If you would turn with me to
Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27. In verse one we read, when the morning
was come, that being the morning of the Lord's crucifixion, All
the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against
Jesus to put him to death. Now, I want you to remember that
this isn't the Romans or the Roman government conspiring to
put Christ to death, but this is the Jews, the Lord's own people. And they're taking counsel together. They're putting their heads together,
so to speak. They're conspiring, they're planning,
they're scheming to put the Lord Jesus to death. Yet we know that
it was a different counsel that was behind it all. And that being
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, according to Acts 2,
23. Verse two we read, and when they bound him, let me add there
that he allowed them to bind him. And they led him away. He allowed them to lead him away. And he delivered them to Pontius
Pilate the governor. He allowed all of it. How do
I know that? Because the scriptures say that
no man took his life, he laid it down. He laid it down. He had the power to lay it down
and he had the power to take it up again. The scriptures say
that when the Lord Jesus died, that he gave up the ghost. Did you know that Jesus Christ
was the only one who ever lived and whom death ever required
permission to take? That's right. And we read here
in verse two that they delivered the Lord to Pilate. And you remember
that story. Pilate asked him some questions.
He said, the Jews say that you're the king of the Jews, are you?
And the Lord wouldn't answer him a word. And Pilate said,
so, and I'm paraphrasing, but he said, so, you're not going
to answer me. Don't you know who I am? Don't
you know the power that I have? Don't you know, Pilate said,
I have the power to kill you. I've got the power to crucify
or to let you go free. And the Lord said, you don't
have any power. You don't have any power, but
the power I give you, that thou couldest have no power at all
against me, except it were given thee from above. Verse three,
then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he, that
being Christ, was condemned, repented himself and brought
again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and elders,
saying, I have sinned and that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. Notice that definite article
there, the innocent blood, the only one. with innocent blood. And notice what they said. What
is that to us? See thou to that. Now that statement
that these hateful, resentful, envious, godless men gave to
Judas was what many years ago, originally drew my attention
to this passage of scripture. Think about this. Judas saw that
what he had done, his betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ, had
brought condemnation upon him. Verse 2 says, and they bound
him and led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate. There,
he's on his way to being crucified. He seems, Judas does, to be genuinely
sorrowful for what he's done. He returns to give them back
the money that he'd received. But notice what they say to him.
They say, what is that to us? See thou to that. Was it nothing
to them when they thirsted for his blood? Was it nothing to
them when they hired Judas to betray him? Now in other words,
what they're saying here is this. Be sure you get this. What they're
saying is, what's that to us? That's your problem. You see
to that yourself. You brought this upon yourself.
You deal with this thing on your own. And isn't this such a sad
story? Judas lived and he died a sad
life. You know, we really know nothing
of Judas before his name appears on the list of apostles. Obviously,
Judas had great hopes of the promised Messiah. I have no doubt
that he heard John the Baptist preaching. Maybe he was even
there the day that John said, behold, the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. In all likelihood, The path of
evil that came upon Judas gradually unfolded itself against him.
Somewhere along the line, the money and the offerings that
the Lord and his disciples received fell under Judas's care. He was
the one who carried the purse or the bag. And as their following
increased, Judas was undoubtedly entrusted with larger sums of
money. And it seems as though through
the scriptures we see the covetousness and unfaithfulness and even embezzlement
raised their ugly head in his heart. Several times he showed
his tendency to greed and selfishness until it grew worse and worse
until he finally betrayed his master for 30 pieces of silver. Turn back a page, you may not
even have to, but look at chapter 26, verse 14. Then one of the twelve, called
Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priest, and he said unto
them, What will you give me? What will you give me? And I'll
deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him
for 30 pieces of silver. I looked that up. I don't know
how accurate it is, but in today's market, that's somewhere around
$350. $350, give or take a few dollars. Verse 16, and from that
time, He sought opportunity to portray
Him, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what an illustration
we have here of men and women by nature. We see just how quick
a man can go from trusted servant to a traitor. May God enable us to never think
of ourselves too highly. I'm telling you, friends, We
are capable of doing the most horrific things if God would
leave us to ourselves. Do you see that concern in yourself?
