Matthew Pt. 103 - Judas, Remorse, & Repentance

Pastor Jim Michael went a little too long and the coffee, the

coffee suffered for it can turn in your Bible to Matthew,

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

chapter 27. In our series on Matthew, this

is episode 102. For those who are keeping track,

it's 100 and 203. Which is it?

OK, one or two. We've walked through Matthew

verse by verse. We've watched King Jesus March

on his mission, step by step, day by day, unfazed,

undistracted, when his own. Disciples told him, Lord, don't

go to the cross, that'll never. Happen to you he said get behind

me, Satan. You're not thinking about the

things of God. You're thinking about the things

of man. So Jesus comes in on Palm

Sunday. They're.

Worshipping. They're saying blessed is he who

comes in the name of the Lord. Maybe there was some confusion,

maybe there was some. Hope, but I want to remind you

everybody who was, everybody knew who Jesus was At this

point, He's been ministering in Israel for 3 1/2 years.

You know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody at.

Least who has been healed by Jesus.

You know somebody who has been blessed by Jesus.

You know somebody who has heard Jesus preach, You know somebody

who was there that day on the mountainside when he fed

probably over 15,000 people, 5000 men for sure.

All the women and children weren't even counted.

You know, somebody was like, yeah, the bread just kept

multiplying, the fish kept multiplying.

Everybody knows Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, probably

just a few weeks ago. So everybody knows somebody who

knows somebody who knows about something about him.

Everybody's probably seen him at this point.

You've probably heard him preach at this point.

He comes to Jerusalem for all the feasts, just like every

other Jew does, and he shows up. The Pharisees don't like him.

You hear ramblings, you hear conversations, you hear debates.

But you're hopeful. You're hopeful that the Messiah

is really here to take over and conquer the Romans.

Jesus is here to conquer. Jesus is here to take over.

And like we said, he's going to do it in a way that's different

from what the Romans have always done it.

So he comes in, people are worshipping, people are

celebrating. We've walked through what's

called Holy Week day by day, where Jesus is preaching, where

he is blasting the religious leaders.

We've also clarified Jesus doesn't just blast religious

people. Because they're religious

people. Jesus doesn't go.

I hate religious people. And start blasting.

What he hates is pride and arrogance and the manipulation

that the. Shepherds of Israel.

Were. Giving to the people what he

wanted was humility. So he didn't say you're

religious leaders, I hate you, I'm angry with you.

He said you are hypocrites, you're liars, you're deceivers.

You don't want what God wants. You're pretending to be holy,

but you're not. Remember what they did?

They put the scripture, they took the scriptures of God, the

scrolls, and they would mount them on these things on top of

their head and it sticks off their head.

And then the thing became, well, who's got the biggest scripture

box? I have so much scripture in my

scripture box. Dude, you look super stupid.

And also you don't have good. Fruit in your life.

Jesus is saying I I want the fruit.

I want the heart of man, not the presentation.

Look at my robes. This tassel represents this.

That's from Deuteronomy. This tassel represents this.

Aren't you impressed? With me.

Look at me, everybody. Aren't you impressed with me?

That's what Jesus hates. Instead of Look at Jesus, aren't

you impressed with Jesus? Isn't he amazing?

Aren't you blown away at his goodness, at his grace, at his

power, at His Majesty? He walks through the week.

He offends people more and more and more.

He is setting everything up so he can go to the cross, because

it's the week of Passover. Remember in Egypt the Jewish

people were slaves in Egypt. And the Lord said, I'm going to

judge them, I'm going to condemn them.

And he said, I'm going to send the death Angel, he said.

But Moses, whoever takes the blood of the Lamb and puts it on

the doorpost, the death Angel will come and he will Passover.

He won't go in and kill the first born son, but if you don't

have the blood applied, then he will not Passover.

So now that it's time for the Passover, remember everything in

the Bible is always about Jesus. So the Passover, it really

actually happened in Egypt, just like the Bible says it did.

But also, everything's always about Jesus.

Jesus is the true and the final Passover lamb.

So he is the fulfillment of the prophecy.

That's why at the Last Supper, when they think they're eating

the Passover meal, like they've done with Jesus for multiple

years, and he goes, hey, here's the here's the drink, and here's

the bread. And they're like, Yep, just like

Moses and just like the lamb, Jesus goes, hey, stop.

This is the new covenant in my blood.

They go on. This is a different Passover

meal. He's never said that before, and

he's gone. The Passover was always about

me. I am the Passover lamb.

If you apply my blood to the doorpost of your heart, the

death Angel, the wrath of God will pass over you, and you will

be spared, and you will leave Egypt, which is representation

of our sin and slavery to Satan. And you leave Egypt, And where

do you go after Egypt? The promised land, and you enter

into God's glory. The Bible's awesome.

The Bible's way better than you thought.

The Bible's not boring, you're boring.

Everything points to Jesus. Jesus gets all credit, Jesus

gets all glory. And you see that God has

sovereignly orchestrated all of his scripture and all of history

to give himself more glory. Have you ever watched a

television series? And it was just incredible.

Like you could just tell they wrote the whole thing out before

they started making it. And by the time you get to the

last episode, you're just like, it was a masterpiece.

Have you ever seen one like that?

I haven't. I.

Always end up in the last episode and I'm just mad.

And you can tell they just like we didn't.

Know if we were going to have enough money for the next

season, so we had to write a new story and then we didn't know if

we were going to have enough money for the next season so we

had to write a new story. So it kind of ties in, but it

kind of doesn't that's not the Bible.

