Why did Judas end up in Hell if Jesus called him Friend?

A question came up in church regarding whether or not Judas was saved. Some think Judas might be saved because he showed repentance by returning the silver from his betrayal and was called a friend by Jesus (Matthew 26:50)

Would Jesus let a friend go to hell?

I believe Judas is in hell without a doubt.

Matthew 26:24
The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.

Judas did have remorse-- but it was limited to only worldly grief, he didn't have Godly sorrow which leads to true repentance. I think this verse sums it up the best:

2 Corinthians 7:10
"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

When David committed murder, theft, adultery he didn't pity himself but he repented saying it was only against God that he sinned. David's heart was really that his relationship could be restored with God, something that he treasured more than anything else. 

Psalms 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

When Satan condemns us, he never gives us the grace to overcome, but often attacks us in a way that we sink further. When the Holy Spirit convicts us, he always gives us the grace to repent and turn back to God.

In my belief, It's also a reminder for us to *NEVER* commit suicide no matter how bad it gets.  Here's a testimony of a woman who almost did, she would have ended up in hell if she hadn't asked for forgiveness before she pulled the trigger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGQDkCi-OIY

Whenever we're in a valley, God is always there with us whether or not we can see him (Romans 8:31-39).

With Judas' fate clearly established let's ask another related question:

How could Judas who held the coveted position of being one of Jesus' disciples betray the son of God?

While preparing for a sermon a few weeks ago I realized that there's many things we can learn about the arc of Judas' tragic life by looking at Balaam's. 

Judas and Balaam both enjoyed a relationship to God that would make all of us jealous. Since Judas was in charge of the money bags, the disciples must have trusted him and he must have been close with everyone including Jesus. In the same way, Balaam was also very close to God and Numbers 22 records many direct conversations he had with Jehovah. The bible only records a couple back and forth conversations between God and his servants. Moses and Abraham come to mind at the moment so we could say Balaam enjoyed a relationship with God that few other men on earth have experienced.

Unfortunately both Balaam and Judas also seemed to be torn between serving God and money. In John 12:6 it says that Judas stole out of the money bag meant for the poor. It's possible his enslavement to riches sealed his fate long ago and God may have already given him many chances to repent as he did with Balaam. It's sad because Judas probably gave up a lot to follow Jesus for 3.5 years, but because of his divided loyalty, he had an unhappy ending. Jesus words "you cannot serve both God and money"(Matthew 6:24) was prophetic for Judas.

Although Balaam could never bring himself to curse Israel, he ultimately found a way to betray the God he served for the wages of unrighteousness (2 Peter 2:15) and seal his fate.

Revelation 2:14
But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

If you think about Israel's history, this was really their undoing and the seed was planted by Balaam! God prevented the old generation from entering the good land because of their unbelief, but unfortunately the new generation that did enter fell into this stumbling block. Balaam's betrayal must have stun really hard! And we see in Revelation 2 that God didn't forget this betrayal but brought it back into remembrance.

I think it's also a prophetic warning to the church today. Unless Christians repent from the idols of the world and sexual immorality, they will meet the same fate of the Israelites who did the same thing. God is the same yesterday today and forever and his standards for repentance haven't changed (Ezekiel 18). All God ever wanted was for us to repent from our heart. The extreme dispensationalist doctrine that we're in the "age of grace" so repentance is unnecessary is unfair because it would give a free pass to Christians today to worship idols alongside with God, while damning the Israelites who committed the same errors long ago-- who were unfortunate just because they lived in the wrong era.

Balaam was close to God in communication, but he was never intimate with him. He knew the ways of God well, he knew God loved Israel, but he never treated God as a person who had feelings. He didn't care that God loved Israel, all he could think about was the money Balak could offer. Compare the conversations he has with God in Numbers 22 to the conversations Abraham has with God concerning Lot (Genesis 18). One is devoid of relationship and life, but the other is fulfilled with intimacy and intercession!

Judas was close to Jesus, but all he could think about probably was the benefits of being a part of the Messiah's earthly kingdom, and when that didn't pan out he decided to throw everything away.

This is a reminder for us that we can be close to God in communication (go to church meetings, read bible, pray) but we need to go further and have intimacy. It was David's intimacy with God that drove him to true repentance. If only Judas had the same intimacy as David did, things may have turned out different for him.