in Acts chapter 1 and verse 15. In those days, Peter stood up
in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of the names
together were about 120. And Peter said, 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. Now this man purchased
a field with a reward of iniquity, and falling headlong he burst
asunder in the midst, and all his vows gushed out. And it was
known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem, insomuch as that field
is called in their proper tongue aseldama, 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 let his bishop his office. Another take. 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 until
that day that Jesus was taken up from us, must one be ordained
to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed
two, Joseph, called Bersabus, who was surnamed Justice, and
Matthias, And they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, which knoweth
the hearts of all men, show whither 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. And they gave forth their lot,
and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the
eleven apostles. Concerning Judas, he says here
in verse 16, concerning Judas, I tell you, I have a heavy subject
this morning. It's been heavy upon my heart
most of the week, and I imagine it'll be heavy upon yours as
you hear, and probably in the days ahead. This character called
Judas, the one who betrayed our master, his end, His character
and His end. I think you and I can learn some
things this morning from these solemn truths that are presented
to us in this first chapter of the book of Acts. And one of
the first things I've noticed about this man, and I think this
is what makes his life and his character and his end so important
to us. The Holy Spirit prophesied of
this man a thousand years before he was born. And it goes into
some detail of his life and his end. What's said of him and what's
prophesied of him come to pass. It's a horrible thing. But the
very fact that these things were predicted of this particular
individual is enough to let us know how important these things
must be. And nothing is said in the Old
Testament that I know of about Peter or James or John or Paul,
but there are different scriptures that teach us and predict things
concerning this man. And that's the first thing I
want to call your attention to is in verse 16, the Holy Ghost's
fate concerning Judas. A thousand years before this
man was born, The Holy Ghost spake to David concerning this
man. And doesn't that alone remind
us of the omniscient Spirit of God? That He knows everything,
where it's something that's present, or where it's something that's
to come, or where it's something that's eternal. He knows everything. He didn't have to wait until
this man was born. and wait to see what kind of
a character he had and wait to see his end. He knew his way. He knew his end 1,000 years before
this man was born. The Holy Spirit knows everything,
doesn't He? There's nothing hid from His
eyes. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. And not only His works, but everybody
else's. Everything is naked and open
in the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. If He knew this
man a thousand years before He was born, could we not say how
much more does He know us in our own hearts, in our own characters? It was predicted of Judas, and
I won't go into all the Scriptures. There are several Scriptures
in the Old Testament in the book of Psalms. in other places, that
the Holy Spirit predicted that this man would be a professed
friend of the Lord Jesus Christ. A familiar friend of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In Psalms chapter 41 verse 9,
listen to this. This is what the Lord Jesus said
concerning this man Judas. Yea, my own familiar friend in
whom I trusted. has lifted up his heel against
me." He said, we went into the house
of God together. They ate bread together. The
Holy Spirit predicted that Judas would have part in this ministry,
that he would be an apostle, that he would betray Christ.
He even predicted how much money he would betray him for. that
he would lift up his heel against the Lord Jesus Christ. By his
sin, he would fall from that office and perish at last. All of these things the Holy
Spirit predicted concerning this man 1,000 years before he was
born. That's the first thing I wanted
us to see. And the second thing in the light
of that I want us to see is this. Look how God respects His prediction. Look how closely He monitors
and pays attention to those predictions that He's made in His Word. If He predicts something, if
He predicts the destruction of a man or the destruction of a
nation or the destruction of the world, He'll bring that to
pass rather than let one prediction fall to the ground and not be
fulfilled. Once a prediction is made, it
can never be taken back. It may be a prediction of evil.
It may be a prediction of good. But once it's made, it's fixed. It's like the laws of the Medes
and Persians. It cannot be made void. The Lord
Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, This generation shall
not pass until all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away. Till heaven
and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the
law till all be fulfilled. Did you notice how Peter says
this? He said that prediction which was made concerning Judas
must, must need be fulfilled. There is no way even God can
take this prediction back. There are some things that eternal
God cannot do. He cannot lie. He cannot go contrary
to His Word. It must be fulfilled. This is a fearful thing, isn't
it? I tell you, it's a fearful thing. When we read predictions
in the Word of God, it can be a fearful thing. Because the
Bible predicts things before they ever come to pass. It's
predicted the end of the world. The Bible has predicted the day
in which God is coming out of His holy place to punish the
inhabitants of this earth. That's a dreadful prediction,
isn't it? He's predicted that the dead will rise and come up
to heaven and stand before Him in judgment. He's predicted that
the earth would be destroyed with fire, that all the works
that men have made in this world would be brought to nothing,
and that men who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ would
have their part in the lake of fire. Forever and ever. I tell
you, that's a prediction that this Bible has made. And if this
prediction concerning this man did not fail, and they were dreadful,
how much more would these predictions not fail? Oh, but there's wonderful
predictions that God has made. Whosoever believeth in Him, here's
a prediction, shall never perish. That's a wonderful prediction.
