Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Lord at the Table with the Traitor (Matthew 26:20-25)

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The Lord at the Table with the Traitor (Matthew 26:20-25) · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine sitting at a holiday dinner table.
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To your left is your best friend of three years.
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To your right, your most trusted business partner.
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You're, you know, sharing food. You're laughing, passing the
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wine. Right, just a very normal
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intimate setting. Yeah, but then the host of the
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dinner looks up, passes you the bread, and calmly announces that
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one of the men at this very table has already sold him to a
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firing squad. Man, that's just a chilling
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thought. It really is.
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So welcome to a new deep dive here on reformed thinking today.
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We're not just looking at a historical betrayal.
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No, it's way heavier than. That right we're looking at the
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specific moment the Son of God weaponized a private dinner
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party to expose the darkest corners of human nature.
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And if you're listening to this right now, you know, you're
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probably thinking that you would never sell out Jesus.
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Sure. I mean, we all like to think
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that we do. But the text we're looking at
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forces you to ask a pretty terrifying question about what
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the human heart is actually capable of hiding.
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It really does. So we're looking at Matthew 26
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verses 20 through 25. It's the evening of the Passover
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meal in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, and Jesus Christ
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drops this chilling announcement that a traitor is, you know,
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breathing the same air as the rest of it.
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OK, let's unpack this. We have to look at the collision
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between divine sovereignty and human treason.
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But first, we really need to set the historical stage we do,
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because the tension in that room doesn't make sense without
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understanding the tension outside of it, right?
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That historical context is everything.
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I mean, we are in the final hours of the Old Covenant
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administration, right? The shadows and the types of the
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Mosaic epoch are drawing to their fulfillment here.
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The true Passover lamb is about to be slain.
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To inaugurate the New Covenant. Yes, but the environment outside
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that room, it is highly combustible.
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Oh, for sure, because we're in Jerusalem during the Feast of
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Unleavened Bread. Right.
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And the normal population of Jerusalem was perhaps, you know,
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50,000 people on a regular. Day OK 50,000.
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But during Passover, historians estimate the city swelled to
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several 100,000, maybe even over a million pilgrims.
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Wow, over 1,000,000. Yeah, they traveled from all
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over the known world to remember the Lord delivering Israel from
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Egyptian slavery. So the city's just packed tight.
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Packed. The infrastructure is totally
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strained and hovering over all of this is the Roman occupation.
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Right, the Romans. Yeah, the Roman governor Pontius
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Pilate has brought extra legions into the city from Caesarea.
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Which is, I mean, that's a massive show of force.
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It is the soldiers are stationed at the Antonia fortress, which
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directly overlooks the temple courts.
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So they're literally looking down on the crowds.
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Yes, and they're on high alert because, you know, massive
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crowds gathered to celebrate a historic liberation from a
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foreign oppressor. Well, that naturally breeds
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revolutionary ideas. Yeah, the Romans are essentially
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holding a match over a powder keg at this point.
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Spot on. They know that religious
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festivals are the prime time for riots.
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If someone starts shouting about a new King of the Jews, I mean
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the Roman swords are going to come out instantly.
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Instantly it would be a bloodbath.
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And simultaneously you have the Jewish religious elite, the
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Sanhedrin, trying to walk this really tricky political
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tightrope. Yes, because they have a
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murderous hatred against Jesus of Nazareth.
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Right. Earlier in Matthew 26, the chief
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priests and elders gathered at the palace of Caiaphas.
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They're actively plotting to arrest Jesus by stealth, you
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know, and kill him. But they're terrified of the
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crowds. Right, because Jesus just
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entered Jerusalem publicly a few days prior with everyone
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shouting hosanna. Yeah, the triumphal entry.
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And he's been teaching with immense authority in the temple,
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so if the Sanhedrin arrests Jesus in broad daylight, the
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crowd might riot to protect him. And if the crowd riots?
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The Romans will slaughter everyone and take away the
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Sanhedrin's remaining political power.
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Which is their worst nightmare. So the religious leaders need
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covert access, right? They need someone on the inside
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to hand Jesus over quietly, completely away from the crowds.
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Which brings us back to the dinner.
