Turn with me back to Matthew
27. I very much feel I have a message
for us. This is something that I want
us to know. I almost see this as being another Bible study,
really, but I pray the Lord will really teach
us this and let us enter into this. Matthew 27, we've been
going through the book of Matthew, and at this point, Judas has
betrayed the Lord, and the Lord was brought before
the high priest, a man named Caiaphas, and Peter has denied him. I don't know the man. I don't
know what you're talking about. I do not know him. And the cock crew, just like
the Lord said it would, will deny me three times. And Peter
realized what he did. And he went out and he wept bitterly. All right, that's where we are. Chapter 27, verse 1 says, When
the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the
people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. Now, I want us to begin by really
taking note of this. All right, I want us to really
take note of this. Verse one says, when the morning
was come, all the chief priests and elders, of the people took
counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. The chief priests
and the elders, that was religion. That was religion. Let's really take notice of the
fact that the enemy of the Lord and of His Word was religion. I wish people could get ahold
of that. The enemy of the Lord. I mean,
do we realize what a statement that is? The enemy of the Lord and of
his word, the whole time he walked this earth, through his whole
ministry, it was religion. Specifically, false religion. which is what all religion is
that is contrary to the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is the Word. Our Lord is the Word. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Revelation 19 says, His name
is called the Word of God. The Word of God. What He said is the Bible. Does that register with us? You
know, no man, no writer of Scripture moved independently. Every penman was inspired by
the Holy Spirit of God, which the Scripture refers to as the
Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the Spirit of Christ,
was moving these men to say whatever He wanted them to say. This is
His Word. He is the Word. He is the Bible. The words that He spoke, that
is the holy law of God, whatever He said. And the scripture says, the common
people heard Him gladly. They heard Him so gladly. All
the publicans and sinners, they came to Him. They ate with Him. They heard His Word gladly. It
was religion that had a problem with him and his word, his truth. And that's still the case to
this day. False religion is the enemy of the truth. Now, it's
not the enemy of religion. It's not the enemy of false religion,
but it is the enemy of the truth. The truth concerning Christ and
His word. Well, how can I know if I'm in
a false religion? I think that's a pretty good
question to ask. What if we're in a false religion right now?
What if you're listening to a false preacher right now? How can I know if I'm in a false
religion? Here's how you can know. It won't
line up with this word. That's how you can know. You'll
look at this word and you'll say, wait a minute. That's not
what I was told. And that's how you'll know. If
my religion has a problem with what this book is saying, I'm
in the wrong religion. Time to change religions. If I look at what this book says
and I say, yeah, I see that, but now I don't like that. That's not what I was told. And
therefore, I don't believe that. If that's my response to what
this word says, I'm in the wrong religion. I'm in a false religion.
And I'm in a religion that cannot save. Some people realize, yeah,
you know, my preacher does not totally agree with the Bible,
but it's fine. It's not. If that's the case,
I'm in a religion that will only condemn and damn my soul to hell. Let God be true and every man
a liar. That's what this word says. And
every soul that worships God in truth will hear that and hear
this word and will say, amen. So be it. I agree. Whatever this
says, I agree. May God reveal the truth to us
and give us a heart to bow to the truth, Christ, Christ, the
truth. Matthew 27 verse 1 says, When
the morning was come, 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 30 pieces
of silver to the chief priest and elders saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, what is that to
us? See thou to that. And he cast
down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went
and hanged himself. And the chief priest took the
silver pieces and said, it is not lawful for to put them into
the treasury because it is the price of blood. 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. Then was fulfilled that
which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took
the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued,
whom they of the children of Israel did value, and gave them
for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me. All of that
happened as a fulfillment of Scripture. That's what the Old
Testament prophesied would happen. And not one word of our Lord will
ever fail. Whatever this says, it's going to come to pass. Not
one word will fail. Now, I want us to look at a particular
subject for this message. It's the subject of repentance. True repentance. And here is
the reason why. Our Lord said that repentance
was a critical component of salvation. And we just read that Judas repented
himself, but he was not saved. And I want us this morning to
understand why. Okay. The answer, let me give
you the answer. The answer is because it was not true repentance. That's the answer. But I want
us to find out what that means. And I pray that our God will
give us an understanding because we need it. We really need this.
Verse 3, Matthew 27 verse 3, Then Judas, which had betrayed
him, when he saw that he was condemned, when he saw that the
Lord was condemned, you know, maybe he thought that the Lord
was just going to, they would lay hold on him and the Lord
would just pass right through him like he'd done before. And
he thought, well, I can at least make a little money on the side
while the Lord's doing that anyway. But when he saw that the Lord
was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the 30 pieces
of silver to the chief priest and elder saying, I have sinned
in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is
that to us? See thou to that. And he cast
down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went
and hanged himself. Judas came to his senses. He came to his senses. The word
repented himself right here translates this particular one means he
had regret and sorrow. Can you imagine? Oh, what have I done? I have
sinned. I have betrayed innocent blood. But even though that's the case,
based on the scripture, John 17, we know that Judas was not
saved. He was lost. So here's the first
thing we can understand from this. Regret and sorrow over
sin is not true repentance. Now, I will tell you that with
true repentance, there will be regret and sorrow over sin. Oh, absolutely, there will be.
