Acts, and I would like you to
turn with me to the 18th chapter of the book of Acts for just
a very short reading, the 18th chapter of the book of Acts.
And in this is there's three verses of scripture that have
to do with regard to someone who was mighty in the scriptures.
And his name was Apollos. And he had an issue. that two
people, two believers picked up on and said, we need to talk
to this young man and talk to him about the scriptures. Now,
there's two things that we notice about this. Apollos was a person
that was teachable. and that Aquila and Priscilla
were those that God had acquainted with grace, and so they came
in a gracious manner and spoke to this man. But notice with
me here, verse 24 of the 18th chapter of the book of Acts,
and a certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent
man and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. And this man
was instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in the
spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, known
only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly
in the synagogue, whom, when Aquila and Priscilla had heard,
they invited him to dinner. They took him to them and expounded
to him the way of God more perfectly. Now I'm so thankful for folks
like Aquila and Priscilla. that help people with their grave
clothes. And so, when we get over here
in the first chapter of the Book of Acts, as we go there now,
if you would, join me in the first chapter of the Book of
Acts. We have some brethren that have some grave clothes. And
the Lord is going to be gracious to them and is going to help
take off their grave clothes. And some of their grave clothes
had to do with what is going to happen to national Israel. and the Lord is going to help
them with that great subject. It tells us here in the book
of Acts chapter 1 and beginning there with verse 6. Acts 1, verse 6. Now, the Lord
is this close to ascending back to the Father according to divine
appointment. He came for this moment. He came to lay down His life,
a ransom for many, and then He was given the privilege of returning
to the glory that He had with the Father at one time. Now he's
going to go back in glory. He's going to be going back in
welcome. There's going to be loud singing and shouting by
the angels. Please don't look for the scripture
for that. But he is going back to glory because of his great
successful work, and he would be able to say from beginning
to end, I have lost none of them. I have completely taken care
of their sin, and they will be welcome in their appointed time,
and we shall worship together. Well, as he's about ready to
return, they have this question. And I can just see them, the
11 of them, talking among themselves in this 40 days that they've
had the Lord after His resurrection and saying, we need to talk to
Him. We need to talk to Him. We need to talk to Him. We need
to talk to Him. May the Lord open up a door so
that we can talk to Him. Well, here it is. The Lord lets
them speak and says in verse 6, And when they therefore were
come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will you at
this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? The Lord is going
to be so gracious with them. He is going to be like Aquila
and Priscilla. He is the master instructor of grace. His name
is grace, and He's going to help them in such a great way to understand
this gracious thing. Now, they have been taught all
their life. These guys have been going to
Sabbath school, they've been going to their school, and they've
been taught all their life by men that do not know the truth
of the gospel. They do not know the true God,
they do not know the Gospel, and they have been putting into
their head this thing that God is going to eventually restore
the Kingdom to Israel in its original fine glory. God never, ever said that. Now, we can go to the book of
Ezekiel, and if we want to, we can create verses that will tell
us that, but God never intended that. God never intended that. He has a kingdom, and it's a
spiritual kingdom, and His kingdom is not going to be given up.
He has a kingdom that's not meat and drink, but it's a spiritual
kingdom. And that kingdom God has blessed us with in hearing
the gospel. So he's going to spend some time
right here, instructing them as Aquila and Priscilla instructed
Apollos. Now he says this in verse seven,
and he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times
or the seasons, which now notice this, the father knows. the Father knows. Now, that's
just about the words that we have a man hear when God said,
you go over there and talk to Saul. And Saul says, that's a
pretty bad idea. And the Lord said, he is a chosen
vessel. And when God said He was a chosen
vessel, this man instantly got up and went over there, because
he trusted God in the matter. Now, the apostles are given this
information by the Lord, counsel by the Lord, that it's not for
you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has
put in His own power. Now, we find that that is just
about like what we find in Isaiah 55. Would you turn there with
me to the book of Isaiah 55? In Isaiah 55, we find that the
God of heaven shares with us so much about our preconceived
ideas and says, this is the counsel I give you on those subjects.
I visited with a fellow the other day. Not in person, but he told
me that he was going to go to a certain place. And I know exactly
why he's going to go there. And I said, he said, if the Lord
willing, you know, that's always the end of the conversation,
if the Lord wills, if the Lord wills. And I wrote back and I
said, you know, most of the time we've got it all figured out
what God's will is. And we're just asking him to
consent to it. That's the way we deal with God's will. Well,
there's so much more to God's will than that. We don't, figure
it out, and then ask God to consent to it. Here in the book of Isaiah
chapter 55, we have these words given to us by God Almighty about
this very subject. Isaiah 55 verse 8, The Lord was
so gracious to them, He said, It's in the hands of the Father.
