Study 44 -- Matthew 27:1-14

Study 44 – Matthew 27:1-14

1. It is impossible to reject Christ and escape judgment. The guilt of that rejection cannot be cleansed by simply saying, “oops, my bad, I shouldn’t have done that.” Once the deed has been done, there is no escaping the consequence of rejecting the Messiah. A Christian may be tempted to deny Christ as Peter did, but to reject Him is another story. The writer of Hebrews tells us that if we know Christ and then reject Him we can’t come back because it is like crucifying Him all over again (Heb. 6:6). So, yes, we can deny the power of Christ, but we can’t reject it. Peter’s repentance was accepted, the repentance of Judas was not
   
   
2. I find it interesting that Jesus was more defensive before the Sanhedrin than before Pilate. Jesus knew better than to caste His pearls before swine, but He also knew that the Sanhedrin needed to be rebuked for leading Israel astray. Far too often the Church in America spends too much time yelling at the world for doing what the world is supposed to do while keeping totally silent when it comes to the poor behavior of the Church. We need to follow the lead of Christ in this regard.