If you don't, then I'm afraid you still think of yourself a
bit too highly. The child of God knows what they're
capable of and it sickens and it concerns them deeply. Now, back in chapter 27, verse
5 we read, "...and he cast down," that being Judas, "...he cast
down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and
went and hanged himself." Now what went wrong here? You read
these verses and you think to yourself, what went wrong here? Again, hold your place here in
Matthew 27. And look over at Acts chapter 1 with me. I won't
show you this. Let's take the time to look at
it. Acts chapter 1. In verse 16, Acts chapter 1 verse 16, we're
told that Peter said, men and brethren, This Scripture must
needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of
David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them
that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us,
and had obtained part of this ministry." You see, Judas was
one of the twelve apostles. He was among the Jews, the covenant
people of God. He looked for the promise of
a coming Messiah. He had a good name. The name
Judas comes from the name Judah, which means praise. Undoubtedly,
his parents were God-fearing Jews or they wouldn't have given
him that good name. And as we already said, he was
a trusted servant. He was entrusted with the money.
And look at verse 18. Now this man purchased a field
with the reward of iniquity, and falling headlong, he burst
asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Now we're
told in Matthew 27 that Judas hanged himself, and then we're
told here in Acts chapter one that he fell headlong and burst
asunder and his bowels gushed out. I say, oh, what a fall. Judas went from entrusted servant,
as I said, to a fallen traitor, and then from a fallen traitor
to a pile of rotting flesh. Some commentators think that
the gallows he used to hang himself broke, and he fell headlong to
that grotesque end. And others seem to think that
this gives reference to what happened to him when they took
him down from the gallows. and threw him in an open grave
in the potter's field, which he with his own money had bought.
Regardless of how it occurred, it occurred. No contradiction
of scripture here. And speaking of Judas himself,
the Lord said in Matthew 26 verse 24, but woe unto that man whom
the son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that
man if he had not been born. And then we read here that all
Jerusalem heard about Judas' tragic end. Look at verse 19
here in Acts chapter 1. And it was known unto all the
dwellers of Jerusalem, insomuch that the field is called in their
proper tongue, aseldoma, that is to say, the field of blood. And then back in Matthew chapter
27, in verse 4, we cannot ignore the state of Judas before his
horrible end. In verses 3 and 4, we're told
several things. Let's review them again. Let's
discuss them. First, when Judas saw that his betrayal of the
Lord Jesus condemned him, condemned the Lord, that is, verse 3 says
he repented himself. Now that doesn't necessarily
mean that he had a change of heart, but it implies definitely
a change of feelings, or in other words, he felt some regret for
what he'd done, and no doubt he did. Secondly, he returned
the money that he had received to the chief priest and to the
elders. He returned the money, but that
money was forever a mark and a symbol of His great sin. How well those silver coins represented
His sin. And then in verse 4 we see His
confession. He said, I have sinned and that
I have betrayed Thee, innocent blood. Judas said, I've sinned. He didn't say, I've made some
mistakes. You know, a lot of folks today
talking about their sin will tell you, well, I've made some
mistakes. Made some mistakes. But they
think that most mistakes can be easily rectified. Mistakes are something that we
can easily deal with and make right and take care of on our
own. But that's not what Judas said. He confesses that he had
sinned, that he had betrayed innocent blood. And that word
innocent here means righteous. Judas confesses to betraying
the righteous one. He's saying, I betrayed one that
is innocent, one who is righteous. He said, I'm traitor of one who's
not guilty, but one who is perfectly righteous. And I'm telling you,
if Judas had gone to most churches today with this confession, they
would have received him with open arms. They would have received
him, they would have baptized him, and probably made him treasurer
all over again. But the issue at hand is not
that he didn't see the error of his ways. The issue is not
that he didn't see himself as a depraved sinner, a traitor,
one who had sold out the Son of God. The issue is not that
he didn't seek and attempt to give back what he had taken. So what was the problem? Was
the Spirit of God not working here? He was clear about his
sin. He was sorry for his transgression.
