
it's bitter in the belly. And it drives this man to go 
out and hang himself. But the culpability of these 
religious leaders, the highest religious functioning court or 
the highest civil court in the land says, so what? We don't 
care. We're not going to pursue this? 
We're not going to ask questions? We're not going to ask this betrayer 
what it means that he claims that he's innocent? It doesn't 
fit the narrative. It doesn't fit what we want. 
It doesn't fit our desire or our design. We want blood from 
this man, and we will get it. So you see to it yourself. They 
essentially say, you deal with it on your own. One commentator 
says, what brutal counsel from religious men. Guy comes to you 
and he's remorseful and he's hurting and he wants to get rid 
of the 30 pieces of silver that he got ill-gottenly. And you 
say, well, you go tend to it. You go see to it yourself. terrible 
religious counsel from these particular men. Notice, it should 
matter to them if their prisoner, in a capital case, is innocent. It should matter to them to hear 
all the facts. But you see, they're not interested 
in the facts. They're not interested in due 
process. They're not interested in doing things righteously. 
They're complicit in the execution of the only righteous man that 
ever lived on the face of the earth. Bruner says, what does 
this have to do with us, denies justice to Jesus, mercy to Judas, 
and any kind of responsibility before God. That in the context 
where he suggests they are in the temple itself to engage in 
those Micah 6, 8 activities. Now notice, thirdly, the end 
of Judas in verse 5. Then he threw down the pieces 
of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. 
Now, if you have the King James tradition, you will have, he 
did this in the temple. If you have a modern translation, 
you will have into the temple. Now, there's a reason why. But 
before we go to that reason why, isn't it intriguing that verses 
five to 10 focus on the money really? I mean the overarching 
theme obviously is Judas' wickedness and wretchedness and the vile 
nature of a man that would lead someone to betray the Son of 
God shows us the culpability of these religious leaders. But 
it's these 30 pieces of silver that are mentioned in verse 5 
with reference to Judas getting rid of them. The 30 pieces of 
silver in verses 6 to 8 with reference to the Sanhedrin, deciding 
what to do with them, and then the 30 pieces of silver in terms 
of Old Testament prophecy and their significance in verses 
9 to 10. So it's this attempt to get rid 
of the money, and once the money has gotten rid of, to apply or 
to explain it. But if you look back at verse 
6, I'm sorry, verse 5, but he threw down the pieces of silver 
in the temple. That's the King James of the 
New King James tradition. What does that suggest? That 
he's in the temple! Judas ain't supposed to be there. 
The way that Matthew uses the language, temple for Matthew, 
as it's used here, typically means the building where the 
holy place and the holy of holies is. There's another word that 
means the whole temple precinct, the complex, everything associated 
with the temple. But the language here suggests, 
in this rendering, that he's in the temple. That causes some 
problems and that's probably why a variant reading crept into 
the tradition. You can't have Judas in the temple, 
that's just not the place that he's supposed to be. So some 
manuscripts and now the modern versions reflect that he threw 
it into the temple. So the idea is that he's outside 
of the temple, he takes that 30 pieces of silver and he casts 
it into the temple. I think D.A. Carson, I don't 
think he accepts either particular reading, but in favor of the 
in the temple, in favor of the fact that Judas is now in the 
temple where he's not supposed to be, Carson says in the narrow 
sense of this word temple, the building containing the holy 
place and the holy of holies, Judas would normally not have 
been allowed to enter. That may be just the point. It's over for Judas. Judas knows 
it's over. Judas doesn't care at this point. 
Decorum, honor, respect, outward compliance with the law. We got 
a desperate, desperate man and he's acting that way. That may 
be just the point. Feeling damned already, he has 
nothing more to lose. In desperation, he runs into 
the temple proper and flings down his money before he can 
be stopped. This alternately incriminates 
the religious leaders who are not supposed to allow the likes 
of Judas in the temple. I actually think, in the manuscript 
evidence, UPS ultimately favors in two, not for any compelling 
reasons, but more preferential. I think Judas was in the temple. 
