Acts 1:12-26

Turn to the book of Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Our text for today will be verses 12-26.

! Beloved, this is God's word to us.

It was written for His glory and our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises.

And obey its commands.

I read from verse 12.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet,

which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

When they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying,

Peter and John and James and Andrew,

Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,

James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the zealot and Judas the son of James.

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women

and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers.

In those days, Peter stood up among the brothers.

The company of persons was in all about 120 and said,

Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled,

which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas,

who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.

Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness,

and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

so that the field was called in their own language,

Akaldama, that is, field of blood.

For it is written in the book of Psalms,

May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it,

and let another take his office.

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the times of the Lord Jesus

went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John

until the day when he was taken up from us,

one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas,

who was also called Justice, and Matthias.

And they prayed and said,

You Lord, who knows the hearts of all,

show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry

and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.

And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias,

and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Now the text before us today, on first glance,

may seem fairly insignificant.

It seems like a simple historic sidebar of inconsequential facts

leading up to the great day of Pentecost.

Last week we looked at the ascension of Jesus Christ,

and we find ourselves in this ten-day waiting period.

The disciples are now waiting for the Spirit of God to come upon them,

and some amazing things begin to happen in chapter 2.

So, rushing past this, we can just see it as that.

Just some statement of fact.

What was going on in those days?

Well, here's some stuff that they did.

Let's get on to chapter 2.

But upon a more careful reading,

we can note the very early activity of the church of Christ.

And there are a number of things that they were doing that are worth our attention.

And so this morning, I want us to note five things together from verses 12-26.

And the first of those is that they were obedient.

They were obedient.

Now, you may miss this if we don't back up to Acts 1, verses 4-5.

Acts 1:4–5

If you're just picking up in our study today with us,

what were they obedient to?

Verse 4 says,

So they were told by Christ before He ascended

to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit of God.

Stay and wait.

This was the command that was given to them.

And this is the command that they are being obedient to here in our text.

Verse 12,

Then they returned to Jerusalem.

They were with Jesus on the mount called Olivet.

They returned about a half a mile back to Jerusalem.

And they stop and they stay in the upper room.

It was the place that they were habitating at the time.

We get this list in verse 13 and 14 and into 15

of the people that were there.

They were obedient.

The they I speak of is recorded for us by Luke.

Verse 13,

The remaining eleven apostles.

Those who had traveled with Christ minus Judas.

Eleven apostles left.

We see that the women.

And this is likely referring to Mary Magdalene.

Mary the wife of Clopas.

Mary and Martha.

And Salome among others.

Likely other women that were part of the band of disciples.

Not apostles.

Disciples.

Might have been a troubling thing to have the name Mary in this day.

Of special note amongst the women,

we see that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was amongst them.

And I hope that hearing that blesses your heart.

If I were the Messiah,

I certainly would want my mother to believe the truth concerning me.

And we see this evidence here

that she is still counted amongst those who followed Christ.

And it shouldn't really be a surprise to us

that before Jesus' birth,

Mary fully comprehended and understood who Jesus is.

Her song of praise recorded by Luke in Luke 1.

Verse 46 and 47.

This is the beginning of the Magnificat,

which is Latin for my soul magnifies.

So it's the magnification of Christ by Mary.

Verse 46 says,

And Mary said,

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

And here we see here,

they're doing this very thing.

We also see a special note,

Jesus' brothers.

There's a later mention of a total company of persons

numbering 120.

But in the midst of that are Jesus' brothers.

And Luke's not referring to his spiritual brothers,

but rather his biological brothers.

The brothers who had doubted who he was.

You can read about that in Mark 5.

Mark 6.3 gives us their names.

James,

Joseph,

Judas,

and poor Simon didn't get a J name in that mix.

James and Judas,

later known as Jude,

authored part of the New Testament.

So his brothers have come to faith,

and they are now following him.

And so this is the they plus some others,

numbering 120.

