Scripture Reading
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.
Opening Prayer
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.
Introduction
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.
The Murderous Decision of the Sanhedrin
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.
Building the Case Against Jesus
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.
The Binding and Delivery of Christ
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.
The Miserable End of Judas Iscariot
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?
Remorse Distinguished from Repentance
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.
Judas Confesses Innocent Blood
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.
The Religious Leaders Show No Remorse
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
Judas in the Temple and His Death
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.
True Repentance Defined
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.
Application
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.
Closing Prayer
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.