From Matthew 27:1-10 / Too Little, Too Late

Note first: What a difference there is between regret and repentance.

It is common today for some to say that repentance (usually appealing to the word – metanoia in the Greek) is merely a change of mind. And while a change of one’s mind is included in genuine repentance, that is not ALL that repentance includes. Someone may well regret the results of some of their decisions, and change their mind as to whether or not some decision or the other was a good one – without changing the fundamental course of his or her life. And so it seems in the case of Judas.

As one commentator notes: “Judas is “seized with remorse” (from Greek metamelomai). This verb is much rarer in the New Testament than the typical verb for “repenting” (metanoeō) and seems here to refer to a change of mind or feeling of regret, which falls considerably short of full-fledged repentance (cf. 2 Cor 7:8, in which such remorse precedes repentance;11 Blomberg, Craig. 1992. Matthew. Vol. 22. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Many regret their sins and the results, so few truly repent, and in the power of the Spirit plot a new course in following Christ.

Note second: That some repentance may be too late.

The text appears to indicate that Judas did not change his mind (vs. 3) until after Jesus was sent to Pilate and condemned. It was too late then to change any course. The damage was done. As with Esau, Heb. 12 tells us he found no chance to repent even though he sought it tearfully. He had made an irreversible decision, just as Judas had.

Does this mean neither could find forgiveness with God? Not necessarily, unless Judas’ act falls under the category of having blasphemed the Spirit by denying what Christ had done was by the Spirit – by which reasoning he sold Jesus out. But by another irreversible decision, that of suicide, he precluded any possibility of repentance by his own hand.

Like those Jesus referenced in Matthew 7:21-23 and 25:31-46 – when the day of judgment arrives, it will be too late to cast off sin and obey Christ.

And who knows when that day will come?

Note fourth: No good works can be used to mitigate our sins.

Does doing something good for the poor with Judas’ returned money in any way, in even the tiniest way mitigate the evil done by virtue of Jesus’ betrayal? Of course not. Nor should we ever treat the good done by those who trade on the back of The Gospel as though it offsets the wickedness otherwise done by those who rob people in God’s name.

Many a televangelist (and others) can point to great good done through the contributions extorted from their hearers. But know well that salvation is no a matter of somehow balancing cosmic scales of good works versus bad works. That is false religion altogether. A man or woman must be right with God through the imputed righteousness of Christ – borne out in a life lived unto Him. As cited above, in the last day, some will point to their exorcisms, mighty works and prophesies done in the name of Jesus – all to no avail because they did not walk with Him in holiness.

Note fourth: The only real difference between Judas and Peter – was grace. God’s grace.

O how great debtors to grace all the redeemed are! There is little doubt I would have been Judas too, had it not been for grace. Had it not been that Jesus preserves some from themselves, when none of us would preserve ourselves. I know that God’s grace is a sovereign gifts, for I know full well I would never have chosen Him, if He had not chosen me. And so it is with all who have come to saving faith.

And yet, if you are not a Christian today – nothing holds you back from coming and receiving that very same grace today – since He has given us warrant to proclaim its availability to every living creature (Mark 16:15-16).

As Jonathan Edwards once preached: “Come to Christ and accept salvation. You are invited to come to Christ, heartily to close with Him, and to trust in Him for salvation. If you do so, you shall have the benefit of His glorious contrivance. You shall have the benefit of all, as much as if the whole had been contrived for you alone. God has already contrived everything that is needful for your salvation; and there is nothing wanting but your consent. Since God has taken this matter of the redemption of sinners into His own hand, He has made a thorough work of it. He has not left it for you to finish. Satisfaction is already made; righteousness is already wrought out; death and hell are already conquered. The Redeemer has already taken possession of glory, and keeps it in His hands to bestow on them who come to Him. There were many difficulties in the way, but they are all removed. The Savior has already triumphed over all, and is at the right hand of God to give eternal life to His people. Salvation is already brought to your door; and the Savior stands, knocks, and calls that you would open to Him so that He might bring it to you. There remains nothing but your consent. All the difficulty now remaining is with your own heart. If you perish now, it must be wholly at your door. It must be because you would not come to Christ that you might have life, and because you virtually choose death rather than life.” – ^{This when he preached on Matt. 23:37. Quoted from Soli Deo Gloria’s Devotions from the Pen of Jonathan Edwards.}

“Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
Bind my yielded heart to Thee.
Let me know Thee in Thy fullness;
Guide me by Thy mighty hand,
Till, transformed, in Thine own image
In Thy presence I shall stand.