I think Carson, whether it's just an explanation to give an 
explanation of that reading and how it was there, I think he's 
right. See, this is sin's end. You don't 
ever think when you're young. You don't think it when you're 
old, do you? When I commit this sin, here's going to be the bitter 
consequences. If any of you do this, you know, 
talk to me afterwards. Tell me how you manage. Tell 
me how you actually put this into practice. I know we're supposed 
to, but typically, you know, you come to a fork in the road 
and you're daytime or nighttime, and it's sin. So you're looking 
at me like, we don't sin, Pastor Butler. Well then, you know, 
just humor me for a moment. You come to that fork in the 
road. You're going to choose a sinful decision. Do you think 
through the consequences? Do you think through, if I smoke 
this, or if I drink this, or if I have sex with this, or if 
I do this, here's going to be the wretched, reprehensible consequences 
of that. Typically, I don't think that 
we do. I mean, it may come for a moment, and we suppress it. 
We put it down. We say, well, I like the sweetness 
in my mouth. I don't want to think about the 
bitterness in my tummy. I don't want that. Look at sin's end 
here. This is a desperate man. This is a man who is gone. This is a man who has betrayed 
the Son of God, an innocent man. This is a man who has taken the 
coins, taken the change, and cast it down in front of the 
chief priests and elders. This is a man who is now going 
to go out and hang himself because of his misdeed. Now, I'm not 
suggesting to all you young people, if you do such and such, it's 
going to necessarily mean that someday you're going to go out 
and hang yourself. I am not suggesting that at all. But what I can tell 
you, a life of obedience to God, lived in the context of saving 
faith in Jesus Christ, never produces a man who goes out and 
hangs himself because of despair. Kids, take a lesson from Judas, 
and not just kids, but adults. Take a lesson and see the end 
of sin. See the consequences. See the 
miserable effects. See them all passing the buck. 
Judas throws the 30 pieces of silver. The Sanhedrin says it's 
not lawful for us to put them into the treasury. We'll investigate 
this next week. Certainly they didn't have a 
problem with the lawfulness of taking out of the treasure to 
bribe Judas to begin with, but now they've got this pang of 
conscience that they can't put this loot back into the treasury. 
That's legalism. That is swallowing camels and 
straining at gnats. It's not lawful for us to put 
it into the treasury. But didn't you take it out of 
the treasury to bribe Judas in the first place? You think that 
somehow because now you feel a little bad? Well, I don't even 
think that's what they're doing. It's this same thing we see in 
John 18. They don't want to enter the 
praetorium. Why? Because it was Passover 
time and they didn't want to be defiled. That's the essence 
of legalistic, petty, camel-swallowing, gnat-straining religion. They 
don't want to enter into the praetorium while they have bound 
a man they're going to deliver up to the praetorium for a capital 
sentence of crucifixion. I'm sorry, your ceremonial observances 
do not impress me one bit. The fact that you don't want 
to defile yourself going into this Gentile place and all the 
while committing the act of murder, or at least a conspiracy to murder. 
It's the same thing. It's not lawful for us to put 
it in the treasury. This fastidious commitment to 
the ceremonial law when they reject the sixth word. You see why it's so offensive 
when we live like them? How does Jesus upbraid them? 
He says you tithe the mint and the anise and the cumin, but 
you neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy 
and faith. We do that to brethren all the 
time, don't we? We're super fastidious and we're 
super uncharitable, and if they don't jump through our hoops, 
we're gonna write them off. I jokingly said to one of my 
own brothers this morning, he had a different Bible, and he 
said, don't judge me. I said, I do judge you. He has 
this kind, but he didn't have it with him. It was a joke. I 
don't judge him. Whatever Bible he wants to bring 
to the house of God is fine. As long as it's a real Bible. Phones aren't Bibles. We are fastidious though, aren't 
we? We're Pharisaic. We are Sanhedrin-like. Well, 
it's not lawful for us to put this money back into the treasury. 