It's a comforting thing that the Holy Spirit has predicted
there will be a new heaven and there will be a new earth. That's
a wonderful prediction, isn't it? That Jesus Christ shall descend
from heaven with a shout, that He would raise His saints from
the watery grave, change their vile body and fashion it like
unto His glorious body, and they would be with the Lord forever,
where all tears would be wiped from their eyes, There'd be no
more sin, nothing to harass the saints. That's the prediction
of the Bible. And he said, comfort you one
another with these things. They're fearful. When we read
predictions in the Bible, they can be fearful things. But I
tell you, they can be comforting things, too. They can be encouraging
things to the Bible, to the saints. But we know this, whether they're
good or whether they're bad. They will be fulfilled. They
must needs be fulfilled. I just wonder when David was
writing this psalm, these psalms, and making these predictions,
I just wonder if his hand didn't tremble as he thought about this. Who is this man that it's written,
let death seize upon him? Let his habitations be desolate. Let another take his office.
Who is this man? I wonder how much he understood
of this situation. But he knew this. The Holy Spirit
is speaking by me, and he's making this prediction, this prophecy,
and it must be fulfilled. And I wonder if he didn't think
about this man and say about him what the Lord Jesus said
about Judas Iscariot. It would have been better for
this man never to have been born than for him to have betrayed
the Son of God. Thirdly, here is a solemn thought
concerning Judas. This is a very solemn thought.
Christ may use wicked men to fulfill His purpose and to further
the work of His kingdom. Look in verse 17. Judas was numbered
with us and had obtained part of this ministry. Isn't that an awakening thing?
He was a wicked man. He was a thief. He was called
a devil. And yet Peter says here that
he was numbered with us. And he obtained part of this
ministry. What does that tell us, brothers
and sisters? It tells us this, being numbered
with the saints won't save you. I can sit among the saints. I
can go in and out with them and be numbered with them, and that
won't save me. I don't think I could live without
the saints. I have to be among the saints. I won't fellowship
with them. How difficult it would be to
live without gathering as we are this morning and fellowshipping
with the saints. But that won't save me. That
won't save me. And preaching the gospel, obtaining
a ministry. I tell you, I can't help but
preach. Sometimes it's difficult, but if God's told you to preach,
you can't help but preach. But preaching won't save you.
Here's a man that was numbered with the saints, and he heard
the Son of God preach, and he preached himself. And what happened? He was lost. He was a devil. He was numbered with the disciples. cast out devils, and he preached
that men should repent. And he was without it himself.
How sad that is. If you and I learn nothing else
this morning concerning Judas Iscariot, let us learn this. That privileges and gifts won't
save us. Privileges and gifts. What a
privilege God has blessed us to be here this morning. And
He gives some of us gifts, but these things will not save us. Wouldn't it be a horrible and
sad and fearful thing to be numbered with the saints and have our
co-workers to know where we go to church? And have members of
our family and our neighbors know where we attend service
and yet die? And our end would be to be lost
forever. Oh, I can't think of nothing
more dreadful this morning for myself than to be a preacher
and come here and tell you that you must repent. and me be without
it myself. To come here and stress to you
the necessity of believing in Jesus Christ in your heart of
hearts, and me not be trusting Him myself. To tell you of the
necessity of the new birth, that you must be born again, and for
me myself to be still in my nature without it. Gifts won't save us. privileges
won't save us. Only the knowledge of Jesus Christ
is saving. To have all these other privileges
and these gifts will mean nothing in the end if we don't know the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is life eternal, that we
might know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast saved. Someone might ask this question.
It just doesn't seem right for the Lord to use a man like Judas.
