0439. Judas Said, "I Have Sinned"

Judas Said, "I Have Sinned"

"Then Judas * * repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood" (Mat_27:4).

Before we can realize the enormity of Judas’ sin we must remember the close intimacy that he had with Jesus. The Word of God speaks of him as Christ’s own familiar friend.

Judas possessed every advantage: he was one of the twelve; he was honored, in that he carried the money bag; he knew the deepest heart beats of the Saviour; he had heard His teachings, and he had seen His miracles performed.

Judas, however, was a thief. He had deceived the disciples, but not his Lord. When he sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver, satan had entered into him, and he had yielded himself the willing vessel, of satan’s strategy.

After Christ was delivered into the hands of the Pharisees, Judas began to realize the enormity of his treachery and his heart was filled with remorse. He rushed in, before the chief priests and elders, and cried: "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood."

The cry of Judas was the cry of despair. Immediately he went out and hanged himself.

Byron, who had tasted cups of sinful pleasure that thousands might have quaffed and who had died when he was scarcely in his prime, wrote these striking words:

"My days are in the yellow leaf,

The fruit and flower of life are gone,

The worm, the canker and grief

Are mine and mine alone."

Before men sin, they should stop to consider. If they go on in their evil way they too may cry out, "I have sinned;" and even as they cry utter despair may consume them. Lacerated and torn by the thorns of their own sowing they may go out and hang themselves, but such a sorrow is unto eternal death–it is foreign to repentance and reveals no turning of the soul to God.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR