Matthew chapter 27. And the title of the message this
morning is, Vain Repentance. Vain Repentance. The Scripture says, when the
morning was come, And all the chief priests and elders of the
people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when
they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to
Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed
him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself,
and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief
priests and elders, saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed
thee, innocent blood. And they said, What is that to
us? See thou to it. and he cast down
the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged
himself." Here we have in this text of Scripture we read of
Judas after he has betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had
sold the Son of God for 30 pieces of silver into the hands of his
enemies, After this deed was done, the Lord Jesus Christ was
taken under the cover of night, arrested, brought before the
elders of Israel, and they took counsel against him as to how
to put him to death. And Judas then falls, as the
Scripture says, under great conviction of his betrayal. Judas betrayed
him, saw that he was condemned, repented himself. He fell under
great conviction. He repented and confessed his
guilt before the Jews, before the chief priest. And see how they led away our
Lord Jesus Christ to Pilate and Herod right before his very eyes. I know that Judas saw this. He witnessed this mockery, this
trial, this counsel, and he felt the guilt by remembering, remembering
Jesus, who only did good, and how cruelly he was mocked and
accused by these liars. There was Judas in the midst
of these men watching and seeing the result of his betrayal. Therefore, he began to feel great
remorse for his sin. Now consider Judas for a moment. This man was one of the most
blessed men to ever walk the face of the earth. Physically,
carnally speaking, he was the most blessed. of men. Seeing he was a Jew, this man
was a man of Israel. Matter of fact, his name is Judas,
Judah in the Hebrew tongue. He was no doubt of the tribe
of Judah, the same tribe. He was a physical descendant
and kinsman to the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew the law, he knew the
prophets, And he was chosen of Jesus Christ personally to be
one of the twelve disciples. Consider his benefits. Consider
the things he was blessed with. He witnessed, like all the other
disciples, the miracles that Jesus performed. Judas saw his
power firsthand. Consider that he heard his word
and felt his touch. I tell you, that's going to be
a glorious day for God's people when he touches us. When we actually
can feel his body and touch him. Judas experienced that. Judas
was given a great privilege in preaching the gospel. Judas was
a preacher. And he was no preacher of a false
gospel. He actually preached the right
gospel. He performed miracles in the
name and by the authority of Jesus Christ. Some believe that
he was one of the 70 that went out and did miracles and preached
the gospel. And more importantly, he was
one of the 12. Remember when Jesus told his
disciples, he said, Blessed are your eyes and your ears, for
you see things and hear things that the prophets desired to
hear and see, but weren't allowed. His experience, consider all of His experience,
yet despite all of these blessings, despite all of these experiences
He witnessed, He was still a lost man. He was still a lost man. He still betrayed the Lord Jesus
even because there was no work of grace in His heart. What a warning. What a warning
not to trust outward experiences. Isn't that a warning to us? You
may have all the blessings of hearing, and you have. Listen,
you have had more blessings than you can possibly fathom. You have heard the gospel of
Jesus Christ. I know all of you have heard
this countless times. This is not the first time you've
heard the gospel. You've heard it many times. And
think of the millions who perish without ever hearing it. How
blessed are you? How blessed are you? But don't
look at these outward privileges as grace. Don't look at these
outward privileges in lieu of the grace of God in your heart. Don't trust in these things that
you see. But now look at Him. He remembers
Jesus was not guilty. He remembers He was innocent.
He said, I have betrayed the innocent blood. He now, seeing
the only innocent man, the only sinless person whom he betrayed,
Judas in terror, in terror, knowing his condemnation, his guilt,
he comes to these rulers and Repents. He makes a great act
of repentance. Listen, I do not doubt Judas
was very sincere in his repentance. I don't doubt that at all. Therefore, he takes that 30 pieces
of silver he once coveted which he valued the Son of God to be
worth, but now he cast that silver down at the chief priest's feet,
and says, I have betrayed the innocent blood. See him there. Behold his weeping. Behold his
crying. Behold his lamenting. He betrayed
the Son of God. And the silver burned in his
hands. And he repented himself. He said, I've sinned. And he
cast the silver at their feet and turned and went away. He
repented of his sin, lamenting. But what did he find? In his
repentance, though sincere, what did he find? Look what the
chief priest said. What is that to us? See thou to it. What were they
saying? They said, what's that to us? It's your guilt. You go deal
with it. That's what they said. You deal
with it. He found them cold and callous. He found no pity. And seeing
he was condemned, he went out and hanged himself. Now, how sad is this case? How sad is this? How sad is the case of Judas
for seeing there was no hope, seeing that these priests in
whom he trusted were so cold and would not offer the least
amount of mercy. No matter his merit or tears
or repentance, he went out and hanged himself on a tree. Now
I ask you, why was Judah's repentance vain? Why was it empty? Why did he not find forgiveness? Though sincere, though full of
tears, though full of confession of sin, why was he not forgiven? Why was he cursed? Why did he die in his sins? even
though he confessed and repented of them. I'll answer it by asking the
question another way. Did not Peter also, in a sense,
betray his Lord by denying Him? Simon Peter denied the Lord Jesus
Christ three times. Three times. in the same night. And Peter went out, and what
does the Scripture say? Look above that in verse 75.