It just doesn't seem right. But the Lord did Judas no wrong,
did He? He did him no wrong. He never
tempted Judas to do any evil. All Christ did to this man and
for this man was good. He blessed him with privileges
and gifts and permitted Judas to do just exactly what Judas
wanted to do. If we could find in the Scriptures
somewhere where Christ tempted him to do any evil, then we could
question it. But the Lord Jesus was good to
this man. What he did, he did on his own
will, wretched heart. He found it in his heart to do
it. There are some good things that
come out of this. The Lord Jesus using this man, Judas Iscariot,
who betrayed Him. It was said that he was a familiar
friend to Christ. He was acquainted with Christ
the man. Psalms tells us that. And because of this, Because
he was so familiar with Jesus of Nazareth and fellowship with
him in the flesh for three years, he had the opportunity to bear
witness to the innocency of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was something
that was good that came out of this. He had an opportunity the
other apostles did not have. You remember when he came to
himself and realized what he had done, the extent of it, that
the Son of God now, Jesus of Nazareth, was going to be crucified. He went back to the chief priest,
and you remember what he told him? I have betrayed innocent
blood. What a testimony from this man! They had accused the Lord Jesus
of being a Samaritan. that accused him of being a liar?
That accused him of being a perverter of the nation? Of casting out
devils because he himself was the prince of devils? Judas Iscariot
knew Jesus well. And if any of those things were
so, if he was a perverter of the nation, if he was a hypocrite,
if he were a liar, Judas could have testified to that fact.
And I tell you, he would have done so to relieve his guilt. But he couldn't. All he could
do was testify the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what was
the truth? He is an innocent man. Peter never had that opportunity
to come before the chief priest, but Judas did. And can you imagine
the guilt that increased upon this high priest and these religious
counsel, because here this man that had betrayed the Son of
God had came back now to repent and said, He's innocent. He's innocent. And all the false
witnesses that they got to testify to the crimes and the guilt of
the Lord Jesus Christ, They were all found to be liars. Judas
said, He is indeed an innocent man. Here is another solemn thought. Not only that the Lord may use
wicked men to further His purpose and His ends, but here in verse
25, here is another solemn thought. In verse 25, that he may take
part of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression
failed, that he might go to his own place. Judas by a transgression. Notice that transgression is
singular. Not by transgressions, but by
one transgression failed. In other words, this was the
transgression that finally sealed his doom. And what does this
tell us? There are times when one sin,
one sin becomes the occasion for God to cut that person off
without remedy. Judas, by one transgression,
by a transgression, failed. And this one transgression not
only occasioned his fall from his apostleship and the loss
of his privileges and his gifts, but he had occasioned his eternal
fall into misery and ruin, that he might go to his own place. There are some people, I'm sure,
that think it doesn't matter how many sins They commit. They sin as they please. They turn loose all restraint. But there seems to come a time
when sins reach their fullness. And only God knows. Justice is
pleading before God for that person's overthrow. How long
will you allow him to continue in his sins? And God in His long-suffering
says, wait a year, wait a month, wait a day, wait for one more
transgression. And when that one transgression
is accomplished, it fills up His iniquity. And God says now,
that's it. He has crossed the line. Now
he'll fall. Oh, that's a solemn thing to
me. A young person in his blatant disregard for the authority of
his parents, he goes on and on and on, and God watches him,
and God says in his heart one more time, One more time of rebellion
against your mother. One more time of rebellion against
your father, and you will seal your doom. How many young people today,
and we're living in a day, they tell us that there's never been
a time in our nation's history that so many young people are
dying, that so many teenagers are dying. I wonder if it doesn't
have something to do with this. You know the Bible tells us in
Ephesians chapter 6 that children are to obey their parents, that
their days may be long upon this earth. And God watches children. He watches teenagers. And don't
you know the rebellion against their parents tempts God to destroy
them? And I'm certain that often He
does. That that one last sin, that one last transgression will
be their last. And it's that that brings the
awful wrath of God upon them. A man may keep up his sinning
against God and refuse to repent and turn to the Savior. But there
will come a time when there will be one sin too many. And that sin. will bring the
awful judgment of God. He, by a transgression, he that
stiffeneth his neck after being often reproved, shall suddenly
be destroyed. We have become a land of sudden
death. Have we not? And I think it goes
back to this. It doesn't matter, some say,
