No, we don't want trials, do
we? No trials. But the Lord has given us a heart
to say, gladly will I toil and suffer, only let me walk close
to Thee. This affliction is tough, but
we know He's close to us and that makes it alright. Still
on. All right, let's turn back to
Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1, let's backtrack and read verses
9 to 14, okay? That's going to set up where
we're picking up with verse 15. Acts 1 verse 9 says, And when
He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up,
and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they
looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men
stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen Him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath
day's journey. And when they were come in, they
went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter and James and
John and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James
the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother
of James. These all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and with His brethren." Now let's see if we
can enter into this scene. The disciples watched the Lord
ascend up. They watched Him go up into the
cloud and ascend up into heaven. And they're standing there, gazing
up into heaven. And the angels said, He is coming
back just like you saw Him go up. And when they heard that, it
brought them great joy. He is coming back. They got great
joy out of that. They were happy. Then they all
walked back to Jerusalem, and they went into this upper room,
and they all stayed there, and they worshipped God, and they
prayed to God, and they were dwelling on these things. It
says they all stayed there. I thought about, we have had
different men here, maybe Brother Tom or somebody like that come.
And sometimes we had some food in my study. And after the service
was over, everybody got something and kind of sat around a little
bit and talked about things. They stayed there in one accord. And do you realize what just
happened? They watched the Lord ascend up into glory. And I can
envision them sitting there talking about these things, deeply pondering. Can you imagine? Deeply pondering. Deep thought. Thinking about
him, thinking about the things that he said, thinking about
the things that he did. Thinking about everything that
happened to him, everything they saw leading up to his death,
they were in the moment. You know how we can do things
in the moment and then we look back later on and say, well,
that was a lot of stuff. They were in the moment. They
didn't see it like we see it now, as an outsider looking in. They were thinking about the
way everything happened. A major thing, a major change
has taken place in their life. They've been with the Lord. They've
been relying on the Lord. And He's gone. He's gone. And they were full of joy. It
says that they were full of joy. But they were also full of fear. And they were full of doubt.
And they were full of uncertainty. The reason I know this is because
every person in this room is that way. And they're just like
us. And as they pondered these things,
trying to truly understand, why has all of this happened? Really,
why has all this happened? You know how you can be pondering
something, something can happen and all of a sudden the Spirit
will send a scripture to you? You know what I mean? You'll
just really, and then a scripture will come to your mind. And it
makes total sense. You ever had that happen? The
Lord recalls scripture. Well, they're pondering these
things and Peter says, wait a minute. Look at verse 15. In those days,
Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, And then
we have a parenthesis right there, so the Lord is injecting a statement
here. The number of names together
were about 120. So verse 15, In those days Peter
stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, verse 16,
Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled. which the Holy Ghost by the mouth
of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them
that took Jesus. He said, you know what? Psalm 41 was talking about Judas. I say Psalm 41 because there's
a reference to it right there. Look at verse 16, by the mouth
of David, I've got a little V right there and it says Psalm 41 verse
9. Turn over there. Psalm 41 verse 9 says, Yea, mine own familiar friend,
in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted
up his heel against me." That hit Peter. That's talking about
Judas. I've known that scripture. He
didn't know that before now. Peter said, every bit of that
had to happen. It had to happen. He told everybody
there, 120 names. He said, do you remember that
last night we had supper with him? He broke bread, we all dipped
it together, and then he sent Judas away. And then Judas came
with all those men and betrayed him. just exactly like the scripture
said he would. All of that had to happen so
that the scripture would be fulfilled. The scripture must be fulfilled. It must be. Not one word of his
is going to return void. Go back with me to Acts chapter
1 verse 15 says, And in those days, Peter stood
up in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of names
together were about 120, Men and brethren, this scripture
must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth
of David spake before concerning Judas, which was God to them
that took Jesus, for he was numbered with us and had obtained part
of this ministry. That is a horrific statement. Let's acknowledge this verse
of scripture. Verse 17 says, He was numbered with us and had
obtained part of this ministry. Judas was chosen with the rest
of the apostles. He was an apostle. And he had part in that ministry. Judas preached side by side with the other apostles. He performed miracles just like
the other apostles. He obtained part of this ministry,
an equal part of this ministry. He was the treasurer. He carried
the money back. That was his job. God be merciful to us. You know
that he was an apostle. I mean, he was an apostle. God
be merciful to us. One man said, every sinner is
hanging over the mouth of hell by a spider's web. You know what our only hope is?
That the right hand of God is sitting there right underneath
us to just catch us when we fall. That's our only hope. May God
teach us through the horror of what happened to poor Judas's
soul. This is so serious, isn't it?