But regret and sorrow alone is not true repentance, and therefore
it is not salvation. It's not salvation. I think about
the fact that everybody has regret and sorrow over sin after they
are caught. They don't even think twice about
it until they're caught. Everybody does. That doesn't
mean that's salvation. Turn over to Hebrews 12. Hebrews
12. The end of verse 14 is talking
about seeing the Lord. Verse 15 says, looking diligently
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lest any man fail of the grace
of God. Lest any root of bitterness springing
up trouble you. and thereby many be defiled,
lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who
for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how
that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing,
he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance." though
he sought it carefully with tears." He cried over that. He cried
over that. He sorrowed and cried over the
fact that he sold his entire birthright for a bowl of soup. But even though he sorrowed and
cried and regretted what he had done, Not one time ever did he
find the place of repentance. True repentance, saving, redeeming
repentance. What is true repentance? If it's
not sorrow over sin, what is true repentance? Do you have
a center margin in your Bible? For verse 17, place of repentance. I have a little number six right
there. Mine says, Way to change his mind. No matter how grieved he was
over God's word concerning him and God's judgment concerning
him. God said, Esau have I hated. How would you like to hear your
name right there? God said, the elder shall serve
the younger. But even though it was the Almighty
God that said that, Esau could not bring himself to say, Amen. It is the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good. Eli, God's gonna kill both of
your sons. Do you think Eli grieved over
that? You think he sorrowed over that? It is the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good. Esau could not bring himself
to say, Lord God Almighty, please have mercy on me. He could not
bring himself to say that. Sovereign Almighty, in whose
hands I am in, in whose hands my breath is in, the one who
kills and makes alive and wounds and heals, the one who does what
he wants with whom he wants, and I cannot stop you or change
your mind or ask you, what are you doing? God of heaven and
earth, please be merciful to me. Please be merciful to me. Please just let your saving,
sin-cleansing, covering blood be on me. I plead the blood. He saw have I hated. I plead the blood of Jesus Christ.
Rejected. I plead Christ. I need Jesus
Christ. I need him to be my substitute
and be rejected in my stead. He just couldn't bring himself
to say that. And neither could Judas. Neither
could Judas. He said, I have sinned. I have
betrayed innocent blood. But never did he say, God, be
merciful to me. I want to encourage everybody
right now in your heart to say, God, be merciful to me. How much mercy does the Lord
have for us? I need mercy. How much mercy does the Lord
have for us? It is unlimited. You need mercy? It's unlimited. Oh, I was so wicked yesterday. I
was so evil yesterday. His mercy started over brand
new this morning. I've already ruined it today.
It'll be brand spanking new tomorrow morning. You need mercy. Do you need mercy? Oh God, be merciful to me. Now
let's look at a few scriptures on this. Turn to Matthew 4. Matthew 4 verse 17 says, from
that time Jesus began to preach When the Lord first laid it on
my heart, I started feeling led to preach, and the Lord, I was
believing the Lord was calling me to preach. It was very important
to me to read the Lord's messages, because, you know, you ask yourself,
well, what do I preach? I think I feel led to preach.
What do you say? That's what I used to ask myself.
What do you say? And it just, you know, like a light bulb went
off, well, why don't you read the Lord's messages? He was the
best preacher there is. All right, well, from that time,
Jesus began to preach and to say, repent for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. That was the message that our
Lord preached. That makes this critical, doesn't
it? Look at Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one verse 14 says,
now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is
fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and
believe the gospel. What he's saying is, stop believing
what false religion told you. He was dealing with Jews who
had these laws and these priests and these ceremonies and all
these religious things. And he said to them, stop believing
what religion told you and believe the truth of God's word. I like that message. Turn from
your idols to the true and living God. Have a changed mind about all
of it. Have a changed mind about God,
everything that you ever thought about God, everything you ever
thought about man, everything you ever thought about salvation.
It's time to have a changed mind. Look at Luke 13. Luke 13 verse 1, there were present
at that season some that told him of the Galileans whose blood
Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Pilate had slain
some of these Galileans, verse two, and Jesus answering said
unto them, suppose ye that those Galileans were sinners above
all the Galileans because they suffered such things. You think
that this happened to them because they were greater sinners? Verse
three, I tell you nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. Or those 18 upon whom the tower
in Siloam fell and slew them, a tower fell over and killed
18 people. Think ye that they were sinners above all men that
dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Those of you that the
Lord has revealed the truth to, Isn't it wonderful and obvious
what he's saying? The natural way of man thinks,
well, that happened to them because they were a greater sinner. If you're a really bad sinner,
really bad things happen to you. But once this new mind comes,
you realize Christ came into the world to save sinners of
whom I am chief, the greatest. You think that happened to them
because they were the greatest sinner? What he's saying is, That's not
what happens to the greatest sinners. It takes a changed mind to believe
that. This changed mind is critical. We need it. We so desperately
need it. How does it come? How does this
changed mind come? Look at Romans 2. I may have
too many notes here. I knew I had too many when I
was writing. I want to just kind of give you
the cliff notes to some of this. I just don't know what to give
you the cliff notes to. I'm trying to figure it out.