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That political reality requires an inside man, and that makes
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the Passover setting of this betrayal so incredibly intense.
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It really does. I mean, the disciples are
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gathered for a covenantal memorial.
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Passover is well it's rooted in blood, in judgement, in
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substitution, and in redemption. Right.
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The Israelites are remembering that terrifying night in Egypt,
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right? Yeah, when the Lord struck the
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first born, but spared the houses marked by the blood of
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the substitute lamb. So the entire meal revolves
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around a sacrifice taking the penalty so that divine judgement
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passes over. Yes, and sitting right there,
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presiding over this meal is Jesus.
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He is moving straight toward the cross to become the ultimate
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substitute. So the elements they're eating
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carry centuries of meaning. Absolutely.
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They're eating bitter herbs to recall the bitterness of
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bondage, right? They were drinking the wine,
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they're eating the unleavened bread.
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And the physical posture they assume while eating this meal is
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crucial to grasp. Yeah, let's talk about the
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posture, 'cause I always pictured Da Vinci's Last Supper.
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Right, everybody does. Everyone is sitting in
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individual chairs, you know, all on one side of a long table,
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looking like they're posing for a photograph.
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Yeah, that's not how it happened.
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Historically, they wouldn't have had chairs at all, right?
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The grief term used here is anachymi, which means they were
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basically lying down on cushions.
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Yes, that's it. In the ancient Near East,
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participants at a formal meal reclined on cushions.
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OK, they formed AU shape around a low table which is known as a
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Triclinium A. Triclinium.
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Yeah, and they leaned on their left elbow and ate with their
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right hand. So they are laying down.
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Yes, and because of this posture, the head of one person
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would be positioned very, very close to the chest of the person
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reclining to their immediate left.
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Oh wow, so it creates an environment of extreme,
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unavoidable physical and conversational intimacy.
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Yes, you're practically whispering into the ear of the
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man next to you. That's incredible.
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And they're eating from shared dishes.
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They dip their food into the same common bowls.
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Right, the shared bowl concept is huge.
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It's not just about hygiene or, you know, ancient table manners.
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No, not at all. Sharing food from a common bowl
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was an absolute inviolable bond of peace in that culture.
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Yes, it was a covenant of mutual trust.
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And loyalty. To eat with someone was to
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declare that you were at peace with them, right?
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And that you would defend them with your life.
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Right. So if we connect this to the
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bigger picture, to break that bond, to turn against the host
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who shared his bread with you. That was considered an act of
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cosmic treason, yes. The highest form of moral
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depravity. Which means Judas is not
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attacking from the outside. No, he is taking the highest
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cultural symbol of peace and weaponizing it.
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He's using intimacy as a cloak for deceit.
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The psychological warfare here is just staggering.
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It really is. Jesus is fully aware of the
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ancient laws of hospitality, and he's fulfilling A prophetic
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pattern established centuries earlier.
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Yes, the Old Testament pattern. Right.
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The betrayal of King David by his trusted counselor Hithafel
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points directly to this moment. In Second Samuel 15, yes.
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David's closest friend turned against him, Ahithophel gave
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wicked counsel to Absalom to destroy David, and the end of a
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Hithophel's life mirrors Judas perfectly.
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Because Ahithophel went and hanged himself.
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Yes, he did. This typological pattern is
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codified in Psalm 41, verse 9. Which has what?
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It says even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my
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bread, has lifted his heel against me.
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Man Judas is fulfilling this to the letter to the letter.
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He turns covenantal nearness into an instrument of treachery.
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Because just prior to this dinner, Judas had already gone
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to the chief priests, right? He had already asked what they
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would give him to deliver Jesus over, and they paid him 30
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pieces of silver. 30 pieces of silver.
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Yeah, so the shadow of the cross is sitting right there at the
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table. Judas is leaning on a cushion,
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eating bread with the Son of God, with that silver in his
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pocket. Essentially, yes, he is.
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Which brings us to the 30 pieces of silver.
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We cannot skip over that detail. No, it really can't.
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According to Exodus 21 point 3230, shekels of silver was the
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exact legal compensation price for a slave who had been gored
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to death by a neighbor's ox. Right, it was a baseline
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property damage payout. Which is wild why that specific
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amount was the Sanhedrin deliberately trying to insult
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Jesus by pricing him at the lowest possible legal tier?