But that wasn't the problem. The problem was this. The problem
was where he went to confess his sin. He went to a man. He went to religion. He went
to the law. He didn't go to God. He didn't
go to Christ himself. And that's who the chief priests
and the elders here represent, the strict law and justice of
God. He goes to the strict law and
holy justice of God, and what do they say to him? They say,
what is that to us? What's that to us? See to that
yourself. Judas saw them carry off the
Lord Jesus to his crucifixion. Judas felt the horrible guilt
and conviction of his transgressions. Every child of God knows something
about that. This just eats Judas alive and
he says, I've got to get rid of this. I've got to get rid
of this. So he runs back to the very ones
that had paid him for his obedience to them. Isn't that a picture
of how most people think of the law? Most people think the law
rewards them for their goodness and their obedience. They think,
well, if we do good, God will do good to us. And they think
if we keep the law, the law will keep us. Wrong. Wrong. You who desire to be under
the law, do you not hear the law? Galatians 4.21. For whosoever
shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he's
guilty of all. Do you not hear what the law
says? Jesus goes back and he makes
confession before the law. Jesus makes confession to the
law and it's holy justice. And what does the law say? The
law says, what's that to me? What's that to me? You've got
to be perfect to be accepted. What's that to me? Your repentance
doesn't mean anything to me. You see to that yourself. That's your problem. And here
Judah stands at the crossroads. There's a road that's broad and
well-traveled. Many there are that have found
it. There are many on that road. There are many that have gone
down it, and there are many that still do, friends. Then there's
a narrow way with a narrow gate. Few have traveled that way, but
it's the way that leads unto life everlasting. And sadly,
Judas took the broad road. He took the way that leads to
destruction. And as I said a moment ago, those
30 pieces of silver represent and symbolize his sin. And Judas
determined to get rid of those 30 pieces of silver that represented
his sin. And he attempted to do so on
his own. And he threw them down into the temple. Let me tell
you, you can't get rid of it. Not in and of yourself you can't.
There are many today who are attempting to do the same thing.
There are many who are on the broad road that leads to destruction. And I can tell you how to know
which road you're on. Are you interested in knowing?
It's not difficult to find out if you're interested in knowing.
First, let me tell you what it's not. It's not how clearly you see
your sin and your guilt. Judas saw that. It's not seeing
your just condemnation. Judas knew that what he had done
condemned himself. It's not how much you repent,
publicly or privately. It's not how many tears you cry
in sorrow. It's who you go to for the forgiveness
of your sin. It's who you go to. If you go
to the law, you're going to hear, what is that to us? You'll have to see that yourself. If you yourself are attempting
to get rid of your own sin and guilt in and through by yourself,
if you come before the law to rid yourself of the guilt and
your condemnation, you're gonna hear two things. First is, what
is that to me? The law cares nothing about your
repentance. Did you hear me? The law doesn't
care about your repentance. Your repentance means nothing
to the law. Your repentance is a just confession
that you've broken the law. The law is the very thing that
holds you and I accountable to our sin. An x-ray, an MRI can reveal there's
something wrong within you, but neither can do anything to repair
or fix what's wrong. And that's what the law, it's
the same with the law. It only reveals what's wrong.
It can't fix what's wrong. You cannot put the redemption
of your sin on the law. You can't trust the law to redeem
you from your sin. The law is nothing more, the
scripture says, than our schoolmaster. It's our teacher who teaches
us some things about ourselves, exposes some things to us about
ourselves, and then brings us to Christ, who can. who can provide
for us what God requires. The law reveals to us our sin.
