The Awful End of the Betrayer

This morning we consider the death of Judas Iscariot. Interestingly enough, the death of Judas is the most endearing thing we see of him in Scripture.

What do I mean by that? What have we seen in the last three years of Judas?

Jesus said I chose all of you but one of you is a devil (John 6:70).

Jesus said it was better if he had never been born (Matt. 26:24).

Judas is portrayed as a thief and a greedy man (John 12:6).

Judas asks, “is it I?” when he knows very well that he is the betrayer (Matt. 26:25).

The only hint of trustworthiness we see in him is the fact the he was elected treasurer of the group (John 12:6).

Up until this point Judas appears beyond emotion. He sits quietly and only opens his mouth to complain about money being spent or to pretend to be someone he is not.

At the end of his life, we see some humanity. We see a man wrestling with his conscience. We see a man upset about injustice. We also see a man who believes he is out of options. We see a man who makes the tragic choice to kill himself. The fact that the Bible records the last moments of Judas’ life is proof that there is much we can learn from this incident. This morning we consider the awful end of the betrayer.

1. Judas regretted that he betrayed the Lord (3-5).

A. Judas had not considered the consequences of his actions.

Loot at verse 3. “When he saw that He was condemned.”

Judas had not thought his plan through. Driven by his anger that Jesus was not the Messiah he thought he was, he acted in haste. He was mad at Jesus and his response was to betray Him. He only thought of revenge against Jesus for what he thought was wasting the last three years of his life.

The question I would ask Judas is “What did you think was going to happen?”

Maybe he thought Jesus would be reprimanded.

Maybe he thought Jesus would be removed from Jerusalem.

Maybe he thought Jesus would spend a little time in prison.

Whatever he thought, the sentence passed down on Jesus surprised him.

Listen to me folks, the devil only wants you to think of the moment.

He only wants you to think of the pleasure of the moment.

Sin has consequences but the devil won’t tell you that.

Judas toyed with sin. He listened to the devil’s whispers. Before he knew it, he had committed a sin so heinous it even affected his seared conscience.

Judas’s actions led to the unjust condemnations of Jesus Christ. He would have to live with that for the rest of his life.

B. Judas did not repent before God.

The text says Judas “repented himself”. The phrase means he changed his mind. Look at verse 4. “I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood”.

Judas did not have a change of mind about Jesus. He didn’t believe Him to be the Savior. Judas did know that Jesus was a good man. He knew the charges against Jesus were all lies.

He knew Jesus did not tell people not to pay their taxes.

He knew Jesus did not say He was going to destroy and rebuild the Temple.

He knew Jesus was not building an army to overthrow Rome.

He had spent three years with Jesus. Jesus had treated him kindly. Again, He didn’t believe Jesus to be the Savior, but he also knew Jesus was not guilty of the charges He had been condemned to death for.

The remorse that Judas had was not a godly sorrow. Judas has a guilty conscience. He’s trying to undo what he has done to relieve himself of his guilty conscience.

The only cure for a guilty conscience is the blood of Jesus.

I can think of horrible sins that I have committed. I could list them for you. If it were not for the blood of Jesus those sins would drive me crazy. It is a dangerous thing to have to hold onto a guilty conscience. It will cause you great sorrow.

The only cure for a guilty conscience is to go to Jesus with your sins.

At the cross your sins are paid for so there is no reason to hold onto the guilt.

Through the cross your sins are removed from the memory of God so there is no reason for you to continue to think of them.

C. Judas returned the money.

It’s amazing that Judas returned this money. This man was a thief. This man loved money.

He got angry when a woman used an expensive ointment to wash the feet of Jesus with because he wanted to sell the ointment so he could steal some of the money (John 12:6).

I think I know why Judas returned the money. He knew he wouldn’t need it. He had already made the decision to kill himself. As well, that money was a reminder of what he had done.

Look at what has happened to Judas.

He hates what he has done so he tries to undo it.

He hates the money he received so he returns it.

He hates himself so he decides to end it all.

If Judas had a friend in the world, they would have realized Judas was about to do something awful. This man loved money. When he returned the money it was symbolic that he had given up.

What should Judas had done?

He should have made his way to where Jesus was being held.

He should have told the Roman government the truth.

He should have cried out to Jesus in faith and repentance.

But instead, he tried to fix things his own way. His way didn’t work. Listen to me friend, we can’t fix it.

When we sin

When we blow it

When we embarrass ourselves and those we love

We can’t fix it!

We have to make our way to Jesus!

We have to go to the cross!

When we try to fix things ourselves, we will only make things worse.

2. Judas died in a shameful way (5).

A. Judas died alone.

It wasn’t long ago Judas was surrounded by godly people who believed in him. They trusted him. They labored with him.

He deserted them.

Then he found a group of religious leaders who allowed him to lead them for a few hours. These were the rank and file. These were the “Who’s Who”.

When they got what they wanted, they left him. Everyone has left Judas. Even Satan has left him at this point.

Look at what the religious leaders say to him. He’s baring his soul. He tells them in verse 4 that he has sinned and betrayed innocent blood. Look at how they respond.

“What is that to us? See thou to it.”

In other words, “We don’t care. That’s your problem.”

Judas has isolated himself. I want to say something, and I want everyone to listen. I especially want our younger people to listen:

There aren’t very many people in this world who truly care about you. Before you forsake the people who do care about you think of how lonely life will be with no one to care about you.