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Oh, absolutely. And how does Judas mentally
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justify trading three years of miracles for the price of a dead
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animal? Well, the specific sum is a
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calculated insult by the religious leaders, and it's
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fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 11.12, where the
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shepherd's wage is weighed out at 30 pieces of silver.
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Wow, so it's all mapped out. Yes, the Sanhedrin is
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essentially saying that the life of Jesus of Nazareth is worth no
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more than a damaged, lifeless slave.
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And Judas accepts the valuation. He does because the unregenerate
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heart calculates the worth of the Lord of glory as the
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absolute bare minimum. Not that's heavy.
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Contrast this with the immediate literary context.
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In Matthew 26, just prior to this scene, an unnamed woman,
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Mary of Bethany, comes to Jesus with an alabaster flask of
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extremely costly perfume. Right, the anointing at Bethany.
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Yeah, she pours it over his head.
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She Spears. Absolutely no expense.
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She offers a fragrance worth a year's wages.
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Yeah. Because she sees the infinite
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worth of Christ. While Judas looks at the exact
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same Christ and sees a depreciated asset to be
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liquidated for a quick payout. Yeah, that's a great way to put
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it. The transition from the
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anointing at Bethany to the betrayal plot is just jarring.
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It's meant to be. Because the table represents
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ultimate peace, the words Jesus speaks next completely shatter
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the room. The narrative moves instantly
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from fellowship to absolute exposure.
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Right, the text says. While they were eating, he said,
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truly. I say to you that one of you
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will betray me. And the timing of the
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announcement is devastating. Yeah, he speaks this right in
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the middle of fellowship. And the introductory formula he
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uses relies on the Greek particle.
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Amen. Which translates to truly, I
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say. Right.
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Right. Yes.
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This underscores divine infallible authority.
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He is issuing A solemn decree. He doesn't say that someone
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might betray him or that he, you know, senses danger in the room.
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Right. He uses a future active
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indicative verb paradoce, which means will betray.
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It is a statement of absolute certainty.
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It is. Let's look closely at that
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specific Greek word for betray, paradidomi.
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It's a really heavy word. It's very heavy.
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It doesn't mean breaking a promise or ending a friendship.
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It carries massive legal and theological weight.
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Yes, the Greek language has the word protodomy.
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OK, which is a rarer word meaning simply to betray or to
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give prior, right? But the Holy Spirit inspired
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Matthew to use paradodomy. This word carries the technical
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nuance of handing someone over to authorities, to executioners,
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or to judgment. So it paints Judas not just as a
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bad friend, right, but as a wicked instrument actively
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handing Jesus over to the legal slaughter of the Roman penal
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system. Yes, it rings like a funeral
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bell throughout the passion narrative.
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Man, so I have to ask the question that naturally arises
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when you think about the logistics of this room.
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OK, what is it? Jesus knows the negotiation
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happened. He knows the specific price.
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Yeah. Why announce this to the whole
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room? Why not just pull Judas aside
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privately and confront him? That's a common question.
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Or better yet, why not just pick him out before dinner starts?
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Why drop this psychological bomb on the other eleven men who, as
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far as we know, are just trying to eat the Passover in peace?
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Well, Jesus is functioning as the great prophet here.
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He knows the deepest, darkest secrets of the human heart,
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right? By announcing it to the entire
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room with the phrase One of you, he intentionally cast a net of
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conviction over the whole group. A net of conviction I like.
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That yeah, he forces every single man at that table to
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engage in severe self examination.
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Because if he had simply pointed at Judas immediately.
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The other eleven would have sighed in relief.
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Yeah, they would have said, you know, we always knew there's
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something wrong with Judas, but we're safe.
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Exactly. Well, spot on.
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Christ refuses to allow them that false comfort.
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He requires them to confront their own capacity for sin.
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It also proves his absolute omniscience.
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He's not caught off guard by any of this.
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No, not at all. He's not a victim of
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circumstance. He sits at the table fully aware
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of the treason, and this reality directly confronts a lot of
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modern theological errors regarding the nature of God's
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knowledge. It really does.