You've just conspired to commit murder. That doesn't trouble 
you, that doesn't bother you, that doesn't perplex you. What's 
the matter here? The obvious point in Judas's 
throwing away the money, whether it's into the temple or in the 
temple, is he tries to distance himself from the money and hence 
the responsibility in the death of an innocent one. The leaders 
do the same thing. It's not lawful, so we'll buy 
this potter's field. Interesting, they still use the 
money, don't they? So does Pilate, 27-24, I am innocent of the blood 
of this just person. Formally, the people ultimately 
accept the responsibility in verse 25, his blood be on us 
and on our children. So Judas gets rid of the money 
and now he gets rid of himself. He goes out and he hangs himself. Notice he departed and went out. This is how we know it's not 
true repentance. This is how we know it's just 
remorse. He departed and went out, not unto God, not to a throne 
of grace, not to the master that he's just betrayed, but he has 
gone out and departed to hang himself. See, the movement of 
repentance is always God-ward. The movement of repentance is 
always Christ-ward. It's not suicide-ward. The suicide of Judas demonstrates 
that his remorse was not repentance. Westminster Shorter Catechism 
asks, what is repentance unto life? The answer, repentance 
unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of a true sense 
of his sin, Judas had that. He was remorseful. He confessed 
his sin. He felt bad. There was some apprehension 
or some knowledge or some true sense of his sin there. But the 
catechism goes on to say, and apprehension of the mercy of 
God in Christ. See, repentance apprehends the 
mercy of God in Christ. Whether repentance can explain 
that or not, whether repentance can explain Westminster Shorter 
Catechism 87 or not, whether it understands fully the ramifications 
of apprehending the mercy of God in Christ, repentance goes 
to Christ. Isn't that true? Is that the 
case? For any and all of you here that 
have, by God's grace, repented, know something of Westminster 
Shorter Catechism 87, know something of what it is to be a Peter rather 
than a Judas, isn't that what it's all about? Now, I know we 
sort of mess up when it comes to repentance. We think that, 
you know, I stopped eating this bad food. I've repented from 
my sin of gluttony. I stopped smoking or I stopped 
doing. Those are fruits of repentance. 
Repentance happens up in the head. It happens up in the mind. We judge the fruits of repentance, 
and herein we're led astray. Not everybody that stops smoking 
is a Christian. Not everybody that stops engaging 
in gluttony or sexual immorality is a Christian. Sometimes people 
out there just change their lives for better longevity or better 
health or whatever it might be. You see, brethren, faith and 
repentance are two sides of the same coin, and they're both with 
reference to how we view God now. We have a change of heart 
with reference to who Jesus is. He is Lord. He is Savior. He 
is the innocent one. It is His blood we desperately 
need for washing and cleansing and purification. And we repent. We have a different view of sin. 
We no longer want it. We no longer want to drink it 
in. We no longer want to play with it and get around it and 
be nourished by it. No, we have a change with reference 
to this sinful practice. So what Judas does not have is 
an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ. And then as 
well, we see this not only in the 17th century confessions 
of faith, but you see it in that Apostles' Creed. What's confessed 
there? I believe in the forgiveness 
of sins. See, that's repentance. David 
in the psalm says, out of the depths I have cried to thee, 
O Lord, hear my voice. He said, if you, Lord, should 
mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? He knows something 
of strict justice. He knows something of holiness. 
He knows something of righteousness. He knows something of being in 
a government or under the government of a holy and just God. He says, if you should mark iniquities, 
O Lord, who could stand? but there is forgiveness with 
thee that thou mayest be feared." That's an early version of the 
Apostles' Creed wherein David says, I believe in the forgiveness 
of sins. You see, that's the beauty of 
this whole transaction. God grants to us what we desperately 
need to come to Him. You've heard that Arminian spiel 
when they preach the gospel. Oh, accept Jesus into your heart. Open the door of your heart and 
let him in. Isn't it wonderful that it's 
just the opposite? Isn't it wonderful that it's 
absolutely opposite? It's God who accepts us in the 
beloved. It's God who opens the heart 
and the effectual call. It is God who makes men willing 
in the day of His power. It is God who raises dead sinners. It is God who gives them faith. 
It is God who gives them repentance. It is God who does everything 
from first to last in the matter of man's salvation. Brethren, 
if you are here this morning, praise God that though your sins 
be like Judas, you've been forgiven. Though your sins are crimson, 
scarlet, wretched, wicked, you've been forgiven. Praise God, brethren, 
that we're not Judas's. Praise God, brethren, that there 
is faith, there is repentance. Praise God, there is a fountain 
open for sin and uncleanness prophesied by Zechariah in this 
new covenant era. And as the hymn writer says, 
drawn from Emmanuel's veins. When sinners plunge beneath that 
flood, lose all their guilty stains. Praise Almighty God, 
we're not Judases. Judi, perhaps, is the plural 
form. Praise God. And if you're not 
a believer, if you don't have faith and repentance, guess what? 
I can't give it to you. But the God of this Bible can. 
