Six Trials

To receive notice of each days Bible Study,
please go to my twitter page and sign up.

Six Trials

Matt. 27:3-5

3 Then [tote] Judas [Ioudas] , which [ho] had betrayed [paradidomi] him [autos] , when he saw [eido] that [hoti] he was condemned [katakrino] , repented himself [metamellomai] , and brought again [apostrepho] the thirty [triakonta] pieces of silver [argurion] to the chief priests [archiereus] and [kai] elders [presbuteros] ,
4 Saying [lego] , I have sinned [hamartano] in that I have betrayed [paradidomi] the innocent [athoos] blood [haima] . And [de] they said [epo] , What [tis] is that to [pros] us [hemas] ? see [optanomai] thou [su] to that.
5 And [kai] he cast down [rhipto] the pieces of silver [argurion] in [en] the temple [naos] , and departed [anachoreo] , and [kai] went [aperchomai] and hanged himself [apagchomai] . KJV-Interlinear

3 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, 4 saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' But they said, 'What is that to us? See to that yourself!' 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. NASB

The sin nature is deceptive. It never brings the satisfaction it implies that it will provide. Instead of happiness or satisfaction or pleasure or security, it brings sorrow and pain and loss and fear. Any action or pursuit apart from that which is sanctioned in the Bible, is from that which is not of the Bible - the sin nature.

Remember that the sin nature is inside every one of us. It has an area of strength - human good, and it has an area of weakness - sin. Both operate in a broad spectrum from extreme self righteousness to extreme lasciviousness. Anyone who does not pursue a legitimate spiritual life is trapped (no other choice) inside the sphere of the sin nature. Its destiny? Misery and doom - no exceptions.

We harp on this in the Bible study because many people are border line when it comes to their spiritual life. Something, sooner or later, will (hopefully) kick them into spiritual gear. I just wish that I could discover the magic words that will kick start folks into their own personal spiritual life and keep them there.

Now we have a review of Judas. He spent the better part of three years with Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself, the creator of the universe, walking side by side with Him, hearing all that He said. Witnessing all His miracles. Seeing all the good He did for folks. And witnessing as to His impeccable perfection. Even Judas could not identify even one flaw or defect in the person of Jesus Christ. God even used Jesus' arch enemies to testify (indirectly) as to His true perfection.

He had gone before the chief priests and bargained with them for the surrender of Jesus, but he apparently believed that no harm would come to Jesus.

Now, Judas has been standing nearby during the early mornings proceedings and has become aware that they intended to kill Jesus no matter what. As soon as they had Pilate's permission, then Jesus would be executed.

Jesus has been hauled off to Pilate's home. Not all of the priests went to the home of Pilate but only a small contingency. Many remained in the Temple. Judas enters the temple and tries to appease his guilt by returning the money he was paid.

Filled with remorse, a remorse which was strictly emotional and not of a nature in which he would change his mind about life in general. Judas will filled with regret and sorrow. He wanted no part in the dealings with Jesus in so far as His execution was concerned. He had no conscience, otherwise he might have advanced before the priests to testify in behalf of Jesus. Or, he might have asked Jesus to forgive him. He did neither of these.

What kind of response did he receive from the priests? 'Soooo !!!'

Evil uses evil and when a persons usefulness has expired, then that person is discarded. There is no honor in evil. There is no security in evil. There is no honorable negotiation with evil.

Evil makes up the rules as it goes along and those rules favor evil, not truth. The priests rejected Judas as now useless. He was to go out and figure out his own problems. 'Go away. Don't bother us with this trivial stuff,' kind of attitude.

By the way, this is one reason that terrorists cannot be dealt with on a diplomatic level. They recognize no one but their own authority and anyone else is merely in their way. They may appear to agree (temporarily) but only until they can find another means to gain what they want.

The chief priests et. al. went along with Judas until they had Jesus and then they discarded Judas completely. Judas was now an outcast by the apostles, by the priests, by everyone.

In contrast we will eventually meet Saul (Paul) who was an even greater sinner than Judas. Saul was guilty of murder. Standing by while James was being stoned to death. Yet Saul repented and became one of the greatest writers of scripture.

Judas had rejected Jesus despite having lived with Him for over three years. His rejection sent his thinking into a pattern of disoriented reason. His guilt was so great that he felt that death was his only escape. He committed suicide.

He didn't have to. He could have repented as did Peter, as did all of the apostles, as did Saul, as you have probably done (several times) during the course of your life. He didn't.

Of all of the enemies we might have in life. The greatest enemy we have is that person looking right back at you when you look in the mirror - You.