READ: Luke 3:1-14
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” – Proverbs 28:13
To repent means to turn around and to change. When a person gets involved with betrayal is there any hope for him? I believe that not every traitor is deeply rebellious. Some are innocent and some are not.
Let me point out to you that it was not only Judas who deserted Christ in His last hours. Every sin- gle disciple, except John the beloved, disowned Christ when it mattered most (John 19:25,26). Peter cursed and denied ever having had anything to do with Christ. In spite of this, the fate of Peter was very different from the fate of Judas. I believe that Peter’s desertion was not of the heart, but it was an emotional and irrational action that may be expected of most people in his circumstances.
What about Judas? Didn’t he repent? The Bible says that he went back to the High Priest saying that he had betrayed innocent blood (Matthew 27:5). Judas admitted that he was wrong, but he did not retrace his steps. Judas never changed. He did not turn around or retrace his steps. He just admitted that he was wrong, jumped out of the boat and hung himself ! He just excused himself. He could not bear to look at the faces of the other disciples and admit to them that he was wrong.
I have seen pastors admit one or two mistakes that they have made. But that did not amount to repentance. Remember what I said earlier: admission of sins is not the same as repenting. Forsake, renounce, give up, turn your back on the sin.