It exposes our guilt to us. It exposes our need of Christ,
our Savior, to us. But if you confess your sin to
a priest, a man, or the law, the first words you're going
to hear is, what's that to us? What's that to me? What is that
to me? The second thing you're going
to hear is, you see to that yourself. You see to that yourself. That's
your problem. That's your responsibility. That's on you. You or someone
else is going to have to provide what God requires and God requires
perfection. You cannot, I cannot, none of
us cannot provide what God requires. And we throw our coins, the coins
of our sin back, and they stick to us. You ever got something
sticky on your hand and you try to throw it off and there it
still is. Dagnabbit, you know, and you're
trying to get it off. That's the way sin is. You're
not going to get rid of it in and of your own. I suppose truly
the only thing that really belongs to us is our sin. You in Matthew
27 here, look again at verse 5. And he, Judas, cast down the
pieces of silver in the temple and he departed and he went and
hanged himself. And the chief priest took the
silver pieces and said, it's not lawful for to put them into
the treasury because it's the price of blood. And they took
counsel, well they took a lot of counsel, didn't they? And
they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field
to bury strangers in. Wherefore, that field was called
the field of blood unto this day. Now the chief priests and
the elders, they took those 30 pieces of silver and they bought
a field to bury aliens and strangers in. It's called the potter's
field, a field for poor folks. If someone would come and visit
Jerusalem on business, possibly, and died, and nobody knew who
they were, back then they didn't have cell phones and internet.
No way of knowing maybe who there was, maybe no identification
on them. That's where they would bury
someone like that. And Peter said in Acts chapter
1, I won't turn you back there, but we read it a moment ago.
Peter said, now this man, speaking of Judas, purchased the field. I find that interesting. We just
read here that the chief priest and the elders bought the field.
But no, Peter said Judas purchased the field. You see, it was still
his money. It was still his sin. It belonged
to him and him alone. All that Judas did to detach
and separate himself from these coins failed, even in death. Even in death. It was his money
and it was his sin. And hear me on this, any repentance
that takes you back to the law and make you try to make amends
and fix things with God, all it will do in the end is buy
you a grave in the potter's field. A place where they bury aliens
and strangers from the covenant of God's promise. The law says,
you go take care of that yourself. And Judas did. and he was buried
in the field that his own money bought. The same outcome awaits all who
endeavor to take care of their sin themselves. You cannot do
it. You can't do it. You can't take
care of your sin yourself. You can throw those coins back
time and time again, and they'll stick to you every time. Why? Because sin is what you are,
friends, not just what you do. They're a part of you. They're
a part of you. They've got to be put away. You
can't put them away. There's only one who can. It's
not the law. You can't go to the law. You've
got to come to Christ. He's the only one that can put
them away. You must come to the only one who can take your sin
away. Pay your sin debt. Put it away
forever. Judas did exactly what the law
told him to do, and he wound up forever cursed. And I'm telling
you, so will you if you listen to the law. You cannot see to
the discarding of your sin by yourself. You cannot provide
what God requires. I'm gonna say it again. It won't
be the last time I say it. I've used that word frequently
in this message. I've used it frequently on purpose.
Provide. You cannot provide what God requires. Did you know that that word provide
means see to it? It does. You can look it up in
a concordance. Will you see to it? Or will you
trust God to see to it? That's the question. That's the
question. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
22 and I'll close. You know this story well. The
story of Abraham and Isaac. Oh, what a beautiful picture
of the gospel it is. Genesis chapter 22. In verse two, God told Abraham
to take his son, his only son, and then he added the son whom
thou lovest. Oh, I'm telling you, Abraham
loved this boy more than life itself. Why? Because he'd waited
and waited and waited for that son to come. And God finally
gave him that son and his wife Sarah in their old age. when
they saw that it was nothing that they could do. His body
was dead, Sarah's womb was dead, and that's when God gave them
a son. Why? To show them that it was of Him
and not of them. They had tried themselves to
have a son, and Sarah had her handmaid sleep with Abraham,
and you know what a mess that caused. And here we have in this
chapter, Abraham and Isaac, they're heading up that mountain. And
in verse seven, we read, Isaac spake unto Abraham his father.
And he said, father. And he said, here I am, my son.
And he said, behold the fire. I see the kindle, the coals that
you have in the box there. And I see the wood, but where
is the lamb for burnt offering? In verse 8, Abraham said, My
son, God will provide Himself a lamb for burnt offering. So
they went both of them together. Oh, what a picture that is of
Calvary. The Lord Jesus carrying the wood
on His back. The cross of Calvary. And His
Father, you can't see Him, but He's right there with Him every
step of the way. Now when he gets to the cross,
he's forsaken of his father. Why? Because that's what you
and I deserve. We deserve for God to forsake
us. And that's how he is our perfect substitute. And that
he satisfied the justice of God in our stead. And there's that
word provide again. God will provide himself. It means see to it. God's going
to see to it that you've got a lamb. God's going to see to it. God
will provide Himself a lamb for burnt offering. You see, God
provides for Himself the lamb. God provides Himself as the lamb. God provides what God requires. God sees to it that all is provided
for His elect people. God requires holiness from us.
He says, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And God sees to it that
in Christ we're made holy. God requires perfect righteousness. God requires for you and I to
be unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. It's gotta be in
His sight. He's the one that we've offended.
God sees to it. God provides perfect righteousness
for His elect people. God will see to it, child of
God, that you are perfectly righteous. How? How can God see to it? For
He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made Provided. God's going to see to it. Be
made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5. You
know, we get the word providence from provide. God providentially
provides everything that we need. God providentially sees to it
that you have all that He requires. Isn't that a beautiful thought?
No, it's a beautiful truth. It's a beautiful truth. God sees
to it that every saved sinner has everything that they need.
Now, I heard a dear friend of mine, Pastor Joe Terrell, preach
from this text almost three years ago at a conference in Lexington
at Todd's Road Grace Church. And I determined then when I
heard it, I thought to myself, one of these days I'm going to
preach on that. And I listened to Joe's message again a couple
weeks ago on the website, and I decided that it was time that
I did. And I recently contacted Joe
by email, and I thanked him for the outline. He had no idea that
I was planning on preaching that here in a couple weeks. It was
a while back. And I told him how encouraged
I was by his preaching on this subject, and that I was going
to preach it to you as soon as I could. And he wrote me back
in response, and he said this. I'm so glad that he said it.
He said, the message of the legalist, the message of the one who is
trying to do something to save themselves, is summed up in those
words, you see to it. Isn't that so? He said, but all
the message of Christ and Him crucified, that wonderful message
of substitution, God doing for me what I cannot do for myself,
is summed up in the Lord will see to it. That's the gospel. The Lord will see to it. Look at verse 9. And they came to the place which
God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there,
and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid
him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand, and he took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of
the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham,
Abraham. And he said, here am I. And he
said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything
unto him. For now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket
by his horns. And Abraham went and he took
the ram and he offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead
of his son. Dear believer, God will see to
it that in Christ all your sin is put away. God will see to
it in Christ that you have a lamb A lamb that was slain before
the foundation of the world. The Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of His people in the world. God will see to it
if you trust in Christ. God will see to it that you have
a perfect righteousness. God will see to it that you have
all that God requires. And when you repent to God in
sorrow for your sin, for your betrayal of His beloved Son,
what is that to Him? Well, it's everything. It's everything to Him. He will
see to it that you have forgiveness. He will see to it that you have
eternal life. You see, His glory is wrapped
up in that. It's His glory to give grace
and have mercy upon all who trust in Christ and Christ alone. And
you know, it's all for Christ's sake. It's all for His Son whom
He loved. All that God might see to it,
for you who are yet without Christ, that you trust in Him and Him
alone. Amen. Tom Whitaker, would you dismiss
us in prayer, please?