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It demolishes open theism, for instance.
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Which is the doctrine claiming God does not know the future
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free acts of creatures. Right open theism suggests God
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is somehow learning alongside us, adjusting his plans based on
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human decisions. Which is a really weak view of
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God. It is.
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If open theism were true, Jesus would be sitting there hoping
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for the best, completely unaware of Judas's secret deal with the
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priests. But the text presents a
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supernatural Christ who decrees the future and knows the hidden
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thoughts of the heart. Yes.
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It also refutes liberal theology.
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Right, which tries to strip the biblical text of its
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supernatural elements. Yeah, liberalism paints Jesus as
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a well meaning political revolutionary who simply
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miscalculated and got caught in the Gears of the Roman machine.
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But Matthew refuses to permit that reduction.
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He does. Jesus is dictating the terms of
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his own passion. So Jesus says one of you will
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betray me. And that announcement triggers
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an immediate, visceral reaction. Yes, the room just stops.
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The contrasting responses between the true believers and
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the false professor reveal everything about the state of
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their souls. They really do.
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The reaction of the 11 is spiritually instructive, Matthew
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tells us. They're exceedingly sorrowful.
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They don't respond with detached curiosity.
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Their hearts are intensely wounded by the very thought that
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such sin could exist within their company.
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And notice what they don't do? Yeah, they do not immediately
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point fingers at each other. They do not build a tribunal and
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assume the worst about their brothers.
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They turn the spotlight inward. Yes, they each begin to ask him.
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Surely not I Lord. The Greek construction here is
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Medi ego. Amy Kyrie, right?
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The phrasing of their question uses a particle that expects a
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negative answer. So they're hoping against hope
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that it isn't them. They desire assurance, but the
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emotional atmosphere shows they're trembling.
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They recognize the deceitfulness of their own flesh.
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Here is where it gets really interesting.
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Imagine a doctor walking into a waiting room full of 12 people.
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Yeah, and he announces that one person in the room has a highly
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contagious, deadly virus. That would be terrifying, right?
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Human nature dictates that everyone would immediately look
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at the person coughing in the corner and back away.
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Yeah, we instinctively deflect blame.
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But the true disciples do the exact opposite.
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They assume they themselves might be the infected 1.
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Wow. Yeah, they immediately asked to
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be tested by the Great Physician.
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They don't boast that betrayal is impossible for them.
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Which shows a massive shift in their spiritual maturity.
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It does. They recognize that apart from
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the sustaining grace of God, they are fully capable of
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committing cosmic treason. Yes, this is a primary mark of
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true discipleship. I'll.
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Expand on that. Well, grace does not make a
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believer careless about sin, right?
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It makes him afraid of grieving the Lord.
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The disciples bring their uncertainty directly to Christ.
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But then we have Judas. Yeah, Judas.
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Judas eventually asks the identical question, but he
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changes one single word. He says.
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Surely not I, Rabbi, Right? The microscopic syntactical
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difference between those two titles exposes the entire
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spiritual reality of the room. What's fascinating here is that
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the 11 cry out Kyrie. Which translates to Lord.
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Yes, that word acknowledges absolute sovereignty, deity, and
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ownership. It demonstrates submissive
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trembling. It really does.
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They recognize His authority over their lives and over the
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truth. But Judas uses the word rabbi,
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which translates to teacher right.
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While the others use a title of divine submission, Judas uses a
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term of mere human respect. Yes.
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He grants Jesus teacherly status, but he completely
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withholds true submission. He admires him as a moral
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instructor, maybe even as a brilliant philosopher.
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But as heart remains completely unregenerate.
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Judas never submitted to Jesus as Lord.
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No, we didn't, and this has massive application for the
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visible church today. Oh for sure, we have to reckon
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with the fact that Judas had all the external privileges you
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could possibly imagine. He was a member of the Visible
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Covenant Community. He walked with the Lord of glory
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for three years. Right, he heard the greatest
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sermons ever preached by the lips of the Incarnate God.
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He saw the dead raised to life. He watched the blind receive
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their sight. He was trusted enough to carry
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the money bag. He even went out and preached in
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the mission of the 12 casting out demons in the name of Jesus.