The God of this Bible does. The God of this Bible says, look 
to me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God 
and there is no other. This Christ stood up on the last 
great day of the feast and he said, if any man thirst, let 
him come to me. Perhaps this morning under the 
power of God, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, you started 
to understand something about sin. You might be saying, well, 
I'm not as bad as Judas. Yeah, you are. I was listening to a sermon by 
Ralph Davis last night, and he mentioned Lady Huntington. Lady 
Huntington lived in the 18th century, and she was a big fan 
of the preachers at that time, George Whitefield being one of 
them. Lady Huntington was a real Christian, a real believer, so 
what she would do is, and she was a higher member of society, 
so she would gather all of her friends together, the aristocracy 
and the sort of ruling class, and she'd get them all together 
and have Brother Whitefield preach. And of course, Brother Whitfield 
would say such untoward things as, you know, you're as vile 
or, you know, you're vile and guilty and sinful. And so Lady 
Huntington's one of her friends says to her, I just cannot stomach 
that kind of preaching. I cannot stomach that kind of 
an approach that would equal or level us with the common cursed 
dweller of the earth. And Davis points out, if you 
don't know that of yourself, Most likely, you're not converted. 
Just rereading, and thankfully so, a book by Martin Lloyd-Jones, 
Preachers and Preaching. You know what happened to him 
when he went to preach at Oxford? The lady, the wife of the president 
said, you know, I really like your preaching, Dr. Lloyd-Jones, 
because you preach to us like we're sinners. Think about it. Everybody else is there like 
a scholar, polished, never saying, and so on, and so on. Never, 
you know, letting spittle fly, but everything just right, treating 
them like they're somehow the upper cross. Lloyd-Jones comes 
in and says, you're miserable, wicked sinners that stand in 
need of the Lord Jesus Christ. Embrace it. Why fight that? Why 
say, okay, okay, I didn't actually betray Jesus. I didn't feel those 
30 pieces of silver. Okay, you didn't do the specific 
act that's envisioned here, but you've sinned. Same sins Judas 
sinned, you sinned. I know we like to delude ourselves, 
I'm not as bad as everybody else. You may not be in terms of actual 
practical application of the violation of the Decalogue, but 
at the root, the very heart of your being, guess what? You're 
with Judas. You're with this Sanhedrin. You're 
with the kinds of people that say, so what? You see to it. We don't care. We want to carry 
out this execution. I can't grant you faith and repentance. 
Pastor Cam can't grant you faith and repentance, but God Most 
High can. And God's Word in the Gospel 
is to look unto Jesus, to believe what it said concerning our Lord 
Jesus Christ. He lived, He died, He was raised 
the third day. All those who look to Him in 
faith will have everlasting life. Learn something of sin in this 
particular narrative, and don't be remorseful and not repentant. By God's grace, repent. He betrays, 
he departs, he goes out, but it's not with an apprehension 
of the mercy of God in Christ, and there is no confession with 
the Apostles Creed. I want to do a few things by 
way of application, but just before we go, We ought to realize 
that in Acts 1, verses 18 and 19, it's sort of spelled out 
a bit differently, and this is troubled psalmic. I think the 
majority of good commentators, the majority of conservative 
commentators harmonize the two accounts, and I think it's pretty 
simple to do. In the Acts account, he fell 
and his entrails gushed out. The common response is he was 
hanging on a tree, The limb either broke or the rope broke. His 
body falls onto the ground and it splits open and his entrails 
gush out. I realize that's not Sunday morning 
noon talk, but Acts chapter one tells us that's what happened. 
Again, see the grim consequences of sin. This is one of those 
areas where we get offended by what Luke says in Acts one, but 
we don't get offended with the sin that takes us to Acts one. 
We don't get offended with the reality this man betrayed the 
Lord Jesus Christ. This man engaged in suicide. 
This man's body collapsed or fell and broke open and his entrails 
gushed out. We get more offended at the way 
Luke tends to record those sorts of things than at the sin that 
brings sinners to that particular juncture. And then as well, it 
says that he purchased the field. Again, I think that's very simple 
to reconcile. In Matthew, they purchased the 
field. With the money that was rightfully Judas's. So it can 
be said that Judas acquired a field. We don't need to jump ship, we 
don't need to say there's contradictions, there's difficulties, there's... 
