Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

There is no greater question that faces the Christian faith than the why of wickedness.

How can a God so good allow a world so dark?

This morning, there are children waking up sore from the beatings that they took last night.

There are wives plotting how to remove their families from dangerous situations and husbands wondering why they have been abandoned.

In third world countries like Swaziland, there are orphans being offered as human sacrifices and families that go days between meals.

Our prisons are overpopulated, and our churches are half empty.

And, all of these heart-wrenching realities serve as ever present reminders of what we know to be true: Wickedness is all around us.

Wickedness is in us.

And so, more than a few people point to these realities and question the reality of God.

But, what I want us to see and what I think our passage is going to show this morning is that wickedness doesn’t dismiss God; it points to his wonder.

Sin came because we rebelled, but sin came as a servant to God.

I think of stories like John Hall, an elder in our church.

As a teenager, John was arrested and placed in a juvenile detention center.

It wouldn’t have been difficult to find someone that would tell you that John was headed toward a life of deviance.

Yet today, John preaches the gospel in the detention centers as one of the pastors of his church.

The wickedness in John’s life and in John’s world now only serve to highlight just how wonderful the plan of God really is.

This morning, we’re going to see this in HD as we jump back into .

God’s Word

Read

v. 1 “When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus” Matthew is laying out his book in an exact way.

He’s laying it out so that we’re able to make connections in the story of Jesus that the naked eye might miss, since we weren’t there.

He’s laying it out so that we can see all of the drama within the drama that we might truly understand the full glory of the plan of God to redeem his people.

You’ll remember that the leaders of Israel have been conspiring to eliminate Jesus for some time now.

Matthew tells us that they aimed to do this explicitly all the way back in chapter 12, but since He’s come into Jerusalem for the Passover, it’s been in full force.

They’ve decided that the timing is right, and after a number of failed attempts to show him up in public through a smear campaign, they struck a deal with one of his own disciples, Judas, to betray him into their hands.

Over the course of Thursday night and into Friday, Jesus is before the Sanhedrin in a kangaroo court with false witnesses slandering him.

The Law required the court to make a decision by daybreak, and we see in verse 1 that they barely made the deadline.

And so, that’s the big picture story.

But now, Matthew takes an aside to draw us in to the story within the story.

He brings Judas, the betrayer, back into the picture so that we can learn greater detail about the plan of God and greater insight into the person of Christ.

I want us to spend our time this morning looking at the main characters and their responses (headline) in this inner story.

The “Wicked Remorse” of Judas

v. 3 “Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver...” The first character and response he draws our attention to is the “wicked remorse” of Judas.

Now, you’d think that by now that Judas would be on the lamb on the beaches of Thailand with his 30 pieces of silver.

Turns out he hasn’t spent a penny of it.

Judas is still in town, and he’s still paying attention to what’s going on in the conspiracy to eliminate Jesus, the very man he betrayed.

And, there’s an unexpected turn made by Judas.

He changes his mind.

He decides that he’s made a horrible decision, and he wants to undo this terrible thing that he’s done.

Have you ever done something terrible that was irreversible?

Maybe you said something you couldn’t unsay or did something that you couldn’t undo.

You can relate to Judas here.

He returns back to the very men that he handed Jesus over to, and he tells them that he’s made a terrible mistake.

He’s condemned an innocent man.

He wants them to take back the silver, but they want to maintain plausible deniability.

They want all of this to go away.

They cover their eyes, and say, “What money?”

And so, Judas just heaves it at them and runs away.

The Innocence of Jesus

v. 4 “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” Matthew wants us to make some comparisons here, and I want us to make at least two with Judas.

First, look at Judas in comparison to Jesus.

Jesus was “innocent” but “condemned” while Judas was “guilty” yet “prosperous”.

Think about what it means that Judas declares Jesus innocent to the chief priests.

There has never been a man in all of human history that stood to gain more than Judas from Jesus being a fraud.

Jesus’ guilt would justify Judas’ actions, even showing them to be noble.

He would be keeping people from being led astray by this charlatan that was leading others astray with manipulation and propaganda.

His turning over of Jesus would be viewed by history as heroic rather than heinous.

He could live the rest of his life with the satisfaction of knowing that he did the right thing, the hard thing when the rubber met the road.

Not only did he stand the most to gain, but he had a front row seat to know the truth.

He traveled with Jesus and managed Jesus’ finances as the treasurer.

He was around Jesus 24 hours a day for three years.

He witnessed those alleged miracles.

He heard Jesus teach.

And, he knew the real, behind-the-scenes Jesus.

If anybody could identify Jesus as a fraud, it was Judas.

Yet, Judas’ declaration to the leaders of Israel is profound one: Jesus was innocent!

Jesus was real!

Jesus was not deserving of the chains that bound him or the cross that faced him.

The Wicked May Prosper and the Righteous May Suffer

APPLICATION: We learn so much about the plan of God here!

On earth, the wicked may prosper, and the righteous may suffer.

Judas had a new windfall — 30 pieces of silver.

He’d been living homeless with Jesus, and now, his pockets are full of silver.

Judas isn’t facing death; he’s living in freedom.

All of the other disciples are running for their lives, and Judas is the only one that’s able come and go as he pleases.

Yet, he is the betrayer.

He is the one doing the work of Satan.

He is the one living in utter wickedness.

And then, there’s Jesus.

He’s bound in chains, condemned by his own people.

He’s healed and fed and taught and loved; yet, he will be stripped of the very clothes he’s wearing so that his back can be beaten until the flesh comes out.

He’s loved his people, yet He’s hated by them.

He’s come to save, yet they condemn him.

See the plan of God, church family.

The wicked may prosper in this world.

The wicked may live in greater freedom in this world.

The wicked may be more celebrated in this world, and the children of God may suffer.

But, this story isn’t over.

Resurrection is coming.

The last will finish first and the first will finish last.

Unbiased Declaration of Innocence

APPLICATION: God’s plan is here for us to see! Maybe you’d say, “Of course, Peter and John and Paul would tell us that Jesus is true.

Of course, Jesus would declare himself as the true Son of God.” But, what will you do with the declaration of Judas?

What will you do with a declaration that is sealed by his own suicide?

Judas had nothing to gain and everything to lose by Jesus being innocent, yet he declares, “I have betrayed innocent blood!” Judas’ unbiased declaration is a powerful testament that Jesus was a worthy sacrifice.

He could not take my place or yours if He had guilt of his own.

He could not be a substitute for our sin if He was sinful.

Yet, from the most unlikely source, the worthiness of Christ, the purity of Christ is championed as Christ is declared innocent by his very own betrayer.

Won’t you place your faith in Him?