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Hard Hearted And Evil Hearted

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• Matthew 27, and we're going to read the first five verses. Matthew 27, verses 1 through 5. The message today is "Hard Hearted and Evil Hearted." And we will demonstrate that just shortly. Notice Matthew 27, verse 1: "When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then Judas, who had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned in that I betrayed the innocent blood.'"

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• "And they said, 'What is that to us? See thou to that.' And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went out and hanged himself." Everyone has known someone that was hard-hearted. And a few of us have known individuals who were evil-hearted. But probably none of us have ever known such men as the chief priests and the scribes who lived in the day of Jesus Christ. They were indeed corrupt men who had their conscience seared with a hot iron. They had no shame. And they held nothing but contempt, not only for Jesus Christ, but also for just about everyone else.

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• All they were interested in was basically what they desired and what they wanted. The apostle Paul describes such men in 1 Timothy 4:2 as "speaking lies in hypocrisy and having their conscience seared with a hot iron."

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• Now I want you to hold Matthew 27; we're going to come back there, that's going to be our text. But I want you to look in 1 Timothy chapter 6 to begin with, because Paul is going to tell us several things about the kind of individuals that we're going to be talking about, these chief priests and these scribes in our Lord's day. So, in 1 Timothy chapter 6, if you look at verse 5, he says this: "Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself." Now note if you would, "perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth." These are the kind of men that suppose that gain is godliness. Now if you look in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 8, he says it like this.

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• "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."

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• Now, interestingly, in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and in 2 Timothy chapter 3, the word "corrupt" is used in each verse. However, it is a different Greek word. If you would look in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 5, when he talks about "perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds," the word "corrupt" here means that which corrupts in reference to the mind, morals, vigor, and strength, and leads to destruction in every area of life. This word is also used to designate the worm or the moth that eats and destroys clothing and provision. A moth can get into your garment, and it may be a slow process when the moth begins to eat, but it is a devastating process, and it is a sure process. When you look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 8, the word "corrupt" there refers to depravity and corruption, and that which leads to death.

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• In other words, it is that which causes one to destroy, be destroyed, or to perish. So interestingly, in both of these passages, in 1 Timothy 6 and 2 Timothy 3, that which is corrupted is the mind. "Men of corrupt minds." Such corruption of the mind, we must understand, is a corruption of our faculties. Our faculties, our mind, is that which perceives and understands. It is our mind that judges a feeling and that with which we determine. So if our minds are corrupt, then everything about us is going to be corrupt as well. So corrupt minds, according to 1 Timothy chapter 6, are minds that are destitute of the truth. They are minds that are materialistically oriented.

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• And then, of course, he says, these are "reprobate concerning the faith." And the word "reprobate" literally means that which is rejected, that which is unapproved, that which is spurious, and that which is to be cast away. So these men are men of corrupt minds. They're destitute of the truth. And more than only that, they stand against the truth, and they actually resist the truth.

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• Now, remember the title of this message is "Hard-Hearted and Evil-Hearted." Now, all of us have heard songs. In fact, there was an old country song years ago about a hard-hearted woman and a soft-hearted man. Well, I've got news for you. Men can be just as hard-hearted as women. And the truth is most of us have probably never really known people who are hard-hearted and evil-hearted at the same time. Now, we certainly read of hard-hearted people who not only murder their own children or watch them murdered and have absolutely no remorse. But yet the truth of the matter is, it is very difficult for you and I to conceive in our minds that there are people that actually exist that are incapable of feeling and are entirely destitute of compassion and empathy.

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• But you know what our Lord reminded us of in John 16:2? You don't have to turn there. He said this to his disciples: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service." Now, stop and think about that. Have you ever considered death at the hands of the religiously intolerant? If you've never considered death at the hands of the religiously intolerant, I would encourage you to read Fox's Book of Martyrs.

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• You also might want to bone up on the Spanish Inquisition. There is absolutely nothing worse than murderers who murder freely and without remorse because they believe that is exactly what God would have them to do. And all you have to do is read about and witness the gruesome and the horrible tortures and murders and mutilations of the Islamic jihadists, even toward women and children. And when they murder, they do so seemingly without any ounce of remorse.

