Before we get started, I just want to say welcome back, some of you we haven't seen in quite some time. It's good to be with the people of God, isn't it? We're thrilled to be together and worship Him. There is no man or woman or child on earth who does not experience guilt and shame. There is no man or woman or child on earth who does not sin. And what will we do with all this sin? What will we do with all this guilt? Today we read two extremely sad accounts of men who failed and felt their guilt intensely. We're going to watch Peter's failure and regret, and then we're going to watch Judas's regret and suicide. Now, if we keep going beyond this, one of these accounts ends well. The other one ends in tragedy. Sadly, you too, here this morning, you too have a story of failure and regret, and so do I. So how will your story of failure and regret end? By the time we get to verse 69 of our passage, where Darby started reading today, 2669, it's been a long night for Peter already. Thursday night, the Last Supper, this happened. Turn back with me to chapter 26, verse 31. Just reminding ourselves of what Jesus said to his disciples in the Last Supper on Thursday night. 2631, Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. But Peter said to him, even though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, truly I say to you that this very night before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And all the disciples said the same thing too. Now it's always foolish to argue with Jesus. Peter argues with Jesus here out of love, but also out of self-confidence. And self-confidence is not a positive trait for a follower of Jesus. Self-confidence sets us up to take on the devil in our own power and by our own plans. And if you take the devil on in your own power, you will lose. Peter hasn't yet learned to say with the Apostle Paul, when I am weak, then I am strong. After having Jesus say to him, tonight you're going to deny me three times, even before a rooster crows. Then Jesus takes Peter and James and John. He took them up to the Mount of Olives. And remember verse 38, this is what he says to them there. The three closest disciples are with them. Verse 38, Jesus said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me. Jesus went and prayed, wept. And Peter and James and John, in Jesus's hour of need, didn't stay up and pray with him. They slept and slept and slept. Until you get to verse 46. Jesus announces to the sleeping disciples, get up, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. Judas comes up with his thugs, and he kisses Jesus, and the men grab Jesus forcefully. Peter draws his sword, he swings it at the head of one of the men there. Peter draws first blood, but then Jesus won't let Peter fight. See verse 52? Jesus said to him, put your sword back into its place, for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. So what does Peter have to do? Peter runs away. and all the other disciples. So they take Jesus to the house of Caiaphas the priest. Here's a map of the city of Jerusalem in Jesus' day. The house of Caiaphas would be over here. It's the middle of the night. He's been up on the Mount of Olives. They arrested him in the Garden of Gethsemane in the middle of the night. They take him to Caiaphas' palace, Caiaphas' home, and Peter follows along. He goes with them. Verse 58, see that? Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest and entered in and sat down with the officers to see the outcome. Now, what's Peter planning to do? Jesus is in there on trial. Peter's in the courtyard. Is he hoping that maybe somehow he can save Jesus or he just wants to be close so he sees what happens? Last week, we followed the events that took place inside. And there's this illegal, unjust trial that they're putting Jesus through. And it goes on for quite some time because the religious leaders, they're trying to get two men's stories, accusations of Jesus to match, but it's hard to get lies to fit together. And so they're in there, Jesus is on trial for quite some time. And while he's on trial inside, Peter is out in the courtyard waiting. Verse 69. Now, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. If you go to Jerusalem today, you can visit the traditional site of Caiaphas's house. And some of these things, we don't know exactly where they were. But if you go to Jerusalem, you can go to this place. And they have since built a church on the traditional site where Caiaphas's house was. And it's called the Church of St. Peter in Galicantu. Galikantu means cockscrow. If you look at the peak of this building in Jerusalem on top of one of the crosses they have a rooster commemorating the events of this night that happened so long ago, maybe in that very place. Verse 69, look there with me. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came up to him and said, you too are with Jesus the Galilean. Mark and Luke tell us what's happening here. Peter's sitting by the fire and he's warming himself out in the courtyard. It's the middle of the night. And there's this girl, a servant girl, she's young, not important in the culture's view, but she's sitting by the fire and it says that she's looking intently at Peter. Finally, she speaks up and she says, you too were with Jesus, the Galilean. Peter can't be afraid of this little girl, but as the girl makes this accusation, everybody else is around the fire, their eyes turn to Peter too, and Jesus is on trial inside. Peter doesn't exactly want to draw attention. They all look at him. You were with Jesus? Verse 70. He denied it before them all, saying, I don't know what you're talking about. This is typical male evasion. When in doubt, what us guys do, we just mumble, I don't know what you're talking about. And we just hope that it blows over and nobody asks any more questions. Basically, that's what happens here with Peter. He doesn't say much. He just says, I don't know, right? And he's hoping that that will be enough. But Peter passes on a chance to say, yes, I know Jesus. And it counts as a denial. Have you ever passed on a chance to say, yes, I know Jesus? It counts as a denial. We've all denied Jesus then, haven't we? Now Peter has denied Jesus once. Look at verse 71. When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again, he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. Notice the beginning of the verse 71, Peter's gone out to the gateway. So he's moving closer to the exit. It seems that the first girl recognizing him by the firelight has spooked him a little. And if he's going to need to run, he wants to be close to the way out. And so he moves to the gateway. And then another servant girl comes. Apparently the servant girls in this particular courtyard are nosy and in people's business all the time, right? And so there's this other girl. And actually, if you read Mark's account, you almost get the impression from Mark that it's the same servant girl. So it could be that they're working together. This girl goes gets a friend and the two of them come to where Peter's waiting now in the gate. And the second servant girl, she says, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And notice this time she said to those who were there, there's other people standing around in the gate. Peter doesn't want this attention. He's just trying to hide here to see what happens, right? And so verse 72, again, he denied it with an oath. I do not know the man. This time he takes an oath and he specifically denies knowing Jesus. Maybe it sounded something like this. I swear to God, I don't know the man. Now Peter has denied Jesus twice. According to Luke, at this point, after his second denial, about an hour passes. Also according to Luke, the next time, the third time that Peter's going to deny Jesus, this third time, Jesus, when Peter's going to make this third denial, Jesus is going to turn and look at him. But if Jesus is inside and Peter's out in the court, how could Jesus turn and look at him? So probably what's happened here is that in this hour when Peter's waiting, that now the trial has ended and Jesus has come out into the courtyard. So he's out there with Peter. And if that's the case, if they brought Peter, Jesus into the courtyard, we know what happens when Jesus is in the courtyard, they spit on him, they mock him, they hit him. So likely when you see this, when we're reading this third denial, we should picture that there's, it's no longer, they're just kind of sitting quietly, but Peter's been waiting, there's a stir, he sees Jesus come out and they're abusing his Lord. And Peter's standing and watching, what can I do? When they confront him again, verse 73. A little later, the bystanders come up and came, now it's not just one little girl, right? There's a group of them. The bystanders came up and said to Peter, surely you too are one of them, for even the way you walk, talk, gives you away. See, Peter and Jesus, they're both from up north in Galilee, and as such, they have distinctive Galilean accents. The Jerusalem Jews, this is the culturally elite, these are the educated people, they view themselves. And the people up north in Galilee, those are the people from the Styx, and they do talk different. The people in Galilee don't say their consonants right, and so they always make fun of them. I can't tell what you're saying, are you from Galilee or something? They say to Peter, Peter, you talk just like Jesus does. You must be with him. And not only are they saying that, but they've got more evidence against him. So right, there's a group that come. John tells us something that somebody else is saying in this group. When this third time that Peter's accused in the courtyard, one of the slaves of the high priest being a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, did I not see you in the garden with him? And so in front of Peter, there's Jesus and he's being abused. And then there's Peter and he's not too far away, but now there's a group of people around Peter and they're accusing him. They're saying, listen, by the way you talk, we think you're a Galilean. And somebody saying, I saw him, I saw him in the courtyard. Verse 74, then Peter began to curse and swear. I do not know the man. Now, when you read curse and swear, don't get the idea that Peter lets loose a string of cuss words here. When he says curse and swear, the idea is that Peter's calling down a curse from God upon himself. Peter says something like, I told you this before. I don't know the man. If I'm not telling the truth, may God himself strike me. I don't know the guy. Swear it! Now Peter has denied Jesus three times. Verse 74, and immediately a rooster crowed. Luke gives us a little bit more detail. Luke says, immediately while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. As Peter is saying, I don't know that guy. Then a rooster crows and Jesus turns and he makes eye contact with him. You don't know me, Peter? See, when temptation comes, Satan wants us in that moment to forget about God. And we just focus on the thing that we're focusing on, our lust or the temptation or wanting to escape. And that's what happens. When temptation comes, we forget about God and He's there with us. And so Peter is trying to stay out of trouble. I don't know the man. And then Jesus turns and looks at him. And did you hear him say this? Jesus knows what he said. And it's just tearing at Peter's heart. Verse 75. Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly. See, each of us has been given by our creator a conscience, an innate awareness of right and wrong. And when we sin against what we know to be right, our conscience accuses us and it hurts. Just as physical pain alerts us to physical danger, guilt alerts us to spiritual danger so we can flee it. But guilt can be overwhelming, can't it? Have you, have you experienced it? This kind of guilt? You knew what you did was wrong. Peter loves Jesus more than anything or anyone else in the world. He'd give anything for Jesus. He wanted to help Jesus. That's why he's, that's why he followed him into the courtyard and then now Now his self-confidence has betrayed him. He was relying on his own strength instead of just trusting Jesus. And so he's denied, the one thing that he said he would never ever do, he died first and he believed it. And now here Jesus turns and he's denying Jesus right by him. And Jesus looks and Peter can't stand himself. What have I done? And so he goes out by himself and he weeps bitterly. As you go back in the garden of Gethsemane, In Matthew's gospel, we never hear Peter's name again. Peter is not the hero of Matthew. Peter is a sinner. He is unworthy of salvation. He's on the same level as you and me. What will you do when you, like Peter, fail? When you, like Peter, are overwhelmed with guilt, what will you do? Now we're gonna come back to Peter, because Peter's story is gonna end well. But for now, we're gonna follow Matthew's storyline, all right? So we've seen Peter and his denial and then his guilt. And now we're gonna follow Matthew's storyline and watch Judas, Judas's regret and suicide. Okay, so 27.1. Now when morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put him to death. It's now dawn on Good Friday. This is the third phase of Jesus's trial. In the middle of the night, last night, Thursday night, they had arrested Jesus and they had this illegal trial where they sentenced him amongst the Jews to death. But it's totally against the law, all of it is. And so they want to make it seem more legal. So now that the sun has risen and it's a legal time to be having trials, they go probably to a legal place to have a trial instead of the high priest's house where they were meeting before in the middle of the night. They go to, most likely, they go to this place, the Chamber of Hewn Stone in the temple grounds where the Sanhedrin met. And really they're just confirming what they decided the night before, Jesus is guilty of death. But it's a little more official now because they're doing it in the daytime, they're doing it in the official place. Verse two, and they bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pilate, the governor. Okay, so they're in the chamber of hewn stone in the temple courts. It's this building here probably where they would be meeting. And so they find Jesus guilty and then they tie him up. And they go, well, why tie Jesus up? He's not resisting all along the way. He's not fighting. Maybe they just want to make him look dangerous because they're trying to get a death sentence against him. So they tie Jesus up to take him to Pilate, because only the Romans have the authority to crucify someone. The Jews can't do it. So they take him. Now, in this map of Jerusalem, we're over here. This is the temple courts. and they're gonna take him to Pilate. We don't know exactly where Pilate lives in Jerusalem back then. I think the traditional Via Della Rosa, am I saying that right? Is there some random song I just said? But anyway, the traditional way, they go over here to the Antonius Palace, and if that's what they're doing, then they just take him over here. It could be, though, that Pilate lives in the best place in town, that Pilate lives at Herod's Temple, because Herod wouldn't be there anymore. If they go to Herod's Temple, This is what it would have looked like where maybe you this is where pilot was living And so they would take Jesus from the temple courtyards and they have to walk in bounds through the streets over to pilot Okay, so Jesus is going before pilot and then Matthew stops his story and he's gonna leave Jesus there at pilots and and we're gonna go back to what's happening at the temple and If Matthew's telling this all in chronological order, and we don't know for sure if that's the case, but if he's telling it in order, while Jesus is here, back of the temple shows up Judas. Okay, so look in verse two. They bound Jesus, they led him away, delivered to Pilate the governor. And then, verse three, when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, He felt remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. So Judas, at some point here, he realizes Jesus is going to die. And it is my fault. Judas felt remorse. It says he deeply regrets the decision he's made. And you think, well, Judas, didn't you expect this to happen? Like it was just last night. Didn't you expect, or has Judas been caught off guard? You know, last night when he came and he handed Jesus over to the authorities, you remember how kindly Jesus spoke to him? He said, friend, do what you've done, do what you've come for. Are those words and Jesus's kindness to him as he's handing him to the enemies, are those sticking out in Judas's mind? Something, he can't, He can't get over it, and he's got this money that they gave him. They gave him 30 pieces of silver, right? And at the time, he's like, great, I'll take the 30 pieces. You can have Jesus. But now he's looking at this money, and he doesn't want it. If he goes and spends the money on something, every time he looks at this for the rest of his life, he's going to be overwhelmed by guilt and what this reminds him of. And this is how it is with sin, guys. It never satisfies. I sinned to get this thing. And then when it's there, there's no, there's no joy in this money. And so Peter's like, okay, what can I do? I'm going to take the money back. I'm sorry for what I did. I'm going to take the money back. Verse three, then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, Jesus had been condemned. Judas felt remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned. By betraying innocent blood is Judas thinking of the words from Deuteronomy 27, a key point in Israel's history. There was a time with. All the people gathered and they were reciting the law out loud and people responding to it. Yes, we agree to the law. Deuteronomy 27 is part of that. And someone yelled out to the congregation. Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. And is Judas's conscience saying to him, Amen. Cursed be the one who takes the bribe to strike down an innocent person. And he knows Jesus is innocent. He knows he doesn't, hasn't, he's lived with him in the last three years. He knows that Jesus is innocent. It's tearing at his conscience. You know the way that it is with sin. It's like a, you sin and you can't stop what comes from it. You can't stop the hurt. And you do this little thing and it's just like an avalanche. And you don't know how, once it gets rolling, you know, Judas made this choice, but now it's rolling and Jesus is going to die and it's his fault. And it's just eating away at him. He feels horrible. Question we could ask here, is Judas truly repentant? Some of your translations say he felt remorse. Some translations say that he repented. The Greek word isn't the normal word for repentance. It has to do with something that's going on internally. Is Judas really repentant? And I would agree with Douglas MacDonald who writes here that Judas is half-repentant. Judas is doing some things that you ought to do if you're repentant, that show true repentance, but he's not doing everything he has to do. Imagine that a sinner, it's like he's on a train and he's heading this way. If I'm going to repent of my sin, I've got to do two things. First, I've got to get off this train of sin. Disembark and let that train roll and Judas has done that right because he's gone and he said listen I've sinned I betrayed innocent blood and he's trying to make restitution He's he's taking back the money that he got and so good. He's gone off of the train going this way, but true repentance Has another part to it. It's not just stopping that but it's it's getting on the train that goes the other way and How do you do that? How do you... You know, I don't want to turn from my sin. I stop that. But how do I start going the other way? To repent, I have to go to Jesus. The train going the other direction, I have to go to Jesus. See, when I sin, I hurt people. It's inevitable. When I sin, I hurt the people around me that I love. If I've sinned against them and they know about it and they've been hurt I need to go to those people and confess my sin But when I sin every time also I hurt Jesus I hurt my creator. I've been made in his image and he was watching and I did it against them So there's no true repentance that doesn't end up in me going to Jesus and saying Jesus I I've sinned against you and Peter does right to confess his, no, Judas does right to confess his sins, but he goes to the wrong person with his sins. Could Judas have gone to Jesus? It seems like maybe he could have. Peter got close enough that he could see him. Could Judas have just been like, where's Jesus? And got in there and, you know, even while he's going by, Jesus, I'm sorry. I mean, could he have talked to Jesus? Maybe. But Judas doesn't go to Jesus. He goes to the religious leaders in the temple. It'd be similar to you if you've sinned coming to the pastor and confessing your sin, or maybe if you've sinned going to the priest and confessing your sin. You know, going and confessing your sin to the religious leader, that's not going to do you any good. I can't forgive you. For your repentance to matter, you must go to Jesus. Verse four, verse four, 27, four. He's gone to the chief priests and the elders. Judah says, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, what's that to us? See that yourself. And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary. This is interesting. Here's a map of the temple courts. Okay. Judas is not a priest. So he can't go into the section that's labeled for here. He can't go into the priest's courtyard. Only priests can go there. But if you want to go see the priest, that's where you go. Peter can only go as far as five. It's the court of the men. So Jewish men could go into five. And so Judas goes as close as he can. He takes the money. He says, I want to give the money back. I'm sorry. And they say, it's not our problem. Judas is just overwhelmed with despair. He doesn't want this money. He hates it. And so what he does, he takes the money from where he's standing and he throws it into the temple, across the courts of the priests and into the temple. Take your money, he says. And then he goes. Verse five. He threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed. And he went away and hanged himself. According to Acts 118, Judas goes to commit suicide. He hanged himself and then from his hanging, it says, Acts 118, falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. What happened with Judas? I don't know exactly how he died. Did he die from the hanging and then after he was dead, he fell? Or did the branch not strong enough and he tried to hang himself and then he fell to his death? It's gruesome. This is how Judas's life came to an end. Judas listened to the voice inside of his head that was just yelling, guilty, you're guilty. And then Judas decides, I am guilty. I'm going to punish myself. I'm gonna give myself the punishment that I deserve. And so he goes and he kills himself. I mean, he's thinking, what else can I do? I can't go back to my disciples, can I? Are they gonna receive me after I betrayed our Lord? And he just went to the religious priest, his new friends, and they weren't exactly helpful. What's that to us, they say. Who does he have to go to, he feels. And so he goes and he kills himself. You know, suicide is always sin. Suicide breaks the sixth commandment. You shall not murder and And killing himself did not make things better for Judas Suicide never makes things better Killing himself didn't make things better for him. It didn't end his pain. It didn't atone for his guilt Suicide does not relieve guilt it adds to guilt and it makes guilt permanent. I After Judas died, he woke up on the other side to realize that now he's not only guilty of betraying God's son, but he's guilty of killing one of God's image bearers himself. What will you do when you fail and you're overwhelmed with guilt? Listen, there is an answer. The answer is never suicide. The answer is never suicide. There is a place you can go. Listen, no matter how much you're hurting, there's a place you can go, and it's to Jesus. You can go to Jesus, and He will receive you. He will receive you. Don't just take out your punishment on yourself. Well, there's wrong ways of dealing with guilt. You can half-repent, like Judas did. Or you can pretend that you didn't ever do anything wrong. And that's what the chief priests do. Look here, verses six through eight. So he's brought the money, he threw it into the sanctuary. The chief priest took the pieces of silver and said, it is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury since it is the price of blood. And they conferred together and with the money bought the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason, that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Do you see how these chief priests pretend that they're righteous? I mean, Apparently by their logic, it's okay to take the money out of the temple treasury and use it to kill someone, right? But then once that's been done, you can't take that money and put it back into the temple treasury. So, I just imagine, okay, say these priests there, they would have had to Judas throws the money. The priest would have had to go into the temple and pick up this money that they gave for Jesus to be killed. And is it bothering their consciences? Do they realize, look, I also have participated in innocent blood. They don't seem to let on. What they do is they tell themselves they're not guilty and they take the money and they use it for charity. See, sometimes there's lots of people that come to Jerusalem on pilgrimages and then they die there and there's no place to put them. And if they're poor families, it can't be buried. And so they take the money and they say, what good can we do with this money? It's impure, so we can't put it in the temple. We'll use it for charity. And so they buy a field for poor people that die in the area from the potter. And then if somebody dies, they can put it in there. Are they trying to salve their consciences? The people in the city know where the money came from. The people in the city call it the Field of Blood. Matthew writes, he writes this like 20 years later, he says, they still call it that to this day. You know, they still call it that to this day. You can go and visit, they call it Akildama, the Field of Blood, just south of Jerusalem in the Valley of Hinnom. You can visit this place and according to Acts, that field that they bought is the same place that Judas committed suicide. And so you can go and see it's this place and it's called the field of blood for two reasons. One, it's bought with Jesus's blood money. And secondly, this is where Judas shed his last blood. You could see how he would fall to his death in a place like this. God knew that this was going to happen all along. God knew this was going to happen. He prophesied it in detail. See this in Matthew. Look at Matthew 27, verse 9. Then Matthew points out to us, then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled. And they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me. Okay, what Matthew does here is he takes a specific prophecy from Zechariah And then he combines it with some themes from Jeremiah, and he kind of meshes them together into one quote. And in those days, Jeremiah is the more famous prophet, still today. And what they would do if you were quoting from several prophets at once, you would just quote from the, you'd use the name of the more famous one. So most of the words in this quote are actually from Zechariah, but the one that gets the shout out is, Jeremiah because there's some things of his that are that are put in there I want you to see this prophecy from Zechariah because it's pretty amazing Okay, Zechariah 11 What's happening here? Is that? God says he's gonna send a shepherd to shepherd his people The Messiah is gonna come to shepherd the people and the people are not going to receive the shepherd. I Prophesied in Zechariah. So the Good Shepherd's gonna come and the people are gonna refuse his shepherding And so in Zechariah 11, we have the Messiah that's being prophesied speaking. It'll be Jesus speaking Right, but it's it's it's hundreds of years earlier. The Messiah is gonna come we'll say this I said to them if it is good in your sight give me my wages But if not, never mind So they weighed out 30 shekels of silver as my wages. So basically the prophecy is the Messiah is going to say to the people, okay, you're rejecting me as your shepherd, what am I worth to you? And they'll say, well, you're worth 30 pieces of silver. 30 pieces of silver is the price of a slave. So it's an insult. You're worth no more than a common slave, Messiah, trying to shepherd us. And 30 pieces of silver is what was paid to Judas, right, for Jesus to be betrayed. Now watch in the next verse what Zechariah, hundreds of years earlier, predicted would happen to the money that was given for the Messiah. Okay, look at verse 13. Then the Lord said to me, throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them. So I took the 30 shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Now, Jews for centuries must've read this and been like, what? Threw it to the potter in the house of the Lord? There's no potters that live in the temple. What, what is this? 30 pieces of silver and they throw it to the potter in the house of the Lord. But then when it happens, we find out what he's saying because Judas took the 30 pieces of silver, that value of Jesus, right? And he put, threw it into the temple and then they used it to buy, they gave it to the potter. the potter's field. And so all these details predicted in Zechariah come true. See, the Lord knew he, this is the plan. If you and I are going to be saved, Jesus has to die. And so the father's got it all planned out. Judas isn't trying to fulfill some prophecy. He's just in frustration and anger and doing these things. And yet it happens just the way that it was predicted to have happened. Look back at Matthew 26, 24. Jesus had said this earlier. Matthew 26, 24 at the Last Supper. Jesus said, The Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him. All these details have to be fulfilled. The Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, Surely it's not I, Rabbi. Jesus said to him, you've said it yourself. What will you do when you fail and you're overwhelmed with guilt? We watched Peter's failure and regret. We watched Judas's regret and suicide. And I just, I don't want to stop there. So if you, if you'd allow me to, let's think ahead a little bit to what happens with Peter. Okay, so Peter's not mentioned by name again in Matthew, but he's mentioned other places, and we know what happens with Peter. We want to look ahead to Peter's forgiveness and restoration. We're going to look ahead to Peter's forgiveness and restoration. Okay, so what happens in the story? It's Friday, Jesus is going to be crucified, right? And then on Sunday, Jesus rises from the dead. The first sign that Jesus has risen from the dead is there's some ladies that come to the tomb, and an angel talks to the ladies. I don't have a slide for this, but listen, it's Mark 16, 6. Listen to what the angel says to the women when they find out that Jesus isn't dead. "'Don't be alarmed,' the angel said. "'You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. "'He is risen. He is not here. "'See the place where they put him? "'But go, tell his disciples and Peter, "'he is going ahead of you to Galilee. "'You will see him there, just as he told you.'" Now, why would the angel have to say, go tell his disciples Peter isn't Peter like the leader of the disciples isn't When could you say go tell his disciples, but the angels instructed by God? Hey, tell the ladies go tell the disciples and Peter is it because Peter's not sure at this point whether he counts as one of the disciples anymore. I mean he denied Jesus with this curse from God and Jesus heard him and Peter's been weeping and Is Peter not even sure if he counts, even if Jesus is alive? And so the angel comes and says, go tell the disciples and Peter. Okay, and then after this, people start to see Jesus, right? The first, Mary Magdalene sees Jesus, and then some other women see him, and then there's these two disciples in Emmaus. And what's gonna happen next is the 11 disciples are gonna see Jesus. But before the 11 gathered see Jesus, Jesus comes to Peter alone. We're not given a lot of detail about what happens there. We're not given the word spoken, but we read about it two places. One of them is in Luke 24, 34, just before the 12 see Jesus. They say, the Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon, has appeared to Simon Peter. Why does Jesus come to Peter specifically and alone before seeing everyone else? I don't know. I wasn't there to listen. This is left in privacy, but wouldn't part of it be Jesus wants to go to Peter, who's denied him their last eye contact, right? And say, hey, Peter, I forgive you. Peter, you're still mine. You're one of mine. Jesus goes to Peter and he talks to him first, individually. Before then, he sees everyone else. Then Peter, obviously he becomes one of the apostles and he's preaching the word of God. We hear Peter's sermons. One of Peter's early sermons that he preached early on after Jesus' resurrection is in Acts chapter 10, and he concluded his sermon with these words. Peter said, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. And you wonder if there's tears in Peter's eyes, right? Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins, and Peter has sinned, and he needed the forgiveness, and Jesus came to him. And so now he preaches to the world, everyone who believes in him, right, including me, receives forgiveness of sins. What do we learn from these two sad stories? One thing is you are gonna fail, and you're gonna experience guilt. The question is, what will you do when you fail and when you're overwhelmed with guilt? Here's what you should do. Go to Jesus. Go to Jesus. When you fail, go to Jesus and he will receive you. When you are filled with guilt, go to Jesus and he will forgive you. Don't be like the chief priest and try to pretend you did nothing wrong and give to charity and try to make up for it. Don't do that. Don't be like Judas and take your guilt out on yourself. Be like Peter and go to Jesus. Now, we're going to end our worship service today by sharing in communion together. Just before we do that, I wanted to read to you from a, there's a gospel summary that's written by a man named Milton Vincent, and he puts the gospel into the words of us, the Christians. And I love it because it helps me to think about this. And so we're going to read this just to kind of prepare our hearts for communion. These are the words of a believer. These are the words of every believer. These are the things that we know are true. OK. Every Christian could say these things. I could not have failed this great God more miserably than I have. As for myself, apart from Christ, I am bound by the guilt of my sins and also bound by the power of sin, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures. However, Jesus loved me so much that he was willing to lay down his life for me. No one could ever love me more or better than Jesus. When my time came and I placed my faith in Jesus, God instantly granted me a great salvation. He forgave me of all my sins, past, present, and future. Now, as a Christian, when I sin, God's grace abounds to me all the more as he graciously maintains my justified status. When I sin, God feels no wrath in his heart against me. His heart is filled with nothing but love for me, and he longs for me to repent and confess my sin to him so that he might show me the gracious and forgiving love that has been in his heart all along. Christian talking when I sin in his heart, he has already forgiven me. And when I come to Him to confess my sins to Him, He runs to me, as it were, and is repeatedly embracing and kissing me, even before I get the words of confession out of my mouth. I don't deserve any of this, even on my best day, but this is my salvation, and herein I stand. Thank you, Jesus. What a Savior we have that receives sinners.