Acts chapter 1, and this morning
we'll be looking at verses 16 down through verse 26 regarding
Peter's message to the apostles and to the 120 that were in the
upper room. The title of the message, if
I had one, would be, God's Faithful but Fallible Men. God's Faithful
but Fallible Men. Last week we looked at the ascension
of Christ and we saw that in the ascension of Christ, we asked
the question, what are we to be doing? What are we to be about?
We are to be doing what the Lord commanded His apostles to do
and that was to wait. We are commanded while the Lord
Jesus Christ is ascended on high, we are commanded to wait. And
we saw last week that waiting was not an idle thing, it was
not a passive thing, but it is an active, participatory thing. It's something that we are to
be actively engaged in in our lives, to wait for the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in answering the question,
what are we to be waiting for, we saw that prayer is something
we're to be engaged in. The apostles and the 120 that
were in that upper room, they were engaged in prayer. They
were engaged in worship of God. And we're to be engaged in prayer.
Paul said, praying with all prayer. All types of prayer at every
opportunity of prayer. That's waiting on the Lord, isn't
it? And we saw that waiting in prayer is our communion with
God. It's how we commune and talk to our God. It's how we
relay our problems and concerns and lay them at His throne of
mercy. You have problems, you have concerns.
A lot of people, we like to take our problems and concerns to
other people. We like to tell them, it's like we just sang
before we began the lesson, is take it to Jesus, take it to
the Lord in prayer. He's the one that's waiting to
hear from His children. And we saw that We are sent into
the world to preach this gospel of Jesus Christ. God didn't send
us into a place of comfort or a place that loves us or cares
for us, but He sent us into the enemy's den, into the mouth of
the beast. We are sent to the front lines
of battle and we must be constantly engaged in the warfare of preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ and a witness to the resurrection
of Christ. You know, I'm not ashamed of this gospel of Jesus
Christ, are you? I'm not ashamed of this gospel.
Why? Because my Lord is risen. My
Lord is King and Sovereign of the universe. And therefore,
we're not ashamed. We're not ashamed no matter who
we're in company with. We're not ashamed, but we are
to preach this gospel at every time. And we also saw that they
were assembled together in worship, and so are we, to be assembled
together in worship of our God. Constantly, faithfully assembled
in worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we saw that they
were gathered together around the Word of God, and that's what
we're going to talk about this morning. They were gathered around a Word
of God. Peter stood up and he began to
expound on the Word of God. We're to be engaged in these
things rather than to be gazing off into the things of this world
or gazing into the cares of this life. We're to be about our Lord's
business. That's what we're to be doing.
We're to be about our Lord's business and not gazing into
the things, but rather looking for the appearing of our great
God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, we have come to verse 15
here, where it says, in those days, Peter stood up in the midst
of his disciples and said, the number of names together were
about 120. Now, Peter stood up. And he stood up. Now in those
days, and what that means is there was about ten days. From
the time the Lord Jesus Christ ascended on the Mount of Olives
until the time the Holy Spirit had been poured out was around
ten days. But in the middle of that ten
days, Peter couldn't help himself. Peter couldn't help himself.
He was told to wait, but he had to get up and say something.
He had to get up and say something. In these verses, we see that
Peter, who is no doubt the spokesman of the group, stood up and began
to preach. And he recalls a verse of Scripture. that was spoken
by David concerning the apostles. And we look at these verses of
Scripture, you'll see that in verse 16. He said, Men and brethren,
the Scripture must needs be fulfilled which the Holy Ghost spake by
the mouth of David, the four concerning Judas, which was the
guide that took him. And also in verse 20, For it
is written in the book of the Psalms, Let his habitation be
desolate, let no man dwell therein, and his bishopric let another
take. Now, no doubt Peter looked about
that room, and he saw that there were eleven apostles. He saw that there were eleven
apostles, and this Scripture came to his mind, that which
David said. David said concerning Judas that
it was predetermined that he be the one to deceive and to
betray the Lord. And he also knew that in the
Scripture it said, let another one take his office. And so Peter,
thinking about this, stands up and starts to talk about Judas
and how he betrayed the Lord. And he says, he was numbered
among us and took part of this ministry. But because he betrayed
in rebellion, he took the money that he had, bought a field and
hanged himself in that field. Now that field, it says he bought
that field. I want you to understand that
that money that he had was his. Judas in Matthew chapter 27,
when Judas took that money and he cast it back at the feet of
the Pharisees, that was still his money. And they bought that
field wherein he was hanged. So really it was his money that
bought that field. He bought that field and he hanged
himself in that field. And now before I go on, I want
us to think about Judas for a moment. Think about this man, Judas.
