The Testimony of Apostates and Hypocrites
Matthew 27:1-10
March 17, 2013
Still dealing with the PARTICIPANTS surrounding the death of Jesus.
• Judas – The Strange Arrest
• Caiaphas – The Corrupt Trial
• Peter – The Expected Denial
(This morning we look at two we have already seen again)
Often times when we talk about our relationship with Jesus,
We talk about the importance of self-examination and genuine devotion.
Paul himself said:
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”
Peter said:
2 Peter 1:10 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;”
Paul and Peter both knew that just because
A person claims allegiance with the church,
Does not necessarily indicate that they are genuine believers.
James had this same concern:
James 2:14-17 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”
John also understood this reality:
1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”
Jude also knew they were there:
Jude 12-13 “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”
Not everyone who claims to be God’s child,
Or even who attaches themselves to the church,
Or even claims to follow Jesus is a true believer.
Jesus taught us this early on.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
And we have talked a great deal about this reality.
Not everyone who identifies themselves with God is in fact a child of God.
In reality we have two types of people who are guilty of this.
• One is the Apostate
• The other is the Hypocrite
While all apostates are hypocrites, not all hypocrites are apostates.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
• While both failed to ever have true faith…
• While both claim to have true faith…
The apostate eventually denounces the faith,
Whereas the hypocrite remains in their state of hypocrisy.
WHY?
While both are frauds, the apostate is conscious of his crime,
Whereas the hypocrite is deceived about himself.
An apostate is wolf in sheep’s clothing,
He knows he is false, and yet remains in order to fulfill a goal or a desire (either of worldly gain, or to destroy the cause from within)
A hypocrite is a phony,
But often times they don’t realize it themselves. Their religious façade has been so well performed that they have been able even to convince themselves of their genuineness.
The reality however is that both are in grave danger.
And we have heard Jesus speak of both of them.
IN REGARD TO HYPOCRITES
Jesus has frequently denounced the religious leaders of His day.
Who could forget the browbeating they took
In chapter 23 of Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”
AND YET JESUS HAS ALSO SPOKEN REGARDING APOSTATES,
Namely Judas.
In John 6:70 Jesus called him a devil:
John 6:70 “Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”
In John 17:12 He called him the son of perdition:
John 17:12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.”
In Matthew 26:24 He said it would be better if Judas had never been born:
Matthew 26:24 “The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”
Jesus knew who the real enemies of His kingdom were.
• He knew about the hypocrites who put on a show and were self-deceived.
• And He knew about the apostates who were wolves in sheep’s clothing waiting for their worldly opportunity to present itself.
In our text this morning we see the filth of both.
At this point in Matthew’s gospel, both have shown their truest colors.
We have seen their filth and we have smelled their stench.
• Whether it was Judas fervently kissing the face of Jesus…
• Or the Sanhedrin breaking every law known to them to gain a conviction…
We have seen these men at their worst.
And in our text this morning we see them again.
And this time, not only do we see deeds that confirm what they really are,
We also see the unintentional testimony they both performed.
One thing we are certain of is that Satan is merely a puppet.
What he determines for the worst, God turns into something good.
And even here, Matthew shows us how even
These apostates and hypocrites united together
To pay tribute the PERFECTION and SALVATION of Jesus.
So let’s look at these men, see what they are,
And then even listen to their testimony.
#1 THE APOSTATE JUDAS
Matthew 27:1-5
Now the text begins with us again picking up the flow of events.
At this point Jesus has been betrayed, arrested
And has already endured 3 trials.
Matthew has only focused on one of them.
The first trial John told us about,
That when Jesus entered the courtyard, before He was taken to Caiaphas, Annas actually intercepted Him and sought to determine charges against Him first.
The second trial is the one we studied in Matthew’s gospel.
It was that illegal trial at about 2am, when every judicial law they had was broken in order to gain a conviction of Jesus.
The third trial is the one Luke tells us about,
Which was really more of a puppet trial meant to cover their tracks in regard to having met illegally in the middle of the night.
