Text: Matthew 27:1-24

Topic: How to confront your guilt

Introduction:

• Illustration: May summarizes a novel in which people see themselves in a painting from 300 years ago—a painting of Jesus suffering among the crowds of Jerusalem, where the people see their own faces painted on the faces of the crowd.

• There is a sense in which each one of us—if we are spiritually honest—could possibly see ourselves in the characters of this scene.

• Illustration: May quotes Mel Gibson talking about his movie, The Passion of the Christ, claiming personal responsibility for Christ's crucifixion.

• It was our sin that sent Jesus to the cross.

• Matthew 27:1-5

• Instead of doing what a man should do when faced with the reality of his sin, Judas compounded his error by turning even further away from the mercy of God.

• Illustration: May tells of hearing the testimony of a 17-year-old girl who—before coming to Christ—felt as many do: "I believed that there was no way God could forgive me for all the bad things I had done."

• Don't give up on God.

• Matthew 27:11-25

• The crowd stopped thinking for themselves and they allowed unworthy men to do their thinking for them.

• Don't let the rest of the world do your thinking for you.

• Illustration: May illustrates the necessity of evaluating several viewpoints in thinking for yourself by telling the story of a biased tax consulting executive who advised the nation against a simpler tax code out of self-interest.

• Proverbs 11:14

Take responsibility for your actions.

• Matthew 27:24

• Pontius Pilate gave in to the pressure of those who had leverage on him and said, "Whatever happens, it's not my fault."

• Illustration: May illustrates our innate tendency to blame others by telling the story of a friend who jokingly blamed his wife for his car accident because she called him on his cell phone right before the accident.

• Illustration: To illustrate that we cannot escape our culpability, May tells of a man whose disowning of his son is simply the natural progression from years of neglect, trying to escape his responsibility as a father.

• God has given us all responsibilities that cannot be shifted onto anyone else.

Conclusion:

• Judas, the crowd, and Pilate were each responsible in some way for the death of Jesus, and they each tried to avoid facing it.

• We've got to remember that we, too, are guilty.

• Big Idea: If we can recognize our guilt, we can receive God's grace.

• 1 John 1:9