Look at verse 75 of the previous chapter. And he went out and
wept bitterly. Wept bitterly. Peter repented. Peter wept for his sin and confessed
that he had denied the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet why was Peter forgiven
and Judas forsaken? They both repented. They both
understood their sin. They both confessed. But what
was the difference? The difference is not in their
repentance. The difference is in to whom
they repented. To whom did they repent? Judas
repented and confessed his sins. Where? Look at this. Go back.
Look at your text. And then Judas betrayed, saw
that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again 30
pieces of silver. Where? To the chief priest and
to the elders. He confessed his sin to the chief
priest and elders. This, my friends, is a picture
of the law. Judas repented to the law. To the law. But when Peter wept,
he repented only to the Lord Jesus Christ who had risen from
the dead. Peter didn't repent and go back
to the law. Peter knew that his only hope
was that Christ should come to him and have mercy. Peter knew that was the only
hope for him, is that Christ, he should repent to the risen
Lord Jesus Christ. You who have sinned, listen,
have you sinned? Consider this, that every sin
is nothing more than a betrayal of the Son of God. It is a defying
of God. It is saying to God, I will not
have you to tell me what to do. That's what it is. That's what
sin is. Have you sinned? Then where do you go for forgiveness? To whom will you repent? The
Scriptures are clear that repentance is necessary for salvation. You must repent. The Word of God, it commands
everyone everywhere to repent. To repent. But to whom will you
repent? I'm going to tell you there's
only one place that any sinner should repent to find forgiveness.
It is at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go over to Acts
chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. We'll read a
couple of passages in Acts. In Acts chapter 5 and verse 31.
Let's read verse 29 and see who's preaching this. Who's preaching this? Then Peter.
Then Peter with the other apostles answered and said, We ought to
obey God rather than man. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Listen. Him hath God
exalted to his right hand to be a prince and savior for to
give repentance to Israel and forgiveness To whom will you
repent? There's only one place you'll
ever find forgiveness of sins. Jesus Christ, whom God hath raised
from the dead. Go over to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, verse 38. Be it known unto you, therefore,
Men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things which you could not be justified by
the law of Moses. Do you see where forgiveness
is found? It is found only at the feet of the Son of God. If you are ever to repent of
your sins, do not follow Judas and go to the law. Go to Christ. Go to Christ. He alone gives
repentance and forgiveness of sins. Now then, look back in
your text, and I want you to see what Judas did as an act
of repentance. He said in verse 4, saying, I
have sinned and betrayed the innocent blood. They said, what
is that to us? See thou to it. And he cast the
pieces of silver in the temple and departed. These pieces of
silver, these pieces of silver were payment. Payment. His reward for betraying the
Son of God. And as He cast these pieces of
silver before the priest, this shows us Judas' great desire
to cast away his guilt. That silver that he coveted so
much, that he wanted so much, now he had it in his hands. And it must have been like a
hot iron on his hands. It was a picture of his guilt,
and every time he looked at it, all he saw was his guilt. And
what did he try to do with his guilt? He cast it away from him. That's what men do by nature
when they feel emotionally, they feel guilty of their sins. What
do they do? They cast it away. Well, it's
my mom's fault. Shoot. If I didn't have that
old wicked mother or father, I wouldn't be in this condition.
What are they doing? Casting the silver away from
themselves. They're trying to cast the blame
on someone else other than themselves. He wanted to be free of that
guilt, and he cast it out. He said, I have betrayed thee,
innocent blood. Judas remembered how well the
Lord treated him, how kind he was, and all Judas did was stab
him in the back, so to speak. He betrayed the only man who
was ever good and kind. But in here, no doubt Judas,
by casting this silver before the chief priest, was surely
wanting to be free from his guilt. And so he sought it by the law. And what did he find when he
cast that guilt away from him? He found no mercy. Listen, you
go to the law, you go to your works, you go to your religion,
and you know what you'll find? No mercy. No mercy. Works religion is perpetual,
isn't it? Because once you do something,
it's not enough. You gotta do something else.
And you gotta do something else. And you gotta do something else.