They were obedient to stay and to wait

for what God had promised would come.

Many of us need to learn

the incredibly important lesson

of waiting on the Lord.

The Lord's timing is impeccable.

He is never early,

and He is never late.

He is always right on time.

We are often so impatient,

and we will not wait on the Lord.

What would you have done

with ten days?

They've seen Him ascended.

He has given the command,

stay and wait.

And I just have to tell you,

because I'm not a very patient person,

I would have had a really difficult time

doing nothing but wait for ten days.

It would have been very difficult for me

not to go,

look, He gave us commands,

let's go.

He said He's sending the Spirit,

but it hasn't happened yet.

We've got things to do.

The time is short and urgent.

But they stayed,

and they waited.

And they were exactly where God

desired them to be

when He struck a match,

placed it in their midst,

and set a fire of gospel renewal ablaze.

Praise God, the apostles stayed and waited.

And we get to see in chapter 2

what happens when the Spirit of God

is sent upon them.

So they were obedient.

They were also together.

They were obedient,

this is secondly,

they were obedient together

as a group,

as a body.

Beloved, this is the early church.

Of all the thousands that had followed Christ around

and heard His teaching,

this is the faithful few.

And they are gathered together.

Now, no one has ever been saved

by someone else's faith.

By being a member of a Bible-believing congregation,

you aren't necessarily a Christian.

No one has ever been saved

by someone else's faith.

When we stand before God

in the final analysis,

we will rise or fall

on the basis

of our individual faith in Christ

or lack thereof.

In that way,

and only in that way,

is redemption personal.

But,

when we are saved,

we are saved into a body.

We become part of a global faith family.

We are Christ's church.

Is there an essence of which Christ died for you?

Yes.

But Christ ultimately died for His church.

The notion of a Christianity

apart from the life of the church

is completely foreign

to the pages of the New Testament.

And it is so for good reason.

Beloved,

we need one another.

No one has grown to the point

that they no longer need the church.

The church is a grace to us.

It is a tool in the hands of the Almighty

to help bring about our sanctification.

To have us pursue holiness.

We need one another.

I will not grow tired of saying this

because we all need to hear it.

The more I mature in Christ,

the more aware I become

of my need of the church.

Not that I ever didn't need it.

I don't come to realize,

hey, I now need the church.

I've always needed the church.

But the more I grow in Christ,

the more painfully aware I become

of my need of You.

We need one another.

And that need extends beyond mere attendance.

Just coming in right at 10.30 or 5.

Sitting down.

Hearing sermons preached.

Hearing songs sung.

These are good things

and these are valuable things

for the Christian life.

But it is not the expression

of what the church is meant

to be doing together.

Afterward, you say a couple hellos

and out the door you go.

We need to be in life together.

We need to be sharing

what's happening in us

by the grace of God.

We need to be expressing

those places in which we're challenged

that we might be encouraged

and sharpened to live more holy.

We have to be sharing life together.

College students,

many of you have seen the need for this.

You have planted yourself

and you've stayed put.

For those of you who are guests

with us this morning

and haven't heard me say it yet,

you're in a transitionary period

of your time and I get that.

I remember those days.

But you were up here

nine months out of the year.

Get invested in a local congregation.

Don't float from place to place to place

for the next four years

because I guarantee you

your walk with Christ will suffer if you do.

Find a people to invest your life into

for the mission of God.

Be there and be with them

and be sharpened by them.

This reminds me of a story

I once heard John MacArthur tell.

I've heard other people tell it too,

but I've got to give somebody the credit.

So John MacArthur gets it this morning.

He does it like this.

A member of a certain church

who previously had been attending services regularly

stopped going.

After a few weeks,

the pastor decided to visit him.

It was a chilly evening.

The pastor found the man at home alone

sitting before a blazing fire.

Guessing the reason for the pastor's visit,

the man welcomed him,

led him to a big chair near the fireplace,

and waited.

The pastor made himself comfortable

but said nothing.