God saw the beginning from the end.

God is the beginning from the end, so he perfectly

orchestrates every. Single thing all the way down to

the last episode, all the way through the Book of Revelation,

when we're going to be together with him forever and it's

perfect and it's beautiful. So now that's why it's so

significant. Now on the last, the night of

the Last Supper, that was, you know, that that last night, that

Thursday night, we've come through Holy Week, that Thursday

night happens. Jesus says this is a new

covenant in my blood. They go to the garden there.

Jesus says, please pray, pray that you don't fall into

temptation. They don't pray.

Jesus prays, but the Saints don't.

And then he's arrested, the false trials have happened, and

now it's been all night long. And now we come here in chapter

27 and verse one. When morning came, all the chief

priests and the elders of the people took counsel against

Jesus to put him to death, and they bound him and led him away

and delivered him over to Pilate, the governor.

Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he

changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to

the chief priests and the elders, saying, I have sinned by

betraying innocent blood. And they said, what is that to

us? See to it.

Yourself and throwing down the pieces of silver into the

temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself, but the

chief priests taking the pieces. Of Silver said it's not lawful

to put them into the treasury since its blood money.

So they took counsel and bought with them the Potter's field as

a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been

called the field of blood to this day.

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah

saying, and they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of

him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel,

and they gave them for the Potter's field as the Lord

directed me. Lord, we thank you for your

powerful word. I pray that light and revelation

would breakthrough and that everybody would just see Jesus

with more glory today. That we would feel more

gratitude, that we would feel more safety to come in under the

blood of Jesus, to put the blood of Jesus on the doorposts of our

hearts with our faith, to trust and expect for his blessing, for

his provision, for his love and His care to save us, to

strengthen US. Holy Spirit.

Bring light. Bring.

Clarity open the eyes of every heart.

That we would be. Committed to obedience,

obedience to your word before it's even preached.

We commit to obedience and submission to you in Jesus name.

Amen. In verse one it says.

When the morning. Came all the chief priests and

the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him

to death. Does that phrase took counsel?

Sound familiar to anybody? For those of you who remember,

in Psalm 2 it says the rulers take counsel together against

the Lord and against His anointed.

That's what the rulers of the earth do.

They take counsel together and they say, how do we give the

middle finger to the one who knows, to the one we know really

rules over all of us? And that's what they're thinking

about. That's what they're planning

for. And that's what these men have

been doing against Jesus. They want to kill the author of

life. Jesus told us, remember the

parable about the man who owned a vineyard?

And he rents it out to some tenants and he goes, hey guys,

this is my place, but I'll rent it out to y'all.

And every now and then I'll send some, some of my team members

back and we'll collect the money and we'll collect the grapes and

we'll collect the wine and my portion of things.

Well, remember what happened? He sent one of his servants

back, but they beat the servant and they treated him shamefully,

and they sent him away and the masters.

Like that's crazy. I can't believe they did that.

So he sent another servant and they beat that servant.

And he did this with multiple servants and they killed some of

his servants and treated them shamefully.

And he says this is unreal. I know what I'll do.

This is a parable Jesus taught. He said I'll send my son, they

will honor and they will respect my son.

And they send the son. And it says while the tenants

saw the son was still coming, they said that is the air, let's

kill him and take his inheritance.

And they killed his son. Of course, Jesus was saying this

was a parable to show what God has done for Israel.

He sent his servants. Those are the prophets.

He sent the prophets. He sent the prophets, and they

kill the prophets, and they reject the prophets.

And finally the Father says, I'll send my son, and he sends

the Lord Jesus Christ. And they take counsel together

against the Lord and against his anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you ever taken counsel within yourself against the

Lord, shaking your fist at the Lord, or sidestepping the Lord's

authority? But of course, once the Master

finds out what they've done to his Son, he comes and he cuts

them into pieces, and he takes back his vineyard.

But these men fulfill what the rulers of the earth always do

when they're left to themselves. They Rage Against God and they

Rage Against His Christ. I want you to also notice here

in verse one, when morning came, all the chief priests and all

the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus.

All the chief priests and all the elders.

That's about 70. Some guys, you got Sadducees,

you got Pharisees, people. Who hate each other, very

different theologically, don't like each other.

You got about at least 70 guys here, not to mention all the

crowd. Remember, Jerusalem is packed

right now for the Passover. Today is the Passover.

The Passover lamb, the final Passover lamb is about to be

slaughtered. The high priest was preparing

him, even though he didn't realize it.

But they noticed what all these important men have done.

This is the busiest week of their entire year.

These are prominent men. These are not guys with nothing

to do. These are not guys who are just

wasting their days away, wasting their time, wasting their lives.

These are not guys who are just scrolling Instagram all the

time. They're responsible for a lot of

people. They're responsible for a lot of

stuff. They're.

Prominent men, and they've got tons of people who have come in,

people they haven't seen in months.

Some of these people they haven't seen since last year at

the Passover meetings that are happening.

All kinds of official business, temple business that has to

happen, managing all the sacrifices.

These are busy and important men legitimately.

And you know what they did? They pulled an all nighter so

that they could kill the Lord Jesus Christ.

The disciples of Jesus couldn't even stay awake and pray, but

the enemies of Jesus worked hard all night long.

Have you ever pulled an all nighter?

Some of us have pulled all nighters for good reason.

Some of us have pulled all nighters for bad reasons.