Judas forsook the people who cared about him for people who did not. He died alone as a result. There was no one there to talk him down from the ledge. There was no one to offer hope.

B. Judas died by his own hands.

Judas hated himself. He hated himself so much he went and hanged himself. He didn’t warn anyone. He didn’t leave a note. He didn’t try and take anyone else out with him.

He hated himself. He wanted to die. He wanted to be forgotten. There seems to be no hesitation. The text says he went and hanged himself.

It’s as if Judas is saying “Jesus doesn’t deserve to die, but I do.”

He calls the death of Jesus the shedding of innocent blood. Clearly, he doesn’t want Jesus to die. But he doesn’t plead his own case. He sees himself as worthy of death.

I don’t think we should compare the suicide of Judas to the suicide of other people.

Some people end their life because they are mentally sick.

Some people end their life because they are trying to escape the consequences of something they have done.

Judas wasn’t mentally ill.

Judas was not going to be tried for any crime.

Judas simply hated himself.

The way he ends his life is sinful. Suicide is murder. It’s the murder of oneself. Judas though the only way to end the guilt he felt was to die.

He was wrong. When he died the guilt was not removed. When he died he went to hell. Two thousand years later Judas still feels the guilt and is suffering for his sin. That’s why Jesus is saying it would have been better if he had never been born (26:24).

You cannot escape a guilty conscience by ending your life. The only cure for a guilty conscience is Christ.

C. Judas body was exposed for some time (Acts 1:18-19).

Acts 1:18 describes what happened to Judas after he died. It says:

and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

Judas’ body hung in a tree for some time. Evidently long enough for it to begin to bloat. The tree he hung himself on was likely on some sort of a hillside. Eventually the rope or the limb broke, Judas body fell and when it hit the ground it burst open.

What happened to his body then?

We don’t know.

Some suggest he was buried in the field of blood mentioned in verse 8.

I think it is clear there was no one to claim his body. It was the Passover. No Jewish person was going to stop and attend to the death of Judas. They couldn’t come in contact with the dead or they would be rendered unclean and be limited in their participation of the Passover events.

Everything you see about the death of Judas is shameful.

His solitude- no one wanted to be associated with him.

The way he died- suicide.

What happened to his body after he died.

The life and death of Judas Iscariot was a shame. He had so much potential. He had Christ! He had the disciples! He traded glory for shame.

3. The religious leaders attempted to cover their sin by good works (6-10).

A. They admitted they had sinned (6).

They would not take the money back. That’s why Judas threw it down in the Temple. He slung it across the Temple floor. This forced the religious leaders to gather it up. They would not put the money in the Temple Treasury because it was blood money. They admitted that.

What is blood money? It’s money paid to secure a false testimony that results in the execution of an innocent man. They admitted to this sin but evidently thought the ends justified the means.

Look at their hypocrisy. Killing an innocent man isn’t a big deal, just don’t put the money used to do it in the treasury. Somehow, they think this is a good deed.

“We killed an innocent man, but at least we didn’t put the bribe money in the treasury.”

B. They purchased a field and converted it into a cemetery (7-8).

They have a meeting to determine what to do with the money. Look at verse 7. They bought a potter’s field. This was a field that potters dug clay from. It was probably used up because they get it at a cheap price.

The cemetery was for strangers. This was probably a cemetery for Gentiles. Probably any unclaimed body could be buried there. The religious leaders thought this would be a service to the community.

But their good deed was not as obvious as they would like. The cemetery was called “the field of blood” by the locals. Word spread evidently about what these men did with the money paid to Judas. The cemetery itself was a reminder of their guilt.

Acts 1 says it was bought by Judas. The field belonged to him even though it was purchased by these wicked men.

The cemetery would be filled with rejected people.

People who had no place to go.

People who had no one to associate with.

People who had been tossed aside and forgotten.

People like Judas.

C. Their actions fulfilled prophetic Scripture (9-10).

Matthew is sure to remind us that God is in control. The purchase of the field with blood money was a fulfillment of prophecy. Matthew attributes this prophecy to Jeremiah but the actual prophecy itself is found in Zechariah 11:12-13.

The reason for that is simple. The Jews separated Scripture into three parts: the Law, the Writings, and the prophets. The first book in the prophets was Jeremiah. To refer to Jeremiah is to refer to the entire section of Scripture contained in that section.

Zechariah was paid the very low price of 30 pieces of silver for his work. That was an insult. God told him to throw it to the potter. 30 pieces of silver was the worth of a slave that had been gored by an ox (Ex. 21:32). What happened to the prophet was prophetic of what would happen to the Savior.

If these religious leaders understood the Bible, they would see they are on the wrong side of prophetic history. They are trying to cover their sin up, but God’s word is revealing it.

The fact that what happened to Jesus was foretold should give us hope. As ugly as this situation is, God is still in control.

There will always be religiously corrupt people.

There will always be traitors like Judas.

But God is in control. He’s not caught off guard by any of this.

I don’t rejoice in the death of Judas. None of us should. We should pity him. His life and death should be a warning to all who claim to follow Jesus.

Why do you follow Jesus?

Is it for some worldly reason?

Is it to gain influence or acquire wealth?

Is it to be popular?

Judas followed Jesus for the wrong reason, and he ultimately abandoned Him.

Follow Christ because of Who He is and what He has done for you. He has taken your place. He has paid the price for your sin. That is enough reason to follow Him to the very end.