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[Music] Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to our look at Matthew
chapter 27, our first day of looking through this chapter that talks so clearly
about the love of Christ for us. This week we're continuing to look at the night
before and the day that Jesus died. From the upper room, to the garden, to the
trials, to the cross.

These are very holy chapters. These are personal moments for every one of us as
we see how much Christ loves us, all that he did for us. In the midst of this
story of what Christ did for us, we have alongside of it the stories of how
everybody responded to it.

The reality of life, of how people respond even in the midst of Jesus giving his
life. And in the first 10 verses of chapter 27, we hear the end of the story of
Judas. Let me read those verses for you.

"Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came
to the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, let him away, and handed
him over to Pilate the governor. When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that
Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the 30 silver coins
to the chief priests and the elders.

'I have sinned,' he said, 'for I have betrayed innocent blood. ' 'What is that
to us? ' they replied.

'That's your responsibility. ' So Judas threw the money into the temple and
left, and then he went away and he hanged himself. The chief priests picked up
the coins and they said, 'It is against the law to put this into the treasury,
since it is blood money.

' So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place
for foreigners. That is why it's been called the field of blood to this day.
Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled.

They took the 30 silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and
they used them to buy the potter's field as the Lord commanded me. Now first,
notice at the end that even in his sin, Judas was fitting in with the plan of
God. For the prophecy, it said exactly that this was going to happen.

Our sins separate us from God, but they can't separate us from God's plan. God's
plan is greater than our sin. I'm not saying that God plans for us to sin, he
does not, but his plan is greater than our sin and his plan can work even in the
midst of our sin.

Now as you look at Judas in this moment of remorse that comes at the end of his
life, I'd like to go back to last week for a moment and to look at three kinds
of sorrow. The last of them we see here at the beginning of this week. Last week
we saw the sorrow of Jesus in the garden as he bowed and prayed, and we saw the
sorrow of Peter in his betrayal, and here we see the sorrow of Judas for what
he's done.

When you look at these kinds of sorrow, you learn something about who we are,
how God has made us, and how we grow. The sorrow of Jesus, first of all, the
sorrow in Gethsemane, this is not the sorrow of doing anything wrong. He'd done
nothing wrong.

He's sorrowful over a sinful world and he's also sorrowful over what he's being
called to do to meet the needs of that sinful world. Sometimes you have sorrow
in serving. The sorrow of a parent who has to discipline their child or a boss
who has to let someone go, even though they know it's the right thing to do,
they feel deep sorrow in doing it, or a Christian who's dealing with a brother
or sister who's caught up in sin.

You don't want to talk to them about it. It's sorrowful to even bring it up, but
it must be done. That sorrow is painful, but it's also good because the fact
that you sorrow in that circumstance, it shows your love for the people that you
serve.

It also shows, you know, the pain of sin and the reality of sin. And that's what
Jesus faced in the garden, that kind of sorrow. Now, when you look at Peter and
you look at Judas, you see two different kinds of sorrow, both that resulted
from their sin, things that they did that they knew were wrong.

In Peter's case, you see the tears of Peter. We saw it last week in the
courtyard. These were tears of repentance.

These tears of repentance come from what the Bible calls a godly sorrow. Honest
tears, as we saw last week, that were the first step in Peter's restoration.
Both Peter and Judas betrayed Jesus.

One ended up taking his life. The other ended up living a life of faith. So
what's the difference?

They both expressed sorrow in some ways. They both were remorseful about what
they had done, but there was something more for Peter. He was also repentant
about what he had done.

You see, you see repentance with Peter, but with Judas you'd see just regret,
just remorse. Peter had what the Bible calls godly sorrow. Judas just had
worldly sorrow.

Worldly sorrow brings regret that it happened. It brings regret that it didn't
work out as you expected. And one of the most important things for you and I to
understand for our growth and for you to understand to help other people with
their growth in faith is the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.

The Bible talks about this in 2 Corinthians 7 10. It says there that godly
sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but
worldly sorrow brings death. Judas had worldly sorrow.

All he had were his regrets. Worldly sorrow is resentment that it has been found
out. It's the sorrow of being caught.

It's not the sorrow of wanting to change. It brings depression or anger and it
leads to death. Literally it led to death.

Many times it leads to spiritual death, depression for years and years. In
Judas's case it led to literal death and it leaves nothing but regret. You see,
just being sorry isn't enough.

There is a kind of sorrow that is self-focused and destructive to your soul. I
know it's easy with some of this to try to do a psychological test on everyone
else and their kind of sorrow, why they're going through what they're going
through. I found it's very hard to judge others unless god tells me like here in
the Bible why somebody did something.

The word is written here not for you to judge someone else and the kind of
sorrow they're experiencing. I can't see into their soul. I need to look into my
soul.

What am I experiencing? Some just ignore worldly sorrow or immediately turn to
blaming others. They don't even have this kind of sorrow, but some get so caught
up in it and the best that this worldly sorrow can result in is remorse, is
regret, is feeling bad that you did or something wrong or that something wrong
happened.

Just feeling bad that something happened does not bring healing. It brings
depression and anger and bitterness and escape and guilt. I know many believers
who have a worldly sorrow even in their relationship with god because they've
gotten something confused.

They feel bad about being forgiven, about feeling forgiven even. They can't feel
forgiven because they can't accept the gift of forgiveness. If your feelings of
sorrow cause you to feel farther and farther and farther from your father in
heaven, then it is a worldly sorrow and god wants instead in our lives a godly
sorrow.

It's the kind of sorrow that brings repentance. We just read in that verse. It
leads to salvation.

It leaves no regret. It's the kind of sorrow that Peter had. You're not just
sorry for the consequences you face.

You're sorry for the action itself. You're sorry for the impact of that action
on your relationship with god and with others. How does this godly sorrow feel?

It's a combination of conviction, of resolve, and peace. There's a sense of
peace in your relationship with god that launches you into a new commitment that
works in your heart for this growing joy. Worldly sorrow wants to just stop
feeling bad.

Godly sorrow wants to make things right with god and with others. The best that
worldly sorrow can result in is remorse, what Judas experienced. But godly
sorrow always results in repentance.

It's important to understand as a believer that satan is always working to
create worldly sorrow in you because he wants to take you away from the love of
the father while god is working to create godly sorrow in you. Sorrow over your
sins. Sorrow over the places you need to repent.

Sorrow over your thinking that draws you away from god. Satan is looking to
condemn you through remorse. God is working to convict and release you through
repentance.

Let me say that again. It's so important to understanding how we grow. Satan is
looking to condemn you through remorse.

God is working to convict and to release you through repentance. How do I know
if it's god convicting me or satan accusing me? Well, does it bring conviction
or depression?

Does it cause a feeling of repentance or rejection in your relationship with
god? Does it lead to grace or does it lead to guilt? Does it leave you with your
regrets or with rejoicing?

You can always tell with the result who is the one who is speaking. What god
wants in my life, what he wants in your life is this godly kind of sorrow. Let's
pray a simple prayer right now, just asking him that he would give that into our
lives.

Our father, we pray, and we ask that you'd help us to be people, men and women,
of repentance. Not just remorse, not just feeling bad about it, but that we
would boldly know we can come to you and we can tell you of this sorrow that's
in our lives. We can repent and you will turn us around.

You will give us the strength through your spirit to live in new ways. Maybe
there's something on our mind right now, God. We bring it to you.

We repent. We bring it to you. We say to you, we want to change.

We want to live in a different way by your strength, by your power. We ask this
in Jesus' name. Amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to see together how all hearts are made clear in the
trials of Jesus.