We won't ask which was which, but if you've ever pulled an all

nighter and then you still have to work the next day and you're

just like you're a zombie going through life.

I mean, I've. Pulled all nighters and worked

all nighters. I've worked, you know, just

multiple shifts straight. Some of you've done that kind of

thing as well. And just, you're just a zombie.

You're just worthless. These men decided it's worth it.

It's that important. It's that important that we

murder Jesus. I'll I'll sacrifice my meetings.

I'll sacrifice my sleep. Tomorrow's the Passover.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to focus on this.

We got meetings. I've got an appointment at this

time in the morning. I've got all this going on.

We've got to get this done. We've got to kill him.

We've got to stop him. Their busiest season, their

busiest day, they pull an all nighter because their hatred for

Jesus. I just want you to remember

what's the point here, Pastor? I want you to see how much when

people hate Jesus, what they're willing to.

Do to unite against him. I want you to understand that

Satan really, really hates you. I want you to understand that

the devil and his demons, they don't go to sleep.

You should go to sleep. God wants you to go to sleep.

Thankfully, Jesus doesn't go to sleep.

Just like in the garden, the Saints went to sleep when Jesus

told him not to. There's a time to stay up and

pray. There's a time to push through

with prayer and fasting. But you need to be aware that

your enemy is real and your enemy is motivated.

Satan is actually working against you.

He actually wants to destroy your marriage.

He actually wants to take your kids to hell.

He actually wants to destroy your your health, your soul,

your life every. Part of you, he really does hate

you. But I think we naively forget

that we're actually set in a war.

We're in a war. John Eldridge says it all the

time. He says, beloved, we are in a

love story. You know, that's sweet, That's

nice, That's true. And he says, But it's set in a

war. Yeah, Also true.

Definitely true. It's a love story.

Yeah, but it's set in the middle of a war.

Jesus wins and we live together forever, happily ever after.

And yet, in the meantime, there's much fighting to be

done. Christ crushed the enemy at the

cross. Satan bruised his heel, but

Jesus bruised his head. You'd rather have a heel injury

than a head injury, in case you were wondering.

So Jesus is dominant there. He's dominant through the

resurrection. He's dominant throughout

history. He's dominant in the future.

And yet you and I have to enforce that dominance.

We have to walk out the authority of Jesus.

Jesus is given authority and power to his Church, but you

will not walk in it if you have a prayerless life.

And you'll just go, If God wanted it to happen, then it

would happen. Except that's not true.

Because Jesus told Peter, pray that you don't fall into

temptation. That was a very plain statement.

If you do this, then this will happen.

If you don't do this, then this won't happen.

Pray that you don't fall into temptation.

Not Peter. It's my sovereign will.

I've preordained it. I've predestined it.

I have controlled it. You actually have no way out of

it. You will betray me, he told him.

You will betray me. But then he gives him the

warning. Peter, pray that you don't fall

into temptation. Jesus warning was not a

guarantee. It was a prophetic warning to

Peter. It didn't have to happen.

But it did happen. God sees the beginning from the

end, so he can, with precision, say what is about to happen

next. Jesus was praying all night.

He was fighting in the Spirit while his enemies were attacking

Peter and the disciples. Slept in the garden.

Why would you not pray? Or you, you say I'm going

through something even particular.

I'm going through something even stronger than normal.

I'm going through something even more difficult.

Why would you not fast, fast and pray.

Separate yourself particularly. For prayer, well, how long do I

have to? I'm not giving you parameters or

rules. I'm just saying set aside food.

It could be a meal. You just say I'm going to devote

this time to prayer. Why?

Because I need to press in and I need to breakthrough, not that

I'm going to. Earn it or deserve it?

Look, Lord, that's 45 minutes. So how about the blessings now?

It's not what's happening. Prayer is not a formula, and yet

we move things in the Spirit when we pray with our hearts,

but we must actually pray with our hearts.

More of what you're experiencing in your life is more spiritual

than you think and less natural than you think.

One pastor said. If Christians would give half

the effort that the enemy gives, we would be so completely

dominant. We need an offensive posture,

not just playing defense and hoping for the best.

People say people say things that are hopeful, but they're

not reality. They say things that imply that

things will automatically go their way.

They say things like God's got me.

I like that. But could you unpack that?

Do you mean that you're not walking by the fruit of the

Spirit? Do you mean that you're not

living a life of prayer, that you're not dependent upon the

Lord? Do you just have like a bumper

sticker statement? God's got me?

Is that just in your Instagram profile or is it like in your

heart? Because there's a.

Difference God's got me. He's not a terrible theological

statement, but it's it's it's not the most complete thing

either. So we just have to know what do

you mean and what do you? Believe keep going here in verse

2 they bound him and led him away and delivered him.

Over to pilot the governor. Why do they bind him?

He hasn't resisted arrest after he said I am.

They all fell to the ground and he basically is like, all right,

you can take me away now. But it says they bound him and

they let him away. Why?

He's already yielded himself. They bind him because it makes

him look like a criminal as they March him back and forth.

Through the city throughout the morning now.

As they go, let's go to Pilot, let's go to Harriet, let's go

back to all the back and forth that they did with with all the

commotion and all the confusion. It makes him look bad.

If the government. Wants to make somebody look bad?

They could Simply put a spectacle around that person and

let thoughtless people assume guilt.

What would you think if you saw seven cop cars roll up on your

neighbor's house? You're like, they did something

bad maybe? Or maybe the clever governments

like make sure we destroy their life, roll up with seven cop

cars, have a helicopter flying above the whole thing too.

