A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
In Matthew 20:18-19 Jesus had graphically described what was awaiting: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
I. REMORSE v REPENTANCE
A. GUILT
1. APPEAL
Mt 27:3 At that time Judas, His betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned. He was regretful and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders,
2. ADMISSION
Mt 27:4a saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
Judas was filled with remorse, not repentance Even though he knew exactly what he did, Judas was more sorry for the result of his sin than for the sin itself. There is a huge difference in being sorry about sin, and being sorry for sin
II Cor 7:10 “Genuine sorrow can lead to repentance” but not the case in Judas
B. GRIEF
1. ANSWER
Mt 27:4b They said, “What is that to us? That is your responsibility.”
2. ATONEMENT
Mt 27:5a And throwing the silver pieces in the temple,
Heb 11:24-26 “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.”
II. SALVATION v SUICIDE
A. GLOOM
1. AIMLESS
Mt 27:5b he departed and went into the night
Deut 27:25 “Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person”
2. ACTION
Mt 27:5c and hanged himself.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”
Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death”
Romans 6:23b, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
Mt 8 (and many others) speak of “weeping and gnashing of teeth”
Mt 9 adds the “unquenchable fire where the worm dies not”
Mt 25 speaks of the “outer darkness””
B. GORE
1. AFFLICTION
Acts 1:18b and falling head-first his body split open and his internal organs spilled out.
2. ABANDONED
III. HYPOCRISY v PROPHECY
A. GREED
1. AMBIGUOUS
Mt 27:6 But the chief priests, picking up the silver, said, “It is not lawful to put it in the offering, since it is blood money.”
Deuteronomy 23:18 “God had forbidden to bring the price of a whore, or a dog, into the temple; this they had interpreted of all filthy gain”
2. APPROVED
Mt 27:7 So they deliberated and used it to purchase a potter’s field as a burial place for gentiles
3. AWARD
Acts 1:18a a field with the reward of his wickedness.
B. GRAVE
1. ALLOWANCE
Mt 27:8 Consequently that field has been called the Field of Blood until now,
Jeremiah 19:6 the “Valley of Slaughter” is updated in language 500+ years later as “Field of Blood”
2. ACQUISITION
Mt 27:9-10 fulfilling the prophecy in [the scroll of] Jeremiah, “And I took the thirty shekels, the value of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and I gave it for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
Zechariah 11:12-13 And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.