Peter And Judas: What's The Difference?

Passage: Matthew 27:1-10

Intro: There are few more dishonorable people than Judas Iscariot

1. when is the last time you heard of a baby named Judas?

2. he comes and goes in this ongoing drama, and here he finally goes.

3. I find it very interesting that this event is found right after Peter’s denial.

4. there are a lot of similarities and one powerful difference.

5. happened nearly two thousand years ago, but it is personally relevant to each of us.

6. let’s compare Judas’ actions and response to those of Peter we saw last week.

7. and find Peter’s hope

I. Both Had Plans That Went Wrong

1. last week we saw in verses above, Peter just hanging out, trying to be brave.

2. got called out, reacted in fear and started to lie.

3. he didn’t plan for it to happen, but it did

4. while he was weeping, the Jewish leaders were at work.

5. v1, “early in the morning”, probably after dawn, so it could be “legal”

6. took a vote, decided together to kill Jesus for his crime of blasphemy

PP Leviticus 24:13

7. under Roman rule, could not execute Him themselves, but that worked in their favor.

8. they could hide behind the technicality that they themselves were not guilty of his blood, since they did not actually kill him.

9. and they could avoid trouble with the Romans that a stoning/riot would certainly cause.

10. they could keep their hands clean (so they thought) by turning him over to the Romans

11. same word in v2 “turn him over” as “betray”

12. had that been Judas’s plan? NO

13. this wasn’t supposed to happen!

14. and neither was Peter planning on swearing that he had never laid eyes on Jesus before!

15. I’m not sure what Judas was planning; what he wanted.

16. just the money? Or maybe to force Jesus to demonstrate power to release Himself from the Jews.

17. but as sinful plans do, things get out of our control.

II. Both Were Devastated by the Events

Il) The Darwin Awards, “Barrel Ride with Flames” I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.” That’s regret

1. and that’s what Judas experienced.

2. v3, when he saw what happened, he was horrified.

3. word means to regret an action, to “care after”, to wish you could take it back.

4. and he tried to take it back by returning the 30 pieces of silver he had been given.

5. if it were only that easy to undo mistakes.

6. he confessed to the sin of putting innocent blood in jeopardy.

7. this was a very serious sin.

8. here is one example

PP Deuteronomy 19:11-13

9. this was a terrible sin, with the same penalty as blasphemy.

Il) worst kings of Israel charged with this crime. “Fill the land with innocent blood”

10. and Judas did everything he could to “take it back.”

11. he begged the elders and chief priests to help him out, but they would not let him off the hook.

Il) “not our problem” They had used him and were done with him.

12. he knew Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing, and that he had committed a crime that he could not undo.

13. when he gave the money back, they would not even keep it in the Temple

PP Deuteronomy 23:18

14. “blood money”=money earned illicitly

15. we would call it “dirty money”

16. so they engaged in some “money laundering” by using it for a profane (to them) purpose; buying a graveyard for foreigners

17. everyone trying to distance themselves from this act. Judas by returning money, Jews by refusing it and transferring responsibility to the Romans.

18. thousands of years later, the guilt remains. Some Things Don’t Wash Out

Il) 50 year old murder solved. 71 year old man arrested.

19. but we see that Judas, overcome by the hopelessness of his situation, took the only course he saw open to him. He killed himself.

19. his regret wasn’t enough, because it offered him no escape from his sin.

20. and this is where we see Judas and Peter part ways.

III. Peter Believed, Judas Remained in Unbelief

1. last week we saw what happened when the rooster crowed after Peter’s 3rd denial.

2. he remembered what Jesus had said,

3. and the rest of Peter’s life demonstrated a repentance from unbelief and the embracing of a life-changing, hope building faith in Jesus Christ.

4. but Judas had never believed in what Jesus had said, which is why he betrayed him for a couple of bucks

PP Matthew 26:28

5. he didn’t believe when He said He was going to be crucified, which is why he was so shocked when he was led away to be killed.