Luke says:
Luke 22:66-71 “When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I ask a question, you will not answer. “But from now on THE SON OF MAN WILL BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND of the power OF GOD.” And they all said, “Are You the Son of God, then?” And He said to them, “Yes, I am.” Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”
This trial occurred during the day.
Having already come to an agreement (but illegally)
It was necessary to present an appearance of legality
So they held another sham trial, this time in the council chamber.
That was the third trial.
Jesus is now being led away to His FOURTH trial.
(1-2) “Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.”
The reason they are taking Jesus to Pilate
Is because they do not have the authority to put someone to death.
John 18:31-32 “So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,” to fulfill the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.”
So all of this is sort of falling into place.
• Jesus has been falsely arrested…
• Jesus has been falsely accused…
• Jesus has been falsely condemned…
• Jesus is about to be falsely executed…
But you follow the timeline.
And that is where Matthew takes us back to what is occurring with Judas.
Now in looking at Judas, the apostate,
There are three things I want you to understand about apostates.
All three are evident in Judas.
1) INEFFECTIVE THEOLOGY (4)
“saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
I merely want you to recognize here the truth about Judas’s theology.
JUDAS KNEW JESUS WAS INNOCENT
Furthermore Judas had seen that crooked trial under Caiaphas.
(3) “when Judas…saw that He had been condemned”
Here is what that means.
• Judas knew the witnesses were false.
• Judas knew the accusation about Jesus tearing down the temple was wrong.
• Judas knew that when Jesus claimed to be God, He actually was.
Judas has lived with Jesus intimately for 3 years.
• Judas tasted the wine that had previously been water.
• Judas ate the fish and the bread that had been multiplied.
• Judas saw Jesus walk on water.
• Judas was in the boat when Jesus calmed the storm.
• Judas saw the demons leave
• Judas saw the sick restored
• Judas saw Lazarus walk out of the tomb
Judas had a more intimate understanding of Jesus than anyone here.
He knew Jesus was sinless.
He knew Jesus was the Messiah.
He knew Jesus was God’s Son.
This whole agreement to betray Jesus was NEVER ABOUT
Judas trying to expose a person he was suspect of.
This betrayal was about Judas fulfilling his carnal desire for more money.
Judas knew who Jesus was.
JUDAS JUST DIDN’T CARE
See, Judas is like every other apostate in the church today.
Their theology never makes it from their head to their heart.
The facts are there, the faith is not.
Peter describes them like this:
2 Peter 2:14-15 “having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;”
And the fact that they know the truth, but fail to believe it
Actually makes them in far worse shape than a normal unbeliever.
2 Peter 2:21-22 “For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
That was Judas.
He had an ineffective theology.
He knew who Jesus was, He just never submitted to Him.
Let me show you something else about Judas and all apostates.
2) INCOMPLETE REPENTANCE (3-4)
(3-4) “Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!”
Now, if you read the King James version
It actually says that Judas “repented himself”
But that is a bad translation of the phrase.
The word for repentance in the Greek is METANOEO, which means “a genuine change of mind.”
The word here is MEAMELOMAI, which only means “to feel sorrow or remorse.”
Now, the idea is that the sorrow should lead to repentance.
Remember what Paul said?
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
And there you have the explanation.
Judas has the sorrow of the world, not the sorrow of God.
Judas had incomplete repentance.
• He felt bad.
• He knew what he did was wrong.
• He had remorse.
But do not confuse that with genuine repentance.
Genuine repentance would have had Judas
Running to Jesus for forgiveness.
All Judas is doing is returning the money,
Because he wants to quit feeling bad.
In his mind, if he can return the money, then he won’t feel bad anymore.
Judas has incomplete repentance.
And friends I have to tell you,
We see plenty of this in the church today as well.
We have plenty of people who feel bad about their sin,
Especially when they get caught,
But instead of approaching Christ to ask His forgiveness
They merely do something religious to try and sooth their conscience.