Come to Christ today, while the day of grace is still dawning.

From Matthew 26:69-75 / Peter on Trial

While Jesus stood confronted with false charges by the religious hierarchy of the day, Peter was confronted with an accusation of mere association, and that, by only an anonymous servant girl. By law, she could not even give testimony in court. But Peter is wilted before her and the others. O how cowardice can grip the soul of even the most stalwart at times. I have felt this wicked tendency in myself more times than I wish to admit.

Note first: How even very great men may commit the gravest of sins.

Few in Church history will be able to match Peter’s boldness in the days to come – before any and all. He proves in time to be a lion for The Faith. But here, he denies his Lord in the most profane way. Still, in days to come, he will suffer any loss gladly for the name of Christ. In Acts 5, he will stand before the very ones who condemned Jesus to death, refuse to back down from preaching the Gospel irrespective of their threats, and will leave rejoicing that he was counted worthy to suffer dishonor “for the name.”

What a restoring God we serve.

Note second: Sins do not die. We die to them, but they do not die to us.

Scripture enjoins us to “put to death the deeds of the flesh” (Rom. 8:13), but that does not imply that sins or sinful tendencies themselves actually die. We will have to take up our cross daily in this regard. So it is Peter will have to face this weakness in himself again. Paul records his confrontation with Peter in Galatians 2 when he buckled under the gaze of “certain men from James” and eating with the Gentiles.

Who knows how many unrecorded seasons of wrestling with this tendency Peter went through before his martyrdom? But history would tell us he proved faithful to the end.

Beloved, do not imagine that any sin – though it lay dormant for many years – may not at the slightest provocation rise up again in an instant. As The Father warned Cain: “sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen. 4:7)

Many a sincere man or woman of God has despaired because they find some sin rising up over and over to tempt them. But do not despair. Sin WILL NOT have dominion over you. (Rom. 6:14) Fight the good fight of faith. Keep looking to Jesus. He will sustain you. And the day WILL come when sin will be no more. Take heart as you see our brother Peter continue to prosecute his battle.

Note third: The nature of true repentance.

While Peter fails so miserably here, it will be but a very short time before he stands at Pentecost with a boldness in proclaiming Christ which shook the world.

It is grieving in our day to see so many in Church leadership falling into disqualifying sin. But what sets Peter apart is the measure of repentance. We never read of his attempt to mitigate his sin. He never points the finger at any other(s). He does not water it down any place. We read of no attempts to explain his sin in any way so as to make it less heinous. Nor does he try to thrust himself into the limelight. He doesn’t try to reinstate himself, to recover his “ministry.” Even after Jesus appears to Peter and the others in John 20 – what is Peter’s next move? “Peter said to them, I am going fishing.” ‘“ He is bereft of any notion of establishing a ministry or anything of the sort. How unlike those today.

No, when he hears the cock crow, when it dawns upon him what he’s done, he goes out, and weeps bitterly; the word there implying even violently. This is not some tepid, weepy tear over getting caught, for no one accused him of anything – this is his own heart violently rending itself at the reality of his wickedness.

He models what Paul will later unpack as “godly repentance” in 2 Cor. 7. Godly repentance produces true, deep grief, and the expending of every effort to clear oneself of such things going forward. It fills the heart with indignation at self, fear over how wicked the sin is, a longing to show oneself better for Christ, zealous for what is good and fully receiving all due punishment. And how does this show itself? Above all things – in owning and proclaiming Christ publicly and under any threat by any group whatsoever. A total reversal from his former course.

True repentance always requires a reversal of one’s former course. No matter what the besetting sin itself was.

Note lastly: How in due time, Jesus restores His erring son.

Oh blessed Redeemer! How your mercy and your grace transcend all of our guilt and our shame.

What a Savior!

