What is true Repentance?

Joke: There was a man walking along a cliff, as he was walking he suddenly slipped and fell off the edge of the cliff. As fate would have it, he found himself hanging by a root sticking out the side of the cliff. Knowing that he can not hang on for long, he starts to scream for help! Help!! HELP ME!! CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME!!!! But nobody answered, until a voice came from the clouds. The voice said, “This is God, do you believe in me”? The man said YES! YES! I DO!!!! Then God said “do you love me”? The man said “yes! Yes!! Please save me!!!! Then God said, “Do you have faith in me”? Yes!! Yes!! I do!!! “Then Let Go Of The Root And I Will Catch You”.

The man looked down at the jagged rocks below and then looked up, and all at once he let out a big yell, “IS THEIR ANYBODY ELSE OUT THERE”.

That’s funny, but It is true in a lot of people today. We have faith and we believe until our faith is put to the test. Now that brings me to our sermon today.

On this Palm Sunday, a day where we will be partaking in the Lords Supper, I want us to learn about two men. Two men who had a lot in common but in the end were very different. I want us to look at the two men who betrayed Jesus, (Peter and Judas). Both Peter and Judas were members of Jesus’ chosen twelve. They both betrayed Jesus in one form or another within hours of each other. Obviously, there was something in how these two men, both possessing good traits, responded to Christ that made the crucial difference in their lives. Even though they both had similar their traits, their destinies couldn’t be more different.

Both men were sinners, both needed forgiveness, both failed Jesus,---Yet one went on to receive the promise of eternal life, and the other the promise of eternal damnation. It is so crucial that we understand the difference between these two men!!!!

Now first we look at Peter:

On the night of the last supper, Jesus was eating with His disciples and teaching them. His lesson was intended to show them how much they needed His power. As their last hours together faded quickly, Jesus suddenly called out to Simon Peter. “Simon, Simon behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat!” Peter answered, “Lord with you I am ready to go to both prison and to death!” Jesus replied, “I tell you Peter, the rooster will not crow until you have denied three times that you know me.”

Simon Peter felt ashamed that Jesus would say such a thing about him. But he kept telling Jesus that he would never deny Him. After the meal, Jesus took the disciples to a garden to pray. All of the disciples fell asleep and left Jesus to pray all alone. After an hour or so they awoke to hear the rough voices of soldiers who were surrounding Jesus with lanterns. Peter Jumped up grabbed a sword and swung it at the nearest man to him. He wanted to prove that he would never deny Jesus. The soldiers want to arrest the disciples but Jesus asked that they be let go. The soldiers marched Jesus away and Peter followed so that no one could see him. He didn’t know how he could help Jesus but he was determined not to deny Him.

You know the story; Jesus was taken to the house of the high priest to be questioned. It seemed like everything was planned to make it easy to arrest Jesus. Ay night there would be no crowds of people to complain that they wanted Jesus to be let go. Peter thought that it was too late to do anything to help Jesus now. While Peter waited he heard yelling coming from the high priest house. He was starting to be afraid. And for the rest of the night he let the devil put fearful thoughts in his head. That night Peter denied three times to the people standing around that he knew Jesus. Just as he was saying he did not know Jesus for the third time he saw the soldiers leading Jesus out of the house. As he walked past, Jesus turned and looked at Peter with a gentle but grieved look on His face. A rooster started crowing. The high priest had kept Jesus up all night questioning Him while the devil had kept Peter fearful all night as he sifted his heart. Peter went out into the dark and cried and repented.

Now let’s look at Judas;

Judas must have been thrilled. Jesus the Messiah had chosen him to be among His twelve—and appointed him treasurer too. Judas must have thought, surely, he would be a mighty King in the New World Order that they would establish. It was more than he had even hoped or dreamed.

Yet at some point Jesus’ message began to change. He frequently told His disciples that He would die---by crucifixion, of all things---and that this was a main reason for His coming. Judas began to notice that Jesus’ references to the Kingdom contradicted his own ideas of it. How could this be right? Daniel had prophesied of the Messiah’s coming at this time to set up the Kingdom that “shall stand forever”. Judas started to think that Jesus was a false Messiah.

Judas had started to find fault with the things Jesus said and did. And he began to steal from the money box, Once in Bethany, he even complained aloud of his displeasure to Jesus:

John 12:3-6

3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.

Jesus Gently rebuked him for his comment:

Mark 14:6-9

6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. 9 Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Judas was angered!

In Luke 22:3-6 tells what happens next:

3 Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. 4 So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

Judas had convinced himself that Jesus was a false Messiah and Jesus had to pay for His deception.