It never ends. Because you cannot by your works
satisfy God. You cannot do it. Cannot. I like that song, Hail
Sovereign Mercy. It says, enwrapped in thick Egyptian
night and fond of darkness more than light, madly I ran the sinful
race, secure without a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran, almighty love, arrest that man. To Sinai's fiery mount I
flew. Indignant justice stood in view,
and cried with frowning face, this mount is no hiding place." The law of God is no place to
repent. If you repent to the law and
try to cast your guilt to the law, it can do nothing with it. It will find no mercy there. Even so many men who I have,
who are very much like Judas, have been given great privileges
of hearing the Word of God, and yet they may even felt the presence
of God among the saints of God. Men may have even preached like
Judas and done many wonderful works. They may give to the poor, build
houses in different lands, give to the homeless and the widows
and the orphans. They may even be a preacher or
deacon in a gospel church. But if that's what you're trusting
in, you can never cast your guilt from you. That'll never work.
You'll never rid yourself of your guilt. If you trust in anything that
you've done, you're lost. You're lost. I'm sure Judas didn't know he
was lost, not until this point. He thought he was saved. He was
deceived. Judas was not known to be a deceiver
among his disciples, was he? They didn't all know he was a
deceiver. Matter of fact, he was the treasurer. They gave him all the money.
I think of Judas, they must have thought him most likely to succeed.
That's what they probably thought of him. Man, oh Judas, he's got
this thing together. But what is true of Judas is
true of all false professors of faith. Eventually, they sell
out. Eventually, they sell out. They leave the simplicity of
the gospel for the law and traditions of man. Isn't that what Judas
did? He was with Christ. He heard
the gospel. And what did he do? He went back
to the law. He went back and was seduced
by the law to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he repented
to the law, you know what he found? No mercy, no mercy. Go to 2 Timothy, read this about
these people that are like Judas, these false professors. 2 Timothy
4 and verse 3. Paul tells Timothy in those first
two verses, he said, you be faithful to preach the gospel. You reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering. For, this is why you should be
faithful, for the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine. But after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth. and shall be turned
unto fables. Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter
11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul in this same manner to the
church of Corinth writes this. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3. He says, but I fear, lest by
any means as the serpent beguiled, that word beguiled means seduced,
seduced wholly. He allured her away. Beguiled Eve through his craftiness. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. The simplicity. Paul feared for this church.
He said, my fear is that you would be seduced away from the
gospel of Christ, from the singleness of the gospel, the simplicity
that is in Christ. That they would be seduced by
another gospel, another Christ, and another spirit. That they
might, because of the craftiness of men, or because of the smooth
speech and seduction of professing believers, lure them away from
the simplicity. Now that word simplicity, listen,
it just means singleness. It means there's one sum and
substance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not complicated.
The gospel is not complicated. It's a person. It's a person. Salvation is in a person. It is in the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The gospel, not complicated. It's not a multi-tiered approach
to salvation. The gospel is not a combination
of your works and God's works. Salvation is single in that Christ
is all. Christ is all. Salvation is wholly and completely
the work of the triune God alone. and all that work is dependent
upon the work of the Son of God, and his saints are not moved
from him." True believers are never moved from this one gospel. Never moved. I have heard this
gospel for over 35 years. I wasn't saved that whole time,
but I've heard this gospel, and you know what I know is that
it's not changed. In all my time of hearing it,
it's the same. Everywhere I went to hear the
gospel preached by God's men, it has always been the same.
Christ, Christ, Christ. That's all we preach. Christ
and Him crucified. That's all you care to hear,
is Christ and Him crucified, because He's all your salvation. He's all your hope. I've put
all my eggs in that one basket. In Christ is all in all to me. He's all my righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, and wisdom. He's everything to me. And so
why would I ever want to be moved from this gospel? I've heard
men who I've esteemed with great regard to be elders. I've known men that I thought
preached the manifold wisdom of God, and yet because of their
thirst for knowledge or their thirst for preeminence in the
church, they eventually confess there's
more in the gospel than Jesus Christ. They've confessed that there's
got to be more. There's got to be more! And some of them started out
gradually to leave the simplicity of the gospel. They went out
and started looking for this new thing and that new thing.
And eventually, they, like Judas, were seduced away. Seduced away. But friends, that is another
spirit and not the Spirit of God. It's a spirit of antichrist. To deny that Christ is the sum
and substance of the Word of God is to deny Christ. Listen,
it is to sell Christ. That's what it is. To sell Him. To betray Him. For a man to tie
his works and righteousness to the work and righteousness of
Christ is nothing more than the betrayal of the Son of God. You remember when Jesus was with
his disciples, he instituted the Lord's Supper, which is a
picture of his salvation. His body and His blood were offered
for our sins. And you remember when He said,
One of you betrayeth Me. And they said, Is it Me? Who
is it? We don't know. Is it Me? Is it Me? And Jesus said, He that putteth
his hand with Me in the dish, the same betrayeth Me. Listen,
if you put your hand to the work of salvation with Christ, you
betray Him. You're a betrayer of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Christ will profit you nothing. Have you put your hand to the
work of Christ? Have you, like Judas, betrayed
and forsaken the very gospel that you once professed and believed?