how much I sin. Besides, I'm not even saved anyway. So it doesn't matter. It matters. It matters. Don't let your sin
go unchecked, dear lost friend of mine. Because there comes a time when
a man crosses the line and God said, that's it. Take him down. Let him fall. what a solemn thought. Fifthly, consider this with me. Consider the degree to which
this poor man fell. How far he fell. How much that this poor man lost. I don't know if there's a man
in all the Bible that fell from such a height to such a depth. I often think of Solomon, King
Solomon, one of the saddest stories in the Old Testament. The man
that had such wisdom and gave such good counsel finally didn't
take it himself. And the Bible says King Solomon,
when he was old, loved many strange women. But he didn't fall like this
man fell. Solomon was a child of God. He
fell, but he never fell away. You consider what this man here
had obtained a part in this ministry? He fell from that. This man cast
out devils. This man lay on the bosom of
the Son of God. This man saw Jesus as He cast
out devils and stretched out withered arms and gave sight
to the blind and raised the dead. This man was highly regarded. What privileges! What a high
office he had! And he lost that. But that wasn't
the end of what he lost. He lost himself. He lost his
soul. He went from setting, almost
as it was, in heavenly places, to being cast down into the torments
of hell. He lost everything. We often
say, as long as there's breath, there's hope. Well, this man
lost his breath, and he lost his hope with it. I was talking to my son. He had a wife, two beautiful children,
house, good job, health. Started downhill. Never did recover. Got into drugs. Came to me one
day. And he said, Dad, I've lost so
much. I said, yes, you have. But there's more to lose. There's
more to lose. I've told him since then, yeah,
you've lost more. But there's more to lose. A man
may lose a lot, brothers and sisters, and recover from it. But if a man loses himself, There's
no remedy for that. And here was a man that fell
from the heights that can be unimagined to depths that you
and I don't want to even think about, that he might go to his
own place. Well, as I think of this, as
I think of this, I thought, my, my, could I do something like
that? Man, look at me. Look at me.
I've been preaching for 30 years. Most people know me from all
over the place. Could I do this? Oh, boy, I tell you what, I'm
not going to get up here and tell you no, not me. I'd never
do this. Oh, Bruce, I'd never do this.
Everybody else may do that, but I'd never do this. A man that
says he will not do this does not know himself. He does not
know the wickedness and the deceitfulness of his own heart. Oh, this should
warn us, brothers and sisters, not to be presumptuous. Heed
that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. This sin is
in us. We're capable of it. And it scares
me to death to think that I'm capable of it. You and I should
be like those apostles when the Lord Jesus said, One of you shall
betray me. And each of them said, Lord,
is it me? Is it I, Lord? Would I do this? Would I betray the Son of God? Would I lose my poor soul for
all eternity? Would I fall this low? I will
if He don't keep me. And it scares me to death. And
I often find myself at the throne of grace, praying, Lord, secure
me. Have mercy on me. Don't let me
be a Judas in my heart. Oh, if he did it, if this man
did it, don't you suppose you and I are capable of doing it
if he don't stop us? Oh, think of the ways the Son
of God can be betrayed. Oh Lord, keep us, secure us. And sixthly, and I'll hurry along,
but I want you to see this. This is very important. It's a serious thing how the
sins of one person may affect so many people around them. And I want you to read this Psalm
with me. Look over in Psalms 109. This is one of the Psalms that's
concerning Judas Iscariot. Psalms 109. It's often been said that no
man is an island. And that simply means that we're
not stuck out here by ourselves. We're what we do. affects nobody
else. So often, the sin of one man
can affect his entire family. Remember Achan? The sin of Achan
got his whole family killed. David's sin got his little child
killed and trouble in his family the rest of his life. And here
it tells us about the sins of Judas. And notice how many people
were affected by his sin. Not only did his sin bring judgment
upon himself, but it affected his entire family. His mom, his
dad, and his children. Look in verse 8. This tells us,
this is where Peter got this prediction from. Let his days
be few. and let another take his office. That is what Peter quoted in
Acts chapter 1 verse 20. But let's begin reading here
in verse 6. Look what is said about Judas.
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. That tells us something, doesn't
it? Judas was praying. He said, I betrayed innocent
blood, but he was praying about this. But his prayer became sin. God wouldn't hear it. It was
a reproach. And then verse 9, look at this
regarding his children. Let his children be fatherless
and let his wife be a widow. Let his children be continually
vagabonds, wanting beggars, and let them seek their bread also
out of their desolate places." My goodness, his sin affected
his children? Yes. Verse 11, "...let the extortioner
catch all that he hath, and let the strangers spoil his labor."
