My topic today is about the deaths
of the apostles. My text will be from Hebrews
chapter 11, verses 32 through 38. The scripture says, And what
more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell
of Gideon of Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David, of Samuel, and the
prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out
of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead
by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing
to accept release so that they might rise again to a better
life. Others suffered mocking and flogging
and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn
in two. They were killed with the sword.
They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted,
mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy. wandering about
in deserts and mountains, in dens and in caves of the earth. Please keep that passage in mind
as we follow through in the discussion. Lately, I have been reading a
book about the Shroud of Turin, the supposed burial cloth of
Jesus Christ. The book is an interesting read. It's spectacular in the sense
that it draws off of a subject that's been in the news and at
times been in our minds, the mystery of the Shroud. And is
it the burial cloth of Jesus Christ or is it some forgery? That's an interesting part of
the story of the Shroud. But really the case of the Shroud,
the study of the Shroud, the mention of the Shroud is important
in our thinking and our theology. And I'm not trying to draw us
into a sense of idolatry around the shroud. Is it the real cloth
or not? That's not all where I'm going
with this. Let me explain. The author of the book does not
claim to be a Christian. He does not claim to believe
in the resurrection of Jesus. He does, however, recognize the
historical importance of the resurrection and of the shroud. Now, whether you believe in God
or not, you cannot get away from the fact that something somewhere
happened somehow and that it did indeed change the course
of history. That is the position the author
of this book takes, is that there is something here that altered
the course of history. He does not claim to be a believer.
He considers the development of the Christian faith and the
development, the start of the church and the growth of the
church as one of the supreme mysteries of human history. And
it must be a mystery to him if he does not believe in Jesus
as the Christ and does not believe that the resurrection is a fact.
It must be a mystery. It will be a mystery to him.
The second thing that he sees as a mystery, and it follows
fast on the heels of the first mystery, and that is, what motivated
the apostles? If the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is not a fact, what in the world motivated these men
to go forth as they did? This is a mystery to this man
who wrote the book and a mystery to those who believe as he believes. Those who do not believe that
Jesus is indeed the Christ and that Jesus was killed, buried,
and raised from the dead. Apart from the truth of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, none of this Christianity makes any sense. And the lives of the apostles
make no sense either. The apostles gained no social
position by preaching the gospel. In fact, they were shunned by
the society that they lived in. They made no financial gains. They died in poverty. And let's talk about how they
died. These men, with the exception
of John, died horrible and violent deaths. To those who are not of the household
of faith, this is a mystery. Why did these men do what they
did if there was nothing in the world to be gained by it? As I said, apart from faith in
God, the belief in Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected, there
is none of this that makes any sense. And this week as I read
through the book, I found it interesting, but it drew me in
to the apostles. What do I know about them? What
about their lives and their deaths? We know who they are, who they
were. It's told to us in scripture. I thought much about the apostles. And today what I would like to
do is look at the apostles and consider how they died. These were men that were driven
by their faith. Paul says that the grace of God
compelled him. It made him do what he did. These men were so captured by
Christ that they faced everything ugly the world had to offer them
and they ran at it with a vigor preaching Christ even to their
deaths. Now, most of what we know about
the apostles lives comes from extra biblical sources. And I
hope you'll forgive me for resting today a lot on those sources
and using the scripture only as a base to bring us into this. But I think as we all hold to
a Christian perspective, we can see the value even in extra biblical
sources for our information and let us understand always that
we as believers know that God is behind all things in all places
at all times. So I feel confident in looking
at history with the understanding that God was present with the
apostles and none of this was apart from God. What's given
to us in history comes from a few writers in the second and third
century in the early church. Some are apt to discount these
sources because they say, well, this is written by a closed community
with an agenda. They were trying to prop up their
own faith with these stories. Well, the truth is that all history
has been recorded by small communities in distant places. It is only
lately that human events can be known worldwide. So everything
prior to maybe the age of exploration in the 14 and 1500s when men
finally started going around the world, everything before
that was recorded in small communities. oral tradition. What we know
of history comes to us that way. So we can't just throw Christian
history out because it was written by a handful of believers. We
can place value in these stories. And I do. And I do. We'll talk about the deaths of
the apostles, and I hope we find that not to be a morbid subject. Because the stories of the deaths
of the apostles is the story of the life of the church. Christ gave His life and from
His death and resurrection came the church. And from the deaths
of the apostles sprang forth more life in the church. as they
preached Christ, as they suffered, as they died for Christ, more
life was given to the church. The order of the apostles that
I will follow as we look briefly at their deaths is that order
of the apostles, disciples listed in Matthew chapter 10 verses
1 through 4. And there we have a list by name
of the apostles. This is the occasion when Jesus
has selected the twelve to send them out to preach the gospel. As a note, let me lay a small
historical context, and that is that the church from day one
was persecuted. Christ said, the world hates
me, it will hate you. Certainly that has been true
from the day that the church began. The first persecutions
of the church from 33 A.D., the death and resurrection of Christ,