Trust the Father with it. Turn it over to the Father. And
you know, for a time, that seems to be the answer. going to take
care of it. Now we're going to find that
Peter has some trouble going over to Cornelius, and the Lord
instructs him. And then Philip, he's down there
in Samaria, and he's preaching the gospel, and a lot of people
are being saved. And so the church of Jerusalem said, well, we better
send someone down there to find out what's going on there. You
know, we are prejudice. And these disciples are prejudiced.
They're prejudiced against the Gentiles, because that's what
they've been taught since they've been born. The Gentiles have
no part or parcel in this, oh, except Rahab, the harlot, and
Ruth, and a few people that we know about. But the rest of them
are not so much. Well, here in the book of Isaiah,
chapter 55, verse 8, he said, My thoughts, God speaking, My
thoughts are not your thoughts. You know that's good counsel?
That's the counsel the Father gives us. My thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.
That is fatherly counsel. The Father from heaven is speaking
to our heart and saying, once we come to a conclusion like
this, we better have God's word on this. Because if we don't
have God's word on this, we have nothing. My thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. Now, how much distance is there
between our thoughts and God's thoughts, and how much distance
is there between God's ways and our ways? Well, he goes on to
counsel us again. The father said, let me sit you
down, let you sit on my knee, and I'm going to explain this
to you in very careful words. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways. Now, we
had no concept in this world about what that's talking about
until we got the Hubble Space Telescope. And the ones that
follow it, there seems to be absolutely no end to it. Well,
we know there is because there's a place where God is ruling and
reigning this earth from. And He does it on this earth,
but He has sent it right into the Father. He said, As the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes
down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but
waters to the earth, and makes it bring forth the bud, forth
the bud, that it may receive seed for the sower, and bread
for the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my
mouth. It shall not, are you sitting
on my lap? Let me counsel you some more.
I am the Father, and I'm instructing you on the graciousness of God,
He says, so shall my word not return void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto
I send it. So we have, there is going to
be a recognition here by these disciples, and we can recognize
it, that they are of a teachable spirit, and they're not going
to fall what we find in the scriptures,
they're not going to, in vain, worship the Lord, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men. Thus saith the Lord. So he has put his arms around
them, he's counseled them, and says, now you're going into Jerusalem,
and you're going to stay there until you're endued with power
from on high. the promise that God had given
through the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John about them
having a power that comes, a comforter that comes, a paraclete that
walks beside them. We're going to have Him coming
in this capacity, and they'll wait there for that. Now, they
have an error, and that error is so prevalent today in our
world, in our religious world, among Christian, quote-unquote,
people, that there was a perpetuity. There was a priority. There is
a perpetual national Israel. And you know,
we're going to find out something here in this book of Acts real
soon. The New Testament Church is not just a makeshift arrangement,
and that's what it's terminated today, or termed as. It's just
a makeshift, it's just a fill-in until the Kingdom comes, and
that Kingdom It's not that kingdom that we're looking for Paul was
used of the Holy Ghost to share with the Jews who truly are Jews
and to share with the Gentiles who truly are Jews Did you know
that the Bible teaches us that Gentiles are also Jews? They are in the kingdom Turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Romans chapter 2. Romans
chapter 2, we read here that the Apostle Paul was led by the
Holy Spirit and he has so much insight into this because he
was a Pharisee of the Pharisees and when God revealed himself
unto him, he was made to know that the church is the reaper
of the blessings of the Lord, and the church was not started
on the day of Pentecost. I used to wonder, why in the
world are people saying the church was started on the day of Pentecost?
Well, it boils down to the fact they can't see the church in
the Old Testament. The Old Testament is filled with
the church. It is filled with the assembly
of the Lord. It is filled with those who bow
their knee. And we find in the 11th chapter
of the book of Hebrews a list there and to discount them and
put them into a second grade class. No way. It was by faith. And how are you saved? By faith,
by grace through faith and that not of yourselves. So there's
the same absolute connection here. So in the book of Romans,
chapter two, It tells us there in verses 28 and 29, this wonderful
thing. He's not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. It's not the Torah that he reads. It's not the clothes that he
wears. It's not the allegiance to some kingdom of national Israel. It had its part. The kingdom
of Israel had its part. God demonstrates through that
that He blessed them in a way no one else ever blessed anybody. You know, we follow that through,
we find out how He took care of them. He brought them out
of Egypt. He fed them in the wilderness. He clothed them.