It is just so serious. May I never take this for granted. May I never get here saying,
well, it's just a Wednesday night. You know what I'm saying? If
I don't do a good job tonight, I've done a whole bunch of good
jobs. They'll forgive me. We won't worry about it. Judas was always murmuring. Judas
was always complaining. He was always judging. He was
always pointing the finger. Do you remember when that woman
brought that alabaster box full of ointment? And the apostles
were there, and the Lord was there, and she broke it and anointed
the Lord's beautiful head and His feet with this sweet-smelling
perfume. It was all she had and she cast
her all upon Him. And Judas said, she had no business
doing that. We could have sold that and given
it to the poor. And that actually sounds like
a good statement, doesn't it? But God said, judge not. that you be not judged. Judas
was judged. May God allow me to take advantage
of every opportunity I have to close my mouth. May he give me that privilege. If I open it, vileness is going
to come out. Wickedness is going to come out.
Hatred is going to come out. Because that's all I got inside
here. Thanks be to God. Christ liveth in me. I don't care if I'm a preacher.
I really don't. I don't care if I think I'm important
to this ministry. God be merciful to me. God be
merciful to me. Keep us Lord. Put your hand under
us. Do you know what our Lord said?
This is what He said. They are in my hand, and I am in my Father's hand,
and nobody can pluck them out of my Father's hand. And the
Scripture must be fulfilled. Isn't that good news? The Scripture
must be fulfilled. Go with me to John 17. John 17 verse 12 says, 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's Judas. Perdition means ruin,
loss. Physical, spiritual, eternal
ruin. None of them is lost. None of them is lost. None of
them is lost but one. that the Scripture might be fulfilled. The Scripture must be fulfilled. And the Scripture says, none
of them are going to be lost, but one, that the Scripture might
be fulfilled. Judas was chosen to this before
the foundation of the world. Oh, bless his heart. Bless his heart. See, if you
have a margin in your Bible, you see that the Scripture might
be fulfilled. I've got the letter K. You got a reference there? Don't turn to it yet, but it's
Psalm 109 is what my Bible says. Take notice of that. Psalm 109. He said that the Scripture might
be fulfilled concerning this. Psalm 109. Okay, now go back
over to our text in Acts chapter 1. Verse 17 says, For he was numbered
with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man
purchased a field with the reward of iniquity, and falling headlong,
he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem, in so
much as that field is called in their proper tongue, aseldomah,
that is to say, the field of blood." Peter is telling everybody,
Judas just did this about 43 or 44 days ago. The Lord was
buried for three days. And then he was seen of them
for 40 days. And they just watched him ascend
up into heaven. And so Peter is telling them,
this is all making sense. This happened about 44 days ago. Turn with me over to Matthew
27. Matthew 27 verse 1 says, When the morning was come, all
the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against
Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him,
they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed
Him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and
brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests
and elders." saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, what is that to
us? See thou to that. What they're
saying is, that's your problem. Verse 5, And he cast down the
pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged
himself. That's when he dove head first. Okay? Verse 6 says, And the chief
priest took the silver pieces and said, It is not lawful for
to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field
to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called
the field of blood unto this day." They said, we can't put
this back into the account. This is the price of blood. So
they took these 30 pieces of silver and they bought the potter's
field. And they said, well, we'll use that when a stranger comes
in town and dies on us and we don't know what to do with him
and he has no family. We'll put the strangers in there. Okay. That's just going to be given
to the strangers. All right. That was Judas's money. that he earned betraying the
Lord. And he threw it down and he went
and hanged himself. And they picked up Judas' money and they
went and bought the potter's field. So now they have a place
to bury strangers in. Go back over to Acts chapter
1. Peter is telling them all of
this as he's realizing every single bit of this had to happen
that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Every single bit of this. Look
at verse 18, it says, Now this man purchased a field with the
reward of iniquity, and falling headlong, he burst asunder in
the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known
unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem, insomuch as that field is called
in their proper tongue asseldimah, that is to say, the field of
blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation
be desolate, and let no man dwell therein, and his bishopric let
another take. Now here's a side note that I
want you nurse ladies to enter into. Luke wrote this, and Luke
was a physician. And while I was reading John
Gill on this, he pointed out Luke is writing like a physician
as he goes into the depths of what happened to him. And that gives us a little insight
into the personal character of Luke. But look right here at
the end of verse 20, it says, "...and his bishop, Rick, let
another take." I've got a margin right there. Mine says Psalm 109. Again, Psalm
109. Same marginal reference that
John 17 had. We now have two places in the
New Testament that say the betrayal of the Lord And the death of
Judas is the fulfillment of Psalm 109. Now let's go to Psalm 109. These words are the words of
Jesus Christ. that we're about to read. Our
Lord was always in communication with His Father. Even when He
was not speaking out loud, a few Sundays ago we looked at the
message He preached from the cross, seven short sayings in
hours that He hung there. And even when He was not speaking
out loud, He was inwardly speaking to His Father. He was always
in communication with His Father. Always. As we read this, think
about the insight that He has given us to His own heart while
He hung on the cross. Alright, now verse 1 says, Hold
not thy peace, O God, of my praise. For the mouth of the wicked and
the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me. They have
spoken against me with a lying tongue. I envision him hanging
there, looking at and listening to all those people gathered
around, walking by. Verse three, they compass me
about also with words of hatred and fought against me without
a cause. For my love they are my adversaries, but I give myself
unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil
for good, and hatred for my love. Set thou a wicked man over him,
and let Satan stand at his right hand, when he shall be judged
Let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin." Who is
he talking about? Judas. Verse 8, "'Let his days be few
and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually
vagabonds and beg. Let them seek their bread also
out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all
that he hath, and let the strangers spoil his labor." Isn't that something? Let strangers
inherit what he was supposed to have, the potter's field. I'm going to take this money
and go buy me a piece of land. Verse 12, let there be none to
extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favor his
fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off
and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord and
let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before
the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them
from the earth. because that he remembered not
to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man that he
might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so
let it come unto him. As he delighted not in blessing,
so let it be far from him. As he closed himself with cursing
like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like
water and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment
which covereth him. And for a girdle wherewith he
is girded continually. Let this be the reward of mine
adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against
my soul." Oh man, if God be not for us, who can be for us? But look at verse 21. But do
thou for me, O God, the Lord, For thy name's sake, because
thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. Do you know at that moment
in time, I was in him? That's what he said in John 17.
