Guilt - Conviction without Hope

Matthew 27:3 Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" 5 And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.



This morning as I was considering a comment someone had made about guilt a number of scriptures came into my heart and the end result was the words Guilt is Conviction without hope - Condemnation is Truth without Grace.


What pain must have been in the heart of Judas when he finally saw who he really was. And what pain was in the Father's heart as he knew that Judas did not understand that at this very moment when all hell screamed for his soul that he need only turn to the God of Grace to find that he was already forgiven by the very one he betrayed.


And how many have not understood.... A world of tragic consequences has come because no matter how much God has demonstrated His unfailing love we don't believe it. His unfailing love covers every act of hate and evil in our lives if we will take the moment that we finally see the truth of our hearts to trust that He can create something new out of the revelation of all we are without Him.


Psalm 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.


And they met in Jesus.


John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.


The provision of mercy and grace was as available to Judas as much as to any other human being on earth. He came to the revelation of truth of who he really was but instead of believing what he had seen every minute he was with Jesus he chose to believe in a world without grace.


Truth without Grace became unbearable condemnation. But it was not in the heart of God.


1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.


Judas' sin was not beyond the Grace of God. Neither is ours. But we must believe that Truth and Mercy have met in Jesus.


Most of our lives we spend believing we are not as bad as God says we are. But when we finally come face to face with the reality that he was right we can easily believe that we are outside of grace.


The best moment of Judas' life was also the worst. He could never have come to the grace he needed until he understood the darkness of his heart. Those hours after they took Jesus away brought him there. Until that time he had not seen his need for God's mercy. Once he saw it the doors of heaven were open and pleading for his soul to admit his need and come home.... He had seen the love of God in the flesh. He had known the touch of kindness to the worst on the planet. He had seen a legion of demons cast out of a demoniac - totally restored to life. He had seen the transformation of a prostitute saved from stoning by the amazing love and wisdom of the one he called master. He had seen the dead come from a funeral bier and a tomb. He had seen several thousand fed from a few loaves and fish simply to say to them that Jesus loved them more than spiritually. He had looked into Jesus' eyes knowing that he knew him to the depth and yet he did not reject him. But in his final choice he chose hopelessness. Believing that he was outside of grace he took his own life. But it was not what was in God's heart for him or for us.


I have let God show me the truth of my heart. It has at times been such a terrible revelation that I too felt as if I should have never been born. But I have also let Him love me. I could never merit a shred of mercy or grace. Yet there it is..... he loved me so much he gave his life to create the new thing inside of me that would last forever - to make me into what was lost in the beginning - His own image. It takes Truth and Mercy meeting together. And they did in Jesus.