Have you been seduced by the law? Have you gone back to the law
and works Are you so foolish like the church
of Galatia to think that you begin in the spirit and finish
in the work? To do so is to betray Christ. It is to sell the Son of God
for 30 pieces of silver. And as the apostle says, to count
the blood of Christ as a common thing. Isn't that what works
religion does? Count the blood of Christ just
common? Oh, he shed it for everybody. It's just common. It's just common. Now what you have to do is you
have to put your work to it. They say it's just part. The blood of Christ is only part
of salvation. Then you've got to exercise your
will and you've got to join the church and you've got to do this.
What did he say about that in the church of Galatia? He said,
if you be circumcised, Christ should profit you what? Nothing. Nothing. No, friends, behold
the singleness of the gospel. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. It
was the Father who chose a people. It was the Father that gave them
to Christ. It was the Son who accomplished
salvation by His obedience and blood. It was Christ who was risen again
and seated at the throne of God. Therefore, He has sent His Holy
Spirit to accomplish what His salvation, to accomplish the
salvation that He has provided. These elect, Jesus says, they
will all come to Him, and not one of them will ever be cast
out. They will every one of them be
saved, and he would lose nothing. Are you convicted of your betrayal
of Christ? Do you feel your guilt of sin? Do you desire to cast away your
guilt? O sinner, listen to the warning
and tale of woe. Judas cast that silver from him
with many tears, but he did not lose it. He did not lose that
guilt. Look at your text. And the chief
priest took the silver and said, it is not lawful for us to put
it in the treasury because it is the price of blood. And they
took counsel and bought with it a potter's field to bury the
strangers in. Wherefore, that field is called
the field of blood unto this day. So he cast that silver from
him. He cast his guilt from him before
the law. And the law said, hey, I can't
take this. It would defile the treasury.
So they went out and bought a field. Go over to Acts chapter 1. I
want you to see this. Acts chapter 1. Remember, they bought the field.
They bought the field. Notice what Peter says here in
Acts chapter 1. Find my place. In verse 17, talking
about Judas, he said, For he was numbered with us and obtained
part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field
with reward of iniquity. Judas cast away hit that silver,
but listen, it was still his silver You cast your guilt away and
blame anybody you want to it's still your guilt If you go to the law the law
will not embrace your guilt What does the law say? What is that
to me? You did it You pay for it How then is guilt removed? I tell you what, I want to know
that. I want to know how guilt is removed. How can I get this
silver out of my hands? There's only one way. God must impute that sin, that
guilt to His Son. This is how guilt is removed.
By imputation. By the Father taking our guilt. Can you think of any example?
I can't think of one example how you can remove guilt. Now
I can pay for something you've done, but I can't stop you from
being guilty. This is only done by God imputing
our sins to Christ. The scripture says, for he hath
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. When Judas repented, he repented
to the wrong place, because the law could not remove guilt. What
does the law do? It only shows guilt. For by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. This morning I stepped on
a scale. I'm on that diet still. Still
trying to lose it. I stepped on the scale, Only
lost two pounds Now I wanted to lose a lot more But the scale
can only reveal what the weight is you see what the law does
it only reveals the guilt It can't remove it Therefore, behold
the example of Peter, who himself denied the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he repented, just as Judas repented. But he did not repent
to the law, he went to Christ. Matter of fact, Christ came to
him. Isn't that right? Peter didn't even... Peter thought
he was dead. There was... Peter thought...
He said, I'm going back to fishing. I'm going back to my job. There's
nothing else I can do. The law can't help me. There's
nothing I can do. Is there nothing you can do?
That's a great place to be. That's a great place to be. How then does he come to us? Through the preaching of the
gospel. I tell you, this world has no
love for preaching. Matter of fact, it's nothing
but a foolish exercise. But God said, God tells us that
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. I tell you, if God has not revealed
himself, you should sit under the preaching of the gospel and
wait. You should beg Him to reveal
Himself. And I tell you this, however you want God to view
you, He will, or accept you, He will. Go by the law, He'll
receive you according to the justice of the law. but those
who come to God by Christ. He receives them on the basis
of free, sovereign grace. Now, which would you repent to?
The law who has no mercy or Christ who is mercy himself? I've come to Christ. And you
know what? I've not stopped coming. I've
not stopped confessing. He is all my salvation. I pray that God would by His
grace reveal through this man, Judas, what not to do. Repentance to the law is empty
and you'll find no mercy. Repentance to Christ is free
forgiveness. Eternal life. I'm so thankful he came to me.
If he had not come to me, I never would have went to him. But he did. And I tell you, if
there's hope for this sinner, there's hope for any sinner who
comes to God by him. God bless this to you.