THE TRIUMPH OF GOD THROUGH CHRIST LEADS TO HUMILITY, HOPELESSNESS AND HYPOCRISY

Matthew 26:69—27:10

INTRODUCTION

This past week, during my regular Bible reading, I came across a description of the church in the decade following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus that really struck me. Listen to Acts 9:31, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit , it multiplied.” What got my attention is that the entire collection of Christians living in these regions lived their lives experiencing two emotions. They feared God and they were comforted by the Holy Spirit. These emotional experiences described individual Christians and the church when it gathered in homes or other places to worship, study, pray and fellowship. These were the emotions that the Christian churches experienced with such regularity that they are said to be walking in these emotions.

At first glance, fear and comfort are not two emotions we think of as occurring together. However, fear and comfort do belong together. Children awakened in the middle of the night by a thunderstorm fly to their parents’ bed and in their fear they are comforted. A parent who fears as their teenager drives in the snow for the first time then is comforted at the sound of the car pulling into the driveway. It is going to the doctor for tests, afraid that cancer will be found but then comforted when the report comes back negative. Fear and comfort are two emotions, which we often experience. However, most of us cannot say that we walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit . Our fears and our comforts are generally not in response to God. It is my ambition this morning to be used by God to create these two emotions in you. I want you and I to fear God who is holy and just and therefore hates all who do wrong. I want us to stand in awe of this great God who is a consuming fire. However, I also want us to live in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. I want us to know the joy that comes to those whose sins have been covered by the suffering and death of Jesus. We can only experience them in that order. Only those in distress can experience comfort.

Our passage this morning is well suited to this work. It is on one hand, a terrifying passage. We will see in this passage clear pictures of our weakness, our sinfulness, our treachery and of God’s just retribution against our sin. However, we are also going to see one of the most touching descriptions of God’s mercy in the Bible. We will find plenty of reason here to fear the Lord and we will find reasons to be comforted in our fear. As Matthew is telling us the story of Jesus’ betrayal, torture, death and resurrection, he inserts a description of three responses to God’s work of revealing sin. In the hours prior to this event Jesus has warned Judas of the sin he is engaged in and of its consequences and he has warned Peter of the sin he is going to commit. Look back at 26:24 and 31-35. Additionally, Jesus has for three years been seeking to expose the sinfulness of the Jewish religious leaders. In the days prior to this event he has repeatedly confronted these leaders with their rebellion and unbelief and warned them of the judgment God will bring upon them if they do not turn. In this passage we discover how each of these individuals respond to the final revelation of their sin. I trust in seeing, we will discover the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

MAIN POINT

When God reveals peoples’ sins some respond with…

I. Humility (26:69-75)

The contrast between what is happening to Jesus in vv. 57-68 with what is happening to Peter is shocking. Remember it is the middle of the night and Jesus after his arrest has been brought to the house of the high priest Caiphas. He has been examined by at least a portion of the Jewish ruling council. They have attempted to find legal grounds to kill him by bringing forward false witnesses. However, the only thing they have been able to get any of the false witnesses to agree upon is that Jesus said that he was able to destroy the temple of God and then rebuild it in three days. Jesus did not even bother to respond to this ridiculous charge. The high priest, in frustration finally demanded that Jesus tell him, under oath, whether or not he was the Jewish Messiah, the Son of God. When Jesus responded that he was indeed the Son of God who would come at the end of the ages to judge them, the high priest declared that Jesus had committed, in front of them all, a crime worthy of death. He, being a mere man, had claimed to be the divine Son of God. Then, in order to prove that Jesus was only human the religious leaders and their servants beat Jesus and mocked him. They were convinced that if he were indeed the Messiah, God would not permit him to be harmed. Therefore, the more they struck him and mocked him without anything happening to them, the more convinced they are that he is not the Messiah but merely a pretender.

Peter, on the other hand is sitting next to the fire, with some of the soldiers who arrested Jesus, in the courtyard of the high priest. He is there because of his boasts to not desert Jesus. He is there to show he is a loyal follower of Jesus, even though Jesus told him only a few hours ago that he was going to deny him three times before the rooster crowed. There is no doubt that Peter’s presence in the courtyard is an act of bravery, no matter how foolish and pointless. Few of us have come close to experiencing the level of disappointment, confusion and shock that Peter has because of Jesus’ arrest and trial. This is worse than the feelings of disbelief and horror that we all experienced as we watched the Twin Towers crumble. This is worse than the shock that anyone who has sat in the waiting room as a loved one undergoes emergency surgery has felt. Peter’s whole life has been turned upside down. All of his hopes and dreams for the future are vaporizing in front of his eyes. Yet, he is holding onto a stubborn, if irrational, hope that things are going to turn out OK after all. He is hoping that by being present he may be able to help avert what appears to be certain disaster.