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• And they do so gladly. And they do so with rejoicing, thinking that is exactly that which their God demands of them.

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• Now in the context of Matthew 27, which we're going to come there in just a little while, Judas has betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, he sold him for 30 pieces of silver. His actions were traitorous, treacherous, and treasonous. He personally knew that Jesus Christ was absolutely innocent and was absolutely pure. And yet he conspired with our Lord's enemies. Now, I want you to look back in Matthew 26, if you would please, beginning there with verse 3.

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• You see, murder was in the hearts of the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees. It is true they wanted Jesus Christ, but they wanted him dead. Look in Matthew 26, beginning there with verse 3: "Then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted"—that is, they plotted, they planned—"and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But they said, 'Not on a feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.'" So here they are, wanting Jesus Christ dead.

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• And they're planning on killing him. But we're not going to do it on a feast day because we don't want to upset the people. We don't want them to be against us. We want to do what we want to do, but we want the approval and the recognition of the people at the same time. You have to understand now that chief priests were those who presided in ecclesiastical affairs. The elders were basically judges in civil matters, and the scribes were supposedly doctors of the law who were directing both the chief priest and the elders. So it was these men then that comprised the Sanhedrin, the Jewish body that controlled the religion and the people at that particular time.

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• Now, the interesting thing is this. If you look back in Matthew 26 in verse 3, the Bible says, "Then assembled together the chief priests," plural. When we think of the chief priest, we normally think of singular, a high priest or a chief priest, but now it's plural. So we have to ask, why is it plural? Here is why. Listen carefully. I'm going to show you the scripture.

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• The answer is because Caiaphas married the daughter of Annas, who was joined with him in the priesthood. I want you to hold Matthew 26 and 27, but look in your Bibles, first of all, to Luke chapter 3 and verse 2. Look in Luke 3 and verse 2. Then we're going to go to the book of Acts. But look in Luke 3 and verse 2. Here's an interesting thing. And you're going to see that really times have not changed. But notice in Luke chapter 3 and verse 2, the Bible says, "Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness." So interestingly, both of these are named as high priests. If you look in your Bibles to Acts chapter 4 and verse 6, and this passage is very, very revealing. Acts chapter 4 and verse 6, we're still talking about Annas and Caiaphas. Look at this, if you would. In Acts chapter 4 and verse 6, the Bible says, "And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem."

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• What? Caiaphas, Annas, John, Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest. Are you listening? Nepotism abounded in the priesthood in Christ's day, just like nepotism abounds in our government today. You have a family or a clique that is in power and they want to stay in power. I don't care if you're talking about the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, the Clintons, doesn't matter who, it's the same thing.

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• Now, I want you to skip down in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26, and let's begin reading at verse 14. We're getting to Matthew 27. But look in Matthew chapter 26, beginning there with verse 14: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, 'What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you?' And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver."

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• "And from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him." Now, notice if you would please. One has to absolutely wonder if there had been any previous communications between Judas and the high priest. Obviously, the high priest wanted Jesus Christ dead. And that was probably common knowledge. But look, if you would please, at verse 14: "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests." In other words, Judas is the one who instigated this betrayal.

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• I'm sure he knew that they would be sympathetic. I'm sure that he knew that they would want to get in on this deal. But he is the one who initiated it. Notice if you would please. And he said unto them, "What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you?" Isn't it amazing? Suppose I went up to Henry and I said to Henry, "What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you?" What would be Henry's first question? "Who is the him?"

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• Who are we talking about? Oh, they knew automatically who Judas was talking about. And I find it interesting that Judas was almost ashamed to call the name of Jesus Christ right here. He just said, "I'll deliver him unto you." Note if you would please, the Bible says in verse 15, "And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him." And by the way, anytime anyone betrays Jesus Christ, it is with opportunity. It is convenient. In another passage, the Bible said he sought a convenient time to betray him. We always want to do things when it's convenient with us, and it does not reflect upon us at all. Now, the Bible says they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. Have you ever wondered about the thirty pieces of silver? I want you to turn in your Bibles, hold Matthew 26 and 27, but turn, if you would please, to the book of Zechariah, which is the book right before Malachi, which is the last book in the Old Testament.