It is sort of like Simon the Magician when Peter exposed him.
Acts 8:20-24 “But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”
He didn’t care about his sin.
He wasn’t concerned about his offense to God.
He just wanted relief from the consequence.
That is Judas.
He knew he sinned, but he never took it to Jesus.
In fact, all Judas did was take the advice of the priests.
They said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!”
And there is a third fact about apostates, that we see in Judas.
3) INSUFFICIENT SACRIFICE (5)
There we actually have Judas with two sacrifices.
The first was his money, the second was his life.
It is impossible to get inside the head of Judas
And know for certain what he was thinking.
• However it is evident that at least on one hand he thought returning the money would help his guilt.
Apparently it did not,
Because Judas’s conscience still drove him to suicide.
It is quite possible that Judas sought to appease wrath on himself.
We are actually taught today that one of the reasons people commit suicide is because they feel they deserve more punishment than they have received.
It could even be that this was behind Judas’s confession.
By Jewish Law, since Judas confessed to being a false witness, he should have been crucified instead of Jesus.
When this plan didn’t work, it may have been that Judas,
Decided to bring that same shame upon his own head
In the only way he knew how.
He was going to curse himself by hanging himself on a tree.
Regardless of what his motives or thoughts were in regard to this action.
IT WAS NOT ENOUGH
Death does not bring freedom from the penalty of sin,
It only secures it.
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”
Judas did not appease God’s wrath on his sin by committing suicide.
In reality suicide was only another sin (self-murder)
All of these in false religions who think that committing suicide in the name of religion goes further in securing for themselves a better resurrection have succumbed to the same lie Judas bought.
Physical death does not eliminate and eternal debt.
When Judas died, the real judgment began.
There is only One who can pay man’s sin debt, and that is Christ.
Judas will spend eternity in hell, and never satisfy God’s wrath.
His payment for sin was insufficient.
There is still a debt to pay.
THAT WAS THE APOSTATE.
And those in the church today, who know they do not trust Christ,
But remain anyway for their own carnal reasons,
Must understand what Judas did not.
Apart from Christ they cannot be saved,
And in rejecting Christ they only secure their punishment.
BUT, IT IS NOT AS THOUGH THEY HURT CHRIST.
Judas, even in His betrayal and suicide, still managed to testify to Christ.
Judas, testified that Christ was in fact innocent, sinless,
And accurate in his claims to be the Son of God.
God used the mouth of an apostate to glorify His Son.
The Apostate Judas
#2 THE HYPOCRITICAL PRIESTS
Matthew 27:6-10
Here is that second group of frauds
We find associating themselves with God’s people.
Like the apostate they are phonies,
But unlike the apostate, they may not know it themselves,
But may in effect be self-deceived.
But we also learn three things about them.
1) UNBELIEVABLE HYPOCRISY (6)
This really is quite extraordinary when you think about it.
Judas wanted to return the money and they didn’t want to take it.
(6) “The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.”
Are you joking me?
Since when did they start caring about what was lawful?
• They just paid a man to false condemn a known innocent man out of the
temple treasury…
• They then held the most crooked trial in Jewish history…
And now, all of a sudden they draw the line at taking the money back?
Like a church paying a hit man out of the general fund to kill the preacher,
And then refusing to accept a tithe from someone who won the lottery.
This is hypocrisy in its finest form.
What it reveals is that they have lost all sense
Of righteousness and genuine religion.
They are themselves deceived.
I’m sure at the moment they felt very pious
For refusing to put that money in the treasury.
They didn’t mind condemning an innocent man,
But they sure felt good about themselves for keeping the finances clean.
Does it not just make you sick?
People don’t care about what God cares about.
But they will take you to task over the littlest insignificant details.
Jesus explained it like this:
Matthew 23:23-24 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
That is hypocrites, they can’t even see how pathetic they look
Let me give you another fact about them
2) UNINTENDED TESTIMONY (7-8)
These men, in their self-righteousness, decided not to keep the money,
Instead they bought a field.
(7-8) “And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.”
The Potter’s field would have been a place where the pottery community
Would have gathered clay for the making of their pots.
It was purchased here in order to bury strangers.
But if you will notice, they did not escape the testimony.
• The field wasn’t called the strangers field.
• The field wasn’t called “Strangers Cemetery”
Acts tells us:
Acts 1:19 “And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.”
Everyone in Jerusalem knew what purchased that field.
Everyone in Jerusalem knew it was bought with blood money.
That field is an enduring testimony
To the fact that Christ was sinless and yet murdered anyway.
I doubt that was the intention of purchasing that field,
But it was testimony none the less.
So it is even today, hypocrites have an unintentional testimony.
Even their hypocrisy will be used by God as a means to glorify Himself.
In a strange way, the hypocrisy of these men
Only manages to magnify the true righteousness of God.
Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount?
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus then went into those “You have heard, but I say” sermons.
They were all hypocrites, and yet all their hypocrisy did
Was make the righteousness of Christ look that much greater.
Hypocrites don’t save themselves,
But they do unintentionally glorify Christ
I’ll give you another attribute we see here
3) UNMISTAKEABLE FULFILLMENT (9-10)
Now let me help clarify the discrepancy here.
Matthew says this is the word of Jeremiah,
Whereas these prophecies clearly came from Zechariah 11:12-13.
WHAT GIVES?
The answer is found in the Jewish division of the Old Testament.
They divided it into 3 sections, The Law, The Writings, and The Prophets
Jeremiah was the first prophecy in the prophets section, and therefore often times all the prophets were referred to under his name.
Regardless of this, we see these hypocrites, unwittingly
Fulfilling a prophecy they probably had not even thought about.
TURN TO: ZECHARIAH 11
I told you last week that Zechariah 11-13 is very prophetic of Christ.
Chapter 11 actually deals with His rejection on earth at His first coming.
(Verses 4-8)
• There we see the incarnation, the attempt and drawing Israel, and Jesus’ frustration with the religious leaders of His day.
(Verses 9-14)
• There we have the rejection of Jesus, and in turn the rejection of Israel. We even get the payment price of His betrayal.
If you read on verses 15-17 you will find that the next shepherd
Israel will get will be a false shepherd or Anti-Christ.
BUT THE POINT IS that by fulfilling that prophecy
They revealed Jesus as the true Shepherd,
And themselves as the rebellious sheep.
Zechariah prophesied it, and now they fulfilled it.
Even in their hypocrisy, they managed to fulfill the plan of God.
AND THAT IS REALLY THE POINT.
We have here the ultimate apostate and the ultimate hypocrites.
And because of their wickedness,
They will be judged and punished for all eternity.
And this is a message all in the church need to understand today.
• Being in the church is not enough.
• Being religious is not enough.
• Half-way repentance is not enough.
• Remorse over sin is not enough.
• Religious zeal on some commands is not enough.
These men had all that, and were still not pleasing,
Because they did not fully trust Christ.
And yet the beauty of this passage is that
Regardless of their apostasy, and regardless of their hypocrisy,
They could not keep from bringing glory to Christ.
In short, through their deception and wickedness
They only managed to condemn themselves.
Yes, Jesus is on the way to the cross.
But in three days He will have conquered death and it will be over.
Judas however, just entered a condemnation that he is still enduring.
The chief priests would shortly follow.
They didn’t stop Jesus, they only hurt themselves.
And it reveals the real underlying theme
To this entire section regarding Jesus’ trial.
It’s not really Jesus who is on trial.
• It was Judas
• It was Peter
• It was Caiaphas
• It was Annas
• It was the Chief Priests
• It is soon to be Pilate and Herod
Determining who Jesus is, is not the issue.
THE ISSUE IS when asked to either confess Him or crucify Him,
All of these men (except Peter) chose to crucify,
And they only cost themselves.
When given the opportunity to choose to submit to Christ or deny Him,
Choose to submit, for He is the only way to be saved.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