So Judas betrayed Jesus, who was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to die--- just as He had foretold. With the prophecies fulfilled before his very eyes, Judas Iscariot saw how he had misunderstood all along:

Matthew 27:3-5

Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”

And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”

5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.

But it was too late. All the remorse in the world could not undo the damage he had caused—he had condemned the Savior of the world, the King of Kings, to a cruel, shameful, painful death by crucifixion.

I want us to look at each man and their repentance. What is repentance?---it is being sorry for grieving God by the way you live. It is a desire to turn from your sins and take a new path that pleases God.

Both Peter and Judas sinned Judas saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood”. And Peter realizing he had sinned “he went out and wept bitterly”

Luke 22:62

62 So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

The Bible is very clear about the negative characteristics of Judas. His repentance was apparently false. He purposely, with premeditation, worked with evil men to betray Jesus, and he openly betrayed Him with a kiss.

Peter on the other hand said to Jesus,” Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. It’s obvious that Peter never intended to deny Christ; his act was spontaneous uttered in a moment of fear.

At some point Judas saw that Jesus was offering spiritual promises rather than worldly gain. After hoping for worldly honor and glory for himself, Judas could finally see that Jesus would get no earthly honor or glory for Himself, so by following Him he would not receive any either.

So Judas began to draw away from Jesus, But Christ still wanted to save him in 2 Peter 3:9 says “the Lord wants all to come to salvation”

At the last supper however, Judas rejected mercy’s pleading one last time.

So Angered at and implied rebuke from Jesus and disappointed at the failure of his dreams, he refused to surrender and ultimately, gave his soul to the demons of greed that had long be stalking him.

On the other hand Peter’s self-confidence led him to the belief that nothing could turn him away from Christ. He was ready to go to prison or death for Him. His bold confession itself showed just how self-deceived Peter was with his own faith.

In other words both men did wrong, but their repentance was different. After Judas betrayed Jesus he hung himself. After Peter denied Christ, he repented and became a trusted apostle.

(1 Peter 1:1)

Look at Judas repentance: After betraying Christ Judas returned to the Priest and said, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood”. But this confession was not a true biblical confession, not one born out of true sorrow for his actions but born instead only out of sorrow for the consequences of his actions. Not the act itself.

Peter’s remorse was sincere. Peter ached in his soul for the act itself, not just the consequences. His repentance showed that the Holy Spirit was able to work on his heart and change him. He was truly broken by his sin.

In many ways, self-confidence (pride) has to be one of the most dangerous sins for Christians because our faith is based on the notion of our own utter helplessness and inability to save ourselves, that is why, we must submit to Jesus because we can not save ourselves.

Both men failed their best friend on the same day. How many in here have a best friend? Think back to when you first met that best friend and what drew you to that person? {Loyalty, trust, empathy} what ever it was you communicated and found something in common with that person. Now let’s look at our relationship with Jesus. If we do not spend time talking with Him, then how can he be our best friend?

We all betray Christ in one way or another, but it is the recovery through repentance that matters.

---Sometimes our faith is embarrassing to us.

--- We are tempted to speak or act in ways that will hide our faith

--or maybe it just isn’t profitable at the time.

Once we start down the road of compromising our faith. Satan sneaks right in. {we must realize that the approval of our fellow man is just another form of the 30 pieces of silver.

--- We must stand firm and make up our minds that we want to be associated with Christ even though we know people or the world will mistreat us because of it.

If we are involved in sin or commit a sin and do not feel an ach in our soul about it, we need to check ourselves.

Jesus says in John 16 33

3 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

God knows how we feel and what we go through because He walked the earth as one of us, and overcame the world. We need to live our life in an attitude of repentance. We need to step back and look at how we grieve the Holy Spirit by the way we are living our lives. If we want change in our lives it will take more than good intentions. There must be radical change if we are to be in Gods will.

As we build our relationship with Christ we become more like Him. {I have always been told, when you marry someone, after so long you two start to look alike. But when we draw closer to Christ we develop a heart like His.

In Closing the story of Judas is about someone who chose sin over Christ. Every professing follower of Christ will have to face that sane struggle, everyday we are confronted with temptations. I want to give you two passages of scripture to over come the world.

John 14:15-- “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

And Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

All who claim to follow Christ are in the same position as both Peter and Judas, We have been given opportunities to make choices regarding how we will respond to the salvation that Christ freely offers. What are we doing with the opportunities? In the end, only one of two eternal destines awaits us.