It's just going to impose like this guilty conscience on the

whole community. And they're going to.

Be like, I know it. I know he did.

I know she did it. I'm certain.

Because they sent a helicopter. Because our government's

incapable of lying, right? They would never manipulate,

right? I'm being facetious, of course.

So they're lying about Jesus. They're they're being deceptive.

They're manipulators. But the crowd, they're hoping

might think, well, maybe he's done something wrong.

So here an innocent man is bound.

This is manipulation. These men are wolves.

These men are snakes. And why do they deliver him over

to Pilot? They deliver him over to Pilot.

Remember they just had their fake trial.

They they got themselves all hyped up, he said.

They said, are you the son of God?

He said, you say that I am. And you will see the Son of man

coming on the clouds. And they, they're outraged.

They tear their clothes, fake outrage.

You see it all the time. You see it every day if you're

on social media or if you watch the news.

News anchors who are so concerned.

Have you ever seen the clip of like 500 different news anchors

saying the exact same phrase? And they say it's a threat to

our democracy? Have you seen that clip?

It's wild. It's.

Super, super wild. I'm not making it up.

It's not AI. This is before AI.

This is like 5 minutes ago before AI.

It's a bunch of local news stations all over the nation.

But they all have this perfect script that they're reading and

somebody syncs up all the videos and shows you and they're all

standing in front of you with such concern.

And then they go, I don't even, I don't even know what they were

talking about, but they were going.

It's a threat to our democracy. And this line has been given by

someone from above and all of these networks and all now.

All of our. Local Susie, who we used to

trust, goes a threat to our democracy.

So that we would go a threat to our democracy, a threat to our,

I don't even know what it's about, but apparently something

was a threat to our democracy. How do I know?

Because I saw it on TV, That's how I know.

Delivered him over to Pilot. So why do they deliver him over

to Pilot? They had their fake.

Trial. Oh, that's where I was going.

Their fake trial, their manipulations through the night,

their fake outrage. I can't believe Jesus said this.

I can't believe it. I'm so outraged He's a threat to

our democracy. And they said what does he

deserve? And they all shout as they had

predetermined he deserves death. Which is a joke.

It's ridiculous because the Jews aren't allowed to kill anybody.

They're not allowed to execute anybody.

Why? Because when the Romans came in

and conquered them, they said, hey, we have the sword, which is

biblically accurate. The the the government has the

power to kill and to take life as given to them by Jesus wind

unrighteously, but they don't let the.

Jews do that. So now they had their little

fake pretend trial and they're like, OK, let's go get

permission from Daddy. To see if.

We can actually do the thing we just decided to do, and now

they're not going to pass. Hey.

Daddy, we had a big huffing, puffing party.

We're super mad at this guy and we need you to.

Kill him now. By the way these guys hate

Pilot, and by the way Pilot hates them.

It is a mutually hateful relationship Pilot.

Was a terrible ruler. Not every Roman ruler was as

idiotic as Pilot was, but he was really idiotic with the people

that he ruled over. So, so the ruler, you know, the,

the, the, the Caesar would, would send out different

governors over different regions to say, you get this region, you

get this region, you get this region.

Pilot was notoriously famous for being a bit of an.

Idiot. He.

Took money from the temple that's going into the people's

religious world in their Worshipful.

World which was full of corruption.

And he knew that. But still he went into their

temple and took their money to build Roman aqueducts.

And when the Jews created an uprising out of this, this is

before this is all before this situation happened.

When all this happened, this would have happened in Jesus

lifetime so he would have known about this.

When all this happened, there was an uprising and he crushed

it with violence. He eventually is recalled to

Rome because of his poor management of the region of

Judea that he's responsible for. They hate Pilate.

Pilate hates them. And now look how the enemies of

God unite still, Sadducees and Pharisees, we will unite against

Jesus. Jews and Romans, we can unite

against Jesus. All the people in the community,

people can unite against Jesus. Joe, Michael, why does everybody

hate Jesus so much? Well, everybody doesn't hate

Jesus, but those who do really do.

Why do we hate the light? Jesus told us in John 3?

Because men love their sin. That's why.

Jesus is the ultimate authority. He is over the United States

government. He is over the Israeli

government. He is over the Jewish rulership

today. He's over the body of Christ

today. I'm not saying all these people

submit to Him. I'm saying He is an authority

over all of them. He is in charge.

Everyone should submit to him. All rulers, all authorities,

when they're making their decisions should be deferring

and saying what does Jesus want? Well, I don't believe in Jesus.

Nobody asked if you believed in Jesus.

Nobody cares that you're that deluded that you don't believe

in the Lord Jesus Christ. The point is, Jesus is king.

So the question that every human should always be asking is what

does Jesus want and what pleases him?

Well, I don't quite think you still aren't hearing it.

Jesus is king. He is.

He's not going to be. He's not just king of the

Christians. Jesus is king over everything,

everybody, everywhere. This tiny little blue speck that

we call Earth, that's hanging out in our solar system, that's

hanging out in our Milky Way Galaxy, that's hanging out in

this tiny little universe. Jesus is king over all that.

This universe that they claim is expanding into something, What

must it be expanding into? It must be Jesus himself.

He's king over everything, so everyone should submit to him,

but instead they unite against him.

So Pilate has to give the permission to the Jews.

All right, we'll, we'll kill this guy for you.

But that's why there's the debate.

That's why there's the issue with him, with Pilate.

