Our Old Testament reading this morning comes from two places in the Old Testament. Initially from the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 19. It's page 821 in the Pew Bibles. And the primary text this morning for the sermon is from the Gospel of Matthew, from Matthew 27. We read these two passages from the Old Testament because these are the two passages that are referred to by Matthew in the passage from the gospel. So we'll read these two passages in effect they will serve as background, if you will, for the New Testament text. Jeremiah chapter 19, I'll read the whole of the chapter. Jeremiah 19 and 1, thus says the Lord, go by a potter's earthenware flask and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the posher gate and proclaim there the words that I tell you. You shall say, hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known. And because they have filled this place with the blood of innocence and have built high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword because of their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beast of the earth. And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of its wounds. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them. then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you. And you shall say to them, thus says the Lord of hosts, so I will break this people and this city as one who breaks a potter's vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in Topheth, because there will be no place else to bury. Thus I will do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth. the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, all the houses on whose roof offerings have been offered to all the hosts of heaven, and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, shall be defiled like the place of Topheth." Now continue to move toward the back of your Bibles. to the prophet Zechariah. Past Ezekiel, past Daniel, past Zephaniah to Zechariah. Chapter 11. It's page 1015 in the Pew Bible. Let me begin reading from Zechariah 11 at verse 4 and I'll read through verse 14. Again, it's a pronouncement of judgment. Thus said the Lord my God. Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished. And those who sell them say, blessed be the Lord, I have become rich. And their own shepherds have no pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king. And they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand. So I became shepherd of the flock, doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. and I tended the sheep. In one month I destroyed three shepherds, but I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. So I said, I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another. And I took my staff favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. Then I said to them, if it seems good to you, give me my wages, but if not, keep them. And they weighed out, as my wages, 30 pieces of silver. Then the Lord said to me, throw it to the potter, the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter. Then I broke my second staff union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And now to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27. And I will read here the first 10 verses. When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate, the governor. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind. and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, what is that to us? See to it yourself. And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priest taking the pieces of silver said, it is not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is blood money. So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah saying. And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price on him, and whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel. And they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me." Amen. All right, for the past number of months, I have been preaching through the Gospel of Matthew. And I am nearing the climax, the conclusion of the book, which is obviously the death and resurrection of our Savior. And as I have been preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, this is the point where I have now reached. I have come to this account of Judas going to the chief priest. Okay, perhaps some of you are aware, maybe a number of you are aware, that the Gospel of Matthew, like the other three Gospels, slows down considerably as it reaches the end of Jesus's earthly life. A number of years ago, and for a number of years, my family lived in Southern California. And for a period of time, we lived close to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Loved the Wild Animal Park. The Wild Animal Park is this huge zoo in which the animals are not kept in small enclosures. They are kept in very wide open spaces. They have acres of land on which to roam. And the visitors to the park ride through the park on a tram. And oftentimes, you know, that tram is just kind of zipping along, but then it will slow down. And why does the tram slow down? because there is something to see. You know if you notice off to your right there's a rhinoceros down by the watering hole and so forth. Okay well the gospel of Matthew has slowed down. almost a third of Matthew's gospel is devoted to one week in Jesus's life, the last week of Jesus's life. As far as Matthew is concerned, as he's writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, this is the most significant week in history since the week of creation. He has slowed down. And when he reaches chapter 26, where we are now two days away from the crucifixion, the last two days of Jesus's life, he has slowed down even more. Why? Because there is something to see. There is something he wants you to pay attention to, something of significance, and that is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. throughout these last few chapters of Matthew's gospel. Matthew is presenting to us the details of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. But more than just presenting the details, Matthew is explaining to us the significance of Jesus's crucifixion. Matthew is telling us how we are to understand the crucifixion. And here at the beginning of chapter 27, Matthew, under the inspiration of the Spirit, does something interesting, I think. Matthew interrupts the account of Jesus on his way to the cross to insert this account about Judas. You know, if you still have your Bibles open, you know, you can see that if you were to just to read through this text, you could go right from verse 2 to verse 11 without missing a beat. They sent him off to Pilate, verse 11, Jesus is before Pilate. You could go right from two to verse 11 without missing a beat, but it doesn't do that. The Spirit has Matthew insert this account of Judas and the chief priests right here. Why? Why does Matthew include them here? I'll submit that it's because these events help explain to us the significance of Jesus's suffering and death. OK, while these events are about Judas and the chief priest. They are also about Jesus. And what I want to show, and I hope you'll see this morning, is that these events reveal to us that forgiveness of sins is found only. in Jesus Christ who is suffering and dying on behalf of sinners. That these events are recorded to direct us to Jesus and to find in Jesus forgiveness and freedom and life. The theme for the sermon this morning is this, is that forgiveness for sins is found in the suffering Savior. forgiveness for sins is found in the suffering Savior. The outline that I'm using this morning, it's a variation, it's an adaptation of the old Puritan sermon outline. Now you've got three points. First of all, the first point, what I'm calling the textual considerations. What does the text say? The second point, the doctrinal considerations. What does the text teach? and then lastly the practical considerations. How is the text to be applied? So first of all the textual considerations. What does the text say? Well the text tells us that the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish council, sends Jesus off to Pontius Pilate to be put to death. At verse 1 of chapter 27 the morning of what we call Good Friday has dawned. The Sanhedrin has concluded their trials of Jesus If you go back to chapter 26, you know, you see that Jesus was arrested. He was brought before the ruling Jewish council. He affirmed before them that he is the Christ, the Son of God. And in response to that affirmation, the Sanhedrin declared him guilty of blasphemy. Because in their minds, there is no way that this arrested, bound, beaten, suffering Nazarene could be the glorious Messiah. How could this one? Arrested, bound, suffering. How could he be the son of God? It's unthinkable. And for him to say, yes, I am. It's. It's blasphemous, it's blasphemous. and they charge him with that and he is condemned to death. But the Jewish Council did not have the authority to put Jesus to death. Again, these are the days of the Roman Empire. The Empire has reserved the right of capital punishment for themselves. And so the Sanhedrin bind Jesus and they lead him off to stand trial before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. And from this point on, The familiar events of Good Friday, culminating in the death and burial of Jesus, begin to unfold. They send him off to Pilate to be put to death. But in verse 3, again, Matthew rather unexpectedly turns our attention back to Judas Iscariot, Jesus' betrayer. You know, now at this point you might have expected Judas to just have checked out completely. You know, Judas' transaction with the chief priest and the elders has been completed. Judas has got his 30 pieces of silver. He led the mob to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane so he could be arrested under the cover of darkness. You know, it's easy to sort of just speculate and think at this point, well, Judas has moved on, has said, I'm done here. But apparently Judas has remained somewhere on the scene. And he sees that Jesus is condemned. And then, I think surprisingly, Matthew tells us in verse 3 that Judas changed his mind. Other translations read Judas was remorseful. The NIV says he was seized with remorse. that Judas apparently has regrets about what he has done, that he no longer views his actions against Jesus as wise or worthy. Okay, everybody knows the feeling of remorse. Everybody understands remorse. You know, you did something that you thought was a good thing to do. Or maybe it was a bad thing to do, but you thought you had good reasons to do it. But then once the consequences are played out, you regret it, you have remorse, you wish you could have the moment back. You know, being remorseful often includes a wishing that you could go back in time, if I could just go back to that moment and do this differently. And it seems here that Judas wishes he could go back in time. He brings the 30 pieces of silver back to the chief priest and the elders. He says to them, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. You know, maybe Jude is thinking on the basis of his confession here, that Jesus could be retried. And the response by the chief priest at the end of verse four is tragic. It is tragic. Their response is, what is that to us? You can almost picture him, they don't even look up. You know, what is that to us? See to it yourself. The NIV reads, that's your responsibility. That's your problem. You know, to put it in today's vernacular, you know, well, you know, that sin thing you're confessing, good luck with that. Okay, don't read past the response of the chief priest here. Don't read past this. Think about this for a minute. Judas comes to the temple, to the temple where the sacrifices for sin are offered to the priest. the appointed representatives of the people before God, the ones who offer the sacrifices for sin. He comes to the temple, to the priest, where the sacrifices for sins are offered, confessing his sin, looking for atonement, and the priest turned him away. That's your problem. What are you bothering us for? You know, this is kind of the picture, you know, the classic picture of the person walks in the bank, goes up to the teller and it comes down. There is no help for him here. Brothers and sisters, please see that this passage reveals You know you can really say conclusively in one sense given where we are in the Gospel of Matthew that the priest and the elders and the leadership of Israel is completely bankrupt at this point. Completely bankrupt. Their rejection of God and Christ is complete. You know a person comes confessing listen you have condemned an innocent man. And they're fine doing that. They are willing to put an innocent man to death. You know, Jesus noted of the religious leaders of Israel early in the gospel. He said, you know, you pay a tithe of mint and anise. You know, you take the herbs off the windowsill garden you have and count them out and tithe off that, but you neglect the weightier matters of the law. Justice, mercy, faith. They're completely bankrupt. They're putting an innocent man to death. A man comes to them, confessing his sin, and they turn him away. This is the job of the priest to make atonement for sin on behalf of the people, and they offer nothing. No help, no hope, no relief. And Judas departs throwing the pieces of silver in the temple and he went and he hanged himself. You know I think we read through this passage initially and we think it's about Judas and certainly it is about Judas. But I'm going to submit that this passage is as much or more about the chief priest and the leaders of Israel than it is Judas. They are bankrupt. And Matthew, who has already recorded for us Jesus' condemnation of Judas. Judas has already been condemned by Jesus. Matthew now records God's condemnation of Israel's leadership. Their sin is the fulfillment of scripture, Matthew says. It is consistent with the pattern of Israel's prior rejection of God and God's saviors and God's shepherds. you know ironically here in this text the priests not only prepare a place for Judas's burial but also for their own you know the priests were willing to take the money out of the temple treasury you know to pay Judas to betray Jesus to them but they're not willing to put the money used to that end back in and so in verse 7 they buy the potter's field to be used as a burial plot for strangers foreigners In effect, they buy their own burial plot. Maybe not literally, but figuratively. Because they have made themselves aliens and strangers to the covenant of God. And they will be cut off. You know, what does the text say? The text interrupts the account of Jesus' trials. to tell us of Judas's remorse and more significantly to tell us of the corruption of the chief priests and elders of Israel. Secondly, the doctrinal considerations. What does the text teach? Brothers and sisters, it teaches that forgiveness is found in Christ alone. You know, what is stated here is that the old covenant order the temple, the priests, the animal sacrifices. It's over! It's over! Jesus has already said that the temple will be destroyed, the priesthood, the sacrifices are coming to an end. You know, in the big picture, that old covenant order, it was gracious, it was glorious, but it's insufficient. Because ultimately the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. In the immediate picture, God is bringing it to an end because of Israel's rejection of Him and of His Savior, Jesus Christ. And this pattern of Israel's rejection of God and His Savior, it's repeatedly seen in the Old Testament. Verse 9 of our text, Matthew refers to the Old Testament prophet, Jerebiah, by name. But he's actually referring to both Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah and Zachariah. Jeremiah is the more prominent one, so he gets the shout out. But from the passages that we read, you can see that both those prophets spoke of Israel's rejection of God. Jeremiah 19, God asked Jeremiah, take the elders of Israel, elders of Jerusalem out into a field. And Jeremiah breaks a potter's flask as a symbol of what God is going to do to Israel because of their rejection of him. God announces that he will turn that field associated with a potter into a burial ground. It'll be renamed. It's where they will be buried. Zechariah 11, God promises to bring judgment upon the false shepherds of Israel. He appoints Zechariah to be shepherd over his people. Zechariah is rejected and resigns. and states, you can do whatever you want with my wages, pay me or keep them. And they paid him, they weighed out 30 pieces of silver for Zachariah. God said to Zachariah, throw it to the potter. And that pattern of rejection now reaches a climax. It is fulfilled. In the rejection of Jesus Christ. The chief priests, the elders have revealed themselves to be false shepherds. They have revealed that over the course of their ministry. They have revealed it in their treatment of Jesus. They reveal it in their treatment of Judas even. They are false shepherds. The events in connection with Judas here have echoes of those past Old Testament events. 30 pieces of silver, money that goes to buy a potter's field that becomes a burial ground. The action of the chief priest and elders is a fulfillment of scripture. In that it was consistent with the pattern of Israel's prior rejection of God and of his saviors. And it reaches a climax. The old order is over. But there is a new order. There is a new covenant found in Jesus Christ. You know, when that old order comes to an end, the people of God are not left without options. You know, obviously, our country is in the midst, you know, we are running up to a presidential election here this fall. Both parties have finished their conventions. There's less than 100 days to the election. And maybe you've come in here this morning strongly in favor of one of the two candidates. But even if that's the case, I think that it has to be acknowledged that there is quite a bit of dissatisfaction on both sides of the aisle with regard to the two candidates. That there is a feeling among many, you know, that somehow the system is broken and there is a desire for a third option. But there is no third option. Okay, but you see, that's not the case in our text. That's not the case in our lives. It is clearly revealed that the old covenant system is broken, that that order has come to an end. But what are the options? The options are is that God has provided another one. He has provided a better way, a way for there to be found forgiveness of sins, and it is in Jesus Christ. the righteous, innocent Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, who as the Lamb of God, even in our text is on his way to Pontius Pilate and offering himself up as a sacrifice for sin. No one is taking his life from him. He is laying it down. This is all in accord with the fulfillment of Scripture. He who knew no sin, who is innocent, is becoming sin on our behalf. He will suffer in our place. He will die in our place to pay the penalty that our sins deserve, that we might be forgiven. His is the perfect and final sacrifice. The new covenant is established in his blood. Shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. Brothers and sisters, these events in this text, they're not just about Judas and the chief priest, but Matthew has directed, put them in there to direct us to Christ. You know, Judas's failing is when he's turned away from the priest, he does not look for forgiveness in Jesus Christ. This is what God is providing for forgiveness. It is the work of his son, Jesus Christ. The era of the temple and sacrifices of bulls and goats is over, but ultimately forgiveness is not found there. It is found in Jesus. And so lastly, the practical considerations. One, don't reject Jesus. Don't reject the Savior. in whom there is found forgiveness. You know, people reject Christ for all sorts of reasons. People reject Christ because they deny their sin. You know, in fact, we'll say, well, I'm not a sinner. Or my sin's not that bad. Or at least it's way less than other people's. You know, they will think, I'm not alienated from God. I don't deserve hell. I don't need anyone to die for my sins. And therefore, they think, I don't need Jesus. I don't need a sacrifice. I don't need him as Savior, and they reject him. But the text says, yes, you do need him. Yes, you do. To fail to acknowledge your sin, to reject Christ It's to be like the chief priest and elders in the text. And if you remain in that state, all that awaits is judgment. The call is to come to Christ. You know, to paraphrase Jesus, you know, you can treat people nicely and you can do good things. And still neglect the weightier matters. Of being made right with God. of giving your heart to the one who has created you, of having your sins forgiven. You know, it's good to be nice, good to do good things, but don't do those things and neglect the latter. Come to Christ. People reject Christ by denying their sins. People reject Jesus by, I'll put it this way, only getting halfway to him. only getting halfway to him. You know again Matthew here tells us that Judas changed his mind, was remorseful. You know in light of everything that scripture says about Judas the question comes up how do you understand those words? What's that mean exactly? I think there's one of two things happening in the life of Judas here, in the heart of Judas. You know, it could be in the first case that Judas's remorse is just a worldly sorrow and not godly sorrow. You know, the Apostle Paul fleshes out the distinction between those two in 2 Corinthians. Worldly sorrow, you know, is not sorrow before God that you have sinned, that you have broken his law, that you've transgressed against him. Worldly sorrow is just sorrow that you got caught. It's sorrow that you have to suffer the consequences and worldly sorrow leads to death. Godly sorrow. Sorrow that you have really sinned against God leads to repentance. You know I think it's possible here that Judas is just undergoing a bout of worldly sorrow or it could be And maybe this, I think, is the more likely, is that Judas's remorse is characterized by what commentators call his half-repentance. You know, that it's possible to understand Judas's remorse as real regret for sin, real regret that he did wrong, real regret that he has harmed someone, but it's only a halfway repentance because he doesn't do the other half and turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness. You know, Judas does not find forgiveness at the temple. He does not find it with the earthly priest. But he doesn't find it anywhere else either. Because he does not turn to Christ. This ultimately, I think, is the distinction between Peter and Judas. Peter wept bitterly over his denial. But in that weeping, he began to see that Jesus, stricken, smitten, and afflicted, is the Savior he needs. And Peter will look to Christ for forgiveness and find it. Judas does not turn to Christ and he is crushed by his guilt, by his sin, and he hangs himself. Judas was remorseful, but he never comes to Christ. You know, people can feel the weight of their sin. They can feel that guilt, but they don't come to Christ. And they look for forgiveness elsewhere. You know, maybe people will try to find it in their own works. If I do enough good, if I do this, if I do that, and they search in vain. People will try to persuade themselves that their guilt is all in their head. You know, it's just the upbringing that I've had. You know, it's not real, and I just need to forget about this, but they can't. You know, they come halfway, they feel real remorse, but they don't come to Christ. They deny him, they reject him. Brothers and sisters, the call of the text is don't reject the suffering Messiah who is dying for our sins, but rather embrace him, embrace him. That's the whole point of the narrative. It is why it is fitted here to point us to the truth that forgiveness is found in Christ and Christ alone and to come to him. In Christ is the place to deal with sin and guilt. Christ atones for sin. He has made real payment for real sin. That's what this section is about. And consequently, for those who come to Christ, there is now no condemnation. The Apostle Paul says, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died and more than that who was raised who is at the right hand of God and indeed is interceding with us. As one writer notes, the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the apex of God's free grace towards sinners who justly deserve his wrath. Brothers and sisters, even here this morning, examine your own hearts. Don't in your lives fall into the trap of worldly sorrow. Where your sorrow is just that you got caught or there are consequences. But that your sorrow would be a sorrow that you have sinned against the living God. And that that drives you to Christ for forgiveness. Don't fall into the trap of halfway repentance. Real remorse, but then, you know, well, I'll make up for this somehow else. Instead of coming to Christ for forgiveness, Christ atones for sin. And brothers and sisters, he frees from guilt. You know, as Christians, we rejoice. That our sin is forgiven. But there are times that the guilt can still linger. And I think maybe sometimes you could make categories of guilt. You know, you've got the I did bad category. You know, I sinned, I hurt someone, I asked for forgiveness, I've been forgiven, but I still feel horrible. Or the I'm a lousy you know fill-in-the-blank and you've got options you can choose from here you know those times you say I'm a lousy mother I'm a lousy father I just yelled at my kids that's all I did today I'm a lousy husband I'm a lousy wife I'm a lousy kid I'm a lousy Christian I'm a lousy pastor a lousy friend a lousy brother sister homeschool mom you can fill-in-the-blank you know and for some people there's the ever-popular all of the above You know, the sin has been forgiven, but the guilt lingers. You've got the, I could have done more guilt. I could have prayed more. I could have given more. I could have used my time better. I wasted so much time. I could have spent more time with the kids. I could have called that person, or that person, or that person. I could have gotten this right. I could have gotten my mouth shut. You know, the I did bad guilty. I could have done something else guilt. I could have done something else. Guilt is, you know, well, I watch TV instead of reading my Bible, instead of calling my parents, instead of going to the gym. I spent the extra money on myself instead of giving to the deacon's fund. I gave my kids Cheetos for supper instead of vegetables. I could have done something else. The sin is forgiven, we rejoice in that, but there's still at times, even in the life of a believer, there lingers that guilt and sometimes that can be crushing, weighs you down, can even change your posture, saps your joy. And even as Christians, we can tend to deal with guilt in one of two wrong ways. what I'll call work or wallow. Well today I'll work. Today I'll get it. Today I'll do better. Today I'll get it right. Today I'll be that person I should be. And in that sort of situation the driving motivation is not a response to God's grace in Christ. It's not a thankful response to glorify God It becomes a doing it just so you won't feel guilty. Just so, in effect, you can rest in your own works at the end of the night. You know, if you're not working in terms of dealing with guilt, people tend to wallow in it. I can't do anything right. You know, my whole life is pointless. But there's another option. There's another option. And it's Jesus Christ. It's Jesus Christ. John Piper was asked the question once, how do you deal with guilt? And he's talking to Christians. How do you deal with guilt? And Piper answered, you don't ignore it, but instead you deal with it the same way that we will deal with it on the day of judgment by clinging to the perfect and prevailing righteousness of Jesus Christ. How will you deal with guilt, Christian, on the day of judgment? you'll cling to Christ. That's the same way it's to be dealt with here. You know, if I could paraphrase this, maybe what Piper's saying, some of you are maybe familiar with evangelism explosion. I'll use the questions that are part of that program. Again, if something were to happen to you and you were to die tonight, you were to die tonight and you found yourself standing before God and God were to ask, why should I let you into my heaven? How would you answer? okay now the Christian answer is well not because I deserve it I'm a sinner but because I am trusting in Jesus Christ who died for my sins and has been resurrected that's how we answer that question okay now let me back the question up a little bit into this life so to speak if you were a lousy mom or dad or whatever today You wasted the opportunities to witness or whatever. And God asked you, how are you going to deal with that guilt? How do you answer? The answer is because I'm trusting in Jesus Christ who died for my sins and is resurrected. And because of that, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because he has lived a perfect life on my behalf and died for all my sins. So I don't have to condemn myself. I'll say that again. Because I think we have to hear it, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. because he lived the perfect life on my behalf and died for all my sins so I don't have to condemn myself. Brothers and sisters, just as sin is to turn us to Christ, guilt is also to turn us to grace. The Christ is to turn us to cross and to remind ourselves of the gospel that we are saved by grace alone. That forgiveness of sins, acceptance by God, being adopted by God is all on the basis of what Christ has done on our behalf. And to remind ourselves that because Christ died for us, we can live for him in faith, in faith. Brothers and sisters, the gospel is true. It is true whether or not your emotions agree with it, even if you don't feel it. We're going to sing here in just a few minutes. There is a fountain filled with blood. That hymn was written by a Christian named William Cooper, who wrestled his entire Christian life greatly with depression, greatly with depression. But even in the midst of that depression, he was able to write the words. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their. Guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. From what I have read of William Cooper, I am confident that I can say there were a number of times when his emotions might not have agreed with that. But it's true. The gospel is true and he proclaimed it as true. Later verse in the hymn, e'er since by faith I saw the stream that flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my theme. Redeeming love has been my theme. And so be shall I die. Brothers and sisters, forgiveness of sin is found in Jesus Christ. Because of grace, you don't have to be constantly evaluating yourself. And I'm not talking about, you know, neglecting an examination of your own life. But that constantly evaluating yourself of, am I good enough? Have I done enough? I haven't done enough. That whole sorts of things that you can fall into. But to understand who you are in Christ, as Paul says in Galatians 2.20, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And therefore the day can be evaluated, can be considered not either in boastful pride. Oh, I did it. I did good today. I was the good mom, the good pastor. I did all of this. Not regarding the day in that way, because you did nothing in your own strength, but in the strength that God provided. Praise God. or to evaluate the day by wallowing in self-pity. Because your sin is forgiven, the guilty stain is removed, you are received by grace in Christ, praise God. But that every day can be rejoicing with thanksgiving for Christ and His work. Because He died for us, we can freely live for Him in faith. Christ atones for sin And he's able to free us from guilt so we don't have to work or wallow. There's the third option by coming to him. Forgiveness of sin is found in the suffering Savior. Matthew under the Spirit records this account. So that your attention will go to that next scene. Where Jesus stands before pilot. And is condemned and then beaten and flogged. This is where your forgiveness is found. In the Savior who is suffering and dying, paying a real penalty for your real sin, and all who come to Him have life and forgiveness and freedom. Come to Christ. Rejoice in Him and live for Him in faith. Let's pray together. Our Father, that our hearts would always be pulled back to our Savior. That our hearts would always be recognizing anew the absolute fullness and perfection and completeness of what he has done on our behalf. That it can be affirmed that for those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation. Father, that we would rejoice in that, that our hearts would ever be increasing in gratitude. And that as our hearts are drawn by grace to our Savior, that our lives would follow. Father, we pray all this in Christ's name, amen.