Think about the importance of what happened concerning Judas. He was one of the twelve. Judas
was one of the chosen 12 disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was hand chosen by Christ Himself. Out of the 70, he was chosen.
In John chapter 6, verse 70 and 71, Jesus said, Have I not chosen
you 12? And one of you is a devil. Would you have chosen? Would
I have chosen? If we knew what He was and knew
what He was going to do. But Jesus Christ knew this man. He knew exactly what He was going
to do and yet He chose him specifically. He knew that this one would betray
Him and yet He chose him. Now, I'll tell you, during the
days of Jesus, it was common. Now, I want you to think about
this and get the mindset of the disciples even, most all of them.
They thought that when Christ was to come, when Christ was
to come, He was going to overthrow that Roman government. That was
the main thought of every Jew at that time. They were really
thinking that when Christ was come, He was going to deliver
the nation of Israel from the bondage of the Roman Empire,
that He was going to be some kind of mighty warrior that would
deliver the people. And Judas had this in his mind.
Judas, I believe, was part of a sect of that day that was militant
about this. There were many Jews that were
militant about the overthrow of the Roman government, so much
so that the Roman government, they hated the Jews above everybody
else, because they were just a thorn in their side all the
time. And Judas was part of a sect that wanted to militarily overthrow
the government. And when he saw Jesus Christ
come on the scene, he said, that's the man. That's the man that's
going to do it. And he started following the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus chosen to be one
of the closest of His group, one of the twelve. But the more
he saw Jesus Christ speaking about His death, the more he
heard about Christ bearing crosses and how His kingdom was spiritual
and it was not of this earth, he began to move away from the
Lord. And what really broke the camel's
back was in Matthew chapter 26. Remember that woman that poured
that ointment on Lord Jesus Christ? What did He say? When Judas said, hey, can't that
be used to give money to the poor? He wasn't concerned about
the poor, John said. He was concerned about the bag.
Why was he so concerned about the bag? Because you need weapons,
you need military force in order to overthrow anybody. He was
concerned about that rather than the Lord Jesus Christ burial.
He said, this is for my burial. You notice when he did that,
that's when he went and determined the price. of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when he determined to
betray the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, no, that's not the guy
I'm looking for. That's not the guy I was looking for. When he
was rebuked, he went and determined to sell Christ, to betray him.
When he saw that Jesus was not going to overthrow the government
or set up an earthly kingdom here, then they agreed on the
price of Christ. But let me ask us this. Was Jesus
surprised? Was this something that he was
not expecting? Was this something that he did
not have a contingency for? Did he misinterpret? No. He knew this. This was an
expected event. This was determined long before
that he would be betrayed. Go to John chapter 13. John chapter
13 and verse 18. Let's read this night that the
Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed by him after the Lord had washed
the feet of his disciples. Jesus said this, I speak not
of you all. I know whom I have chosen, but
that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. And I tell you before it
come, that when it is come to pass, you may believe that I
am. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever
I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth him receiveth him that
sent me. And Jesus thus said, he was troubled
in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that one of you shall betray me. And when he did that, he said,
all the disciples were confused. Is it me? Did I do it? Is it
going to be me, Lord? And Jesus says, the man I did
with the sop, and he did it. And what did Jesus tell Judas
to do? That thou doest, do it quickly.
Go. Go. And he went out and immediately
was night. This was not a surprise to the Lord Jesus, but this was
foretold. Can we recognize that everything
that happens is of the hand of God? Even the evil of men. Even the evil of Judas was not
a surprise, but he was the son of perdition. Even the amount
was determined. The amount, you can read in Zechariah
11, 12, he said, so they weighed my price, thirty pieces of silver. You see, even the price of the
Lord Jesus Christ's betrayal was determined. determined beforehand
of God. If all of this was determined,
if God determined Judas to betray His Son, it even has set the
price of his betrayal. Let me ask this question. Was Judas then responsible or
not? Absolutely, he was responsible.
Absolutely, he was responsible. Judas, though ordained of God
to perform this, yet Judas did exactly what Judas wanted to
do. There is a cooperation between
the ordination of God for men to do evil and their own desires. Judas didn't do this against
His will. He was allowed to do what He
wanted to do. You see, God is not chargeable
with any sin, yet He either restrains or allows men to do what they
want to by nature. You see, what men don't understand
is that we all by nature want to destroy and betray Christ. That's what all men want to do
by nature, what Judas did. How many times have we thought
within our own self-righteous self, when you hear that, that
they yelled and said, crucify Him, crucify Him. We thought
within ourselves, well, if I was there, I wouldn't have said that. No, we would have been the loudest.