Pilate goes. OK, I know what's going on.

Here come all the Jewish elders, like this guy's giving them a

hard time. He knows what's happening.

He knows about this Jesus. He's heard the stories.

Like they hate this guy and I'd like to mess and I hate them.

So I'm actually even kind of like this guy.

And plus, my wife had a dream last night that said have

nothing to do with this man's death.

And she's scared to death. And now I'm scared to death.

And now I'm scared of this man who won't even answer to me

because it seems like he has power over me because he says

Jesus. Because pilots feel a little bit

insecure. Don't you know?

I have power over you, Jesus. Said that's cute.

You have no power over me except which was given to you from

above. But he who has delivered me over

to you is guilty of the greater sin.

He's trying to comfort Pilate. He's like, it's OK, buddy, you

can crucify me. I give you permission.

He's soothing Pilate so that Pilate will actually do the

thing. They're all a bunch of

manipulators. Pilot's a manipulator.

He's like, what am I going to do?

And the Jews are like, we only have one King, Caesar that.

One's going to come back and haunt him on the day of

judgement. So they threaten Pilot.

It's political manipulation. It's games.

Meanwhile, they think that Jesus is the is the pawn.

He's not. They're the pawns.

Jesus is fulfilling his will to save you and to save me from my

wicked sin, from my filth, from my perversion, from my pride,

from my anger, from my selfishness.

I need a Saviour and Jesus is going.

I'm going. All the way through the cross.

So they come to Pilate, they've had their fake trial, their fake

outrage. And they're demanding.

Pilate, you got to do something. This guy's the worst.

And we know from other gospels they don't even make the claims

to Pilate that Jesus made to them.

Remember, Jesus's claim is to be the Son of God.

They don't go to Pilate and say Pilate.

He's he's saying he's the son of God they come with.

Other accusations and other claims that would be more

interesting to Pilate. So they keep changing the story

because they're liars. So that's why they taken to

Pilate. Pilate has to be the one who

approves it. Now in verse 3, then when Judas

his betrayer saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind

and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests

and the elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent

blood. They said, what is that to us?

See to it yourself. And throwing down the pieces of

silver in the temple, he departed and he went and hanged

himself. What a tragedy.

At first glance, this looks like repentance.

Repentance is not just saying I'm sorry.

Repentance is also seeking the reconciliation and bringing it

all the way. Through and making it all the

way. Right.

It's not just sorry about that. I said I'm sorry.

I said I'm sorry. I used the S word SORRY.

Maybe you didn't hear me. I'm sorry.

What more could I possibly? Do, Judith.

Shows us you return the money. Just like we said with

Zacchaeus. The joy of the Lord brought real

repentance in his life, and he said, everything I've ever

stolen from anyone, I'll return it up to seven times.

That is repentance talking. That is a new heart talking.

Not I'm sorry for everything I stole from everybody in the past

and I'll never do it again. Zacchaeus, what about everybody

you stole from who's still hurting today?

How will you? Seek.

Reconciliation there. And he goes, well, I will, I'll

pay back seven times. I'll go broke to do it.

That sounds like repentance. That's like sounds like somebody

who's actually trusting the living God with their future,

with their life, with their finances, with their spouse,

with their kids. So Judas shows us this picture

man, it looks like repentance. I'm sorry for what I did and

take the money. I'm not keep I'm sorry for what

I did and I've already spent the money.

I bought a big screen TV and. I'll see y'all later, I'm going

on a nice vacation. The problem is he confessed I

have sinned. But this is remorse and it's not

true repentance. How do we know?

Because repentance leads to Jesus and repentance leads to

you being restored. That's how you know if you're

repentant, then you'll actually be fully restored because it'll

you'll run all the way back into the arms of Jesus.

There should be some scene where Judas throws the money in the

temple and says I'm sorry and they go.

Whatever. Get out of here, because they

don't. Care.

They're manipulators. And then he takes off running

and presses through the crowd, banging on doors.

Where's Jesus? Let me in.

The guards have get out of here. Like there's no pursuit of

Christ. There's no pursuit of mercy.

So unfortunately, Judas is full of remorse like we saw Peter.

He cries and he runs farther away from Jesus.

Peter is not repentant yet. He will be, thank God.

He is restored and fully repentant, but in that moment he

just runs away even farther. So Peter also had remorse, but

later he would turn. Judas seems to start in the

right direction, but he never reaches the Lord.

He confesses to men, but he does not run to God for mercy.

And of course the priests answer like the snakes that they are.

What is that to us? See to it yourself.

Dead religion has no mercy. There's no mercy in dead

religion. There's just more doing on your

part. You got to do better.

You got to try her, try harder. But dead religion has no mercy

for guilty men, The priests, Judas.

Served Judas Served their. Purposes now remember he was the

one who initiated that contact, not them.

But he served their purposes and now they're just discarding him.

They pretend like what do you mean you did something with with

money and blood, then it's not our business.

We're we're dealing with this Jesus on our terms.

If you feel bad about something, go settle it for yourself.

Unfortunately, he didn't settle it.

He didn't press through the crowd to get Jesus.

There's no movement toward the Lord.

He turns away in despair and he hangs himself.

Jesus elsewhere called Judas the son of perdition, and the book

of Acts tells us that Judas went to his own place.

It's tragic because Judas is lost.

He's gone, he's in hell. That's what we take from those

passages. Saints.