Their shoes didn't wear out. He fed them. He gave them bread
and manna. He took care of them. Gave them
a land that belonged to some other people at the time. A land
that flowed with milk and honey. And gave them prophets. He gave
them judges. He gave them kings. And on and
on it went. And you know what? In the end
run, Not one of those folks were ever turned to God by God's goodness,
or by God's law, or by God's justice, or by God's food, or
by God's manna, or by God's leading them out of Egypt, by the Passover,
by the sacrifices, none of it. And so he could say, And I'm
just being very facetious with this. Please don't make a quote
out of this. I'm just looking at this as we
see God sometimes gives himself as an appearance as he's like
a man, has hands, he has a head. One place it says he had feathers.
We know that's not true. But God just as well have said,
this was a grand experiment. And I am on the books to show
that if it isn't for the gospel revealed to our heart, we will
never turn in to the Lord for grace. If he does not come in
his power, if he does not give us a new heart, if he doesn't
give us the new birth, if he doesn't do the work that he has
promised he will do for the church, and if he doesn't do it for us,
we will not turn in. will be like the Israel in the
days of the judges every man does what's right in his own
eyes and we will be like the people that Israel in the days
of the judges when we say oh things are going real well right
now I think I'll go down and start my bail worship all over
again And that's exactly what we find that Israel did in the
Old Testament. So God in the covenant of grace
said, we will take care of the problem. I will put names in
my book and those names are going to represent people. And in time,
everybody whose name is written in this book, I am going to come
to them in power and great glory and declare unto them the gospel.
Somebody I'm gonna send in that appointed time to preach the
gospel to them, and then the Holy Spirit is gonna come and
give them the new birth, and they shall all know me from the
least to the greatest. I will give them a new heart.
It didn't work with Israel because I didn't give them a new heart,
Deuteronomy chapter 32. But it will for the church because
I will give them a new heart, and they all shall know me, and
they shall all worship me, and they shall all love me, and that
is what the everlasting covenant has. So it's not a Jew that's
one inward or outward. It's one that is not circumcised
outward in the flesh. But verse 29, but he is a Jew,
which is one inwardly and circumcision that is in the heart, in the
spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. So this is and these disciples
are going to find it. Oh, That's what it is. That's what I've got. It's not
going to be this kingdom out here that I've been long expecting.
It's the kingdom of God in my heart. Well, in Galatians, the
Apostle Paul brings this subject up again. Galatians chapter 3,
if you'd turn there with me. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
29. In Galatians chapter 3 and verse
29. And if you be Christ, then you
are Abraham's seed. Doesn't matter which line you
came down through. And if ye be Christ, then are
you Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise. The church
is mentioned in the Old Testament as the church in the wilderness,
the general assembly and church of the firstborn. Feed my church,
which I will have, he has purchased with his own blood. So all the
things happen, God is so careful to counsel them in the things
more perfectly, just like he does that for us in time as things
come up and we have an idea that isn't fit the word of God, someone
by the grace of God comes along and shares with us the truth
and thank God for a teachable spirit on that very thing. Well,
as we follow this out, going back to the book of Acts, going
back to the book of Acts chapter one, We have that there is a
gathering together. All these people, these saints
of the Lord, they get together. It tells us
here as the Lord goes back to heaven, they're looking up. He
promises them that He'll come back just the same way. He promises
that through the angels. And then it says in verse 13
of Acts chapter 1, and when they were come together, they all
went back. We've been counseled by the Lord.
He went to Jerusalem and they're going to wait about 10 days.
50 days after the Passover is the day of Pentecost. And he
said on this 40th day after his resurrection, he ascended back
to the father. So we're going to have about
a 10 day period in there. And it says, here's what they're
doing. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper
room. And there stayed both Peter,
and James, and John, and Andrew, and Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew,
and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zolandus,
and Judas the brother of James, not Iscariot, he's not there. And these all continued in one
accord, in prayer, and supplication with the women and Mary the mother
of Jesus and with his brothers or brethren. So we have this
group of people. We're going to find out that
there's in the next verse, there's a number of names together. We're
about 120 that were up there. And you know what? They're just
they're praising God. There is there. We have the 11
disciples. They're in one accord. They have
one savior. They're in prayer. Lord, may
your will be done. May we not impose our thoughts
in this. May your will be done. And supplication,
so thankful that they were privileged to be here and witness what they
have just witnessed. They have seen the Lord ascend
back to the Father. They have heard his words and
he counseled them. My Father is in charge of this.