From Matthew 26:57-68 / The Deafening Sound of Silence

This scene is disturbing on so many fronts. The illegality (according to Jewish law) of a nighttime trial; the way the prosecution went about seeking false witnesses; its clandestine nature – we know there were those like Nicodemus who appear to be absent (they did not need the entire Sanhedrin of 71, only a quorum of 23 – easier to manage without dissenting voices); the brutality of the guards, etc.. This was not a true trial at all. It was instead a mere formality to accomplish what some had wanted all along, with but the thinnest veneer of legitimacy.

Note first: This is always the the way it is when men put God on trial.

Those who wish to refuse the right of God to have supremacy over their lives, will always seek the most meager means to deny that He exists, or to cast aspersions upon the character of God so as to make their rejection legitimate to themselves and others.

How can a good God allow pain and suffering? Why doesn’t God verify His existence to our satisfaction? Why does He reveal Himself in the Word progressively and not all at once? Why so many strange commands? While we may legitimately wonder at some things, we must always remember, God is not on trial – we are, Humanity is. He does not owe us answers as to why things are the way they are. Why in His sovereign discretion He has made certain choices, and arranged life and the universe the way He has.

It is the height of human pride, arrogance and hubris that finds us thinking God should do things differently. That He should order things according to our sensibilities, preferences and fallen reason. We may rest assured (based upon the revelation we do have) that He has chosen what is always best, wisest and good in His own eyes, and it is ours to say “yea, and amen” to His determinations.

To go back the Apostle Paul’s words in Rom. 9:20 – “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

This is at the very core of the heart of fallen humanity – God being weighed in our personal balances. And until we bow to the reality of Genesis 1:1 – we cannot, we will not deal with God rightly. Until we cry out with David: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps. 139:23-24) we will continually try to flip the equation upside down. We do not judge God – period. We stand to be judged before Him.

Note secondly: When charged, Jesus makes no answer.

This is owing to at least two things.

a. He refused to be judged – period. He will not answer, because He as God need give no answer, and they deserve none. He will not dignify their perverse trial of Him. He will not enter into their folly with them. And what they take as weakness, is His demonstration of His true position. But they didn’t get it. Often, neither do we.

While Job never openly charged God falsely, he did imply all along that God owed him some sort of explanation for his suffering. He did indeed want to enter into that debate. He wanted to move the discussion as to why things were as they were, rather than settling his heart simply in the sovereignty and goodness of God. And all too often, I am right there with him. Maybe you are too. Faith must fuel our hearts and minds more than the need to understand what may well be inscrutable. So often, the “whys” remain hidden from our eyes. But if we can rest in the “Who” in whose hands we reside – we can await the day of unveiling in His presence. But if we will not settle ourselves there, we will always carry the tinge of the questioning Sanhedrin about ourselves as well.

b. Behind all of this, is Jesus refusal to defend Himself against any accusations, because, He was aware He was bearing the guilt of OUR sins.

And for our sins, there is no defense. There are no excuses. Whatever He may have been accused of, we certainly have been guilty of. He bore the true accusations of God against us. He was in the process of “canceling the record of debt that stood against us with is legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Col. 2:14) He would not try to declare Himself innocent while bearing our guilt.

O what a wonderful Savior!

O the holiness and wonder of His silence.

Deny Himself? This He could not do. Regardless of how unable they were to recognize it, or respond to it – He said plainly who He was. He answers Caiaphas: You’ve uttered the words – but you haven’t the slightest concept of what it really means. The only way you can see me for who and what I am, is to see me exalted to the right hand of the Father – as the One who comes to judge all mankind.

Note thirdly: As the entry in the Moody Commentary on this portion reads: “The only times He spoke were to answer questions related to His identity _{¹¹ Vanlaningham, Michael G. 2014. “Matthew.” In The Moody Bible Commentary, edited by Michael A. Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham, 1509. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.}

And beloved, this is the only way any can recognize Him rightly – as the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power (Ps. 110:1) – the one who judges all. Salvation is bound up in this: “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

So let me ask you Reader – do YOU know Him? This is the God, robe din human flesh, who took the weight of human sin upon His own shoulders, for all who would see Him, know Him, and flee to Him as He is – the judge of all the World. Who commands all men everywhere to repent. His loving arms, remain open wide to receive all who will come by faith.