While he sits at the fire, his heart full of fear, confusion and an obstinate refusal to let go of his dreams, a young slave girl stops, looks carefully at him and then declares in a voice loud enough to be heard over the conversations of those nearby, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” This unexpected attention catches the disturbed Peter off guard. He becomes conscience of the silence and suspicious glares of all who are seated at the fire. He quickly stammers a reply, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He quickly picks up a stick and pokes at the fire. The others at the fire begin to whisper to one another. The slave girl slips off into the dark but Peter can see her stop and talk to another group of soldiers and she points at him. Peter is terrified but forces himself to sit at the fire for a few minutes longer. Then he slowly gets up and walks towards the gate of the courtyard. A dozen soldiers and slaves of the high priest are standing there. As he approaches, another slave girl says to the gathered soldiers, while pointing to Peter, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Peter, confronted by this girl’s accusation, proclaims, “I swear to God that I don’t even know the man!” Unable to force himself through the suspicious crowd of soldiers at the gate he slips off into a dark corner of the courtyard and waits. Finally, in the gray light of predawn a group of soldiers and slaves approach Peter and say to him, “Surely you are one of the followers of Jesus. Your Galilean accent gives you away.” Peter, in self-preserving terror cries out, “May God destroy me forever and bring suffering upon my children. May I be cut off from God’s people forever if I am or ever have been a follower of this man. I don’t know him!” No sooner are the words out of his mouth than a rooster crows. Peter’s fear of being found out by men quickly vanishes as he remembers the words of Jesus and realizes God has found him out. His horror at being exposed and arrested by men is replaced at the horror of what he has done against this just and merciful God. He flees from the courtyard, hiding his emotion, until in private he collapses in uncontrollable sobs, weeping bitterly.

What do we learn from Peter’s denial of Jesus? Before we answer that let’s be clear that Peter is one of God’s chosen people. Back in Matthew 16 when Jesus asked the twelve disciples who they thought he was Peter is the one who declared that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. At that time, Jesus told him, “Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” Additionally, just hours before this Jesus told the disciples that while they would be scattered when he was arrested and while Peter would deny him, yet all of them, except Judas, would be with him again. God is in the process of saving Peter and this confrontation is necessary for his salvation.

In order for Peter to become a true follower of Jesus, his view of God and his view of himself must be changed. Peter, like every human, naturally believes that God rewards good people with good things. He believes that God’s kingdom is for those who are morally strong and upright. He believes that God is committed to giving morally good people a happy life on earth. He shares in common with the corrupt religious leaders the opinion that the Messiah comes to make life here, on earth, good for good people. Peter believes in himself and in his own strength. He does not understand that the only way he can be made acceptable to God is through the death of Jesus. He does not comprehend that the kingdom of God comes to the earth now through the death and resurrection of Jesus creating a people who deny themselves and eagerly give themselves away in a life of suffering love for others. The kingdom of God is not now a kingdom of material prosperity, health and the rule of the righteous over the wicked. So God has arranged this trial to destroy Peter’s love for this world and his confidence in himself. He sends servant girls to accuse this strong, ready to die for Jesus, man to thoroughly crush his self-confidence. He terrifies Peter with the threat of human condemnation in order to display how weak and self-centered he actually is. He shows Peter how much he deserves God’s condemnation so that he will marvel at the forgiveness made available to him in Christ. He terrifies him in order that he might comfort him.

How do we know that the bitter tears of Peter are the tears of repentance and not hypocritical tears, like Judas? I think there are two reasons we know these are the tears of repentance. First, we have the many promises of Jesus throughout Matthew’s gospel that Peter belongs to God and that he is going to continue in faith. The second clue is right here. Peter grieves because he remembers the words of Jesus. He remembers that Jesus told him just hours earlier that he was going to deny knowing him three times before the rooster crowed. Peter is convicted by the word of Christ, which only happens to true believers. His sorrow is the result of God’s word showing him his sinfulness and so he responds as every true Christian responds to the conviction of God’s Spirit, through the word of Christ. He is sorrowful over his sin. Tears do not always accompany repentance but repentance is always accompanied by sorrow. As John Calvin says in his commentary, “True repentance is displeasure at sin, arising out of fear and reverence for God, and producing, at the same time, a love and desire of righteousness.” Peter, while not yet fully comprehending the work of Christ on his behalf does understand as he remembers that Jesus told him this would happen, that he has sinned greatly against his Lord.