He'll take care of it as it falls out. And they just continued
there in one prayer and one accord and reading the scriptures. Now,
the thing that's interesting to me is it appears that the
Apostle Peter has a scroll of the Psalms. And you know, he's
doing his daily Bible reading in the Psalms, and something
strikes him. The Holy Spirit comes to him
in power and great glory and says, we need to tend to some
business. Now, the people that they select
for this, you know, they're not real prominent in town. They're not lawyers. They're
not judges. They're not people of real value
or importance to everybody else, but they were to them because
we are purchased by the same blood. That's what they have.
So they're in one accord. And in those days, verse 15,
Peter stood up in the middle of the disciples and said, number
of the names, about 120, men and brothers, I've been reading
in the Psalms. I've been reading in the Bible,
and there is an issue that we need to tend to right now. Did
you know in the Psalms written all those hundreds of years before
this day that they are assembled together, written by God-given
men, holy men of God, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,
By and large, it was David that brought these words and had them
written down. But it was written all those years before the Lord
Jesus Christ came down here and was born of a virgin, came down
here and grew up, began His ministry at about 30 years of age. Before
all of that happened, it was written in the Psalms that somebody
is going to betray Him, and God purposed it. Turn with me, if
you would, to Psalm 41. Psalm 41. The Apostle Paul is
going to bring this subject up, but let's read back here in the
Psalms. He's been reading, and he's been reading in several
places in the Psalms. How good it is! I was talking
to somebody the other day, and I said, I mentioned, you know,
the Psalms to me are prayers I wish I could pray. I wish I
could put them together. I just can't. I know what it
is not to know how to pray as I ought. And so the Psalms sometimes
are just a wonderful substitute for the words I cannot put together.
Well, here in this Psalm, Psalm 41, we read these words that
were written so long before the event took place, before the
Lord was even on the earth before he came, born of a virgin, hundreds
of years beforehand. It was written, Yes, my own familiar
friend in whom I trusted, which did eat my bread, has lifted
up his heel against me. Now the apostle Peter read that
and he said, Oh my goodness. It's a fulfillment of scripture
what happened there. He's going to go ahead and describe
what Judas did to himself, but it's a fulfillment of scripture.
He wasn't just a rascally rabbit. He was appointed by God Almighty
to do exactly what he did. All right, in the Psalms, Psalm
69, verse 25, would you join me there? Peter's been reading
in the Psalms about this subject of Judas Iscariot and the events
that took place, that it was he that betrayed the Lord. And
here in the Psalm 69, verse 25, it says, let their habitation
be desolate and let none dwell in their tents. As we find out
what Peter has to say about these verses of scripture, we find
out the Holy Spirit interpreted them for us. I love it when the
spirit interprets his word for us lets us know what it means
All right, and then in the book of the psalm psalm 109 Psalm
109 is the Apostle Peter's reading the scriptures. They're having
great fellowship. They're in one accord They're
there. The Lord has just ascended back
to the father. They've been instructed to wait
Be of good courage wait and they're waiting And while they're waiting,
they're praying, and fellowshipping together, and eating together,
realizing the great blessing that God had given them. And
then the Apostle Peter, and no doubt others too, had been reading.
And Peter comes up with some Old Testament verses of Scripture.
It says here in Psalm 109, verse 8, if you'd look at that verse
of Scripture, ìLet his days be few, and let another take his
office.î We find that the Apostle Peter is led to what these verses
of Scripture mean as we go back to the book of Acts chapter 1.
How gracious it is for God to reveal His Word to us, to cause
us to understand what it means. And it happened with the Apostle
Peter. Going back to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 1 there,
it tells us there in In verse 15, in those days Peter stood
up in the middle of the disciples and said, the number of the names
together were about 120. Men and brothers, this scripture
must needs have been fulfilled. which the Holy Ghost, by the
mouth of David, spoke concerning Judas, which was guide to them
that took Jesus. What a revelation he's received. As he read the Old Testament,
and that's all they had. As he read the Psalms, that's
all they had. And the Holy Spirit revealed
unto him what was in the Psalms about Judas Iscariot. For he
was numbered with us and hath obtained a part of this ministry. Now, this man purchased a field
with the reward of iniquity. He was paid some silver. You know, he brought that silver
back and cast it down at the feet of those who paid him. His conscience got a hold of
him. Now, God never revealed Christ to him, but his conscience
got a hold of him. I've done wrong. You know, admitting
that we've done wrong does not mean we've ever been born again.