There's difficulties, there's things that require some thought 
and some reflection and some good commentators, if you're 
a simpleton like me, but you can harmonize the accounts. And I suggest that that's the 
way to do it. But in conclusion, by way of application, a couple 
of things. First, the wickedness of the Sanhedrin. Again, I think 
that's something conspicuous in Matthew's agenda, their formal 
decision to turn Jesus over to Pilate for execution. The utter 
disregard, the complete disregard of Judas' reference to the fact 
that Jesus is innocent, that's unconscionable, brethren. If 
you've never really thought through this and pondered this, If you've 
never taken into consideration the fact that the judging body, 
the adjudicatory body in Israel at this time heard that the man 
that they had capitally sentenced to death is innocent. I'm not 
suggesting they're going to bow down and say, OK, let's worship 
Jesus. But at a minimum, shouldn't they give it a day or two? Let 
the weekend pass. They're driven. They've got craze. They've got this frenzy and this 
madness. They've got to get it done. Remember, 
it's Friday. It's Friday morning. That's why 
at daybreak, they're at Pilate's place. They're knocking. They're 
presenting the case. Because they've got to get Jesus 
dead before the Sabbath. This is their time frame. Again, 
wouldn't it have been nice to just say, well, we should just 
wait the weekend and take in this new data? No. No, they're 
driven. They're full of a frenzy to destroy 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, the wretchedness of 
Judas Iscariot. We've seen his decision to betray 
in chapter 26, verses 14 to 16. The execution of betrayal in 
chapter 26, verses 47 and following. And here we have seen the miserable 
end of Judas Iscariot. So I suggest there are four lessons 
we need to take away from this. First, the presence of remorse 
does not mean the presence of repentance. The presence of remorse 
does not mean the presence of repentance. You understand? Just because you feel bad doesn't 
necessarily mean you're saved. Just because you feel remorse 
doesn't mean you've closed with Christ. Just because you felt 
something of the bitterness of that sin in your tummy doesn't 
mean you're a genuine believer. In fact, Ryle, I think, says 
it well, it is possible for a man to feel his sins, to be sorry 
for them, to be under strong conviction of guilt and express 
deep remorse, to be pricked in conscience and exhibit much distress 
of mind, and yet, for this, not repent with his heart. How does 
Jesus start his ministry in Matthew chapter 4? Repent, for the kingdom 
of heaven is at hand. Again, I don't think Jesus says, 
stop smoking, stop drinking, stop doing this, stop doing that, 
because then you'll be fit and ready for the Kingdom of Heaven. 
You need to have a change of mind. You need to come to the 
Savior, the King of Heaven. You need to come to the Christ. 
You need to rethink your priorities. You need to rethink your life. 
It's not just a matter of adding Jesus on to your already complete 
life. This is what bugs me in some 
churches, is when they preach Jesus as if He's just a help 
to a more full life. I would hope they wouldn't even 
preach that. That's disgusting. It's like the sign many years 
ago. Steve Lawson told me, he saw 
when he was downtown, there was a sign that said, things go better 
with Jesus. Jesus has been sloganized to 
the level of Coca-Cola. Things go better with Coke, things 
go better with Jesus. I am not here this morning to 
tell you that. I am here this morning to tell 
you whatever remorse, whatever ache, whatever pain, whatever 
hardship you feel about sinning against God or against parents, 
that does not necessarily mean that you're saved. You need to 
repent. not add Jesus to an already almost 
great life, but to utterly change the way you think. to believe 
on Christ as revealed in the gospel, and to repent, to forsake, 
to not see Christ as an addition, but to see him the way the bride 
does in the Song of Solomon. How does she exclaim his beauties? He is almost altogether lovely, 
but my house and my car and my boats and my motorcycle, that 
really holds it out for me. Christ is altogether lovely. 
How does the bride describe her beloved in the Song of Solomon? 
He is chief among what? Among 10,000. That's not the 
language of adding on Jesus. That's not the language of Coca-Cola 
theology. That's the language of radical 
revolution. It's the language of the apostle 
Paul in Philippians chapter three, who essentially tells these people 
that are being plagued by Judaizers, if there was ever a man who could 
boast of his religious resume, it was me. If there was ever 
a man who could say, I earned my way to heaven, it was Paul. He was born, the stock of Israel, 
tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day. As far as Paul's 
religious resume was concerned, it was jot and tittle perfect. What was he saying? But what 
things were gained to me, these I count loss. You see, Christ isn't an add-on 
for Paul. Christ isn't an app on Paul's 
phone. Christ is everything. Such that 
even now, everything, I count loss. I count dung. I count something that is no 
better than to be thrown to the dogs. I count loss. Why? For the excellence of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus my Lord. You see, if you're sitting under 
preaching that says, take Jesus the way you would a bottle off 
the shelf and drink it to enhance your life, that's bad preaching. Christ is not an addition. Christ 
is everything. Secondly, we ought to appreciate 
the presence of privilege does not equal a conversion to Christ. 
We ask the question, was Judas privileged? Yes, he was most 
privileged. He was a disciple. Again, not 
internally. He went out from us, but he was 
not of us, because if he had been of us, he wouldn't have 
gone out from us. But he was externally a disciple. 
He was even an apostle. What's he do with those privileges? 
Does he receive them? Does he act upon them? Does he 
thank God for having given them? No, he rejects it. He doesn't 
improve upon them. And I submit that you young people 
have privileges today that many of us adults didn't have. I almost 
said old people. That many of us adults didn't 
have. We didn't get schlepped to church 
every Sunday. We didn't get put into a Sunday 
school where we're taught the catechism. We weren't given the 
opportunity to come on Wednesday night and hear Bible studies 
on the Old Testament so that we can actually know what's in 
the Old Testament. We weren't given those sorts of privileges. 
I mean, any of us converted in later years probably would say, 
I would love to go back in time, or if I could go back in time, 
it'd be a godly covenantal home where I was taught, where I was 
shaped, where I learned, and where I didn't have to unlearn 
a whole host of wickedness when I came to Jesus Christ. You've 
got privilege. I dare say it, you've got great 
amounts of privilege. What are you doing with the privilege? 
Is it constant rebellion, constant whining, constant rumbling, constant 
complaining? The parents come in the morning, 
it's time to get up to church. I don't want to go to church. 
Praise God there's a church you get to go to. Praise God you 
get to hear the gospel. Praise God you got men who may 
not be the most effective or may not be the razzle-dazzle 
guys that everybody likes. We're trying to keep you safe. 
In the word and doctrine, that would be our tagline if it were 
up to me. We try to keep you safe. You're gonna get more bells 
and whistles elsewhere, I guarantee it. And don't think I don't know 
that. Oh, your church, your church, your church. Yeah, I've heard 
it all for 20 long years. I know what our problems are. Chief, right before you. There's 
bells and whistles out there. There's rigmarole out there. 
There's bigger budgets out there. There's better air conditioning. 
There's all of that, but you know what? We try to keep you 
safe. We try to tell you that you're saved not by your works, 
not by your privilege, not by your goodness, but by grace alone, 
through faith alone in Christ alone. And we seek to point you 
to that Christ on a regular basis. That's privilege. You got parents 
who read scripture to you, parents who take the time to make sure 
that you know what the gospel is, parents who buy you clothes 
so that they can bring you to the church, parents that invest 
their lives in you. You know how ungrateful kids 
can be? I mean, parents do everything. And then kids say, you don't 
love me. Are you kidding me? For 15 years, 
I bought you shoes, and you're going to tell me I don't love 
you? Not that my kids ever did that. Thanks be to God Almighty. Kids, what are you doing with 
the privileges? You know what you should do with the privileges? 
Don't leave this place today till you've believed, till you've 
looked, till you've lived, till you've seen this one who's altogether 
lovely and chief among 10,000. Don't put it off. Well, I need 
to think about this. I need to think this through. 
What's to think about? God's a holy God. He's gonna 
punish miserable sinners. You're a miserable sinner, but 
God has provided his son to save such miserable sinners. The deliberation 
is over, believe. Privileges are to be improved 
upon. Thirdly, the pursuit of sin, 
and in this case particularly, riches, is the cause of great 
destruction. Remember what Judas was. He liked 
to hold the money box, didn't he? because he was so generous 
and so benevolent and liked to just spread the love wherever 
he went. Now John tells us he was a thief. The psychoanalysis that goes 
behind the betrayal of Judas, what drove him to this place? 