In the grave silence,

he contemplated the play of the flames

around the burning lungs.

After some minutes,

the pastor took the fire tongs,

carefully picked up a brightly burning ember,

and placed it to one side of the hearth,

all alone.

Then he sat back in his chair,

still silent.

The host watched all this

in quiet fascination.

As the one lone ember's flame diminished,

there was a momentary glow,

and then its fire was no more.

Soon,

it was cold

and dead.

Not a word had been spoken

since the initial greeting.

Just before the pastor was ready to leave,

he picked up the cold,

dead ember

and placed it back

in the middle of the fire.

Immediately,

it began to glow once more

with the light and warmth

of the burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door to leave,

his host said,

Thank you so much for your visit,

and especially for the fiery sermon.

I shall be back in church next Sunday.

We need one another.

We need to be preaching the gospel

to one another

that our hearts would stay warm to it.

And note that they were not just together,

but in verse 14,

they were together with one accord.

This is modeled for us,

the type of unity that they had,

even before the Spirit of God

is poured out on the people of God.

They are so concerned

with the mission of God in the world,

the purpose of God in the world,

that they're together,

unified around that,

just that teaching they're unified around.

It's better.

It's higher for us today.

Later, Paul writes to the Ephesians,

Ephesians 4:1–6

chapter 4, verse 1 through 6,

I therefore,

a prisoner for the Lord,

urge you to walk in a manner

worthy of the calling

to which you have been called,

with all humility and gentleness,

with patience,

bearing with one another in love,

eager to maintain

the unity of the Spirit.

Not create,

but to maintain,

which is a work,

it's a discipline,

but it's a maintenance

of the unity of the Spirit

in the bond of peace,

which already exists in Christ.

There is one body

and one Spirit,

just as you were called to the hope,

one hope that belongs to your call.

One Lord,

one faith,

one baptism,

one God and Father of all

who is over all,

and through all,

and in all.

So this is a discipline for us.

It's not a thing

that just happens naturally.

We are to work

to maintain

the unity

of the Spirit.

It's a discipline.

You've got to pick it up

and you've got to practice it.

And you've got to do this

day in

and day out.

I know

that church

can be so

frustrating.

You know how I know that?

Because I know you guys.

I'm not immune to that.

I'm not unaware

of the challenges

that face you

in your involvement

with the church.

The church

is a magnificent

mess.

It's a mess

because it's made of people.

And it's magnificent

because it is made of people

who have been recipients

of God's grace

and who are growing

in God's grace.

None of us have arrived.

None of us are perfect.

But if we are the church,

we are pictures

of God's redemptive

purpose.

I can look at you

and I can see Christ

because I see Him

at work

amongst you.

The existence

of the church

is a miracle.

And it should be viewed

as such.

The fact that

any of us care

at all

about the things of God

this morning

is a miracle.

We do not love

the things of God

or the work of God

apart from

His intervention.

On the front

of your bulletin

there's a quotation

from Martin Lloyd-Jones.

We must cease

to think of the church

as a gathering

of institutions

and organizations

and we must get back

to the notion

that we are

the people

of God.

If you go to

your favorite restaurant

and you're treated rudely

and the food

isn't cooked well,

go someplace else.

I encourage it.

I love the free market.

It put bad businesses

out of business.

That is not

the church.

We're a people

called together

by God's grace

for His glory

and we are in

process.

We need

to love

one another

in that process.

Don't expect

perfection

from me

or anyone else

in this congregation

because you will

always be sadly

disappointed.

So they were

obedient

and they were

together

and thirdly,

they were

prayerful.

They were together

and they were,

verse 14,

devoting

themselves

to prayer.

The Greek word

for devoting

is a very

strong

word.

Here in ESV,

which I'm preaching

from,

it simply says

devoting.

The New American

Standard Bible

renders this

continually

devoting.

The verb has

a continual

action.

I would add

to it

continually

and fervently

devoting

themselves

to prayer.