Judas admitted he'd done wrong, but he was never born again.
He would have not done that. The Apostle Peter and the crime
of Judas are about that far apart. You know, Peter denied the Lord
three times and adamantly, strongly, with conviction and swore about
it. I don't know him. And the third
time the Lord looked at him and he went out and wept bitterly. You know the first time the Lord
met him after that whole incident? What did he say? Did he challenge
him on that? No. Did he get after him on that?
No. You know what he said? Peace.
We're at peace. It's all forgiven. Put away. As far as the East is from the
West. And he never said that about Judas. All right? As you
know, to all the dwellers at Jerusalem, so as that field is
called in their proper tongue a caldima, that is to say a field
of blood. For it is written in the book
of the Psalms, let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell
therein, and his position as bishop let another take. He had a very important office,
but offices don't change people. He had a very important ministry,
but ministry doesn't change people. I told a man in the park yesterday,
I said, I pastored for 15 years and didn't know the gospel. You
know what? There was almost not enough air
in the park for that statement when he went, it's so common, so common. Having that ministry having that
he was even an officer among the disciples Did you know he
was a treasure? He carried the bag and he Judas
said why was not that great bomb sold for so much and given to
the poor and then we get to read his heart and The Scriptures
open up His heart to us. It says, He didn't care about
the poor, but He carried the bag. He was a thief. That was
Judas Iscariot. You know, the Lord knew exactly
who He chose when He chose him. He didn't make a mistake. You
know, we are poor judges of character, but not the Lord. Lord, he knows
our character. He knows our frame inside and
out. He knows what we are. He knows Jacob's and Esau's. He knows them. He knows them
from eternity. So this man came in among the
disciples. He went out two by two at one
time, and Jesus told him, don't go anywhere except to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. You know what? Someone was with
him. He went out with the 70. Someone was with him, and he
came back, and it didn't have anybody saying he had a bad report.
It just says, here, he had part with us. He had a ministry with
us, but he was not of us. It's written in the Psalms, let
his habitation be desolate, let no man dwell therein, and his
position as bishop, let another take. Judas is already taking care
of himself, and now this group of people must take care of it
because they need twelve. There were twelve tribes of Israel,
and that s what it represents. We need twelve. We need someone
to fill in. All right, it tells us here,
and I think I was reading, yeah,
here in the original King James, it says bishopric. All right. Wherefore, of these men which
have accompanied with us all the time that Jesus went in and
out among us, beginning from the baptism of John. Now, why
did he use that term? Well, Jesus came down and began
his public ministry with a declaration of the death, burial, and his
resurrection. He typified it, he pictured it,
and he told John, thus fulfills all righteousness. and he was
baptized by John. Now his beginning of his ministry
was at that point. For three and a half years his
ministry goes on. It says he was about thirty years
of age. His ministry began and he said we need somebody that's
been around since Jesus began his ministry. Someone around
that heard Him preach, Christ and Him crucified. Someone that
has been born again. Someone that the Spirit of God
has touched. Someone that has been called.
Someone, not just anybody, and we can't make that decision.
You know, we are poor judges of character sometimes. God is
not. And so he said, we need someone
beginning with the baptism of John, who's been around all this
time to taken up from us must be one from the time that Jesus
began his ministry until he ended his public ministry. This man,
whoever's chosen has to be big, be around since Christ began
his ministry. And that day when he was taken
up to glory, we need someone and notice here why. It's not that we can brag on
reports or church. It says here in verse 22, must
one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. That's what we need. We need
someone who will testify of his resurrection. And that's exactly
what they were intending. They are led by the Holy Spirit
to come to this point. And so they appointed two, Joseph
Carl Barsabas, who was surnamed Justice, and Matthias. We don't
need politicians. You know, a little later, we're
gonna get over what's often called deacons. And it says, filled
with the Holy Ghost. That's their qualification. filled
with the Holy Ghost. What does that mean? They believe
God. They believe God's Word. They
don't mind talking about it. They don't mind declaring it.