until about 60 A.D. were done by the Jews. Christianity was viewed as a
heretical sect within their religion, and the persecutions that the
early church suffered in those days was at the hands of the
Jews. Now, beginning with the reign
of Nero in Rome, the Christians became a scapegoat and were reckoned
to be the cause of all the evils that were befalling a decadent
Rome. And from 60 AD on, the primary
persecution of the church then was from the empire of Rome. Keep that in mind. What set the
Christians apart from everybody else in the empire was that Rome demanded that you
worship the present emperor as God on earth. Christians, of
course, could not and would not do that. And at that point, not
only were they heretics, they were enemies of the state. and
they were hunted up and killed. And using that as a backdrop,
let us understand that the apostles functioned in this world. This
world of persecution. It was very real in their day
and age. Let's begin with Simon Peter,
first on the list. Simon Peter was the apostle to
the Jews. The history we know that is handed
down to us is that he preached in Jerusalem. He then moved to
the area around Antioch. And then eastward into Babylon. Here is where a controversy begins
in the life of Simon Peter. The Roman Catholic Church maintains
that Peter made his way to Rome and it was there in Rome that
he died. But there is counter church history that says he didn't
go to Rome. Those who hold to the Roman era
in Peter's life center it around the fact that history records
he went to Babylon. There's writing in the early
church that said he went to Babylon. Now we can place Babylon on the
ground. That is the area we now know
as Iraq and Iran. Early church writings say that
he went to Babylon. But some early church writings
and some hold that Babylon was a code name for Rome. Some interpret that
as a code name for Rome. So they say, Peter went to Babylon,
Rome. There's a division there in the
history. We can't be sure at this point. We've got accounts
both ways, but nobody can clear that up for us. What we do know
is that in Babylon, Peter was crucified. He was persecuted,
he was hunted down and he was crucified. Peter would not hear
of being crucified in the same way that his Lord was and history
records he was crucified upside down. I will say this, he was
killed at the hands of the Romans because crucifixion was the mode
of death that the Romans used for insurrectionists, enemies
of the state who were not Roman citizens. Peter met a violent
death and was crucified. We look to Andrew, next in the
list, who is the brother of Peter. Andrew preached his way across
what we call the Middle East into the area called Scythia. Scythia was the region north
of the Black Sea in an area we would now identify as Ukraine. South of Russia, north of the
Black Sea, the area we now call Ukraine. There he was stoned to death. He took the gospel far away and
met a violent death preaching Christ in Scythia. James, the
son of Zebedee, preached the gospel in the area
around Jerusalem and was persecuted, hunted up, and killed by the
order of King Herod Agrippa. Of all of the apostles, this
is the only apostle we know from Scripture how he died. It's recorded in Acts chapter
12 verses 1 and 2. There is the account of the persecution
ordered by King Herod that killed James. This, you can recognize
by the name Herod Agrippa, was a persecution by the Jews, not
by the Romans. Next in the list we go to John,
son of Zebedee, the brother of James. John preached around Jerusalem,
then preached his way through what we call the Middle East
into Ephesus. And there he settled in the church
at Ephesus. Persecutions began. John was rounded up by the Romans
and boiled in oil. That's gruesome. John lived. Can you imagine? Boiled in oil and the man lived. God had greater purpose for the
apostle John. John lived through this horrible,
horrible, horrible death sentence. He lived. Still the enemy of
the state of Rome, John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos. And there, of course, we know
that John was given the revelation of Jesus Christ. We recognize
that as the last book in our Bible. John served his time. He was an old man. The Romans
let him go. John returned to Ephesus and
there he died. Sainted member in the church
at Ephesus. John is the only one of the apostles
who died of natural causes. A very unnatural life, but a death in natural causes.
Philip. Philip preached his way through
the Middle East into the region called Phrygia, which is what
we would now know as Central Turkey. And there in the city
of Hierapolis, he was crucified. Again, read into that, enemy
of the state of Rome. He would not worship the emperor. He would not proclaim the emperor
to be God. crucified in Hierapolis. Bartholomew traveled and preached
his way across the Middle East, is recorded to have preached
in India, and later back in Armenia, which is the region between the
Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. And I do realize it would be
helpful to have a map, maybe if you think of this, Later,
you'll look at a map and kind of get your feet on the ground.
It's very interesting to see where these men went. There in Armenia, he was crucified. Preaching Christ, crucified in Armenia. Thomas, doubting Thomas, I will
not believe unless I can see and feel the nail holes in his
hands. Thomas, empowered by the grace
of God given to him by the risen Lord Jesus Christ, preached his
way across the Middle East to India. The church in India to
this day looks to Thomas as the one who brought them the glorious
good news. Thomas. Doubting Thomas. But
he was killed by the spear in India. You can read into that that he
was killed by the native people. Remember, India was and is a
pagan nation. To preach Christ is to preach
religion counter to their own native religions. Automatically,
Thomas was their enemy. He was killed by the people he
preached to. Matthew, also known to us as
Levi the tax collector. There are two different accounts
of what happened to Matthew. So we are uncertain. One has
him preaching down into Ethiopia, and the other has him preaching
into Persia, which is Iran today. Both accounts have him killed
by the sword. Both accounts reckon him as martyr. This is an uncertainty, but both
accounts tell that he died a martyr's death. Certainly not just laying
down and peacefully going to sleep. James, the son of Alphaeus,
was stoned to death in the streets of Jerusalem by the Jews. a heretic to their religion,
they would not hear him preach Christ. They stoned him to death. Thaddeus preached over into Mesopotamia. That is again the area of Iraq
and Iran, the area between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. That'll help you place it. Their
history records that he was beaten to death by pagan priests. He preached Christ. He preached
the Word of God. He was an enemy to their religion.