We would have been the loudest. My friends, if God does not restrain
our evil, This is exactly what we would
do. If men by nature could, they would dethrone God, if they could. He did exactly what he was longing
to do, to sin against God, yet God had purposed this evil man
to accomplish His will for the good of His elect. And that's
what God is doing this for. God ordained that Judas would
do this, and Judas did exactly what he wanted to do, and he
was responsible for it, yet he did exactly what God wanted him
to do so that Christ would be delivered. What about the men that nailed
Christ to the cross? Do you think they were chargeable?
Yes. Yet the Scripture says, by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, He delivered His own
Son up. God delivered Him. And you by
wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. Think of it. Jesus Christ was
betrayed, but this was not for evil, was it? The evil that that
man did was not for evil. God intended it for good. And that's what God is always
doing. God is always doing good. always doing good. When it seems
the darkest, God is using that for His good, for the good of
His people, for your good, for your good, my good. God is using
all things and working all things for His purpose, to save His
people from their sins. Now, did Judas go before God
and say, well, God, you know, I know I did betray You, but
look at the result of my sin. Christ died and people are saved,
so I must be pardoned. Oh, no. Oh, no. Jesus Christ
himself said it'd been better if that man had not been born
at all. I was watching the History Channel. I love watching educated men
become fools about the things of Christ. And by the time they
had got around, they were talking about Judas and his betrayal.
By the time they got to the end of their educated seminar, they
had him saved. He was in heaven. Oh, no. Oh no, my friends, Judas this
day is in hell for his wicked deed, and yet he did exactly
what God had ordained him to do. He did exactly what God ordained
him to do. He betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ,
but look at the result. Look at what God did, not what
Judas did. Judas did evil. God meant it
for good. It would have been better if
that man had not been born. So, this is the dilemma that Paul's
looking at. This is the situation that Paul's
looking at. Judas did betray it. But what Peter here is acknowledging
here, is he's acknowledging the Scripture. He's acknowledging
the truth that God is sovereign. That God is sovereign. Judas
betrayed the Lord and he sees that it was necessary that the
Scripture should be fulfilled. But because the Scripture had
been fulfilled, he also noticed this, that there was a vacancy.
There was a vacancy. And he read in Psalm 109, verse
8, let another take his office, or let another take his bishopric. You see, there were 12 tribes
of Israel, weren't there? There were 12 patriarchs. And so, there must be 12 apostles.
There must be 12 apostles. And Matthew chapter 19 speaks
of 12 thrones. And Revelation 12 speaks of 12
crowns. And so, there must be 12 apostles. And so far, Peter is right on
the money. Peter hasn't said anything wrong. Remember I titled
this, Faithful but Fallible Men? Peter is not fallible yet. Just
a second. Give him a chance. He is fixing
to be. He's right on the money so far.
He said these words that he spoke about Judas and the office being
fulfilled were right. You see, he had the right motives
and they were good and proper. He thought of the glory of God
and the good of the gospel. But what happened next is where
he went wrong. Why is Peter then fallible concerning
this message? because Peter took it upon himself
to fulfill the office of an apostle. But that was not given to them."
You see, the apostles could not appoint apostles. The apostles
could not appoint apostles. How were apostles appointed? Jesus Christ Himself must appoint
apostles. You see, they determined to do
it in a new way. They said, well, I know that
we were all chosen, handpicked by Christ, but I'll tell you
what, let's draw straws. That's what they did. When they
said, cast lots, most of the commentators agreed that what
they did was draw straws. They had chosen two men out of
the group that had fit most of what it was to be an apostle,
but they said, well, who chooses the biggest straw? That's the
one we're going to say God chose. But that's not how Christ chose
them. He handpicked them. And this shows that the apostolic
authority does not come down, is not descended by man. See, Peter was right. There must
be twelve apostles and only twelve. Well, we read in our Scripture
here that he appointed Matthias as an apostle. Well, my friends,
that makes thirteen. I'm not a mathematician, but
that's thirteen. That's one too many. One too
many. There should have been 12 apostles.