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• So we want to come to Zechariah and look in chapter 11 at verses 12 and 13. Zechariah 11, beginning there with verse 12. Because it was prophesied concerning this thirty pieces of silver. Notice Zechariah 11, verse 12: "And I said unto them, 'If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear.' So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, 'Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them.' And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." Now, if you would turn in your Bibles, if you would please, to Matthew 27 and look at verse 9, and you'll see that that passage in Zechariah is applied to Jesus Christ in Matthew 27. The Bible says, note if you would please, "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 'And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value.'"

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• Now, why did they say, "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet," Jeremiah, not Zechariah? Well, Jeremiah certainly probably related this as well, but Zechariah was the one who gave this as well. And so, they took this thirty pieces of silver. Notice "the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value."

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• Now, I want you to notice, if you would, the latter portion of verse 9: "whom they of the children of Israel did value."

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• Now, Zechariah calls the thirty pieces of silver "a goodly price." So here's my question. A goodly price for what? Have you ever wondered why they covenanted with Judas for thirty pieces of silver? Why not fifty? Why not a hundred? Why not twenty-nine? Why not forty-six? Why was it thirty pieces of silver? Notice if you would, the Bible said, "of whom the children of Israel did value him." What was thirty pieces of silver a goodly price for? Well, if you will turn in your Bibles to Exodus 21, you will find what thirty pieces of silver was a goodly price for. Look in Exodus chapter 21—I'm sorry, Exodus 21 it is—and look if you would please at verse 32. Exodus 21 and verse 32. Here it is.

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• "If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant"—that is, a slave—"he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." So thirty shekels of silver was the price of a slave. So when they covenanted with Judas for thirty pieces of silver, they were valuing Christ like a slave. They thought no more of Jesus Christ than a slave. So probably, when the chief priests came up with thirty and the scribes came up with thirty pieces of silver, it was a demonstration of their absolute contempt for Jesus Christ. He was no more than a servant and no more than a slave to them. Let me read to you what Albert Barnes says on the thirty pieces of silver. This is interesting. He says, "The money usually denoted by pieces of silver, when the precise sum is not mentioned, that is a shekel, a silver Jewish coin amounting to about 50 cents. The whole sum, therefore, for which Judas committed this crime was $15." You say that's a paltry sum.

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• Yes. $15. But when you consider that the average wage in that day was one penny according to Matthew chapter 20, thirty pieces of silver would amount to a half year's wages. After this agreement now, Judas began to seek opportunity to betray Jesus Christ. And we know how Judas—and I'm using this word facetiously—how Judas lovingly betrayed Jesus Christ with a kiss. And the show of affection certainly did not fool Christ for one second. Our Lord said unto Judas even before he kissed him in Luke 22 and verse 48, he said unto Judas, "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" He knew exactly what Judas was going to do and he knew exactly what that kiss meant. So when Judas then betrayed Christ with that kiss, Jesus Christ was taken, he was captured, he was carried before the Sanhedrin, he was taken to Pilate, and he was condemned. And Pilate gave Jesus Christ over to the will of the people, although Pilate personally knew that Jesus Christ was absolutely innocent. In fact, I find it amazing that three times in Scripture, Pilate declares the innocence of Jesus Christ.

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• Let me read them. In John 18 and verse 38, Pilate said unto him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no fault in him at all." Then in John 19 and verse 4, Pilate therefore went forth again and said to them, "Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him." And then finally in John 19 and verse 6, when the chief priests therefore and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said, "Take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him." Three times Pilate declared his innocence.

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• Now let me ask you another question. I don't know if you've ever thought of this or not. Why did Judas betray Jesus Christ? Why did Judas betray Jesus Christ? We know that his betrayal was ordained from before the foundation of the world. We understand that. In fact, our Lord himself in Mark 14 in verse 21 said this: "The Son of Man goeth as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Good were it for that man that he had never been born." So we know that the betrayal of Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world. But I'm not now asking theologically why Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. I'm asking, humanly speaking, why would he betray Jesus Christ? Is there an answer? Well, there is. In fact, there are several. A couple of them may be conjectures, and I will tell you those conjectures, but I will show you from Scripture why I believe that he actually betrayed Jesus Christ. It is true, as a conjecture some people think, well, here's a good possibility.

