"Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.
Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. The
chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to
put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood." And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're glad to have you here with us for worship service today. I pray we will all be blessed as we study God's Word together.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're glad to have you here with us for worship service today. I pray we will all be blessed as we study God's Word together.
As I had mentioned before, we are extremely blessed to be able to partner with Vanessa Taylor at Go Ye Kids
children's ministry in providing printable biblical resources for
children, many of them free. Please be sure to thank her and let her
know that you heard about her here. I'm
sure most of you have heard the reports of Christian persecution
increasing in recent days in a number of countries throughout the world.
I humbly ask you would join us in praying for our brothers and sisters
who are facing severe persecution, that their witness would help to turn
the hardened hearts of their persecutors, leading others to Christ as
their personal Lord and Savior. that their suffering would not be in
vain, but glorify our Lord.
As we return to our study in the book of Matthew, we embark on a new chapter, Matthew 27:1-10. When we have done something wrong, and we begin to feel guilty, we try to think of some way to make things right. Guilt, can be complicated, with it comes a lot of emotional distress, which can be debilitating, making it difficult to move on. Owning up to our mistakes isn't easy, realizing we're responsible for the hurt and pain others are suffering as a result of our actions.
Both repentance and remorse come from making poor decisions, making us feel terrible, however they are two different emotions, with two very different outcomes. Remorse, is when we regret a wrong committed, but not enough to change our ways. Like when you received a speeding ticket, you may slow down temporarily but eventually you go back to your old habit. Repentance is a much deeper emotion, a godly sorrow, that is the catalyst that brings us to the point of feeling truly sorry, enough to cause us to change our ways. Feeling remorse is temporary, true repentance is life changing. Judas changed his mind, but he failed to change his heart.
2 Corinthians 7:10, "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." If you're not sorry enough to turn away from your sinful life, if you can continue to sin in spite of having a relationship with Christ, maybe you’ve never really given your life to Jesus. Destroying the sinful habits and patterns in our lives is a lifelong battle we must wage for the sake of spiritual growth.
All across America, many professing Christians in the church are
practicing shameful lifestyles that are little different than those of
unbelievers. I believe it's because there is little preaching against
sin in today’s pulpits. Churches that do stand in opposition against sinful behaviors and
lifestyles, rarely do anything to hold Christians accountable for their
behavior. Scripture makes it very clear, those who profess to be Christians,
yet practice a habitual lifestyle of sin and immorality, are really not
Christians. It doesn’t matter whether they claim! It is the Holy Spirit in our lives that shapes our wills to lay aside sinful attitudes and behavior to obey Scripture, adding the grace of spiritual growth.
Matthew 7:21, "Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
In Jesus' name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: Judas' Remorse and the Potter's Field
According to the CDC, in 2021 suicides increased after two consecutive years of decline. Globally, suicides account for 800,000 deaths every year - that's twice the number from homicide. The highest suicide rates, per 100,000, in the US are
among white males or 26.4%, followed by American Indian/Alaska Native
males or 25%, and Black males or 14.1%. Since Sept. 11, 2001, just over 30,000 veterans have died by
suicide — four times more than the number of U.S. military personnel
who died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Since Covid-19, 1n 4 young adults have struggled with suicidal thoughts. The data reveals there is one suicide every 10.9 minutes in the US, and it is the 11th leading cause of death. It begs the question, why do so many people kill themselves?
The specific reasons that people attempt suicide are varied, there are many factors that play a role, but it is said that mental health plays a significant roll in most suicides. It is estimated that around 90% of people who die by suicide, have some sort of mental health issue, resulting in pain that is unbearable. The most common cause of suicide is untreated depression, when people think their situation is hopeless and will never get better. A particularly common reason among the elderly, is they've lost their spouse and rather to live without them, they take their life. Others take their life out of frustration, for whatever reason, they think it will end whatever struggle they are dealing with and would rather be anywhere but here.
There are only two recorded suicides in Scripture, in the classic sense, the first, in the Old Testament was Ahithophel who betrayed David in 2 Samuel 17, and the second, was Judas Iscariot, here in Matthew 27, in the New Testament. It is interesting to note, that in both cases, they took their lives out of the guilt of betraying an innocent person. While Saul also took his life, being defeated by the enemy, was unable to deal with the anxiety of being captured and his armor bearer died with him, that was a little different scenario. I believe that Judas was the greatest human tragedy ever, because he lived in such close proximity to our Lord, he was exposed to His teaching, witnessed many miracles, he had the most potential promise. There were really only two ways for Judas to deal with his guilt, one was to seek forgiveness through repentance, and the other was death. Judas made the decision to bring his life to its very tragic end, by hanging himself. Even though suicide is an act of death against self, it is a rebellion against God and a violation of the sixth commandment in Exodus 20:13, "You shall not murder."
