Sunday, July 14, 2024

PT-5 "The Contrast Between Guilty Judas and Innocent Jesus" (Matt. 27:3-5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/14/2024 8:05 AM

 

My Worship Time            Focus:  PT-5 “The Contrast between Guilty Judas and Innocent Jesus”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 27:3-5

 

            Message of the verses:  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, 4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.”

 

            I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary and I want you to think about this first paragraph as it has great meaning.  “Had Judas been able to remember one fault in Jesus, one deficiency or sin, he may have been able to rationalize his treachery.  But even Jesus’ arch enemy in the human realm could not escape confessing His innocence.  Like the Jewish religious leaders, the Roman political leaders, the false witnesses, and even the demons, Judas could find no fault in Jesus.  In His sovereign power, God caused even His enemies to testify to the Son’s sinless purity.

 

            “Yet despite his confession, Judas had not changed his mind about who Jesus was or about his own need for salvation.  He had dimply become aware of the wickedness of what he had done and wanted relief from the overwhelming guilt that now tormented every part of his being.  The money he had wanted so badly not burned in his hands like a live coal.

 

            “Sin never brings the satisfaction in promises.  Instead of happiness it brings sorrow, and instead of pleasure it produces pain.  It poisons with a pang that cannot be relieved apart from God’s forgiving grace.”  Once again I remind you of how powerful these words are, and if there is unconfessed guilt in your live, you must confess that to the Lord who will willingly forgive you.  If you have never invited the Lord Jesus Christ into your life in order to save you from your sins, then now is the perfect time to do this.  Just talk to the Lord, something that Judas was unwilling to do, and tell Him that you agree with what is in His Word, the fact that you were born a sinner because you are a part of Adams race, and that you sin because you were born a sinner and now you desire to rid yourself of the guilt that it is causing you in your life.  Just ask the Lord to save you as you confess the fact that you are a sinner and on your own can do nothing about it.  In doing this the Lord will save you, so don’t be like Judas who felt guilt but only felt remorse which certainly did not save him. 

 

            Here is what the chief priests and elders callously replied to Judas when he told them that he had sinned by betraying innocent blood.  They said to him “What is that to us?  See to that yourself!”  MacArthur goes on:  “True to the characterization Jesus had given of them a few days earlier, the religious leaders of Israel were adept at laying heavy religious burdens on men’s shoulders, while not lifting a finger themselves to help relieve those burdens (Matt. 23:4).  They had no more concern for Judas than for Jesus and were as cold-heartedly indifferent of his remorse as they were to Jesus’ innocence, which, in effect, they had already acknowledged.

 

            “Judas likely realized he was cursed, because the Mosaic law made clear that ‘cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person’ (Deut. 27:25).  But because the Sanhedrin had paid the betrayal bribe, they were hardly in a position to indict and punish Judas for taking it.  If they cared nothing for justice regarding Jesus, they certainly cared nothing for it regarding Judas, especially if it would bring their own indictment as well.”

 

            Lord willing we will finish up this section in the next SD.  It has taken longer than I thought that it would take to go through this section, yet there were things that needed to be said that I hope and pray that the Lord will use in people’s lives who read this.

 

7/14/2024 8:29 AM

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