What you're supposed to take away from this is that you

should live a life of repentance, not just remorse and

not just regret. We've all seen people who have

regret. We've all seen people who have

remorse. But repentance looks different.

Repentance brings you all the way into the presence of the.

Lord, and then you get restoration.

We see in the Psalms you read David when he sends, he starts

with the regret with I am crushed and I'm overwhelmed and

I'm remorseful. But it's repentance that leads

all the way through to his redemption.

So he's, he's still seeking the Lord.

The psalmist continues to seek the Lord instead of woe is me.

And that's the end. Oh, that's not the end, though.

That's not the end. And that was Judas's problem.

That's our problem sometimes. Feeling sad, feeling guilty,

feeling ashamed, feeling remorseful over sin is not is

not the is not the whole thing that needs to happen.

The issue is where does it lead you?

Does that lead you just inward, deeper into yourself?

Deeper into shame, deeper into self hatred?

Or does it lead? You to God and the good news of

the gospel. Hey, remember the whole .0?

I'm a filthy Sinner. Congratulations, you qualify for

the gospel. Oh, I'm the worst of the worst.

Congratulations, you now qualify for redemption.

But don't stay there, don't stay.

Oh, I'm just the worst. We've all met those loved ones

who like, I could never come in. You've invited him to the church

services. I could never come in.

Lightning would strike me. And all these said, they're

like, I'm aware of the guilt, I'm aware of the shame, but they

don't believe the gospel. That was Judas's biggest

problem. He didn't believe that there was

mercy for him. You think, oh, poor guy.

No, not poor guy. He didn't believe the gospel,

that he could believe. Jesus calls sinners to himself.

Jesus calls the sick to himself. It's not enough to say, I see

how sick I am. I can list all my diseases.

I can list all my problems. The question is whether that

realization drives you to the great physician or to despair.

Jesus is the great Physician who restores you.

And gives your new health and a new identity.

Charles Spurgeon, he's a famous dead preacher.

He said despair is not the child of repentance.

So he's saying repentance does not give birth to despair.

Despair is the child of unbelief.

I'm in despair. I'm crushed.

I'm overwhelmed. It's because you don't believe

the gospel. No, I do.

No, you don't. You just don't.

I'm not mad at you, but I am diagnosing you.

You don't believe the gospel. That's why you're stuck in this

deep hole, this black hole that you just keep falling deeper

into somehow. There's no way out.

Believe the gospel, friends. Believe the gospel.

What is it? God really loves you.

Yes, you are sinful. We'll tell the whole story, not

just half of it. God loves you.

Well, the good news? That's good news, because you're

not. Lovable.

The bad news is I'm not lovable and I don't deserve anything

good. And the better news is but God,

who is rich in mercy, while we were still sinners, sent his Son

to die for us. Believe that, believe that

gospel. Oh, but my past, my sin, I just

can't forgive myself. The scripture doesn't say

anything about forgiving yourself.

It's just receive forgiveness from God.

I know God's forgiven me, but I can't forgive myself.

I don't love that language and it's definitely not Bible

language. Just believe the gospel and

receive forgiveness from God. When you've received forgiveness

from God, you won't. Stand in the way of your own

forgiveness. Our root issue when we stay

stuck in despair and shame and self hatred is unbelief.

Repent and believe the gospel. That is the command.

That is the invitation. That is the good news.

Judas believed there was no mercy for him, and that is why

people stay away from the Lord. They know how sick they are, but

they won't run to the doctor. Shame keeps them away.

Embarrassing. I should have never got this

sick. I feel so embarrassed that I

ever got this sick. I shouldn't have let it go this

far. My friend.

Run to the cross. You'll find nothing but love and

restoration. Look again to the prodigal son.

He's on. I can't believe I've come this

far. I can never go back to Dad's.

I can never go back to Dad's. I can never go back to Dad's.

I've slept with all these women. I've drank all this alcohol,

done all these drugs. I can never go back to Dad's.

But thankfully, he kept going lower.

And he did find a rock bottom. And he did find like, OK, even I

have a limit. I'm feeding pigs, which were

unclean animals, which was, it would have been just a horrific

part of that story that Jesus inserted there to twist the

knife. And he's also desperate.

For the food that the pigs are. Eating and he's gone.

Maybe I can go back to Dad's house and be a servant.

I can never be his son again. I can't have an inheritance.

I can't be treasured and beloved, but I could be a

servant. So remember the story he's

rehearsing his his speech on his way back because I'm so sorry.

Dad's speech. Can I be a servant in your

house? And the father sees him and

Jesus scandalizes his listeners again.

And he says, and the father runs to him.

A Jewish man would not run to his kid.

The Jewish man is the one in authority.

He is the one in with presence. He is the one who's planted.

You will come to him to show honour, to show respect, which

is appropriate and fine except that the love of God overtakes

him and he runs to his son and he sprints to him.

Though the listeners can't believe this story.

They couldn't believe the filthy pigs.

They couldn't believe the audacity of this kid who said

give me my inheritance early. They couldn't believe his sin.

They couldn't believe his wickedness.

And now they can't believe he thinks he's even going to return

to be a servant. And they're like, and Jesus just

flips everybody upside down and goes, look at the love of God

for you people. And he starts, he runs to his

son and he's starting. He can't even get his speech

out. Dad, I'm such a loser.

Dad. I'm so sorry.

Dad. I've never been able to forgive

myself. Dad, I hate myself.

Dad, I'm so gross. Dad, let me tell you about all

these. And he goes, My son, you were.

Dead. Now you're alive.