In spite of how it may appear at first glance, Matthew is presenting us with innocence, the purity, and the perfection of Christ rather than the guilt and very tragic ending to the life of Judas Iscariot. For just a brief moment, Matthew takes us away from the unjust, illegal trial of our Lord held by the religious leaders of the Sanhedrin, and contrasts it against the death of Judas Iscariot, His betrayer. Wickedness, energized by Satan, is trained to betray righteous. Though the wickedness of these men and how they were affected by Jesus is different, tragically, neither understood that all they needed was to be made right was Jesus.
In our last message, Jesus has been tried before the Jewish courts. The wickedness of His enemies, the religious leaders, who tried to discredit Jesus that framed Him, found Him guilty of a crime that He didn't commit, that would ultimately lead to His crucifixion. He's going to be sent over to Pilate, the Roman governor, because the Jews have no right to crucify anyone.
However, the wickedness against Jesus did not begin with the betrayal of Judas; the unjust, cruel treatment and mock trial of the Sanhedrin or even His unjust death on the cross. Wickedness actually began vigorously working
at His birth, when Herod learned of the news of His birth and in seeking
to kill Him, had all the male babies under the age of two, slaughtered
in and around Bethlehem.
Open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter twenty-seven, verses one through ten. I
invite you to follow along with me as I read to set the text in our
minds, as we look at today's text through the eyes of Matthew, as inspired
by the Holy Spirit. So let's open our hearts and our minds
to see what the Spirit of God has
to say us today. Matthew 27:1-10.
"Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.
Then
when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he
felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief
priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. The
chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to
put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood." And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me."
Let's look at verse 1, "Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death."
The Jewish trial is over, Jesus has been bound, illegally detained there in the house of Caiaphas until the dawn, so it would appear to have been a legal trial. Remember, His trial actually occurred in the middle of the night, between 1:00AM and 3:00AM. And the law requires it be held in the daytime, in the judgment hall. They were afraid of the reaction of the people, they knew they were in violation of the law, so they wanted to make the whole thing appear to be legal.
Luke 22 says, "When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber." They all came together, so the whole corrupt gang is there. They already rendered their verdict before the trial, this is just for formality, the right place at the right time, to have the illusion of legality, they waited until dawn to have a quick trial in the judgment hall. We already know the verdict was unanimous or close enough to render the anticipated verdict. Again, we don't know if Joseph of Arimathaea was there or didn't consent to the death of Christ. Scripture doesn't tell us.
Verse 2, "And they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor." Being under Roman occupation, who had only the right of execution. In
other words, they want Jesus dead, they knew they had no right to do
what they already decided would be done. They had no legitimate
accusation against Christ.That's the problem. Wickedness will always
seek to preserve itself while leading others to slaughter. So, they had
to take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, who was already at Fort Antonia in
Jerusalem, in the event of a potential problem because it was the
Passover. Jewish law required them to remain in session, to ensure
protection against the hasty execution of someone who might be innocent,
death couldn't occur on the day of the decision. But instead they left to take their new information to Pilate. Pilate, who was apparently not threatened by Jesus since he had not taken action against Him earlier.
Verse 3, "Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders." We don’t know whether or not Judas was one of their false witnesses testifying against Jesus, or he was just hanging around to see the outcome of the trial. But Matthew says he saw Jesus had been condemned by the council. We don't know if he was inside or outside, but apparently he was close enough to know Jesus had been condemned and see them march Jesus over to Pilate.
Some have suggested that Judas was convicted or that is was his fear of God. I doubt that either of those reasons would have been the issue, I believe if that were true, he would have sought to resolve his guilt by repenting. Keep in mind, Scripture says in the upper room, the night of the Last Passover, Satan entered into Judas. Even evil, wicked men cannot escape the divinely designed warning of impending Hell. There is an emotional sorrow that leads to remorse and then there is a gut wrenching sorrow that leads to repentance. He was only sorrowful enough to eliminate his emotional distress, he wanted relief for betraying innocent blood, not restoration of his soul. According to Eusebius, the Greek historian of Christianity, Pontius Pilate also committed suicide during the reign of Emperor Caligula.
Verse 4, here comes Judas confessing his guilt, that his testimony was false before the chief priests and elders, "saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" The whole process must have been more than his greedy mind could deal with, it was enough to cause Judas to regret his decision to betray Jesus, because he changed his mind, he was tormented with guilt, admitting to the chief priests and elders that Jesus is innocent and returned the thirty pieces of silver. They don’t want to hear it, there's no concern for his soul, because they knew they were guilty of wrongdoing, they would have to retry Jesus based on his new testimony.
According to Deuteronomy 16, they should have taken his life for bearing false witness, but they couldn't afford to be exposed as the criminals that they were. Deuteronomy 27:25, "Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’" They would have been impeached, removed from their positions of power. Whether they felt guilt or not doesn't matter, the fact is, they were guilty before God.
That's what the conscience is for, to accuse you when you have sinned. Romans 2:15 says, "The Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them."