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• Judas could have thought that he would have betrayed Jesus Christ, got the money, and that since Jesus Christ was absolutely innocent, that he would not have been condemned. And therefore Judas would have been better off financially, Christ would not be condemned, no one would ever know it, and it would be over. That could be a possible conjecture. We don't know. Another conjecture is this. Some think that what Judas was trying to do was to force Christ to play his hand. In other words, he actually thought that Christ might kill his enemies and set up his kingdom right there. That is a conjecture.

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• There's nothing in the scripture that even indicates that. But if you want to know why Judas betrayed Christ, I'll show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 12. John chapter 12. And I want us to begin reading there with verse 1. John 12, verse 1. Watch carefully. After we read this, we're going back to Matthew 27 and deal with our text. John 12, verse 1.

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• "Then Jesus, six days before the Passover"—that is when he must die—"came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard."

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• Now notice these next two words: "very costly." "And anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then said one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, 'Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?'" Three hundred pence, that's nearly a year's wages. "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?" Watch verse 6: "This he said, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag and bare what was put therein." Why did he betray Christ? He was a greedy, covetous thief. He wanted the money. He had probably been stealing out of the bag the disciples had entrusted him with. Who knows? But the Bible says he was an absolute thief. So he wanted the money.

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• Now, I want you to go back to Matthew 27. All this now brings us up to our text. Judas has betrayed him. He has been taken and condemned. Look what happens. "When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then Judas, who had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned in that I betrayed the innocent blood.'"

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• "And they said, 'What is that to us? See thou to it.' And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went out and hanged himself."

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• Now, I want us to look at this very closely. When Judas understood that Christ was condemned, the Bible says he "repented himself." That is, he changed his mind.

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• Now let me tell you, there was nothing biblical or spiritual about that repentance. It was merely a worldly repentance that led to sorrow but not to salvation. You see, Judas repented but not like Peter. Peter repented, believed, and was pardoned. But Judas repented, despaired, and was ruined. I want you to look in your Bibles, hold Matthew 27, but turn right over to 2 Corinthians chapter 7. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. And let me show you the difference between a worldly repentance and a godly repentance. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7, look if you would please at verse 10. Here the apostle says this: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of this world worketh death." So a godly sorrow will work repentance to salvation. But the sorrow of this world only works death. It certainly worked death in Judas. It was a mental, emotional, and physical death for him. He hanged himself.

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• However, before he hanged himself, he restored the thirty pieces of silver and declared, saying, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." I want to give you what two commentators have said. First, on the repentance of Judas, and secondly, on the innocent blood. John Trapp, the old Puritan, said this on the repentance of Judas. Listen carefully. I love this. He said, "Here was contrition, confession, restitution."

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• "Most men go not so far that yet profess large hopes of heaven. There was wanting or lacking that transmutation, conversion, and obedience of faith that should have completed his repentance."

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• Now listen to what he said. "He died in the birth as that foolish child Ephraim. He confessed to men and not to God. And by his confession, he sought no more than to ease his heart as drunkards by vomiting rid their stomachs." What was Judas concerned with? Himself. And all he was trying to do was get rid of the guilty conscience. I remember years ago reading about a man who walked into a police station in Alabama.

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• I could name the town. He walked in and confessed to having murdered a man. It was an unsolved murder that had happened 20 years earlier. And he wanted them to arrest him. And they refused to arrest him because they didn't think this man had murdered the individual. So when the man could not be arrested, he went back home and he hanged himself and they found him dead.

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• What was he trying to do? Rid his guilty conscience of the guilt. And that's what he's saying. That's all that Judas was trying to do.

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• Now Albert Barnes makes this statement when it comes to what he said concerning Christ. "I have sinned in that I betrayed the innocent blood." Listen to this. Barnes says, "This confession is a remarkable proof that Jesus was innocent. Judas had been with him three years. He had seen him in public and private. He had heard his public teaching and his private views. He had seen him in all circumstances. And if he had done anything evil or advanced anything against the Roman emperor, Judas was competent to testify to it."