There is warning and comfort here for every sinner who trusts in Christ. Warning that we are far weaker than we think. We are no better than Peter. Our hearts are full of dreams that God is somehow obligated to give us a happy life on earth because of our piety, our devotion to him. We think we are far more holy than we actually are. We regularly refuse to believe the words of Jesus to us, warning us of our bent to sin. We regularly place ourselves in sin’s path when we have been told by Jesus to stay away. Therefore, we regularly are trapped by sin, just like Peter. We ought to be afraid and to double our efforts to fight against sin. However, the comfort we find here is that great sinners are forgiven by the greater grace of God given to us in the death of Jesus. The Holy Spirit comforts us with the suffering of Christ for our sins. As the apostle Paul says, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” For all who trust Christ, our sins cannot harm us because Christ was harmed in our place.

When God reveals peoples’ sins some respond with…

•  Humility

•  And some with…

II. Hopelessness (27:3-5)

In the cold gray light that precedes the rising of the sun, while Peter weeps bitterly over his sin, the entire Jewish ruling council gathers and with the bruised Jesus standing before them makes its official proclamation that Jesus is guilty of blasphemy and must be put to death. However, they do not have authority under Roman law to execute a man so they must take him to the Roman governor Pilate to obtain his condemnation of Jesus as well. So they tie Jesus up and lead him through the silent streets of Jerusalem to Pilate the governor.

Now Matthew inserts at this point in his story the record of what happened to Judas, the betrayer. It is quite clear that Matthew inserts this account right here in order to make a contrast with what happened to Peter. The way Matthew arranges the story helps us to see that he is not simply telling us a story but seeking to warn us. Both Peter and Judas were hand picked by Jesus to be his disciples. Both Peter and Judas lived with Jesus for three years. Both Peter and Judas heard the teaching of Jesus and witnessed the miracles of Jesus. Both were privy to many personal conversations. Both Peter and Judas went out preaching the good news about the kingdom of God. Both Peter and Judas healed the sick and drove out demons. Both Peter and Judas sinned against the great and gracious Son of God. However, there is a vast difference between the ways in which Peter and Judas respond to their sin. Where Peter stands before us as a symbol of hope, Judas is set before us a powerful warning sign. Judas and his response to his sin ought to terrify us.

When Judas realizes that Jesus is going to be killed, he is overcome with remorse. He regrets what he has done, but he does not repent of what he has done. He is not humbled by the knowledge of his wickedness but rather descends into hopelessness. He is horrified not so much by what he has done but by what has resulted from what he has done. He doesn’t flee to God but he flees to the hypocritical religious leaders. He goes to his accomplices in the crime and seeks to return the thirty pieces of silver. He is looking for pardon from human beings, not forgiveness from God. He is trying to demonstrate that he did not intend for this to happen. He is seeking to prove that he is not as bad as this appears. The religious leaders do not share his view. They do not view Jesus as an innocent man. They are sure he is an evil person who deserves to die. They are hard and cold towards Judas’ remorse and his attempts to dissociate himself from the death of Jesus. They tell him they don’t care what he feels. If he thinks he has betrayed innocent blood, that’s his responsibility, not theirs.

Unable to find pardon from men, Judas takes the thirty pieces of silver and flings them into the temple. Most likely, he throws the coins towards the boxes where money was collected for the support of the priests and for distribution to the poor. In this act, we see Judas again trying to justify himself by using the money to help the poor. Then he flees the city and hangs himself. In hanging himself, Judas aims to gain the pity of God and man. He inflicts the ultimate punishment upon himself in order to atone for his own sins. Judas is driven to self-destruction in the vain attempt to escape the punishment due him for his sins. His despair is the despair of all who believe that humans have the ability to make themselves righteous, who believe in human ability. He is out to demonstrate that he is not as bad as his sin of betrayal makes him to look. See how bad he feels! See how he admits his sin! See how desperately he rids himself of the blood money! See how willing he is to suffer!

This is not repentance because the remorse is not due to recognition that he has sinned against God. It is due to the fact that this betrayal makes him appear to be such a wicked person. He knows he is not as evil as this deed makes him to appear and so he seeks to escape the condemnation by feeling bad, trying to give back the money and when they won’t take it, by making a contribution to the poor and then by killing himself to show how sorry he truly is. This is the same thing that motivates religious self-flagellants. This is what motivates so many, of all kinds of religious backgrounds to become monks and priests (Like the man who became a Hindu monk in Dennis’ story last week). It is what drives so much of what passes for religious devotion in the world. This is what motivated that hockey player who sucker punched another hockey player and broke his neck, to cry on TV when he apologized for what he did. Humans, when they become aware of the evil they have done, cannot believe they are truly as bad as it looks. Therefore, we engage in all kinds of self-punishment in order to gain the pity of God and of men. We think that by feeling bad enough, by giving away enough money, or by making ourselves suffer, we will somehow earn the favor of God and of men. We wallow in hopelessness and despair, not due to sorrow that we have offended God but in order to reveal just how bad we feel so God and men will be impressed with us and reward us with their approval. This is what drives Judas to suicide.