You're a lost. Now you're found.

And he's immediately interrupting the son.

Kill the fatted calf. Kill our best cow.

Bring a gold ring. Sandals on his feet, robe around

him. I'm quoting Jesus to you.

Believe Jesus. You don't have to believe me.

Believe Jesus. Believe the gospel that God

really loves you, man. But my sin, you're not that

special. Your sin's not that special.

My sin's not that special. Our sin's bad.

It's so bad that Jesus had to die for it.

None of this came cheaply, but it does come freely.

There is a kind of turning that never really reaches the Lord

though. It just stays stuck in that

cycle of shame. And then the accuser jumps on

top of it. That's what that's what Judas

was feeling. That's what he was experiencing.

He wasn't believing. And confession alone is not

salvation. With the heart.

One must believe, and then confession is made unto

salvation. I am thoroughly and tragically

convinced that many people, especially in the United States

of America, have made confessions that do not produce

salvation in their lives because they have been trained

exclusively to say with their mouth the right things and

repeat after me the right things.

But there's two parts to that. It's with the heart you believe.

And then the an outflow of that is the mouth makes the

confession. That's how it works.

You can't have mouth confession. We can teach.

Birds to talk like us birds don't experience the new birth

of the Lord Jesus Christ. So parrots saying things or AI

saying things like. It's just it's, it's just breath

and vocal cords. It means a lot when it's

believed in the heart, but you can't have one without the

other. And if you have the heart, you

will always have the mouth as well, John Owen, another dead

preacher, said. A man may have a sense.

A man may have a deep. Sense of sin and still have no

hatred of it. Oh, I'm so sinful.

I'm so sinful. Do you hate it?

I didn't say that. I just, I'm aware of it.

I'm honest about it. I guess it's better than lying

about it. I suppose, but unfortunately the

the end outcome would be the same.

Repentance, though, focuses on offenses against God, whereas

remorse focuses on the consequences of sin.

RC Sproul said that remorse focuses on the consequences of

sin. Oh, I hope I can get out of

this. Repentance focuses on the fact

that I've offended God. This is a good way to assess

yourself. Of course you feel the

consequences of your sin and we don't want them.

That's obvious, but are you crushed also by the fact that

you have sinned against God? What is your response when you

fail? Do you run to the Lord?

Not with bravado, not with cockiness, not with swagger, But

do you run to the Lord? Real restoration looks humble.

It looks broken over sin, but there's also confidence in His

mercy at the same time. Go to the throne of grace, that

you may obtain help in the time of need.

Romans 81 says there is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Keep going here in verse 6. But the chief priests, taking

the pieces of silver, said it's not lawful to put them into the

treasury, since it is blood money.

These these hypocrites just doing their thing still.

So they are. They're referring to a law and

Deuteronomy, it talks about like corrupt money can't be used as a

temple offering. So here here are these.

Murderers are murderers. Are going wait a second, we

would need to follow the Bible. We need to obey this specific

thing. This is exactly what Jesus is

talking about when he says you hypocrites, you strain the gnat,

but you swallow the camel. It was a funny.

Figure of speech that he made. But it's also referring to what

people do with their sin. People pick these random things

to obey and these small things to obey.

I obey God, meanwhile endorsing the worst thing over here.

So the idea is that they that you've got a cup of wine and

there's a little gnat that gets into your wine and you go, Oh my

goodness. And you strain out the little

Nat you. That's better.

Meanwhile, there's a giant camel sitting in your glass of wine

and you swallow them down hole. That's the hypocrisy of them.

They're going, wait a second, this is blood money.

This man says that it's blood money.

We don't know anything about it as being blood money, but

they're pretending that he's just separate from what they've

just done. And they're saying, but if it's

blood money we shouldn't put in the temple treasury, what should

we do? And then they determine we're

going to buy the field and bury foreigners in it and all this

other stuff. Meanwhile, they're swallowing

murder, but they're going to keep the law as you.

Should by the way. They walk in obedience, we walk

in all the. Obediences.

But this is their hypocrisy, meticulous about the small point

of the law by neglecting one of the 10 commandments and

murdering. They want to be able to say,

look how much we care about the law while bigger evils are

taking place in front of them. So ask yourself, what gnats,

What small things are you rigorous about?

And are there any camels that you're swallowing right down?

I make sure I make sure I do this.

Sin makes you stupid. And sin also makes you

superstitious. It makes you believe weird stuff

and think weird stuff and do weird stuff.

You're like, I would never do this.

And you, like, you make it a really big deal.

And Scripture does mention it, so you should obey it.

And yet you have, like, magnified it to a place that

Scripture hasn't. Meanwhile, Scripture has

magnified this thing over here. And you're like, yeah, well, I

kind of interpret that differently.

This is a gnat. That you're, that you're.

Straining and a a camel that you're swallowing.

Religious men do obedient things sometimes they did an obedient

thing. They followed the law.

OK, so don't be shocked and yourself don't be shocked and

though I can point to some good fruit you just pointed out a

pile of gnats. Is that the?

Good fruit. You're pointing to the things

that the Scripture really minimizes.

What about all the things that the Scripture maximizes?

I'll give you the highlight. It's called loving God and

loving others. How does that?

Look, how does your love walk? Look, how well do you love

Christians? How well do you love your

enemies? Those are the camels that we

need to be prioritizing. We're closing verse 7.

So they took counsel. There's that phrase again.

They took counsel and they bought with them.