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It's terrifying, really. He had every outward advantage,
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but he had no inward reality. This absolutely obliterates the
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concept of ex opera operato. Yes it does.
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For our listeners who might not know, the term ex opera operato
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is the idea prevalent in Roman Catholic theology that the
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outward administration of the sacraments automatically confers
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grace regardless of the spiritual condition of the
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recipient's heart. Judas received the outward
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signs. He was likely baptized with the
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baptism of John. He's sitting at the Passover
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meal, partaking of the elements. He ate the bread and drank the
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cup, but the water didn't save him.
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The bread didn't save him. External nearness to holy things
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does not guarantee inward grace. You can have the vocabulary of
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faith, you can be a member in good standing, you can serve in
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church leadership, and you can still love darkness rather than
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light. Yeah, the visible church is not
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identical to the invisible company of the redeemed.
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Judas rebukes evangelical nominalism just as strongly.
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I mean, a past decision, walking down an aisle or inheriting a
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Christian culture from your parents cannot replace the
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necessity of the new birth. No, it can't.
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Judas is the terrifying example of apostasy.
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Underprivileged. He shows us that you can be
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close enough to kiss the door of heaven and still be cast down to
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hell. That is a very chilling reality
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to sit with. It really is, and it naturally
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forces us to the ultimate theological question of this
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entire text, which is if Judas is sitting there fully intending
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to betray Jesus, and Jesus knows it perfectly, how does this
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betrayal fit into God's plan? Is it a disruption?
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Is it a glitch in the matrix? Not at all.
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Jesus answers this directly in verse 24, which brings us to the
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collision of sovereignty and culpability.
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Jesus states the Son of Man goes just as it is written about him,
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but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
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Every word here carries immense weight.
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Let's break it down. Well, first he uses the title
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Son of Man. We have to read that through the
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lens of Daniel 7. OK, Daniel 7.
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In Daniel's vision, the Son of Man is a divine apocalyptic
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figure who approaches the Ancient of Days right, and he is
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given everlasting dominion, glory, and a Kingdom that will
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not be destroyed. So Jesus uses the specific title
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of divine authority and universal kingship right in the
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moment of his deepest humiliation and rejection.
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Yes, the contrast is. Beautiful.
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And he pairs that royal title with the phrase goes just as it
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is written, right? The verb goes is active.
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He is proceeding with deliberate purpose.
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He's not being dragged helplessly by the Romans or the
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Sanhedrin. No Pican.
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And the phrase as it is written anchors the entire event in the
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eternal decree of God. Yes, it proves the cross is a
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meticulous fulfillment of divine prophecy.
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It is not an accident. No, the written word had already
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testified to the path of the Messiah through suffering to
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glory. Like Isaiah 53, Speaking of the
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suffering Servant, right? Psalm 22 Speaking of the pierced
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hands and feet. Zechariah, 13 Speaking of the
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stricken shepherd. Jesus's death is the fulfillment
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of Scriptures redemptive line. God ordained the cross before
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the foundation of the world. Which brings us to the doctrine
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of compatibilism. Yes, a very heavy doctrine.
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The biblical text refuses to solve the tension between God's
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decree and man's responsibility by weakening either side.
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Right. God ordains the end and the
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means, yet He does absolutely no violence to the human will.
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Look at the adversative conjunction Jesus uses.
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A son of man goes as it is written, but woe to that man.
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That single word prevents all fatalism.
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It does. Judas cannot stand before the
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judgment seat of God and argue that he was just fulfilling
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prophecy and therefore he should be declared innocent.
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Hold on, I have to push back here because this is the exact
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point where people listening are going to throw their hands up.
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It's a tough concept to swallow. If God decreed this betrayal
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long before Judas was born. If it was written in the
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Scriptures centuries prior, how is Judas to blame?
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Right. It sounds like a semantic
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loophole. I mean, think of it like an
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algorithm predicting consumer behavior.
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OK, I follow you. The algorithm knows exactly what
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you will buy, but when you click purchase, you aren't doing it
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because the algorithm forced you, you're doing it because you
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genuinely want the item. But God's decree is more than a
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prediction, right? It is.
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God actually wrote the script. If a judge condemns an actor for
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perfectly delivering the lines the director wrote for him, we
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would call that judge unjust. So how does God ordain the
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action without forcing the actor?
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Well, the actor analogy breaks down because an actor is
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pretending to be someone else, reciting lines he doesn't
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personally believe. OK, Fairpoint.
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Judas is not acting. Judas is doing exactly what his
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own unregenerate heart most fiercely desires to do in that
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moment. So it's about desire, yes?
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To understand compatibilism, we have to look at the mechanics of
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the human will. The human will always chooses
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according to its strongest inclination at the moment of
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choice. Always.
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God's sovereign plan did not cleanse Judas's wicked motives,
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nor did God inject fresh evil into Judas's heart.
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So God didn't make him evil. No, God simply withdrew
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restraining grace and allowed Judas to act according to his
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own nature. And Judas wanted the silver.
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He valued the money more than he valued the life of the Son of
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God. So God's Providence governs all
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things, including the sinful acts of creatures, without
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making God the author of sin. Right, and without absolving the
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creature of responsibility. Judas was not coerced against
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his will. No, the decree of God is holy,
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but the desire of Judas is evil. Both realities exist
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simultaneously without contradiction.
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Yes, they do. So Judas is completely culpable
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because he is acting autonomously according to his
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own corrupted desires. Exactly.
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Well, yes, spot on. And the weight of his
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culpability is seen in the terrifying curse Jesus
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pronounces next. Is very heavy statement.
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Jesus says it would have been better for that man if he had
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not been born. That is arguably one of the most
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severe sentences ever spoken in the entire biblical local
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record. It really is, and it's spoken by
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Jesus, who is meek and lowly in heart.
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We have to understand that true love does not contradict severe
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warning. No, the same Christ who receives
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repentant sinners pronounces this dreadful woe upon hardened
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hypocrisy. And we need to look closely at
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the logical mechanics of this statement, OK?
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Let's look at it. Because this sentence
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mathematically and logically confirms the reality of eternal
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conscious torment. Yes, what the Church
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historically calls hell. Walk us through the logic there.
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How does this specific sentence dismantle the arguments against
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eternal conscious torment? Well, it destroys theories like
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annihilationism and universalism.
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For sure, let's define those quickly.
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Annihilationism teaches that the wicked are simply extinguished,
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that they cease to exist after death or after a brief period of
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punishment. And Universalism teaches that
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eventually everyone, even Judas, will be reconciled to God and
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enter heaven, right? But apply those theories to
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Jesus's words. It would have been better for
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him if he had not been born. OK.
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If Judas simply ceased to exist after death, his final state of
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non existence would be the exact same state he was in before he
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was born. Right, he wouldn't exist.
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One existence wouldn't be worse than never being born.
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It's identical. Is a return to the zero state.
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Wow, yes, and if universalism is true, the logic falls apart
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completely. How so?
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Well, if Judas eventually gets to experience eternal paradise
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even after a million years of punishment, then it is
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absolutely better that he was born.
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Oh, definitely, because an eternity of joy mathematically
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outweighs a finite period of suffering.
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Yes it does. The only way Jesus statement
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makes logical sense is if the punishment Judas faces is
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conscious, eternal and so agonizing that non existence is
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vastly preferable. If hell is not real, eternal and
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conscious, then Christ's statement is mathematically
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false. The reality of eternal conscious
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torment is the driving force of this woe.
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It is not an embarrassing doctrine to be hidden behind a
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therapeutic approach to modern religion.
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No, it's the righteous answer of an infinitely holy God to cosmic
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treason committed against His infinite majesty.
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Judas's doom is not presented as an unfortunate miscalculation.
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It is absolute unending. Ruin it.
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Really is. The theological weight of Judas
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Doom leaves us sitting in a very uncomfortable place.
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Yes, it does. This text is a massive,
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unavoidable warning against hypocrisy and spiritual
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presumption. We have to apply this to our
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modern context. We do think about the prosperity
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gospel which infects so much of the visible church today.
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Oh man. The prosperity gospel teaches
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that God's primary goal for you is your immediate earthly
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health, wealth, and success, right?
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But look at this table in the upper room.
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If God ordains the betrayal, the agonizing suffering, and the
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brutal death of His own beloved Son for a redemptive good.
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Then the promise of unbroken earthly health and wealth for
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us, it's completely false. The cross exposes the prosperity
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gospel as a theological lie. It really does.
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If Jesus walked the path of suffering to accomplish the rule
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of the Father, why do modern teachers assume the Christian
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path will be paved with gold? Judas wanted the silver.
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He wanted the earthly payoff. The prosperity preacher values
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the silver over the Savior, just like Judas did.
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They sell a false Christ for earthly gain.
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Whenever we prioritize cultural approval, financial security, or
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personal comfort over the clear teaching of Christ, we're
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displaying the Judas. Period.
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Man, So how do you and I examine our own hearts without falling
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into absolute despair? That's the big question.
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Because if I look closely enough at my own heart, I see greed, I
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see self preservation, I see a willingness to compromise the
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truth to avoid social friction. How do we engage in this sober
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self examination without becoming morbidly obsessed over
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every single flaw and concluding we're all sons of perdition?
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This raises an important question, and the answer is
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found by looking at another man sitting at the very same table,
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the Apostle Peter. Ah, Peter.
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Both Judas and Peter failed Jesus terribly within hours of
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this meal. Right, Judas sold him for
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silver. And Peter denied him three times
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with curses, swearing he never even knew the man.
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On the surface, both committed treason against the Lord.
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Both failed the test of loyalty. But their ends were vastly
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different. And the difference was not human
27:41
strength. No, it wasn't that Peter had a
27:44
better moral compass or stronger willpower.
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The difference was entirely grace.
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Yes, look at their reactions after their failures.
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OK, Judas experienced worldly remorse.
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He felt guilty because the consequences of his actions were
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horrible. He tried to give the money back
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to the priests. But he didn't run to the Lord.
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No, he ran out into the night to his own destruction.
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He hanged himself. The Apostle Paul talks about
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this in 2nd Corinthians 7, stating that worldly sorrow
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produces death. It is a sorrow over the
28:13
consequences of sin, a sorrow over getting caught, not a
28:17
sorrow over offending God. But Peter had godly sorrow, yes.
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When the rooster crowed and Jesus looked at him across the
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courtyard, Peter went out and wept bitterly.
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His heart was broken because he had offended the Lord he loved.
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And most importantly, Peter was restored because Christ
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interceded for him. Yes.
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Jesus had told Peter earlier in the upper room that Satan
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demanded to have him, that he might sift him like wheat.
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But Jesus said, I have prayed for you that your faith may not
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fail. Peter ran back to the Savior.
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So we do not examine ourselves to find our own righteousness.
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If you look inside yourself for assurance, you will only find
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reasons to despair. We examine ourselves to drive
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ourselves out of ourselves and into the arms of Christ.
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Jesus doesn't run from the table when he announces the betrayal.
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He doesn't call down fire from heaven to consume the room.
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No, he perceives willingly toward the sacrifice.
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The sovereign sufferer goes to the cross to pay the infinite
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penalty for his sheep. He goes as it is written, so
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that traitors who repent might be forgiven.
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His blood is sufficient for cowards, for deniers, and for
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hypocrites who stop pretending and come broken to him.
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Amen to that. As we wrap up this deep dive, I
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want to leave you with one specific detail from the text to
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ponder. Judas traded the Creator of the
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universe, the Author of Life, for 30 pieces of silver.
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He calculated the worth of the Son of God as the absolute bare
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minimum required by law for a dead slave.
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It's just devastating. You cannot scan your chest to
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see where your loyalties truly lie, but your actions, your
29:51
choices and your values are the symptoms that reveal the
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disease. Yes, they are.
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So look at your own life. Look at the decisions you make
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when no one else is watching. What cheap silver are you
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tempted to trade your own soul for today?
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That's the real question. What temporary pleasure, what
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fleeting security, or what cultural approval are you
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convinced holds more value than the truth of Christ?
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Heavy words to leave on. Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive on reformed thinking.
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Keep examining the text, keep examining your heart, and always
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run to the true refuge.