All right, Romans 2. How do we get this changed mind? Verse 3. And thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the
riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Do you not know that? If any
man or woman receives true repentance, it's the goodness of God that
led that man or woman to this new mind, this changed mind. It's such a glorious thing. It's such a glorious thing. The
message in it takes God's Spirit to to apply it and for someone
to hear it and receive it. But the message is, have a changed
mind. Everybody gets up and goes to
church to be religious and do the right thing, to go to heaven.
And the truth comes and it says, have a changed mind about all
of it. It takes the grace of God to
receive that. It's the gift of God that gives
that to somebody. Repentance, true repentance,
can only come from God. It's His to give. And don't turn
to this. 2 Timothy 2 says that repentance,
this is 2 Timothy 2, 24 and 25, if anybody's writing this down.
It says, repentance is the gift of God unto the acknowledging
of the truth. That's what it is. The acknowledgement, the bowing
to, the believing what God has written in His Word, that's repentance. That's true repentance. When
the critical question comes, what happened in eternity past,
okay? What happened in eternity past?
The natural mind of man says and thinks, nothing. Nothing happened. God just was. And then he created everything,
and the earth and man and everything just kind of got started and
went on its way. All right, that's the natural way of thinking.
When the mind of repentance comes, the sinner says, what happened
in eternity past? I'll tell you what happened.
God foreordained everything. God predestinated everything. All works to be done were known,
He knew the end from eternity past. God the Father elected
a people to save. That's what happened in eternity
past. The Father declared Christ to be the Lamb slain in eternity
past. God knew that man would fall
into sin. And before anything was ever
even created to fall into sin, God provided a remedy for sin.
A lamb slain in eternity past. That just warmed my heart. That's what happened in eternity
past. Well, what about the garden? What happened in the Garden of
Eden? The natural mind of man says, well, I'll tell you what
happened. Man got in trouble. He got in trouble. God told him
not to do it, and he did it anyway, and he got in trouble, and he
was kicked out. And I tell you this, we don't want to make that
mistake again. We sure don't want to follow in his footsteps. No. When the mind of repentance
comes, a sinner will say, what happened in the Garden of Eden?
Man died. He didn't get in trouble. He
died. God said, thou shalt surely die. God didn't say, thou shalt surely
be in trouble. He said, you're going to die.
And that's what happened. Man died. What do you mean I need
to be doing this or doing that for God? In my nature, I am dead
in trespasses and sins. This is a new mind, a changed
mind about these things. That mind says, I can't do anything
for Him. It's not what I'm going to do
for Him. It's what He's already done for me. Well, what happened on the cross?
What happened on the cross of Calvary? The natural mind of
man says, Christ showed us the way. That's what happened. You
have to take up your cross just like He took up His cross. You
have to follow Him in that way. What happened on the cross? He
took the first step so we can now take the second step. What
happened? He made salvation possible. He
opened the door of heaven for everybody who's willing to accept
His offering come in. No. No. When the mind of repentance comes,
a sinner will say, what happened on the cross? Jesus Christ saved
His people from their sins. The Savior successfully saved. He made a payment in full for
the sin of His people. He obtained eternal redemption
for them. Well, you better do this if you
want to be saved. What do you mean? It's already done. It's
already done. When he cried, it's finished,
it was done. Well, what happens when the Spirit
of God brings, you know, faith to believe the truth? The natural
mind of man says, we receive a higher knowledge. We're mostly
good. Things just get tweaked a little
bit. We're better taught. That's what happens. We're better
taught. We receive correct doctrine. That's not what happens. When
the mind of repentance comes, a sinner says, we receive life. spiritual life. When God's Spirit
comes, He quickens from death to life. He regenerates life
again. He causes us to live and move
and have our being in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what's going
to happen in the end? What's going to happen on the
Day of Judgment? The natural mind of man will say, Whoever has done good is going
to go to heaven, and whoever has done bad is going to go to
hell. No. When the mind of repentance comes,
a sinner will say, there is none good, no not one. All our sinners
and the only hope we have is the redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every soul the Father gave to
Christ is going to be saved. Every soul in Christ, in the
work of Christ, is going to be saved. Every soul the Father
elected and the Son redeemed and the Spirit called will be
saved. Salvation's of the Lord. That
is true repentance. Salvation is not by the work
of man. It's by the work of God alone. That is true repentance. My life
doesn't hang on a system or a doctrine or a decision or a deed. It hangs
on a person. I don't need religion. I need
Jesus Christ. That's repentance. He's my hope. He's my life. He's my salvation. He's my all. That's repentance. I'm just a sinner. Nothing at
all. Jesus Christ is my all and in all. I pray God will give
us the ability to see that and believe that and cling to that
alone. Jesus Christ alone. Amen.