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• "Had he known any such thing, he would have stated it. He would have appeared to vindicate himself. His testimony, being a disciple of Jesus, would have been to the chief priests far more valuable than that of any other man. And that he might not only have escaped the horrors of a troubled conscience and an awful death, but have looked for an ample reward. That he did not make such a charge, that he fully and frankly confessed that Jesus was innocent, and that he gave up all of his ill-gotten price of treason is full proof in the belief of Judas, the Savior was free from crime and even the suspicion of the crime." And that's true.

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• But I want you to watch this. Judas comes back and he says, "I have sinned in that I betrayed the innocent blood." And he throws down the thirty shekels of silver. The response of the chief priests and scribes and rulers to Judas is absolute evidence not only of their hardness of heart, but their evilness of heart. They professed no love for God, and certainly no love for man.

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• What they just said violated all ten commandments. I want you to look at it. In Matthew 27, after he confesses and he says in verse 4, "I have sinned in that I betrayed the innocent blood," they said, "What is that to us? See thou to it." They had no concern for God. They violated the first four commandments. They had no concern for Judas. They violated the last six commandments. Now watch this. First, they had no concern for Judas, his despairing attitude and his obvious heartfelt confession of his evil deed and the innocence of Christ. Their answer denoted that they had nothing to do with his remorse of conscience and the belief that Jesus Christ was innocent. Here's their answer. Their answer signified that if Judas had sinned, he must answer for himself. That was absolutely no concern to them. They were not interested. They saw Judas in his abject state of despair. They saw him recoiling at his wickedness and the vileness of the deed that he committed. And their attitude is this: "What's that to us?"

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• It's no skin off my nose. It doesn't affect me. They were simply saying this: "Your so-called repentance and retraction and ruin are nothing to us. If you want to alleviate your guilty conscience, if you want to kill yourself, see thou to that. We used you. We got that which we wanted and now we could care less what happens to you. Go kill yourself. We don't care. It doesn't affect us one way or the other."

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• How would you like to go to a pastor for counseling when you're in despair, and you're depressed, and you've got problems, and the pastor looks at you and says, "Well, just go kill yourself and take care of all the problems. It doesn't matter to me what you do." I don't think I'd want to be around that preacher. I wouldn't want to be around. These are the pastors.

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• These are the religious men. And they say to Judas, "See thou to it." They did not even consider him a neighbor or a friend or even a man. They could care less. They used him. And they discarded him. Are you listening to me? There are a lot of religious leaders. And a lot of civil leaders. And a lot of political leaders that do the same thing. Look what we do to our so-called soldiers.

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• We use them and we discard them. It's the same thing, same principle.

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• Secondly, the confession of Judas that he betrayed the innocent blood did not really matter to them. You have to consider the impact of the confession of Judas. And his all-wise providence ordered it, that a testimony that bore the innocence of Jesus Christ came from the mouth of the vile wretch that betrayed him. Such an argument now that the Jews might have was absolutely discarded that his disciples knew him to be a wicked man, and one of his disciples betrayed him. Yes, one of his disciples betrayed him, but that disciple came back and said, "He is absolutely innocent. I'm the one that is wrong."

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• Well, I want you to understand something. In the eyes of the chief priests and the scribes, Jesus Christ deserved to die because they counted him a blasphemer. They counted him as violating their law. And he did violate their law. He did not violate God's law. But he violated their interpretation and their misrepresentation of God's law. And so the very fact that Judas comes back and says, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood," it did not faze them one little bit. Because according to their view, they deserved to live and Christ deserved to die. Now listen carefully. It is absolutely true. It is absolutely true that they were just as guilty as Judas because they were involved in the deal to betray Jesus Christ.

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• And yet they somehow believe that they were guiltless. I want you to listen. I want you to think because Paul talked about men of corrupt minds. They believe that since they did not actually betray Christ and that since Christ was legally condemned by Pilate, that they viewed themselves as clear and clean in the matter. Do you remember that Naboth was legally condemned by the elders of Jezreel? False testimony, but he was legally condemned at the instigation and order of Jezebel. Did Ahab tell Jezebel to have Naboth killed? No.

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• She said, "Art thou not the king of it? Give me that stamp. Give me that seal. I'll take care of this for you." And she put a stamp on the order for them to have Naboth there, have false witnesses come, and then take him out and stone him. They not only murdered Naboth, they murdered his sons as well. And when she found out, she told Ahab, said, "Go down and get your garden. Naboth is dead. He's not alive." But isn't it interesting, when God sent Elijah to Ahab, the first thing that Elijah says to Ahab is, "Hast thou killed and also taken possession?" Did Ahab kill Naboth? No. Did he sign the order?