Verse 5, "And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself." That's the way sin works, sinners will try to justify their actions. Judas initially justified his betrayal, because things weren't going the way he thought, but realized he couldn’t find one thing to justify his actions, he couldn't escape his guilt, the Sanhedrin justified their reasons for wanting Him dead, their illegal actions to accomplish their plans.
Sin is enticing, you may have the temporary sensation of pleasure, but afterwards, there's an uneasiness in your soul, it gives you nothing but a guilt. And I’m grateful for that, there are many things I've said or done that I wish I could go back and undo. Today, people say guilt is unnecessary, a waste of time, you shouldn't feel guilty for the things you've done. It's not your fault, so just forget about. Guilt is the spiritual equivalent of pain, a built in mechanism, God's way of warning you something is wrong between you and God and He wants you to rectify it. Guilt leads you to be sin conscious. I want you to understand, guilt is a means of grace, to remind us of our need for our Savior. If you don't acknowledge your sin, you're are cut off from God. Deal with your guilt, don't just blame it on someone else. Otherwise, you're guilty before God. That's why the world, under the influence of Satan, wants to eliminate it.
I can't go back and erase any wrongs I've done but I have been able to apologize to those I've hurt, asking for their forgiveness. Except for the grace of God, sin will eventually destroy your life. Death doesn’t relieve guilt, only God can relieve our guilt. However, He does not necessarily remove the consequences of our actions. You may have to deal with them the rest of your life. Judas should have went to Christ and repented, instead he hanged himself to relieve his guilt, he only intensified it. Whatever guilt Judas suffered before he hanged himself, it made it permanent. There was no relief, just more pain. I can only imagine the enormous guilt that Judas must have felt, betraying Jesus for money. That's why he threw the 30 pieces of silver right into the holy place, reserved only for priests, forcing them to take it back. Judas' story is a tragic one, searching for relief from his guilt, he would experience the judgment of God.
John 17:12, "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled."
In Matthew 26:24, Jesus said, "But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born."
Verse 6, "The chief priests
took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to put them into
the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood." It's shocking, even with all their unlawful activity of bribing false witnesses, a mock trial, they choose now to become lawful. Here's the testimony of the whole Sanhedrin, it's blood money! We can't put it into
the temple treasury. They certainly didn’t mind taking it out of the temple treasury to bribe Judas, to pay false witnesses in order to have Jesus killed.
Verse 7, "And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers." In other words, they held a meeting to decide what to do the 30 pieces of silver. They voted to buy the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers, a common grave for the unknown. Once, it had been a place where potters collected high-quality, deeply red clay for the production of ceramics, but once all the clay had been removed, it was just a field. I'm sure in their warped minds, they probably saw it as an act of charitable, a good deed. It actually compounded their hypocrisy.
Verse 8, "For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day." Now, you have the testimony of the people of Jerusalem, the Potter’s Field, thirty years later, it is known as the field of blood, fulfilling the plan of God, before the foundation of the world, spoken by the prophet, attributed to Jeremiah. You can’t make it fit into Jeremiah, because it's not there.
The problem is, the Jews divided the Old Testament into three sections; the Law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms. In Luke 24:44,
Jesus said "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still
with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses
and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." The Law refers to five books of Moses', the Pentateuch.
Psalms were the wisdom literature. In rabbinic tradition, Jeremiah was at the top of the prophetic manuscripts, the Talmud was the central text in Jewish theology, expanded upon the Mishnah, with a commentary on the legal section of the Torah, he was first. The Holy Spirit, Who inspired Matthew to write his Gospel, knew this and attribute the quote to Jeremiah, which explains why Matthew quoted Jeremiah by name, the "major" prophet, it's not a contradiction as some have suggested. The field that Jeremiah mentions is a symbol of hope, not despair. However, it is said that all of the original manuscripts of the book of Jeremiah have not been found, even to this day. So, it's possible that these words were mentioned by the prophet Jeremiah.
That brings us to verses 9-10, "Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me." This comes as a direct prophecy from Zechariah chapter 11, who mentions both the 30 pieces of silver and the Potter’s Field. "I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord."
All the participants in this heinous crime have testified to Jesus' innocence, acknowledging that everything about it was wrong. Everybody knew Jesus was innocent. This is the process by which Jesus, the Son of God, the spotless Lamb of God would be inspected.
After the Jewish religious leaders brush aside Judas, testifying that they bribed traitor, acknowledging that they have blood money in their hands, they carried on with their next step, which is to take Jesus to Pilate, they thought they were doing their work, but it was all God's plan, so prophecy would be fulfilled. Come back next time.
In Closing..
God's will is not for you to have to live guilt, or to try and deal with it your own way. He wants you to come to Him, for mercy, grace and forgiveness of sin. When you have been freed from guilt, there is a peace beyond understanding. Guilty people are no longer condemned, but pardoned by God's grace.
1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That's the Good News of Jesus Christ.
If you are living in guilt and shame, I pray that you will humble yourself today, confess your sins, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him for your salvation. Jesus was willing to be punished, like the guilty, so that you will not!
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved