As we turn our attention now to the worshipper, the worship of God and the preaching of the Word, please turn with me to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27. We'll be looking this morning at a large section of scripture, verses 1 through 26. And this section should begin, if you're using our Pew Bibles, on page 1059. Again, this is the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 27, verses 1 through 26. Hear now the word of God. 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 him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. 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. 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 of him on 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. Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said, You have said so. But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. When they had gathered, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called the Christ? For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, what then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ? They all said, let him be crucified. And he said, why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified. So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, rather that a riot was beginning, He took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood, see to it yourselves. And all the people answered, his blood be on us and on our children. And he released for them Barabbas, having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Let us once again seek the Lord's blessing. Our gracious and almighty God, our heavenly Father, we pray that you would, Lord, be with us as we look at this passage in Matthew. We pray that by your Spirit you would guide and direct our hearts and minds to you, that you would inscribe your truth upon our hearts. And Lord, we pray that you would bless my mind and my mouth that I may think and speak clearly this morning. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. This is a large section of scripture, so I want to say at the very beginning that we're not going to be able to look at all the little nitty-gritty and gritty details of this text. We'll be looking at an overall theme, a trajectory, and taking application from it. And so as we begin, one of the things and the questions that comes to mind, and as scripture in the New Testament points out that the prophets longed to see and to understand more fully, and even the angels themselves longed to know and understand. As God was unfolding his plan from Genesis through his full revelation, at this point, which ended in Malachi, was how would a sinful humanity be restored to a holy and righteous God? How would this be possible? As we have the full revelation of God, including from Genesis to Revelation, we see in the letter to the Hebrews from that author, he points out how the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, the blood of bulls and goats, could not remove our sin. It had to be done over and over and over again. Pointing out that the true and righteous sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the only way that our sins can be completely forgiven and that a right relationship between a holy God and a sinful people can be restored. So as we consider this question, the theme we'll be looking at in this text this morning is the simple truth that by faith in Jesus, His innocence becomes ours. That by faith in Jesus, His innocence becomes ours. In this text this morning, we'll be looking at it in four points. The first one, two unlikely defenders of Jesus' innocence emerge. And we see this in verses three through 23. Now, I won't read that section again, but as we look through these pages, it begins, or these verses, this section begins with Judas having a change of heart, or not really heart, but having a change of mind. He is sorry for what he's done, not to the point of repentance, but he is sorry that Jesus is going to be condemned to death. Now, we don't know the motivation behind Judas's actions. Some people speculate that maybe he was trying to spur Jesus to be the Messiah that he wanted him to be, that military powerhouse to wipe out the Roman Empire. And maybe if Jesus was arrested, that would spur him on to take greater action Or maybe he just thought he would be flogged or put in jail for a little bit and be released. But when he finds out that he's been contemned to death, he grieves. That's not exactly what he wanted to happen. We are told by the Apostle John that Judas was a thief, so we know definitely he wanted his 30 pieces of silver. But when he finds out that Jesus was condemned to death, he regrets his decision. Now, this word and this language here, we shouldn't read into it that Judas here is seeking repentance and confessing. The word that is translated here, changed his mind. It simply means regret. The Apostle Paul used this in the second letter to the Corinthians when he had to write to them again, and he says that, you know, I regret that my writing to you has caused you grief. You know, it's that idea of sorry for something, sorry for an action, regretting an action, but not to the point of repenting. And we can even see that in his actions. He comes and he tries to give the money back. He tries to make amends by saying, I don't want this money after all. You know, please take it back. In essence, he's relying on his own actions and his own strength. Not on faith in Christ. And the sorrowful thing with considering Judas is as he goes to the religious leaders of that day to whom he was supposed to go to confess his sins, they instead turn him away. and say, you take care of it yourself. But Matthew includes this section, not so much to tell us what happened to Judas, but to set up, that we'll look at later in point three, the purchase of a field. But as Judas comes in to the chief priests and the elders, and he says, I have betrayed innocent blood. We see here that Judas is testifying to the innocence of Jesus Christ. The man that he had worked with and lived with for the past three years, each day, he testifies to them, I have betrayed innocent blood. The second unlikely defender of Jesus' innocence is Pilate. As the elders and the chief priests bring Jesus to Pilate and Pilate, and questions Jesus. And then as the events unfold, as Pilate kind of sees their motivation behind why they're bringing these charges against Jesus, and then he displays Barabbas and Jesus before the crowd, saying, you know, who will you choose this day? He says, he asked the question when they demand that Jesus be crucified, why, what evil has he done? So these two unlikely defenders of Jesus' innocence, one from the disciple who had betrayed him, the other from the leader, a leader in the earthly world empire at that time. And what Matthew does by bringing these defenders of Jesus' innocence into the account in the story, He's reinforcing the fact that Jesus is, in fact, innocent, that he hasn't done anything wrong. And as we looked at a couple of weeks ago, it was Jesus himself who gave the testimony that condemned him to death, that he is, in fact, the Son of Man prophesied of in Daniel. And so Matthew is reinforcing, through this dialogue, the innocence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. See, it wasn't just that Jesus died on a cross that we are saved. In order for his sacrifice to be meaningful and to be effectual for our salvation, Jesus had to be completely and totally righteous without any sin. He had to be completely and totally innocent. And Matthew is emphasizing that fact in this first point this morning. This brings us to our second point, that even though these two unlikely defenders come to the aid of Jesus in declaring his innocence, yet Jesus was sentenced to death through the desires of the mob. Now, as this section begins in chapter 27, verses one and two, when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. These two verses are really summarizing what happened the night before. What happened in the cloak of darkness, behind closed doors, here is being made kind of official, illegitimate. And the rulers are the people deciding that Jesus deserved to die. Now, because of the Roman rule over the people of, over Israel at this time, they were not allowed to carry out capital punishments. So that is why they have to take them to Pilate to carry out this sentence. And so they choose then to bring them to Pilate for the sentence of death to be carried out. Now, as we look at section 15 through 26, we read in verse 18, that after, you know, we're given the account, Pilate is putting Barabbas and Jesus before the people, and he says, whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ? And then he says in verse 18, or we read, for he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Anyway. As the chief priests and the elders brought Jesus to Pilate and presented their case to him, it was clear even to Pilate that the motivation behind the chief priests and the elders bringing Jesus to him and this sentence was not any crimes that Jesus had committed, but it was out of envy. You know, just at the beginning of the week, as Jesus entered into Jerusalem, the crowds were worshiping him, giving him praise, shouting Hosanna just a few days before this in the temple. The Pharisees and the elders were angry at Jesus because he was allowing children to run around saying Hosanna to the son of David, praising him. And so even Pilate could see that they didn't have any legitimate reason to condemn Jesus to death, but it was out of envy. because the people actually were worshiping Jesus and exalting Him, and their positions were being threatened. And so we read, though, that as Pilate brings Barabbas and Jesus before the crowd, that we're also told in verse 20, now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Now, as Matthew has presented this final week of Jesus's earthly ministry, it's been evident that the crowds were being swayed to Jesus, and they were exalting him. And so in this time, as Jesus is before crowds, maybe other scribes and Pharisees or other elders were going around to the crowd, spreading the word, You know, this is a dangerous man. We need to bring him down. We need to end this betrayal of our way of life. And so they move the crowd to condemn Jesus. They incite the mob. Now, as we consider this, there is a brief point of application that we can really need to take to heart in our day and age. You know, we're going through a Sunday school class looking at the dangers of the internet. And one of the things that is readily apparent as social media is growing and expanding constantly is what it can do to incite a mob. And how it can inflame even a mob mentality. You know, a few years ago, Egypt had a different president and was you know, a sovereign nation. But then we went through, or they went through, what's called the Arab Spring, where the people rose up and revolted against their leadership. And word was spread through social media of where to meet, how to do this. But even in our own recent times, various controversial things have come up. without knowing the full extent of a news story or somebody being caught doing something wrong. As we in a country, people are supposed to be presumed innocent and not guilty until a trial is done. Momentality can easily take over very quickly. Judgments can be made. And we can make judgments without fully knowing the