They killed him. Simon the Zealot. Saved by Jesus Christ from a
life of insurrection. And remember, the Zealots were
insurrectionists. They stood for the violent overthrow
of the Roman government, death and dismemberment to all Romans. But Simon was called by Christ,
saved by Christ, and became a preacher of a new way, a better way, the
way of Jesus Christ. History records that he preached
into Egypt, then he came back through Jerusalem, then went
up into Asia Minor, which is Turkey in that area, and then
came back and was hacked to death in the area we now call Syria. Matthias. And you'll remember
that Matthias was the apostle chosen by the other apostles
after Judas had betrayed Christ, left the body, and had died. Matthias was an apostle nonetheless. Through the process, the eleven
used to determine the will of God, Matthias was chosen as an
apostle to be sent forth. He preached down into Ethiopia,
and history records there in Ethiopia, he was killed. He was killed. Paul. We know Paul. We know well of
Paul. The book of Acts records so much
of the missionary travels of Paul, but it does not, of course,
tell us his death. There we come to church history
to find out. We know from the Scripture that
Paul had preached all over what we call the Middle East and Asia
Minor, crossed to Greece, ended up in Rome, and there he was
in prison. That's where the scripture leaves
Paul. From history, we understand that
Paul was beheaded during the reign of Nero. The Roman persecution
of the church had begun, and Paul, as a leader of the church,
had to go. He represented a threat to Rome,
so they said. The apostle Paul was beheaded. in Rome. Today, in telling you this, I
want to touch lightly on the subject. I want to touch lightly
on the subject. And without an understanding
of history through the view of God, through the view of Jesus
Christ, through our view as Christians, this would be a very, very morbid
subject. but don't let it be morbid. Understand
that these men saw the risen Christ. Unlike the author of
the book that I've been reading that sparked this discussion,
unlike that author, these men knew for a fact, as sure as flesh
and blood, that Jesus Christ had resurrected from the dead. And with that, the grace of God
gave these men incredible strength to face all things, even death
itself, knowing that there was a greater and more glorious truth
in Jesus Christ and that every man, woman, and child on the
face of the earth needed to know this information. They needed
to hear the gospel. This was truth and they knew
it. And they were strengthened by
God with this truth. The author of the book that I've
been reading sees the foundation of the church, the lives and
deaths of these men as being a mystery. How can he account for it? It
doesn't make sense. Nobody in their right mind goes
against self-preservation for a fabrication. It doesn't make sense. Apart
from the grace of God and a firm conviction by God given to us,
there's no explanation for what these men did. There is none.
The Scripture says that to the natural man, all of this is foolishness. And it is to the natural man. It is absolutely foolishness.
The truth is that except through the eyes of faith, you and I
have never seen a resurrection. I've never seen one. I don't
think any of you have either. I've been to a lot of funerals.
I've never seen anybody get up. But the 12, the 13 that we talked
about. The apostles, they did see one
get up. And it's so changed their lives. That they went about to change
other lives with that message. And indeed, through the process
of human history, you and I are changed today because of these
men. These men were given grace and
extra strength by God through Jesus Christ to preach the gospel,
to take the message to the entire world, and they did. In the flesh, they paid dearly
for that. But today, We breathe easy and
comfortably knowing that we have salvation in Jesus Christ. Because
they preached. They gave their lives. Others
preached. Others gave their lives. The deaths of the apostles is a part of the story of the
life of the church. Today, Even as we're sitting
here in this church, there are people in the world that are
suffering martyrdom. They're being abused for their
faith, even killed for their faith. Read the news. Look in the small articles in
the back section of the news and you'll find stories. Places
like Chad, Sudan, Iran, primarily in Islamic countries,
may I say. There are those yet today who
are giving their lives for the cause of Christ. And just as God so strengthened
the apostles, He strengthens His people today. I do pray that
none of us will ever, ever experience the persecution and know the
threatening of life that the apostles knew. But we each face
sometimes very horrible things in our lives. And the same grace
that empowered the apostles does empower us as well. And we can
stand the test. And there is the hope that we
have as we look at the lives of others and we see that God
has so strengthened them that He will indeed strengthen us. God loved His people and still
loves His people. I asked at the beginning, we
read the scripture and then we departed from it. But in your
thinking later today, go back and reread that passage and read
what saints of old have suffered, suffered for the cause of Christ. and be strengthened and encouraged
because God gave them grace that they could stand the test. And
indeed, God gave us grace, first, that we may be saved, and secondly,
that we may stand the test that we face as well. Be encouraged
that God who has raised Christ from the dead has also raised
us into newness of life and strengthens us to face everything that will
come our way.