Verse 22, For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within
me. I am gone like the shadow when
it declineth. I am tossed up and down as the
locusts, My knees are weak through fasting. On that horrible cross
they had a bar that they could push themselves up to get a breath
of air until they had no strength left to push themselves back
up. My knees are weak through fasting. Verse 24, and my flesh
faileth of fatness. He was disfigured. Verse 25, I became also a reproach
unto them, When they looked upon me, they shaked their heads."
Matthew 27 says they reviled Him walking by, just wagging
their heads. 26, Help me, O Lord my God! O save
me according to Thy mercy, that they may know that this is Thy
hand, that Thou, Lord, hast done it. Let them curse, but bless
Thou. When they arise, let them be
ashamed, but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries
be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their
own confusion as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the Lord
with my mouth. Yea, I will praise him among
the multitude, for he shall stand at the right hand of the poor
to save him from those that condemn his soul. Those are the words of Jesus
Christ. Aren't those amazing words? And
he shall stand at the right hand of the poor. I am poor and needy
to save him from those that condemn his soul. And I can tell you
this, the scripture must be fulfilled. He said, ask and you will receive. And the scripture must be fulfilled.
Lord, Would you give us your blood? Give us your blood. We need your blood. It's the
only thing God will accept. Go back with me to Acts chapter
1. Well, based on that text, Peter
says, according to the commandment of Scripture, In obedience to
the Word of God, the end of verse 20 in Acts chapter 1, he's quoting
Psalm 109 when he says, His bishop, Rick, let another take. Let another
be made an apostle in his place. And these are the requirements.
Verse 21 says, Wherefore, of these men which have accompanied
with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among
us, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that
he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness
with us of his resurrection." His resurrection. God answered
his prayer from Psalm 109. And here is the witness. He said,
one must be raised up to be a witness with us. Here is the witness.
All who are in him have risen with him. Every single one. So he says, this witness has
to be a man who was with the Lord and taught directly from
the Lord from the time he was baptized by John to the time
that he was taken up from us. Right now. That's the requirement
to be an apostle. So therefore, there are no more
apostles. None. That space of time From
John till he was taken up was three years. James was beheaded
and it became eleven apostles again.
So Paul was made an apostle so that the scripture could be
written. Paul wrote half of the New Testament
and once that was completed, We didn't need apostles anymore.
The apostles wrote the Scripture. That the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Okay? And once the Scripture was written,
there is no more need for apostles anymore. The Lord Jesus Christ
took Paul Himself, Christ Himself took Paul to Arabia and taught
him. You know for how long? Three
years. Just like the rest of them. Verse
23 says, And they appointed two. Joseph called Barsabbas, who
was surnamed Justice, and the other man was called Matthias.
And they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts
of all men, show whether of these two Thou hast chosen. Thou. No man can put another
man in the ministry. You cannot do it. I mean, it
can be done, but that man is not really in the ministry. God
has got to choose him. God has got to call him. God
has got to equip him with a message. And God has got to send him.
And it's the same thing for salvation. God has got to choose. God has
got to call. God has got to send the message.
God has to do everything. Verse 24 says, And they prayed
and said, Thou, Lord, which knoweth the hearts of all men, show whether
of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this
ministry and apostleship, from 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 eleven apostles. Matthias' name means gift of
the Lord. And do you know what we call
that? Grace. Grace is the gift of God. God said, I have chosen grace. Grace will be my witness. We
preach grace. We witness grace. We are saved
by grace, the gift of God. 100% the gift of God, which is
the blood of Christ. Saved by grace. I hope the Lord
will bless this. I'm enjoying this. I hope we
keep going. Keep going. All right, let's
stand together.