truth behind the situation. It is easy to follow in step. with the desires of a mob. It's easy to commit a sin when you know that a bunch of people have your support and your back. We must always be clinging to the truth of God's word and holding fast and think before we might click on a like or share a news story or express our opinion on a situation where we don't know all the facts the ramifications and the effect the devil have in spreading those words. But we see in this section that despite his innocence, Jesus is sentenced to the cross. The crowd shouts all the more, crucify him, let him be crucified. And even Pilate notices that he is doing nothing, he is gaining nothing to win the crowd over. And this, his job and his very life could have been in jeopardy if a riot had sprung up in Jerusalem. So he washes his hands of the situation and he gives Jesus over to be crucified. Now we are again reminded, as Matthew has been unfolding this past week, he sprinkles throughout it reminders that these events, although horrific, and violent against Jesus, the anointed one of God, they are not outside of God's sovereign will and decree. Everything is unfolding as God had decreed and willed. And so in our third point, however, all this was to fulfill the will of God, we see again, Matthew emphasizing the fact that this is according to the predetermined will of God. Now he does it in a strange way in that it's couched in the story of what happened to Judas. And after he threw the money before the feet of the scribes and the elders and the Pharisees, they know that they can't use that money for purposes in the temple. And it's remarkable that they themselves confess that, you know, this is blood money. You know what, that should have been a warning sign to them that what they are doing in regards to Jesus was not holy or just. It was sinful and wicked. Because they recognized themselves that the 30 pieces of silvers they paid to Judas was in fact blood money to have someone murdered and killed. But in this, at the end of that section, verses 10 and nine, Matthew is setting up this fulfillment of prophecy. He says, Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, And they took thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on 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. Now, I want to focus on these two verses because if you were to search the pages of Jeremiah, you would not find this prophecy, word for word. It can be a point of confusion. It actually follows more prophecy from Zechariah chapter 11, verse 13. So what is Matthew doing? Do we have an error here? Well, no, we don't. Matthew has brought together various prophecies concerning the Messiah and given them in one succinct statement. And he's done this before. When he said, when Jesus was, when it was said of Jesus, you know, what good can come from Nazareth? And it was pointed out that, and so it was fulfilled, it was spoken by the prophets, that he would be a Nazarene. Well, the prophets never said that Jesus would be a Nazarene. But as we looked at that text, what Matthew was saying, basically, is that so it was fulfilled that the Christ would be humble. He would be humiliated. He would be from a poor state. Nazareth was the other side of the tracks. It was the poor part of town. And so Matthew, with one statement, summarized all that was said of all the prophets, that the Messiah would be despised. He would be rejected. He would be looked down upon. Well, here too, what Matthew has done is a practice of where he's got the prophecy in Zechariah that he's referencing, But he's also got three prophecies in Jeremiah that he is referencing. And so he's giving the name of the prophecies of the prophet that he's using most. And this was also done in practice in his day. Now let's look at these various prophecies, because they'll help us to understand kind of what's going on. In Zechariah 11, verse 13, just to summarize it, this passage, brings judgment upon the leaders of Israel for being false shepherds. It deals directly with what the leaders of Israel are doing to Christ at this time, and they are leading their people in sin. They are going around telling their people, we need to kill the anointed one of God, this Messiah, this Jesus. In Jeremiah chapter 19, verses 1 through 13, This is speaking of God's judgment upon his people for forsaking him, which is what has been done in this text. The people have chosen a notorious criminal over the anointed one, Jesus Christ. In Jeremiah chapter 32, verses six to nine, this is actually a message of hope. Where Jeremiah brings a message of hope, he buys and he redeems land of a relative. And in that, God is telling him to tell the people of Israel in exile that they will once again, after the exile, buy land in Israel. It's a message of hope that this is not, the judgment that is happening and the wicked events that are unfolding is not the last thing to be done. There is hope in this message. In Jeremiah 18, verses 2 to 3, God is referred to as the sovereign potter. He calls Jeremiah to go in areas that are, in language that is similar to the language of field and pottery, and he is to take a potter, a jar, and destroy it. Or he's, they go, this potter is making a jar, and it's bad, and so he destroys it, and make something new. And God says, this is to show the people that, am I not the potter? I'll destroy this land. But the idea is that he will bring them back. Now, all these prophecies together, as it is fulfilled and unfolded before us in Matthew chapter 27, that the leaders inciting the people to reject God, reject his anointed, And in this dark and difficult time, there is also a message of hope that all of this is according to the sovereign will of God, and His people will be brought out of exile. Now, it's not a physical exile that we are brought out of. But as we are born, we are born apart from God. We are born as enemies of Christ. And God brings His people out of a spiritual exile be with Himself. And this brings us to the fourth and final point. Why did all these things unfold? You know, Jesus was innocent, and despite His innocence, He goes to the cross, and we know that this is the will of God, and all is unfolding according to His will. Well, I'd like us to look at, briefly, in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, verse 21. Here we read, and Paul sums up why all this happened. He says, for our sake, he, that is the Father, made him, that is Jesus, to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This is what we call, in technical terms, the double imputation. See what Paul is saying there in 2 Corinthians. Jesus was innocent, yet it was the Lord's will to put him on the cross. When we read in Galatians chapter three, verse 13, which quotes Deuteronomy 21, verse 23, that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. But in 2 Corinthians 5.21, Paul is saying that for our sake, the Father made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. How often do we consider that aspect of Christ's atoning work? He was innocent. He was righteous. He never sinned in thought, word, or deed throughout his earthly life. And yet on the cross, we're told that the Father made him to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. See, by God's grace, through faith in Him, there is an exchange that happens. The innocence of Jesus Christ, what we could call His righteousness, that is testified of here in the pages of Matthew, is taken by the Father and it is given to us. And all of our sin and our wickedness and our unrighteousness is then placed upon Him. So that at that moment, as we'll look at in the coming weeks of when Jesus says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That at that moment, the father turned his back upon the son because the son was in fact made sin for us. That is why Jesus could sing rightly the Psalms like Psalm 51. which pleads God's forgiveness for sins that have been committed. Because at that moment, God decreed, you are sin. And he poured out all of his just wrath due to our sin for us. But also through faith in Christ by God's grace, in the same way that God looked upon his son as sin. He looks upon us as righteous. That's why we have to wrestle with this and we need to grasp it. Because as we looked at last week, one of the greatest tools of the evil one to bring Christians to their knees and make them ineffectual and useless is to fill us with despair over what we have done and the sins that we have committed. And we see in Judas what that despair can lead to. It leads to destruction. But in Christ, there is hope. Because when God says, you are righteous, that is a decree that he makes in the courts of heaven that cannot be taken away. We are righteous in the sight of God. And do we stumble and fall? Well, yes, we do. Because we live in a sinful world, and we're faced with temptation throughout the day, all day, throughout our lives. But it does not remove the proclamation that God has made, that we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So that is why Matthew emphasizes and reinforces the innocence of Jesus in this text, as He is being led to the cross. Because without His innocence, without His righteousness, we have no salvation. And remember that, brothers and sisters. That if you have, by God's grace, confessed your sins to Him, and rested in faith in Christ, that though you may stumble and fall, He will not let you fall completely. And that regardless of how you stumble and fall, it will not make Him love you any more or love you any less. because you have the righteousness of Christ. And if you are not in Christ, if your sins still weigh upon you, know that your only hope for a right relationship with God is through faith in Christ, by God's grace. That you cannot reach heaven in a right relationship with God on your own salvation, on your own works, on your own righteousness. only through the innocence, the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is given to us by faith. And as we'll sing shortly, we're calling God to judge us by our integrity. It seems like a shock to our minds. How can we do this? We can do this because when we're singing this, we're singing them in Christ and in the integrity of Jesus Christ. And that is what we will be judged by in Him, brothers and sisters. So remember, that by faith in Jesus, his innocence becomes yours. Amen. Our gracious God, we thank you for the faithfulness, the righteousness and innocence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If he had sinned but one time throughout his earthly ministry, all hope of salvation would be lost. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for living a righteous, perfect life, what we call your act of obedience. Because without that act of obedience, that righteousness, your death would be useless to save us. And we praise you, Lord. You rose from the dead, showing the sacrifice to be good and acceptable and write for the eyes of the Father. May you, Lord, impress upon us this wonderful truth that the innocence of Jesus Christ has been given to us. And when we stumble and fall, may we confess our sins to you. May you give us strength to remember that nothing has changed our standing before you. You may be grieved at our actions as a loving father would be grieved at the sins of his children, but it will never change the fact that we are your children. In the holy and precious name we pray, amen.