WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:28.480 After a couple of months off, we're returning to the Gospel of Matthew this morning. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:42.479 We have about six weeks left in this Gospel account, and we're going to pick up where we left off at the end of chapter 26 and the beginning of chapter 27, but don't open your Bible there yet. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:46.880 Let's look at a couple of Old Testament passages first. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:01:03.439 Matthew chapter 27 recounts the early morning hours of the Lord's crucifixion, and it incorporates Judas' regret for betraying the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:14.959 And in telling those events, Matthew includes the last direct statement about fulfilling Scripture. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:17.519 Matthew is all about fulfillment. 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:19.519 Over and over and over and over and over again. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:23.920 He says, this was done or this was said to fulfill Scripture. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:32.640 And what we're going to look at this morning is the very last of those statements where Matthew says, this was done to fulfill Scripture. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:42.400 Matthew wants us to see that the Old Testament anticipated everything in the gospel accounts of the Lord Jesus' life. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:54.719 So that means this, Matthew expects his readers, his hearers, to have some understanding, some level of comprehension of their Old Testament. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:02:04.480 And the fulfillment in chapter 27 of Matthew requires what may be the most familiarity. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:11.280 The broadest and yet at the same time the deepest familiarity with your Old Testament. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:19.520 So to help us with that, let's begin this morning with the prophet Zechariah in Zechariah chapter 11. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:27.680 If you're using one of our Pew Bibles this morning, that black Bible in the seat back in front of you, you'll find it on page 798. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:34.719 Again, that is Zechariah chapter 11, very near the end of your Old Testament. 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:45.280 And this is a situation that takes place near the end of the Old Testament, obviously, but also just in time. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.080 So Israel has returned from their captivity in Babylon. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:54.400 They are reestablishing their settlements in Judea. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:56.159 They are rebuilding the temple. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.879 They're rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:02.159 They are getting settled in their country again. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:05.439 They are getting comfortable in that place. 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:10.639 And yet God says they're not anywhere close to where they should be spiritually. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:16.000 So what we're about to read is a judgment text. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:22.000 God says, I've done all of this for you, and yet you are not where you need to be. 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:26.639 Look with me at Zechariah chapter 11, beginning in verse 7. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:29.919 Actually, let's start in verse 4. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:36.240 Thus says Yahweh, my God, become a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:38.639 That's speaking of God's people. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:42.479 That's a the flock doomed to slaughter is a picture of Israel. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:46.080 Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:53.439 Those who sell them say, Blessed be Yahweh, I have become rich, and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.919 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares Yahweh. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:07.759 Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:12.879 Now here's a comment from Zechariah the prophet, verse seven. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:20.160 So I became shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:28.399 And I took two staves, one named Favor, and the other I named Union, and I tended the sheep. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:32.480 In one month I destroyed three shepherds. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:39.439 But I became impatient with them that is with the sheep, and they also detested me. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:43.759 So I said, I will not be your shepherd. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:45.920 What is to die, let it die. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:52.000 What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed, and let those who are left devour the flesh of one another. 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:59.519 And so I took my f my staff, favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:06.639 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders who were watching me knew that it was the word of Yahweh. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:13.759 And I said to them, If it seems good to you, give me my wages, but if not, keep them. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:18.160 And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:25.920 Then Yahweh said to me, Throw it to the potter, that lordly price at which I was priced by them. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:31.920 So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of Yahweh to the potter. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:39.759 Then I broke my second staff union, annuling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:50.319 So you see here that going back to verse 4, God calls Zechariah the prophet to shepherd this flock of sheep that is doomed to slaughter. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.519 He obeys in verse 7. 00:05:53.839 --> 00:06:00.079 He cares for those sheep that are about to be slaughtered, as well as protecting them. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:05.360 He destroys three shepherds who are not properly shepherding the sheep. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:14.800 And yet, even though Zechariah is caring for the sheep in a righteous way, in a proper way, in verse 8, they detest him. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:21.120 That makes Zechariah leave the flock to be destroyed. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:27.680 And by verse 12, then, Zechariah tells the people to pay him his wages, whatever they think is best. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:29.600 Whatever it might be. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:34.879 And if they don't think that his work is worth compensating, they should just keep their money. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:45.040 Verse 13, Zechariah adds a significant amount of sarcasm with the note that they paid him 30 pieces of silver. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:54.720 30 pieces of silver was a piddly amount. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:07:09.040 Now, a Jewish person familiar with their Torah, their law of Moses, would immediately recognize that 30 pieces of silver was the mandated price of a slave in Exodus 21, verse 32. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:24.480 The irony is that at this point in Israel's history, God's people considered God's prophet and priest of no greater value than a slave. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:32.240 So Yahweh told the prophet to take the money and throw it into the temple to the potter, which he did. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:44.639 If you look down at verses 16 and 17, in an act of judgment, Yahweh promises to raise up a wicked shepherd in place of rejected Zechariah, a judgment he says they deserve. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:48.160 Now this was an object lesson for God's people. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:08:03.040 Here they are receiving the blessings of God, bringing them back and settling them in their land, reestablishing their temple, giving them everything they needed, and yet now they are at the place of rejecting the shepherd that God gave them. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:14.160 They were ungrateful toward God's grace and provision, and they treated his prophet like a slave. 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:20.639 Now, go back to Jeremiah, towards the front of your Bible. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:33.200 If you go all the way back to Jeremiah 18, that's page 646 in the Bible in the pew. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:42.159 Jeremiah chapter 18, we have a similarity here, at least in word pictures. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:51.600 Jeremiah chapter 18 says, the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, arise and go down to the potter's house. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:57.679 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:08:58.720 Interesting. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:01.360 Flip over to Jeremiah 19. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:08.080 Thus says Yahweh, go. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:27.519 Go and buy a potter's earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, and go out to the valley of the Son of Henam at the entry of the Potzard gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:42.720 You shall say, Hear the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:43.919 Why? 00:09:44.720 --> 00:10:07.360 Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods, whom they have neither known, nor they nor their fathers, nor the kings of Judah, and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocence, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:12.480 Things which I did not command nor decree, nor did it ever come into my mind. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:26.960 Therefore, behold, days are coming, declares Yahweh, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the Son of Hanoam, but the valley of slaughter. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:36.480 The message from God through Jeremiah was one of judgment and disaster. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:46.320 This is at least, at least a couple of hundred years before Zechariah. 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:54.559 Two different time periods, yet very similar circumstances. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:03.519 The reason for the coming disaster was the worship of other gods, and not simply the worship of other gods, but the manner of worshiping other gods. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:06.879 They performed human sacrifices in the temple. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:17.679 Therefore, a day would come when that valley would no longer bear the name, the valley of this son of Hanoam, but the valley of slaughter. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:21.360 Because God would slaughter his people. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:43.679 If you look down at verse 10, chapter 19, Jeremiah was to break the clay flask that he had purchased as a sign that God would break the city of Jerusalem and its people, and that valley there would become a graveyard. 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:57.759 All of this would happen, God says, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear my words. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:04.559 Those are hard, hard words, friends. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:18.879 These accounts are from different periods in Israel's history as God's people, but both of them recount a rejection of God's word through his prophets. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:25.600 They don't want to hear Jeremiah, they don't want to hear Zechariah, they don't want to hear God's word through them. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.720 They reject it all, and God says, enough. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:36.159 Now we might hear these two accounts of object lessons and think them strange. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:40.399 This is the least strange of Jeremiah's object lessons. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:49.759 Taking a clay flask and breaking it isn't that strange, but it might be to our ears. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:53.440 These involve common everyday items of that culture. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:13:10.000 There are shepherds, pieces of silver for a slave, clay pots that break easily, the transfer of property along with the injustices of innocent people dying and the worship of false gods, all because God's people would not hear his words and obey. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.279 Well, that's because we didn't look at it. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.919 That's over in Jeremiah 32. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:35.759 In Jeremiah 32, there's this strange situation where God told Jeremiah to buy a field, to act as a redeemer, like Boaz did in Ruth. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.519 To act as a redeemer and to buy a field from his cousin. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:41.440 Well, what's strange about that? 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:46.720 Well, what's strange about that is that Jerusalem was surrounded by the Babylonian army. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.360 They're about to destroy the city. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:51.360 They're wiping out the land. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:54.879 What good is property in that time? 00:13:55.519 --> 00:14:02.480 Well, God says, Jeremiah, I want you to spend your money as an anticipation of what I'm gonna do 70 years from now. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:04.879 When I bring people back. 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:14.799 So he goes through and transfers this piece of property. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:23.840 Now, with these passages in mind, that is, we have this Zechariah serving as a shepherd. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:31.279 He's rejected, given only the price of a slave as his wages. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:35.840 We have Jeremiah who purchases a field at an odd time. 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:42.399 He goes to a potter's house and buys a piece of pottery from a potter. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:46.080 Money is thrown into the temple. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:48.960 Judgment is declared. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:52.000 Now let's look at Matthew chapter 27. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:59.679 Matthew chapter 27, we'll look briefly this morning at verses 1 through 10. 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.519 Matthew 27. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:06.480 1 through 1. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:17.279 And as you're turning there, I'll remind you that we have we are we are approaching daylight on crucifixion morning. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:25.360 Jesus has been arrested, he's been interrogated in Caiaphas's house, Peter's denied him three times. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:33.200 And now when morning comes, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:40.720 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:56.399 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:00.000 They said, What is that to us? 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:01.759 See to it yourself. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:09.600 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:18.799 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, It's not lawful for them to put it into the treasury, since it's blood money. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:25.120 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:30.879 Therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day. 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:50.080 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:17:03.200 The leaders of Israel decided to send Jesus to the Roman authority to be put to death for the contrived crime of blasphemy. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:08.160 But if you know anything about your Bible, you know that Jesus is innocent. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:16.880 And that's what Matthew wants us to understand here as we begin this section of Matthew 27 is that Jesus is innocent. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:26.400 And there is a massive irony in the fact that he is innocent and yet is being handed over to be condemned and crucified. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.200 This is the irony of the innocent. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:37.119 After being spit upon, mocked, and struck, he's now bound as he's taken to the Roman governor. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:43.039 We don't know how he's bound, but probably his hands are tied behind his back, maybe in front of him. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:43.519 I don't know. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:44.720 They're bound somehow. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:47.519 He is tied up with a rope. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:53.680 One author has speculated that it's because Jesus has to be represented as a threat. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:18:00.400 He says a man who needs to be bound is a man who represents a threat when he's free. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:03.680 But what did Jesus say to the chief priest? 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:07.680 He says, Listen, I was sitting around in the temple teaching every day, and you didn't come and get me. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:12.799 Now you come against me with clubs and spears and swords. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:17.839 Think about the irony in this picture for a moment. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:28.400 Last Sunday, Anton led us into Colossians chapter 1 and thinking about the magnificence of Christ. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:40.960 Jesus is the creator and the sustainer of the universe, but his claims to his position as Messiah and Savior are considered in this moment to be blasphemous. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:50.400 Jesus created these very people and placed them in their positions of authority, but they consider him to be a fraud. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:57.119 Jesus gave these people life, yet in this moment they seek to take his from him. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.920 Jesus spoke words and the universe sprang into existence. 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:18.640 He commands thousands upon thousands of angels, and yet they seek to restrain him with a paltry rope. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:26.160 They believe that by killing the Lord of life, they will maintain their privileged position. 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:32.559 Little do they realize that the one they seek to destroy has power over life and death. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:43.440 Makes you rethink a little bit when we try to twist God's arm, doesn't it? 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:48.799 This is the image driving the rest of this passage. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:57.680 The God of eternity entered time and space created by his own word, and then his creation turns on him and seeks to destroy him. 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:04.079 The setup for it began back in chapter 26 with Judas' actions. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:10.960 He left the Passover meal in the upper room to meet with Israel's chief priests and elders to arrange a betrayal. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:22.000 We're told in chapter 26, verse 15, that they paid Judas 30 pieces of silver for his efforts. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:28.319 But at some point, Judas realizes that Jesus would be condemned to death. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:32.559 And Matthew tells us that Judas changed his mind. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:43.920 He returns to the temple where the chief priests are leaders and rulers, and he seeks to give the money back to them. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:54.960 Three verses is all it takes for Matthew to conclude any discussion about Judas. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:01.039 After three years of following Jesus, Judas's life has ended in three verses. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:14.400 If nothing else, that reminds us how swiftly life can pass and how meaningless life is apart from Jesus. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:19.680 But Matthew wants us to see something. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:26.079 He wants us to see something specific about Judas's regretted rebellion. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:36.640 We aren't given the specifics of what Judas saw in verse 3 when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.400 We aren't given all of the intricacies there. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:47.759 But however it happened, Judas became aware of Jesus being condemned to death. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:53.200 And that awareness, that recognition did something to Judas. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.359 It seems that he was at least psychologically affected by the knowledge. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.680 That he was responsible for Jesus being led away to death. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:17.200 Perhaps, perhaps, he expected Jesus to be reprimanded or maybe beaten, or at worst imprisoned, instead of being condemned to death. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:24.240 We don't have any information telling us more than what we have here, but what we are told is that Judas changed his mind. 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:29.519 There are two words in the Greek language that mean similar things. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:32.720 One word is most often translated as repent. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:40.079 That's the word that Jesus used in Matthew chapter 3, verse 2, when he said, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:44.880 We might say that that word is a gospel word. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:52.880 It's the word that Jesus repeatedly used when he called people to himself, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:58.319 But Matthew used a different word here. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:03.359 It's a related word, but more general, a word that means something like regret. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:08.160 Judas was sorrowful. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:12.160 He felt bad about what he had done. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:17.839 And he wished to undo what he had done. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:20.559 Have you ever been there? 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:26.960 Where you made a choice that you thought was a good choice. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:35.279 And then when you began to see the results of your choice, you thought, oh, I wish I wouldn't have done that. 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:43.599 This is spoken of in 2 Corinthians 7.10 about the world's response to sin. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:47.039 It's grieved. 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:53.680 But not in a way that leads to genuine repentance or even to salvation. 00:23:54.799 --> 00:24:02.880 Judas heard that Jesus would die, and he felt badly about it because he was responsible for leading Jesus to that point. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.200 He felt so badly about it that he wanted to undo it. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:13.039 He wanted to take the money back and say, I'm sorry, I betrayed innocent blood. 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:15.039 Jesus is not guilty. 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:16.799 Please take the money back and let him go. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:18.559 Sorry, bud, that's on you. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.799 But isn't that typical human sinfulness? 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:36.640 We are okay with our sin until we begin to experience the consequences. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:42.400 We see the results of it, and then we begin to see, ah, yeah. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:45.680 Wish I'd have done something different. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:58.559 We regret our sin when we know that it affects others or it will hurt us in some way, but for some reason we rarely see that on the front end. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:02.480 We rarely see that before we sin. 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:13.519 All Judas could see at the beginning was a chance to make a little coin, a little cash from handing Jesus over to the authorities. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:21.039 He saw the temporary pleasures of sin, but once reality was apparent, he felt bad about it. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:24.640 And we've all been there, and we will all be there again. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:29.680 See, the challenge for God's people is to not sin, right? 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:42.000 The challenge for us is to see the temptation for what it is as merely a lure that will lead us into the captivity to sin. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:57.440 To see sin as merely a temporary pleasure that doesn't really last and isn't going to give us anything, but that will soon pass away into regret if we choose that route. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:07.759 We need to train our hearts and minds and our eyes and our souls to see that sin is not worth the regret. 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:15.759 But once we're there, because we're always there, right? 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:27.759 We're always choosing sin because of the temporary pleasures, and we we find ourselves in that place of regret. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:32.880 Once we're there, there are two options once we're there. 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:43.519 Once we're there dealing with the reality of sin already committed, and they are options presented to us in 2 Corinthians 7 10 that Dana prayed about earlier. 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:52.559 He says, for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:58.240 Whereas worldly grief produces death. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:08.480 Option one is a godly kind of grief that produces a lasting, genuine repentance without any regret. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:16.400 Option two is a worldly grief that produces death. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:19.039 Let me ask you. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:22.559 Which one was Judas? 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:35.279 We see him having some sense of feeling bad, sense of guilt, leading him to change his mind about his sinful action. 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:37.200 And where does it lead? 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:40.000 To death. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:44.319 Judas acknowledged the reality of his actions. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:47.119 He began well by recognizing his sin. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:58.400 He went to the temple to find the chief priest with whom he had agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, and he said to them, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:05.039 Friends, recognizing sin in our lives is good, it's right, it's appropriate. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:07.359 Judas realized what he had done. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:13.519 He was responsible for Jesus being condemned to death, but Jesus was innocent. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:22.000 And following the line of Scripture, that makes this particular sin despicable. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:30.640 And it would be despicable to any Jewish person familiar with their Torah. 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:40.000 For Deuteronomy 27, 25 says that there is a special curse for anyone who takes money to shed innocent blood. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:48.400 So we begin to see a hint here that we follow through in our study next week. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:53.759 There is this emphasis on Jesus being innocent. 00:28:55.119 --> 00:29:02.880 And there is a curse attached to those who betray innocent blood. 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:09.119 To make matters worse, the chief priests respond with, so what? 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:12.480 Your guilt is your problem, buddy. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:15.680 Sorry, it's on you. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:18.400 Now wait a minute. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:24.240 I thought the chief priests were supposed to be the mediators between God and man. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:34.400 I thought the chief priests were supposed to be those who interceded for God for people to God, lead them back to God, to bring them into the presence of God for confession and repentance. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:40.799 But no, to do any such thing would lead these chief priests into a place of guilt too, and they aren't willing to do that. 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:47.119 And so with nothing left to do, Judas chose to end his life rather than to repent. 00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:56.880 He refused to acknowledge the truth about Jesus even at the last moment, and that is the last we hear of Judas. 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:03.440 But it's not all that Matthew wants us to hear. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:06.480 Matthew goes on. 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:15.279 He tells us that the chief priest said, Yeah, we can't put this money back into the bank account. 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:19.519 It's it's it's blood money. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:24.480 Yeah, we paid it out, but we can't take it back. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:27.759 That would make us guilty. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:31.519 And so Matthew says a field was purchased. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:45.759 The potter's field, traditionally known as the Valley of the Sons of Hanoam, which became known as the Valley of Slaughter in Hebrew. 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:49.680 Or as Matthew calls it, the field of blood. 00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:57.920 All of this, Matthew says, fulfilled what the prophet Jeremiah spoke. 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:03.599 And it's there that we really begin to focus in on what Matthew wants us to see. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:06.400 And that is the plan of divine providence. 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:13.200 There are three things that Matthew wants us to take away. 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:17.279 Number one, innocent blood was betrayed. 00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:21.359 Number two, a price was set to purchase innocent blood. 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:28.079 And number three, the price of blood became the price of the potter's field. 00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:32.240 Note Matthew's emphasis on the innocence. 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:38.559 Do you remember how we read in Jeremiah that he condemned the slaughter of the innocent? 00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:43.839 Verse 4 says that Judas betrays innocent blood. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:49.680 In verse 24, that we'll see next week, Pilate is innocent of Jesus' innocent blood. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:52.480 Friends, this didn't just happen. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:32:00.079 God had spoken of this event in big and small ways all throughout Scripture. 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:08.240 And Matthew says the killing of the innocent people in Jeremiah's time was a small picture of the ultimate killing of the innocent one. 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:14.400 Jesus did not die because he was guilty. 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:22.480 The scriptures say that he who knew no sin became sin for us. 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:28.480 He was not condemned and handed over to the Romans because he deserved judgment. 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:30.559 He was thoroughly innocent. 00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:36.880 Innocent blood was betrayed, and a price was set to purchase innocent blood. 00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:39.519 The chief priests call this blood money. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:55.440 They took the offerings of Israel to give it to Judas to betray Jesus, knowing all along that they would seek his destruction. 00:32:56.960 --> 00:33:04.319 It wouldn't be quite right to receive those 30 pieces of silver back into the offering plate when they had initially been used to hire a hitman. 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:10.640 Of course, in this situation, the hitmen merely led them to their desired target, and the Romans did the dirty work. 00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:18.079 What makes this providential is the amount of money involved and even the action. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:24.799 The price for Judas' betrayal was 30 pieces of silver, and he cast that money back into the temple. 00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:34.000 And that amount, Matthew records, fulfills Scripture, and it's the passage from Zechariah, not Jeremiah. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:37.279 What was Zechariah's comment? 00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:41.279 Give me my wages if you think I deserve them. 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:44.079 And what did they give him? 00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:49.279 Thirty pieces of silver, that lordly price at which I was priced by them. 00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:56.960 The prophet and spiritual leader Zechariah was worth no more than the price of a slave. 00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:07.599 So also, the prophet, God's only begotten, was valued as no more than a slave. 00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:19.360 Matthew knows, too, that any Jewish reader would recognize 30 pieces of silver being paid out by Jewish people and then being thrown into the temple at the command of God. 00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:30.400 And by playing on that thought, Matthew says that even the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas and the throwing them into the temple is not a coincidence. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:36.480 God had spoken through the Old Testament prophets in a way that anticipated all of these details. 00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:41.760 God used ordinary events to prepare the way for his son. 00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:47.599 Even the price of the field. 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:53.360 And the purchase of the field. 00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:56.639 And the renaming of the field. 00:35:01.199 --> 00:35:05.920 Matthew tells us the priests and the elders purchased a piece of land outside of Jerusalem. 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:13.199 Best guess is that at the time it was used by potters to dig up clay for their work. 00:35:18.400 --> 00:35:23.599 That purchased land was for a cemetery for strangers who died in Jerusalem. 00:35:24.880 --> 00:35:28.960 That action, Matthew says, also points to the fulfillment of Scripture. 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:37.599 In the passage that we did not look at, Jeremiah chapter 32, verses 8 and 9, Jeremiah buys a field. 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:42.000 In Jeremiah 18, Jeremiah goes to a potter's house. 00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:47.440 Jeremiah 19, he purchases a vessel from the potter. 