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Sunday, October 4, 2020

Godly Sorrow, Hearts of Stone, and Guilt unto Death

 


Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

“I have sinned,” [Judas] said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” 

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 

- Matthew 26:75 - 27:6 -

In the middle of all the chaos, Jesus stayed the course of His ultimate destiny to save humanity from themselves.  But with all this, it is important to notice the attitudes of those whom His life had already touched.

Peter had sworn to stand and defend Jesus.  He had emphatically declared this in the context of brotherhood and the shelter of the Son's presence.  But Jesus knew the deceitful intentions, be they good or bad, of an unredeemed heart.  And when the rooster crowed, He had remembered that Jesus called it right, and it cut Peter to the core of his soul.  His soul was in bitter agony with sorrow.

For whatever reason, Judas had betrayed Jesus into the hands of those who wanted Him dead.  Once he realized what he had done, he was overcome by guilt.  His own sense of guilt compelled him to suicide.  Maybe the burden of guilt brought him to reckless depression.  Maybe it brought him to unbridled panic.  Nevertheless, he went straight to a fatal place of self condemnation. 

The religious elite, pious in their self righteousness, refused to own up to their own wickedness.  Pride had hardened their hearts, even as Pharaoh had done after having released the Israelites from Egypt.  They knew what they were doing, recognized it as evil, yet had set their faces as flint and continued in their nefarious intent.

These are merely three ways the human soul will react to sin, but Jesus paid for our base nature nevertheless.  The good news is the believer knows the other side of the cross!  How we react to our sin in the face of who He is and what He's done is critical as we walk out this relationship with Him, as we work out our salvation this side of eternity.

2 comments:

  1. Very sobering and difficult topic to write about, Chris. Thanks for not being afraid to do so. Thanks for making us prayerfully ponder. Peter and Judas remind me of the Scripture:
    "Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed." Matthew 21:44. One tripped over the Savior and was put back together later, the other was crushed under the gravitas of Jesus carrying the weight of the sin of the world to the cross.

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