Fri, 27 January, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
At Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection, when the people of Jerusalem realize their sin, they ask Peter, “What shall we do?” Peter answers, “Repent and be baptized.” We are called to repent of our sins for salvation. Here we see that Judas was filled with remorse and to the extent that he could, he tried to undo what he had done in betraying Jesus.
But Judas isn’t saved. He was the son of perdition. Judas is in hell. Why didn’t his remorse save him?
What do we learn from this?
Remorse and Biblical repentance are two different things. You can feel sorry for doing something without actually repenting. You can be sorry for the consequences of being caught. You can wish you didn’t have to live with the results of what you did. You can even realize that what you have done is evil and loath yourself for being the way you are and doing what you do. All of this you can do without actually repenting before God.
In true Biblical repentance, we acknowledge the sinfulness of what we have done, how it has offended God, and how it places us under His wrath. We then turn away from our sin which is so offensive to God, and turn to Him. In true repentance, we come to God, trusting in Him for His provision for our forgiveness. This is a much different thing that just having remorse for our actions.
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Judas has worldly grief, and it only produced death for him.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Yesterday we talked about how God uses evil to bring about good. Here we see the greatest act of evil that was ever done: Judas betrays Jesus Christ. But God turns this act of betrayal into salvation for all those who come to Him in faith.
The great tragedy of this event for Judas is that he not only betrayed the Savour, he also rejected Him. The salvation that was accomplished that evening was not for him, as he chose to kill himself rather than to turn to God in faith.
We face the same situation in our own lives. Will we repent of our sins and turn to God in faith? Will we trust in Jesus Christ for the salvation of our souls? Or will we just have remorse for what we have done and die in our sins?