They bought with the money the Potter's field as a burial place

for the strangers. So normally only locals would be

buried within the city. So they would be responsible.

The Jewish leaders would be responsible for burying

outsiders, but they'd have to do it in fields around the

community. So that's what they use this

money for. They buy this field for

strangers. It was likely called a Potter's

field, probably because clay at some point has been extracted

there. This is fulfilling prophecy.

This is prophesied in Zechariah. Matthew says Jeremiah.

He's probably using a, a literary tool there to just say

Jeremiah was like considered the head of the prophets.

So if if you look this up and you're like, wait, that's in

Zechariah. Yes, it is.

But that was a common thing where Matthew's like like

Jeremiah prophesied. He's like the head of the

prophets and Zechariah is one of them.

So that's what's going on there. Again, nothing to be troubled

by. So he's referencing this has

been fulfilled. Once again we see God seeing the

beginning from the end, knowing what was coming, knowing what

was going to happen. And it's become known as the

field of blood because it was purchased with blood money.

Verse 9 then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet

Jeremiah saying, And they took the 30 pieces of silver, the

price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of

Israel, and they gave for them the Potter's field, as the Lord

directed me. So if you go read that passage

in Zechariah, you see Zechariah is actually like living out a

role play as the prophets would do sometimes they would like do

like visible demonstrations as to almost not a not not like

putting on a play for Israel. But the Lord said, I want you to

do this, I want you to do this. And they would have to be

symbolically demonstrating what was going on.

And Zachariah had to do some particular things there with 30

pieces of silver, all prophesying how Jesus was going

to be betrayed and how he was going to be sold and rejected by

his own people. What are we supposed to take

from all that? Again?

That God is awesome. That He sees the beginning from

the end. He knows exactly what men will

do. Even though He does not force

your sinful behavior, He can still say with exact precision.

Who will do what on what? Day, but the good.

News is that your story is not over.

You can still repent and believe the gospel.

You can reject a life like Judas who just feels despair and a

crushing weight of sin. We got to start there.

But we cannot stay there crushed by sin, and then believe the

gospel like Peter and be transformed by it and keep

walking with the Lord. Hebrews 415 and 16 says, For we

do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our

weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we

are, yet without sin. Let us then, with confidence,

draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help. In time of need.

Wow, I'm a supposed I'm supposed to approach God's throne of

grace with boldness? Why?

Bold? Because I believe that Jesus was

enough. Not bold because I go.

I'm John Michael Clarke, and I know who I am.

Yeah, pipe down with that nonsense.

Bold because Jesus is so good. Bold because I'm so confident in

the love of God. Bold because Lord, I believe

your word. So who am I to continue to can

just bathe in my shame when you've provided resurrection and

righteousness for me to be cleansed by?

2nd Corinthians 710. For godly.

Grief produces A repentance that leads to salvation without

regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

That is Peter and Judas in one verse.

I'll read it. Again, 2nd Corinthians 710 godly

grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without

regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

What am I supposed to do today? Believe, believe.

Believe that God is merciful. Believe, believe.

Believe that God loves you. Believe and approach the throne

of grace with boldness. There is a mechanism for the

mercy that God provides. Somebody suffered.

He is not ignoring justice. He's not going.

It was really bad. But you know what?

It's all right. That is not the gospel.

That's not what's happening at all.

God is saying I am rigid and I am perfect in my justice and

some blood must be shed. There can be no forgiveness of

sins without the shedding of blood.

Somebody is going to suffer for sin.

God determined it. God decided it.

Why? I thought God was loving.

He is loving. He is also just right.

If we went into the courtroom. And the judge looked at the

murderer who killed our family member and the judge said.

Case dismissed. Is that a good judge?

Yes or no? Say no?

No, because he's unjust. Well, I think.

He was loving to the murderer. No, he wasn't.

Love always does what's right. Love does what's best.

Love doesn't do what people want.

Love does the right thing. So God doesn't just say, ah,

case dismissed. God says all of my wrath is

pointed at Jesus on the cross. And Jesus said that's what I

came. For I came to suffer.

I came to be the sacrifice. Believe that God is that good.

Believe that God loves you. Believe that God is that

forgiving. He doesn't overlook your sin.

He puts your sins on Christ. And then Christ's righteousness

can come to you. If you believe it, then you can

receive it. Then you can be saved.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for Jesus.

Thank you for. Your perfect plan.

That you formed before the foundation of the world, where

Jesus was always prepared to come.

Thank you for his perfect faithfulness.

God, I thank you for these people today who have heard your

word. I thank you for the freedom that

you have provided. I thank you for the light and

the hope that you've given. I thank you.

For forgiveness, God, I pray for every single person right now

who feels any degree of weight or shame or condemnation, and I

pray that they would believe the gospel, that they would respond

to the good news of the cross and the resurrection.

A God who loves them, a God who forgives them, not because he's

weak and he overlooks sin, not because he's unjust and he

pretends they didn't do it, but because he says, I will put your

sins on my son and I will put my son's righteousness on you and I

will make you a new creation. Believe the gospel and then

confess that Jesus is Lord, and then, yes, you will be saved.

God will give you new desires. He'll give you New Hope.

He'll give you new want to thank you, Lord, for the

salvation that you're bringing to people's hearts right now, as

they call upon you, as they trust in you, as they are

washed, shame washed away, the voice of the accuser silenced,

sin broken, and a new heart installed.

Thank you for the new birth and for bringing.

People into the light, we love you Lord, we thank you in Jesus

name and now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.