I want you to be clear that Judas did not go to heaven. He is suffering in hell right now. There are actually teachers who say he went to heaven, that this is repentance. This is a lie. Jesus, in Matthew 26:24 pronounces woe upon Judas. This is an OT word that is always used to express God’s determination to destroy his enemies. Additionally, Jesus says it would have been better if Judas wasn’t born. There is only one thing that could be worse than not existing and that is existing forever in a state of suffering. Finally, in John 17:12 Jesus says in his final prayer, “While I was with them (the disciples), I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” This is Christ’s statement that the 11 have been kept from falling away and are in heaven but that Judas, by God’s eternal decree is lost forever in hell.

What is so frightening about Judas is that for over three years everyone, except Jesus, thought he was a serious follower of Jesus. He looked like a Christian and he sounded like a Christian but he wasn’t a Christian. Here at the end of his life, his emotions appear to be Christian emotions. He is full of remorse. His actions appear to be Christian actions. He seeks to give back his money. He confesses his sin. He admits that he sinned and betrayed innocent blood. He gives the money to God. But this is not Christian emotion or behavior. This is, as Paul says, worldly sorrow that leads to death, not godly sorrow that leads to repentance. Again, as David says in Psalm 51, repentance is an open acknowledgement that my sin is against God and God alone. It is a free declaration that I am an evil person who ought to be sent to hell. However, it is a clinging to Christ as the satisfaction of our sins. We are forgiven and declared not guilty, not because of how bad we feel or because we confess or because of anything we do. We are forgiven because God has punished his very own Son for our sins. The death we deserve, Jesus died and so while we grieve over our unbelief we rejoice in the salvation of God, not in our ability to gain God’s pity by punishing ourselves. Christians hate their sin and fight against it and are sorrowful when they sin. But they don’t despair over sin because they have a Savior from sin, Jesus Christ.

When God reveals peoples’ sins some respond with…

•  Humility

•  Hopelessness

•  And some with…

III. Hardness and Hypocrisy (27:1-2, 4b & 6-10)

What shall we say about the religious leaders? The one thing you should not think or say is that they are somehow different from you and I. These are sincere believers. They are convinced that the Messiah will live in accord with their religious viewpoint and Jesus did not conform to their standards. They believe they have the correct understanding of the will of God revealed in the OT. Jesus did not act as they were sure the Messiah would act. They are sure he is a mere man, posing as the divine Son of God and therefore worthy of death. He is a danger to true religion and to the peace and prosperity of the Jewish people. From their point of view, he is a false Messiah, like David Koresh. He is as dangerous as Osama bin Laden, inspiring fanatical devotion that will undermine the security of the nation.

Due to their presuppositions and biases the miracles of Jesus, the character of Jesus and the teaching of Jesus cannot be interpreted in any other way than as the work of Satan, the deception of a master manipulator. They are a horrifying example of how completely we can deceive ourselves. They are hardened to human misery. When Judas comes to them they are cold-hearted and unsympathetic. When the money is brought to them they act in the most hypocritical fashion. Verses 6-7 are one of the grossest acts of hypocrisy in the history of the world. These 30 silver coins were taken out of the temple treasury to pay Judas to betray Jesus, but they cannot be put back into the treasury because they were used to pay for the betrayal! Instead, they are used in an act of charity. A field that the potters that worked in the temple used to get their clay from was up for sale and so they bought it to be used to bury foreigners in. They used the money to meet a real need in the community, thus showing their love for humanity! They prove their righteousness by “obeying” the law and by performing an act of righteousness with the money used to betray and murder the innocent Son of God. There isn’t a person in this room that isn’t capable of this kind of hardness to God and hypocritical self-righteousness. We ought all to fear and to plead with God for mercy to be confront our hypocrisy and man pleasing performances.

Notice how Matthew concludes this section. In v. 8 the wickedness of the religious leaders becomes common knowledge. The field they bought with the money of betrayal becomes known throughout the entire population of Jerusalem as the “Field of Blood”. Thus their attempt to appear righteous before men is exposed as the sham it is. Then in vv. 9-10 we see that Judas’ and their behavior is merely the confirmation of God’s preordained plan. They by their wickedness merely further the work of God in the world. They believe they are doing away with Jesus and proving their own righteousness when in reality they are furthering the work of God in saving his people and displaying their own wickedness. The passages to which Matthew alludes, Jeremiah 19 and Zechariah 11, are passages that hold up the rebellion of the Jewish people and the justice of God in destroying them. So the religious leaders, by buying the potters field with the money of betrayal seal their own doom even while they believe they are escaping. Thus it is with all human pretension and self-righteousness.

When God reveals peoples’ sins some respond with…

•  Humility

•  Hopelessness

•  Hardness and hypocrisy