This was

the major

part of

their activity

in this

time of

waiting.

What were

they praying

for?

Some have

suggested the

Spirit

and that

that becomes

part of the

equation for

us as

Christians.

A second

baptism and

we must pray

that God

would give

us the

Spirit.

We are

granted the

Spirit of

God when

we place

faith in

Christ.

And they

were not

told to

pray for

the Spirit.

They were

told to

wait for

the Spirit.

So what

were they

praying?

And we

cannot know

for sure.

We see

some evidence

that they

certainly

asked the

Lord who

should replace

Judas.

That's

evidence of

a specific

thing that

they prayed

for.

We don't

know with

confidence,

but I

suggest that

they were

praying the

way that

they were

taught to

pray.

They asked

the Lord,

how should

we pray?

He said

to them in

Matthew 6,

9-13,

Our Father

in heaven,

hallowed be

your name.

Your kingdom

come,

your will be

done on

earth as

it is in

heaven.

Give us

this day

our daily

bread and

forgive us

our debts

as we

also have

forgiven

our debtors.

And lead

us not

into temptation,

but deliver

us from

evil.

Jesus was

teaching them

how they

should pray.

He wasn't

saying pray

this,

He was

saying pray

like this.

Which doesn't

make praying

the Lord's

prayer wrong

if your

heart is

in it

and you

desire

these things

to come

to bear.

But what

He was

giving for

them was

a pattern

of how

they should

pray.

These are

the things

you should

be concerned

about and

lifting up

to me.

If we

don't view

this this

way,

it's possible

what,

did they

just recant

this thing

over and

over and

over again?

I don't

believe so.

I believe

they were

praying

things in

the will

of the

Father as

outlined by

the Lord's

prayer.

They were

continually

and fervently

devoting

themselves to

pray for

the things

of God.

That His

kingdom come,

that He bring

about holiness

in their lives,

that they be

able to

resist evil.

And rightly

so,

as they were

the people

of God.

They were

a church.

Again,

on the front

of your

bulletin,

another Spurgeon

quotation,

the condition

of the church

may be very

accurately gauged

by its prayer

meetings.

Let this

sink into

you.

The condition

of the church

may be very

accurately gauged

by its prayer

meetings.

So is the

prayer meeting

a grace-o-meter,

and from it

we may judge

of the amount

of divine

working among

a people.

If God

be near a

church,

it must

pray.

And if He

be not there,

one of the

first tokens

of His

absence

will be

a slothfulness

in prayer.

Why do the

people of

God

pray?

The people

of God

pray because

they desire

with their

very being

all that

they are,

all that

they want,

is to see

the purposes

of God

accomplished.

And they

know that

this will

not happen

apart from

the power

of God.

I'll say that

to you again.

The people

of God

pray because

they desire

to see the

purposes of

God

accomplished,

and they

know that

this will

not happen

apart from

the power

of God.

There's a

thing that

we want to

see done,

and we know

it cannot

be done

unless God

does it.

And He gives

to us the

tool of

prayer.

He uses

His people

because He

loves us

to accomplish

His will.

So He moves

us to pray

that He will

act.

And that is

why the

people of

God

pray.

Beloved, we

have opportunities

to gather

and pray

corporately.

Your personal

prayer life is

of vital

importance to

you.

What this

old saint

called closet

prayer, that

quiet time,

you and the

Lord praying

together.

And I

encourage that.

But now,

in this text,

I want to

encourage corporate

prayer.

We pray in

our community

outreach group

meetings.

If you're not

part of one,

you should be.

We have

prayer meetings

every Sunday

morning at

nine o'clock.

That's not

early.

Six a.m.

is early.

Nine a.m.

is not

early.

You can get

up and make

it to this.

Come and

join God's

people in

prayer.

Form prayer

meetings.

Do it

any time.

I don't care

when it

happens.

You just

can't pull

it off on

Sunday

morning?