Maybe his parents didn't treat him right or maybe he had these 
issues or these longings or this, and he was a thief. Thievery 
undealt with leads to this sort of thing. The consequences of 
sin is not good. Proverbs 10, speaking specifically 
to money, says, treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but 
righteousness delivers from death. You hear that? Treasures of wickedness 
profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death. Spurgeon 
comments with reference to Judas's 30 pieces of silver. When he 
sold his Lord, he little thought what would be done with the money 
received as the price of betrayal. In the fullest sense possible, 
he was guilty of the blood of the Lord. That blood was upon 
him, not to seal his pardon, but to confirm his condemnation. And then finally, with reference 
to Judas, the contrast with Peter. Again, I think they're put in 
close juxtaposition so that we will make this observation. Both 
of them were disciples. Both of them had heard their 
Lord say that one would deny, one would betray. Both of them 
are given narratives to show how the Lord's words were fulfilled. Both of them went out. Remember, Peter's in the courtyard 
at Caiaphas's, and after he betrays the Lord, he hears the cock, 
he goes out, he departs, he weeps bitterly. But based on Peter's 
subsequent career, we know that he went out and he had a clear 
apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. We know 
that he would confess with the Apostles' Creed, I believe in 
the forgiveness of sins. Judas goes out and he hangs himself. Judas goes out and he destroys 
himself. Both of them fulfill Old Testament 
prophecy, but only Peter ultimately is the repentant one. And then 
finally, before we leave, we should appreciate the fact that 
this fulfills Old Testament scripture. Certainly, Judas does in particular, 
as verses 9 and 10 will make clear. Certainly, Peter does 
in terms of, you know, Zechariah chapter 13. But this particular 
scene fulfills what happens in the life of David. You say, why 
is that important? Because the confession of Christ 
in 2664 hinged upon being the son of David. It is as you say. I am David's son. I'm ultimately David's Lord. 
I'm David's son. I am the one the Old Testament 
prophets wrote concerning. You see what happens to the greater 
son happened to the lesser son. Only David's betrayer was a man 
by the name of Ahithophel. And it came at a time when there 
was usurpation in the kingdom. David's own son Absalom had made 
a ploy for the throne. And he was very successful, by 
the way. Very successful. This was a successful 
coup. And so Ahithophel at one time 
had advised and had counseled David. And then David crosses 
the brook Kedron to go to the Mount of Olives. John 18.1 tells 
us that David's greater son crosses the brook Kedron to go to the 
Mount of Olives, to go to Gethsemane, if you will. David hears that 
Ahithophel is betraying him. Jesus knows that Judas is betraying 
him. Then Ahithophel rallies up the 
troops in 2 Samuel 17 and plots a means by which he can stop 
David. Isn't that what Judas does in 
26, 14 to 16? When Ahithophel's counsel is 
not listened to, however, in 2 Samuel 17, he goes home and 
he hanged himself. What do you have in the life 
of David? You have a snapshot of the life of Jesus. What do 
you have in Matthew's gospel? You have fulfillment. You have 
Christ affirming. You have Matthew telling. No, 
screaming at us, this is Messiah. This is the one. He's the one 
in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen. Don't resist 
this. Don't reject this. Don't cast 
it off. Remember what it says concerning 
Judas in Acts 1, not only 18 and 19, but in verse 25. It says, when he died, he went 
to his own place. The ingenuity of some commentators 
try to say, well, that's Matthias taking the place of Judas. No, 
it's Judas going to his own place. Hell, destruction, damnation. Don't be a Judas. Be a Peter. anyone who repents, anyone who 
believes, anyone who looks unto this Son of David, who offers 
full, free, gracious, merciful salvation. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you 
for your word. We thank you for what our Lord went through on 
our behalf. Truly is incredible and amazing what great love you 
have for us. As our confession rightly points 
out, you are most loving. You can't increase, you can't 
diminish. We rejoice in that reality. We 
rejoice in what we see written out in the word of God. We rejoice 
to see your mercy and your grace toward us and that while we were 
yet sinners, Christ died. We thank you that you've effectually 
called us. You've given us faith and repentance. You've given 
us life and immortality through the gospel. We do pray, God, 
for any and all here that are unconverted. We pray that they 
would take these things to heart. They would listen to these things, 
they would reflect upon these things, and perhaps not outwardly 
as bad as Judas, certainly inwardly as bad as Judas. May they see 
this, may they own it, and may they go to that one who is altogether 
lovely, that one who is chief among 10,000. And may you grant 
them a clear apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, and 
may they confess with David in the Apostles' Creed, I believe 
in the forgiveness of sins. Go with us now, we pray. Grant 
us a blessed Sabbath day to rest, to enjoy you, to enjoy one another, 
and bring us together tonight that we may praise you. And we 
ask these things through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.