Let there be none to extend mercy to him, neither let there be
any to favor his fatherless children." They're begging for bread, and
when they go knock on the door and say, do you have anything
to sustain my hunger? And they get a mean look and
say, get out of here, you Judas children. Let his posterity be cut off. And in the generation following,
let their name be blotted out. There is no descendants of Judas.
They are gone. God cut them off. Let the iniquity
of his fathers be remembered with the Lord. His dad, his granddad,
and his great granddad. And let not the sin of his mother
be blotted out. Where is Judas' mother? In hell
with Judas? Let them be before the Lord continually,
that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth. Why? Because that He remembered not
to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that
He might even slay the broken in heart. The Lord Jesus lays
watering on the ground, and His sweats turn to blood. And he
is praying, O Father, let this cup pass from me. And he gets
the strength to get up and go out, and who meets him but Judas
with a band of men. And what does he do? Kiss him.
He kisses the broken-hearted Son of God and betrays Him with
a kiss. And God takes vengeance, not
only on Judas, but the sins of Judas' parents and his children
and his prosperity. Lastly, consider this with me. It's in verse 25 of Acts chapter
1. It says, When he fell from his
office, he fell for this reason, that he might go to his own place. I thought about that, and I thought,
my, we know he perished. We know he perished, but how
could it be said that hell is his own place. When the Lord told us about the
rich man in hell, He said, the rich man said to Abraham, speak
to my brother, lest he come to this place. But Peter says here, he went
to his place. It's not just a place of torment. But it's His place. What does
this tell us? When a man goes to hell for sinning,
it's like he digs his own pit. And then he falls into the pit
which he digged. A home in hell has to be purchased. It's not freely given to anybody. You have to buy it by your sinning. It's a place that one has to
merit. It's a place that one has to
earn. The wages of sin is death. By dying in sin, you purchase
your place in hell. It becomes yours. This place
of torment, no, no, no, your place. of torment. It's yours. You earned it. You merited it. Now call it yours. And everything
that's there is yours. Is there a flame to torment a
man? Yes. I'm tormented in this flame. That flame's yours. Is there
outer darkness to scare and affright a man? Yes, and it's yours. Is there devils there to torment
a man? Yes, and they're yours. Is there
a worm there to gnaw upon the conscience? Yes, and it's yours.
Is the wrath of God there? Yes, and it's yours. Everything
there is yours. And you can't complain about
it because you bought it. There was a day that you foreclosed
on the property, and you signed your name on it, and it's yours. And it's yours for all eternity. It's your place. I tell you, now we struggle with
some of these things about condemnation and eternal punishment. We don't
know how to answer some of these questions. I tell you, one of
the most dreadful things that I think about is eternal punishment,
is hell. A man live a hundred years in
this world and be put into hell for all eternity. That's beyond
any concept I can grapple with in my mind. But I tell you, on
the Day of Judgment, it will be made so plain that men earned
just what they get. They purchased it. It's their
place. Oh, aren't you thankful when
you think about this this morning that there's not only a place
for the wicked, but there's a place for the righteous. I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again and receive you unto Myself that
where I am, there you may be also. Oh, there's a good place. And you know something? It's
yours. If you're gods this morning by
redeeming love, that place is yours. If you're not, little
flock, it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's yours. Come, you blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom. It's yours. You can't earn this. You don't merit this. You married
hell. You earned the right to be there.
That's your home because that's just what you deserve. But oh,
it's so different that other place. You inherit that place. It's a gift of God in Jesus Christ. He gives you the kingdom. And
you know something, brothers and sisters? Not only is that
place yours, but everything there is yours. Is God there? in all His eternal glory, then
He's yours. Is Jesus Christ there in His
redeeming love, in all His perfect attributes, then He's yours.
Are elect angels there to serve you and to set at your feet? They're yours. Is the company
of saints there to fellowship with and never have to say goodbye,
see you next week? Are they there? Then they're
yours. Freedom. Glorious freedom from
sin and sorrow and things that harass your mind. The very presence
of sin. A new heaven and a new earth.
Everything that's good, it's yours. It's yours. Oh, there's a place. There's
a place. May God, in His grace this morning,
save us from being a Judas for His glory. Let's pray.