Find another

time that

you can get

a group of

people together

and pray

that God

would accomplish

His purposes

in our

world.

You recall

that after

Jesus cleared

the temple

of money

changers,

He reminded

the people

in Matthew

21-13,

My house

shall be

called a

house of

prayer.

And He

was not

referring to

this building

or any

other.

He was

saying,

My people

will be a

people who

pray.

So they

were obedient.

They were

together.

They were

prayerful.

And fourthly,

they were

scripturally

concerned,

or scriptural

if you

prefer.

They were

concerned about

what it was

the Scriptures

had to say.

They had

already turned

their attention

to the Old

Testament

text.

Beginning

in verse

16,

Peter stands

up and

makes a

speech

amongst

the 120

who are

gathered

there.

Brothers,

the Scripture

had to

be

fulfilled.

There's

an element

of which

it has

already

been

fulfilled.

Judas

has

already

betrayed

Christ.

And there

is an

action

that's

about

to

take

place

where

it

will

continue

to be

fulfilled.

It

has

to be

fulfilled.

God

does

not

lie.

Everything

that the

Scripture

says

will

come

to

pass

will

come

to

pass.

And

they're

concerned

about

this.

Which

the

Holy

Spirit

spoke

before

him

by

the

mouth

!

concerning

Judas

who

became

a

guide

to

those

who

arrested

Jesus.

For

he

was

numbered

among

us

and

was

allotted

to

share

in

his

ministry.

Now

this

man

acquired

a field

with

reward

of

his

wickedness

and

falling

headlong

he

burst

open

in the

middle

and

all

of

his

bowels

gushed

out.

And

it

became

known

to

all

the

inhabitants

a

lot

about

the

particular

nature

of

the

way

that

Judas

died

but

he

died

horribly.

I

also

want

to

say

that

this

account

Luke's

account

in

Acts

does

not

contradict

Matthew's

account

in

27.5

although

it

seems

to

on

the

surface

27.5

says

in

throwing

down

the

pieces

of

silver

into

the

temple

he

departed

and

he

went

and

hanged

himself.

So

these

two

separate

accounts

we

need

to

reconcile

is that

he

hung

himself

poorly

so

that

he

did

in

fact

hang

himself

but

he

did

so

in

a

rather

shoddy

manner

maybe

the

knot

broke

or

he

picked

a

bad

branch

from

which

to

hang

himself

MacArthur

suggests

that

he

hung

himself

on

the

edge

of

a

cliff

so

that

when

whatever

failed

in

the

system

failed

he

actually

fell

off

the

side

of

a

cliff

and

he

cites

a

relief

in

a

cathedral

who

knows

if

this

is

true

or

not

but

it

would

seem

that

quite

possibly

if

we're

going to

reconcile

these

two

that

he

hung

himself

poorly

and

therefore

fell

when

he

was

hung

he

fell

and

was

split

in

half

so

that

his

entrails

became

his

X

trails

sometimes

I don't

think

before

I

talk

and

tradition

holds

that

the

authorities

use

the

money

to

buy

a

field

in

which

Judas

was

buried

so

the

field

was

purchased

by

him

because

it

was

purchased

by

the

money

that

he

was

given

for

the

betrayal

so

he

tosses

the

money

back

they

go

and

buy

him

a

field

and

he's

buried

there

in

that

field

and

so

that's

how

we

reconcile

these

two

So

!

Luke's

!

account

doesn't

contradict

then

but rather

it just

augments

Matthew's

account

verse 20

for it is

written in

the book

of Psalms

may his

camp

become

desolate

and let

there be

no one

to dwell

in it

and let

another

take

his

office

So

Peter

cites

from

Psalm

three

different

times

Psalm

55

12

15

predicts

the

betrayal

Psalm

69

25

tells

of his

removal

from

his

apostolic

office

and

Psalm

109

8

promises

his

replacement

and that's

where they

find

themselves

so they

knew

what the

scripture

said

concerning

Judas

that his

betrayal

removal

and need

for

replacement

had to

be

fulfilled

so they

set about

the work

of doing

that

let me

ask

how aware

are we

of the

predictions

and promises

of God

in the

scripture

how much

time do we

set forth

to understand

the promises

of God

in the

scripture

I ask

again

what would

we

have

done

with

those

ten

days

I

hope

the

answer

would be

that we

would be

here

and we

would be

looking

we'd be

waiting

but looking

to the

scripture

what needs

to be

done

how can

we better

equip

ourselves

in

the

waiting

do

do we

do we

believe

that the

Bible

is a

sufficient

guide

for faith

and practice

and beloved

if we do

if we truly

believe that

that's true

we will

treat it

much

differently

than I

fear we

so often

do

it's a

precious

book

a precious

book to

be read

and believed

we don't want

to be an

illiterate

people

you remember

one of our

goals for

this study

of the

book of

Acts

is to

better

love

and understand

the

scripture

so they

were

scripturally

concerned

and then

fifthly

and lastly

they were

submissive

to

apostolic

authority

they were

submissive

to

apostolic

authority

so this

issue

is before

them

that they

need to

replace

Judas

the

scripture

has said

that he

needs

to be

replaced

and let

me

remind

you

that at

this

time

there

are

only

in this

text

there

are

eleven

by the

end

of the

text

there

are

twelve

who

are

considered

apostles

the rest

of the

people

there

are

not

at

this

point

in

time

they're

considered

to be

disciples

of

Jesus

Christ

there's

a

distinction

made

there

and so

as Peter

stands

up

and

states

this

case

they

are

submitting

to

his

authority

!

in

addition

to

that

they're

submitting

themselves

to

this

laid

out

criteria

for

apostleship

here

in our

text

so

verse

twenty

one

so

one

of the

men

who

have

accompanied

us

during

all

the

times

the

Lord

Jesus

went

in

and

out

among

us

beginning

from

the

baptism

of

John

until

the

day

when

he

was

taken

up

from

us

one

of

these

men

must

become

with

us

a

witness

to

his

resurrection

so

there's

criteria

laid

out

by

Peter

here

for

apostleship

Firstly

they must

have been

part

of the

band

of

disciples

from

the

beginning

of

Jesus'

ministry

that's

what

he's

referring

to

when

he

talks

about

the

baptism

of

John

and

remained

with

Jesus

to

the

end

of

his

ministry

he

didn't

get

to

be

one

of

the

disciples

that

are

recorded

that

blanked

out

on

him

he

talks

about

eating

!

Notice

that

none

of

Jesus'

brothers

are

asked

to

be

apostles

Secondly

they must

have

been

an

eyewitness

to

the

resurrection

at

the

end

of

verse

22

one

of

these

men

must

become

with

us

a

witness

to

his

resurrection

they

must

have

actually

seen

him

physically

post

resurrection

and

thirdly

they

must

have

been

commissioned

by

God

Jesus

selected

the

twelve

Judas

departs

from

his

office

Matthias

chosen

through

the

casting

of

lots

verse

23

they

put

forward

two

they

selected

two

men

who

fit

these

criteria

there

may

have

been

more

there

but

the

apostles

selected

two

they

thought

were

worthy

of

the

office

Joseph

called

Barsabbas

who

was

also

called

Justice

and

Matthias

and

they

prayed

and

said

you

Lord

who

know

the

hearts

of

all

show

which

one

of

these

two

you

have

chosen

to

take

the

place

in

this

ministry

and

apostleship

from

which

Judas

turned

aside

to

go

to

his

own

place

and

they

cast

lots

for

them

and

the

lot

fell

on

Matthias

and

he

was

numbered

with

the

eleven

apostles

now

this

morning

for

time

and

because

I'm

just

not

sure

lots

and

it

made

me

uncomfortable

I

wasn't

so

sure

about

it

but

historically

we should