But that position was reserved for the Apostle Paul. For the
Apostle Paul says himself, I was one born out of due season. This is what Paul thought about in
Galatia. Isn't that what we're studying
about on Wednesday nights? That's what we've been studying for
the last couple of weeks is the Apostle Paul to the churches
of Galatia. He was arguing about his apostleship. In Galatia, he said, am I not
an apostle? Did I not receive my message
directly from Christ? You see, they were trying to
say that he was appointed by Peter. And if he's appointed
by Peter, then what does that mean? He's under Peter. He's
under Peter. And if the apostle Paul was under
Peter, then his whole message was void and empty. He was not an apostle. And so,
this is the matter where Peter went wrong in appointing the
apostle. Because Paul was set to do that. Now then, what can we learn from
this? What can we learn from Peter's
error? Well, first of all, We can learn that He sought to define or determine the will
of God by casting lots. We are not to determine the will
of God by casting lots. Remember a while back I preached
a message from David when he went up to get the Ark of the
Covenant. David went up to get to the Ark of the Covenant. And
David had all of the right motives. He had all of the sincere heart
that anyone could ever ask for. And he did it the best of his
ability. But where David went wrong is
he consulted the people rather than consulting the will of God,
the Word of God. And see here, Peter has all the
right motives. He has all the right intentions
to preach the Gospel. But in trying to do so, he's
trying to determine the will of God by casting lots. And that's
not what we're to do when we're determining the will of God.
We're not to ask the people. We're not to get a consensus
of what God would want us to do and vote on it. How do we know the will of God? This is it. If you want to know
the will of God, Read the Word of God. It's not for us to determine
what the secret will of God is. It is for us to determine what
the revealed will of God is, and to do that. Let's not make
the mistake to say, well, you know, I've narrowed it down to
two options, and then we roll the dice between those two options.
We don't do that. We must not ask the Lord, okay,
Lord, which of these two do You want me to do? Rather, we should
say, Lord, what would You have me to do? What would You have me to do? The apostle Peter didn't do that.
He determined to do it on his own. They tried to accomplish
the will of God in their energy and wisdom of the flesh, and
the result was fruitless. Anybody ever hear the epistle
of Mathis? Anybody ever hear what this man
did? There's speculation. People kind
of write these traditions about him, but nobody really knows.
There's no doubt this man was a man of God. But let us not
cast lots about our actions, but let us look at God's revealed
will. And to illustrate this, you can
look at church leadership. How do we organize the church
service? Are we left to our own opinions about this? Or do we
do God's will? Church discipline. Do we figure out what we want
to do with church discipline? Or do we follow what Christ has
ordained us in His Word? We do what God tells us to do.
Number two, we can learn that the best men, are at best men."
The best men are at best men. Peter was a leader and no doubt
he was a good man. No doubt he was a believer in
Christ, an apostle of Christ, but yet he was still a sinner
saved by grace, wasn't he? He was still a sinner saved by
grace. All men of God are not to be worshipped but they are
to be followed." All men of God are not to be
worshipped, but they are to be followed. You see, Peter was an error here.
He was an error, but yet you notice that the church still
followed him. They still followed him. And
they rightfully did so. They rightfully submitted to
the pastor that they had been given. Look in Hebrews chapter
13 real quick. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
7. Hebrews 13, verse 7. He says,
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken
unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the
end of their conversation. And look at verse 17. Obey them
that have the rule over you, and dismiss yourselves. For they
watch for your souls, as they that must give an account that
they may do it with joy and not with grief, for it is unprofitable
for you." Two times he says that. Remember them. Obey them that
have the rule over you. Though God's man is fallible,
yet if he is faithful to preach the gospel, if he is faithful
to seek the will of God and to live for the glory of God and
to serve His people, if he is faithful in these things, blessed
is the congregation that follows that man. Blessed is the congregation
that follows that man. Pastors do err. We do err. In judgment, we do sin and we
do err even in doctrine. We're not infallible. Therefore, pray for me as your
pastor. If you desire a blessing, you
should pray for me. If you desire a blessing, you
should pray for me. You should pray for me as your
pastor to continue to be faithful, for I need your prayers and love."
In verse 18 of that same chapter, Paul says, pray for us. Pray
for us. Pray for men of God who preach
the gospel. And lastly, let us see the importance
of the Spirit in preaching. You see, Peter was instructed
to wait for the Spirit of God. And yet, he didn't wait. He determined to do something
without the Spirit. My friend, if the Spirit of God
does not apply the message that I preach, it is of no value. It is of no value. A man could
stand and be the most eloquent speaker you have ever heard.
He can do the best. He can be the best speaker, but
if the Spirit of God does not work, it is worthless. It's worthless. It doesn't mean
anything. It won't last. But when the Spirit
of God does work, you'll see what happens next week when the
Spirit of God does come, and Peter preaches the next time.
The next time there was fruit, wasn't there? Because the Spirit
was present. Pray always for the Spirit of
God to be in the message. Spend time in prayer before the
message. I remember hearing a man talk
about Ralph Barnard before, and a young pastor was fixing to
preach, He said, Brother Ralph, don't you think we ought to pray
before I stand up and preach? He said, Son, if you're waiting
till you stand up, it's a little late. You're a little late. You should have been praying
long before that. We should pray. And God will
be faithful to come. Praise and bless us.