00:35:49.039 --> 00:35:55.599 He takes it out to the valley of the son of Hanoam, and there he breaks the jar as a picture of God's judgment. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:36:03.840 And that valley is traditionally associated with the location of the field purchased with Judas's 30 silver pieces. 00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:13.360 The idea of a potter and purchasing a field is from Jeremiah. 00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:22.239 And that, Matthew says, is evidence that God spoke through the prophets to picture what would happen to Jesus. 00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:27.760 Matthew references those elements from Jeremiah. 00:36:29.280 --> 00:36:33.840 But he's pulling in pictures from Jeremiah and Zechariah. 00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:39.119 But he only mentions Jeremiah. 00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:40.800 What's up with that? 00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:45.360 What's a standard method of Jewish writing? 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:50.960 It was an ordinary procedure to refer to more than one location in the scriptures. 00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:55.440 But to mention specifically only one. 00:36:56.880 --> 00:37:01.119 And the one that's specifically mentioned is the one that's more obscure. 00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:11.199 Often because it held greater importance for the writer to highlight, but people would not necessarily pick up on it. 00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:21.440 Everyone would remember Zechariah's 30 pieces of silver given to him as a rejection for his shepherding. 00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:26.639 Everyone would remember that he took those 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the temple. 00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:29.199 That's in essence a direct quote. 00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:30.719 How can you forget that? 00:37:32.079 --> 00:37:36.239 But the more obscure ones are these little pieces from Jeremiah. 00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:38.400 A potter. 00:37:39.519 --> 00:37:40.480 A field. 00:37:45.199 --> 00:37:48.159 That would be renamed the Valley of Slaughter. 00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:54.480 And Matthew says, You're gonna know the Zechariah one. 00:37:55.760 --> 00:38:02.480 But I want you to know that God didn't just promise this in Zechariah, he promised it in Jeremiah too. 00:38:05.920 --> 00:38:13.920 The people of Jeremiah's time and those of Zechariah's day rejected the word of God through those prophets and came under God's judgment. 00:38:14.079 --> 00:38:23.039 Similarly, Israel rejected not only a prophet, but the prophet, and not merely a prophet, but as Matthew says in chapter 1, Emmanuel. 00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:35.119 And as Jeremiah and Zechariah suffered innocently at the hands of their people, so would Emmanuel, Jesus, the one who would save his people from their sins. 00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:44.079 In the fulfillment of Scripture, then, Jesus' blood purchased our redemption. 00:38:47.039 --> 00:38:50.800 But his blood was purchased first. 00:38:54.559 --> 00:38:57.440 Jesus' blood was purchased. 00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:00.719 But the providence is that Scripture is fulfilled. 00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:06.639 Jesus' death was the ransom, the price paid to free those enslaved to sin. 00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:10.000 His blood was purchased to destroy him. 00:39:11.199 --> 00:39:14.639 Money was given out to be rid of him. 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:25.440 But in the providence of God, he worked it all for good, for Jesus paid the infinite ransom with his blood. 00:39:28.239 --> 00:39:36.639 For it was the innocent one who paid for the guilty. 00:39:38.320 --> 00:39:42.800 In his innocence, he paid the price to release the guilty from their judgment. 00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:50.239 Therefore, for those who come to Christ by faith, there is now no condemnation. 00:39:51.360 --> 00:40:21.199 Or as Peter said it, since you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to every person's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing, knowing that you were ransomed out of your feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. 00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:30.400 As though he were a perfect Passover lamb without blemish or spot. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:32.960 Would you pray with me? 00:40:33.119 --> 00:40:37.119 Lord Jesus, we come before you as our perfect Passover Lamb. 00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:45.119 You are the one who was offered in our place. 00:40:47.599 --> 00:40:51.599 You are the one whose body was broken, whose blood was shed. 00:40:52.159 --> 00:41:08.400 You, the innocent one, presented to the justice of the sovereign judge, accepted as the perfect atonement for our sins. 00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:20.320 And so all who come before you believe in the power of the blood. 00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:56.000 Just as those ancient Israelites would slaughter the lamb and paint the blood on the doorposts, trusting in the word of God that the blood would affect their salvation, so too we by faith come to you, trusting that the blood of this innocent lamb, not like silver or gold, but the blood as of a lamb is effective to purchase our salvation. 00:41:57.119 --> 00:42:11.679 So we rest our trust in Him alone and in the purpose of God before the foundation of the world that we would be reconciled to God through his blood. 00:42:13.840 --> 00:42:25.599 So, Lord Jesus, we as your people come and we bow before you in thanks, and not just in thanksgiving, but in worship of what you've done on our behalf. 00:42:26.719 --> 00:42:31.280 It's to you we give thanks, and it's you we honor. 00:42:31.599 --> 00:42:33.840 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:40.400 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:42:40.559 --> 00:42:47.440 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:51.760 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.