Deacons need that. Servants. You know, I'm a strong
proponent of deacons. Everyone that's ever born again
is a deacon or a deaconess. We don't have the office. The
word is not found in the King James, or it's not found in the
original, it's in the King James, but it's not a special office
to give somebody a position. We're all deacons and deaconesses
that know Jesus Christ as Savior. That word means servant, servant. All right, so we need another
servant. We need the witness of his resurrection. And two
were chosen that met those qualifications. You know, one commentator says,
oh, it's probably others. So what? There may have been
others, but these two were brought out as fulfilling the qualifications
that the Holy Spirit had given to them about someone to fill
in for Judas. Now, this person that is chosen
must be a plain preacher of the gospel. We're not taking anybody
else. He must know Christ. We're not
taking anybody else. We cannot have anybody else just
because they know the language, just because they know the customs,
just because they know people doesn't make the truth of it.
They must know Christ. They must have been born again.
They must have seen the gospel of Jesus Christ preached by Jesus
Christ. They must have heard Christ and
him crucified from Jesus Christ who is going to be crucified.
And so, two are recorded as qualified, two men are noted there, and
it says, and they prayed. Probably the most serious prayer
that they've had up to this point after the Lord has gone back
to heaven. Because this is a very important
person. Lord, show us which one. We need
a testimony. We need someone that will brag
on Christ. We don't need anybody bringing
up the Kingdom of Israel anymore. We need someone who will brag
on Christ. And it says there they prayed,
thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men. Well, that's
just almost what we heard read over there in the book of Daniel.
Oh, he knows all men. Show whether of these two thou
hast chosen. that he may take part of this
ministry, an apostleship, from which Judas by transgression
fell, that he might go to his own place. Now, before we look
at the vote, turn with me to the book of Luke, if you would.
The book of Luke, chapter 22. Luke, chapter 22. In Luke chapter 22 we have these
words recorded for us about this very incident about Judas. It
was not hard for Judas to do what he did. Did you know that? It's not hard for him to do that. He had the heart for it. You
know, in our fallen and undone condition, we don't have a heart
to love God. We have a heart to oppose God. We'll have a heart to NOT agree
with God. And so it wasn't difficult for
Judas to betray the Lord Jesus. He had a heart for it. Here in
the book of Luke, chapter 22 and verse 22, the Lord Jesus
says this, And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined. You know, it was written in the
scriptures that someone would betray Him. Didn't name his name
over there in the book of the Psalms, but it does tell us his
character He's going to betray the Lord and it says he the Lord
goes as it was determined before the foundation of the world It
was determined that he'd go this way, but woe unto that man by
whom he is betrayed That's the Lord's words on this subject
the John 17 verse 12, would you turn there with me John 17 verse
12 and Brings up this subject again.
I've lost none. I will lose none. But this one,
Judas, that's gonna betray me, it says here, while I was with
them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou
gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost. but the son
of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. So Judas,
his activity, what he did, betraying the Lord, was prophesied. And
if it's a prophecy, if it's in the Old Testament, it must be
fulfilled. There must be veracity in the
scriptures. And so it happens. And so these two men are set
aside. Great prayers made over that,
going back to the book of Acts chapter one. Great prayer. Prayed. Oh, can you imagine how
fervent that prayer was? There's 120 people gathered together
to pray God's will in this matter, because it's going to make a
big difference. We want your man. And it says, They may have part in this ministry
and apostleship, which Judas by transgression fell, that he
might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots,
and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the
11 apostles. Now he's number 12. I've had
people tell me, well, his name is never mentioned again in all
the Bible. Oh, yes, it is. We're going to find out in the
very next chapter that there were 12 that preached on the
day of Pentecost, and it doesn't list all their names. And it
doesn't list all the names of all the apostles anywhere else
except here in this chapter at this point. So, he was God's
man. He was chosen by God. God said,
this is the requirement. He must have been from the very
beginning of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to the
very end of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he must
preach a successful Christ. He must preach the truth of the
gospel. He must be a declarer. And on
the day of Pentecost, we can take it to the bank. Matthias
preached as all the other 11 did. And God worked a great work
of grace on that day. We have the Holy Spirit coming
in a power that we haven't witnessed before. So as we close today,
Matthias was numbered with the 11, and the issue that the disciples
brought up is not going to be the issue that it was. Thank
God that He takes care of issues. Have you ever had an issue taken
care of? Yeah, it became a non-issue. Not even worth discussing. I'll
never forget going back to see the man who brought me the gospel
and said, do you remember those questions you brought up to me
when I was out there with you? And I said, yes, I do. And I'm
not going to repeat them because they were the dumbest questions
in this world. But I can tell you the answer you gave to every
one of my questions. Norm, that's not the issue. And
Norm said, well, what is the issue? And he said, Christ is
the issue. rather than mine.