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• No, he knew it was being done. He was a perpetrator. He was an actor, although he was not the one who actually did it. And you know what Peter did when he was preaching in Acts chapter 2? He looked at those Jews and he said, "You have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Jesus Christ." He says, "You're all guilty." Now let me ask you, why were the chief priests and the scribes and the elders so intent on putting Jesus Christ to death?

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• Why did they want him dead? Well, the answer is this: because their hearts were not only hardened, but they were evil. Here were men who were not interested in truth. They were not interested in righteousness, holiness, or justice. They were only interested in themselves. Let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 11—I'm sorry, John chapter 11. And I want you to look at verse 48.

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• And I'm going to tie this together and make some applications for you. John 11 and verse 48. In fact, let's begin reading with verse 47. John 11, verse 47: "Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council and said, 'What do we? For this man doeth many miracles.'" In other words, we can't deny it. So we've got to do something. Watch verse 48: "If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him."

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• "And the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation." If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him. If they let him alone, all men's going to believe and they're going to lose their place, their power, their position. So we've got to do something. We've got to kill him. That way we can keep our place, our power, our position. Are you listening?

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• The same principle is applicable today. I want you to think about this. If the Word of God was followed, obeyed, and applied, most governmental bureaucracy would disappear overnight. There would be no place for the powers that be because the Bible teaches liberty and freedom and self-responsibility. Do you know why our government is so dead set against Christianity and biblical law? Because if Christianity and biblical law is raised up, then they lose their position, their power.

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• And they're the ones who's doing that. The leaders are more interested in the status quo than they are in reform and restitution. They're not interested in making things right. They're interested in keeping things wrong so they can maintain their control and their power. What did they say to Judas? "What is that to us? See thou to it." It really doesn't matter to our elders, our civil rulers, whether we kill ourselves or not. What difference does it make to them if 22 veterans commit suicide every single day?

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• There's no skin off their nose. That's just somebody else we don't have to support. Somebody else we don't have to have at the VA hospital taking up our time. You see what I'm saying? "What is that to us? See thou to it." That statement reveals absolute hard-heartedness but also absolute evil-heartedness. They could care less about God and consequently they could care less about man. Now, let me make just several applications.

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• The first one is this. Sin may be tasty in the beginning. But in the end, it's heartache, misery, and death. The scripture says it's sweet to the mouth, but bitter to the belly. Matthew Henry, in speaking of the sin of Judas, states this. Listen.

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• "Now, in the end, now he curses the bag that he carried, the money he coveted, the priests he dealt with, and the day that he was born. The remembrance of his master's goodness to him which he had so basely requited, the bowels of mercy he had spurned, and the fair warnings he had slighted, steeled his convictions and made them even more piercing. Now he found his master's words true: 'It were better for that man that he had never been born.'"

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• Please note, sin will soon change its taste. Though it be rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel, in the bowels, it will be turned into the gall of asps like John's book in Revelation 10 and verse 9. And that's true. All sin is tantalizing and tasty and enticing and exciting in the beginning. But in the end, it brings forth death. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 50, if you would please, for the second application. I want you to see this. Psalm 50. I want you to understand that consenting to sin and being an accessory to sin is to be guilty of sin. Psalm 50, verse 16. Look what God says: "But unto the wicked God saith, 'What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?'" Now watch.

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• "Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentest with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers." How do they consent to thievery and theft? By not saying anything, by not revealing it, by not reproaching it, by not judging it. How did they become partakers with adulterers? By not declaring its wickedness, its vileness. They were silent.

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• And God charges them with being absolutely guilty. Here again, Matthew Henry says this: "It is folly for us to think that the sins of others are nothing to us, especially those sins that we are in any way an accessory to or partakers in. Is it nothing to us that God is dishonored, souls wounded, Satan gratified, and his interests served, and that we have aided and abetted it? If the elders of Jezreel to please Jezebel murder Naboth, is it nothing to Ahab?"

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• "Yes, he is killed, for he's taken possession. The guilt of sin is not so easily transferred as some people think it is. If there was guilt in the matter, they tell Judas, that he must look to it, he must bear it. First, because he had betrayed him to them. His was indeed the greater sin, but it did not therefore follow that theirs was no sin. It is a common instance of the deceitfulness of our hearts to extenuate our own sin by the aggravation of other people's sins."

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• "But the judgment of God is according to truth, not according to comparison." So I could look at Doc and say, "Oh, what an awful man. He's horrible. Thank God I'm not as bad as he is." What? But I am. I noticed I had to pick him. He's here. But you notice what I'm doing. I could say, "Whoo, at least"—and by the way, this happens in prison. This happens in prison.

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• The murderers are kind of over here. The thieves are over here. And the thieves will say, "Well, at least I'm not a murderer." And the murderer will say, "Well, I didn't rape a child. I'm not a pedophile." And what they are doing is they are extenuating and excusing their own sins by looking at the aggravated sins of everybody else. You can't do that. Your sin is your own, and sin is sin, and sin is guilty before God.

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• God's judgment is always according to truth, not according to comparison. Thirdly, the actions of Judas should have excited the chief priests and the scribes to repentance. It should have. They heard his confession. They saw his restitution. But they were unmoved by suicide. Such is evidence of a seared conscience. And it aggravates their criminality. In refusing to consider the actions of Judas, they condemned themselves. And in one sense of the word, they were worse than Judas. Because at least Judas was sorrowful and made restitution.

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• They were not even remorseful. They rejoiced in the death of an innocent man. Their sin was actually worse. What God is telling us is that the perpetrator and the actor, the planner and the actor, are both guilty in the sight of God. Here's the fourth one. Listen carefully. When we are unmoved at the plight, disaster, and remorse of others, we need to examine our own hearts. If I'm unmoved at several of these people that we have on the prayer list that are really in dire straits fighting cancer, if I'm unmoved and I don't even consider praying for them or thinking of them or helping them in any way, I better examine my own heart. If I'm unmoved, listen carefully, even at the fall of my enemy, I better examine my own heart. It is true that there is a sense of relief when our enemies fall.

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• But on the other hand, it should be on our hearts that, "Lord, I wanted him gone, but not necessarily just like that. I mean, that's awful." I've got news for you. When you stop and think of a wicked man dying a wicked death, and then facing a holy righteous God, that's nerve-wracking for me. And the Bible says in Proverbs 24 and verse 17, listen carefully: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth."

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• We may be thankful, but we're not rejoicing over it. Here's the fifth one. I wish I had time to preach this. Sin always hardens our heart. Do you realize the more we sin, the easier it is to sin? The easier it is to sin, the harder our hearts become. The harder our hearts become, the more evil our hearts become. That's why Proverbs 4 says this: "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." I wish I had another Sunday or two to preach on this. I've got something else I want to bring next Sunday, but when you read through the New Testament, even the apostles, the disciples of Jesus Christ, he looked at them and asked, "Is your heart also hardened?" And the Bible says several times that their hearts were hardened. We're not talking about the wicked, we're talking about the disciples of Jesus Christ. So we need to learn to keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of it, out of our hearts, are the issues of life.

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• We do not want to become hard-hearted and evil-hearted. We know people like that and the wicked are like that, but we're not to be like that. That's why in Romans chapter 12, what did our Lord say? And he's quoting from the Old Testament there. He said, "If your enemy hungers, what? Feed him. If he's thirsty, what? Give him water."

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• Now, God didn't tell you to go out and buy him a T-bone steak. He didn't tell you to buy him the most expensive drink in the world. He didn't say give him a Frappuccino or a Starbucks coffee. Give him water. Why in the world are you to feed your enemy? Why are you to give your enemy water? To keep your own heart. To make sure you don't become hard-hearted and evil-hearted.

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• Just because he does wrong does not mean that you are going to do wrong. Keep your heart with all diligence, lest you become hard-hearted and evil-hearted. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word, for Your truth, and we pray, Father, that You would speak to our hearts. Keep us, Lord, warm. Make our hide tough and our hearts tender. And help us to be in honor to the Lord Jesus Christ and to worship Him alone in whose name we pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T14:02:08Z