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I. "AND IN THOSE DAYS."
A. Those days would be the seven days that they were waiting in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
B. Days of waiting upon God.
C. God always has a perfect timing.
D. The perfect timing for the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Spirit would be on the day of the feast of Pentecost.
II. "PETER STOOD UP IN THE MIDST OF THE DISCIPLES."
A. Peter seems to be a natural leader.
1. We see him here, perfectly restored.
a. He had failed in a crucial test.
b. He had denied his Lord when under pressure.
c. He will have the opportunity to take that test again.
2. Jesus had told Peter that Satan had desired to sift him like wheat, but Jesus was praying for him. And when he was converted, he was to strengthen his brethren.
a. Peter never did however take the role of the pope.
b. In the 15th chapter, it seems that James was more the leader in the church council than Peter, in that Peter only gave witness, and James made the decision regarding the Gentile believers.
c. Peter was openly rebuked by Paul for causing a schism in the church in Antioch.
B. The number of them was about 120.
1. The disciples of Jesus numbered into the hundreds, of those He choose to be called apostles.
2. The
number 12 seems to be a symbolic number in the Bible. It has been referred to as the number of government.
a. Ishmael had twelve sons who were princes.
b. Jacob's twelve sons became the fathers to the twelve tribes.
c. When David organized the worship leaders for Israel, there were 24 groups each comprising of 12 members.
I Chron. 25.
d. The twelve apostles.
C. "Men and brethren, the scripture must needs have been fulfilled."
1. They referred to the Old Testament as scripture. Our Old Testament is the same as the Jews used in the time of Christ and considered to be scripture by them. Josephus who was born in 37 A.D., speaks of the recognition of the Scriptures as fixed from the time of Artexerxes or Ezra, who many believe was the one who put them all together. Josephus said that they were believed to be divine. These scriptures were read in the synagogue every sabbath, and in the New Testament there are more than 300 references to them.
2. Thus the Bible purports to be the divinely inspired word of God.
a. Peter declares that the Holy Spirit was speaking by the mouth of David.
1. David declared: "The Spirit of the Lord spake
by me, and His word was in my tongue."
2Sa 23:2.
2. Jesus confirmed it.
MAR 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
b. If it is divinely inspired, then it must be inerrant.
c. "The scripture must needs be fulfilled."
3. This is why we believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God and is our guide and standard for all of our faith and practice.
a. When Jesus warned about false prophets, He gave a parable of two men who built houses, one on the sand, the other dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
b. The importance of the foundation was discovered when the storms came.
c. "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent word."
4. This is why the Bible is one of the prime targets for Satan. David asked, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
a. Satan's first line of attack against Eve was to question the word of God. "Hath God said?"
b. He has done a pretty effective job in destroying people's faith in the Bible as the word of God.
c. In a recent survey of ministers conducted by Jeffrey Hadden of 7,441 pastors, when asked the question, "Do you believe the scriptures are the inerrant work of God in faith, history and secular matters? Of the Episcopalian pastors, 95% answered no. Methodists, 87% responded no; Presbyterians, 82% no; American Lutherans 77% said no; and of the American Baptists, 67% answered.
d. Once the foundation is gone, it is only a matter of time until the building collapses.
D. What Peter said concerning Judas.
1. He was a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
2. He was numbered with us.
3. He had obtained a part of this ministry.
4. He purchased a field with the reward of his iniquity.
a. In a sense the money used to buy the field belonged to Judas. It was the blood money he received for betraying Jesus.
b. He did not personally go out and buy a field.
5. Falling headlong, he burst asunder and all of his bowels gushed out.
a. The supposed discrepancy between this statement and that of the gospels that tell us that he went out and hanged himself.
b. He probably climbed a tree, tied a rope around the branch and jumped. The rope possibly broke and he fell headlong and when he hit the ground, perhaps jagged rocks, his body was torn open.
6. Judas by transgression fell and went to his own place.
E. What Jesus said about Judas.
MAT 26:24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
JOH 6:70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?
JOH 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
JOH 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
F. What the scriptures said about Judas.
1. "Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein.
PSA 69:19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries [are] all before thee.
PSA 69:20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked [for some] to take pity, but [there was] none; and for comforters, but I found none.
PSA 69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
PSA 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap.
PSA 69:23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
PSA 69:24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
PSA 69:25 Let their habitation be desolate; [and] let none dwell in their tents.
PSA 69:26 For they persecute [him] whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
PSA 69:25 Let their habitation be desolate; [and] let none dwell in their tents.
PSA 69:26 For they persecute [him] whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
PSA 69:27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.
2. "Let another take his bishoprick."
PSA 109:4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I [give myself unto] prayer.
PSA 109:5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
PSA 109:6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
PSA 109:7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
PSA 109:8 Let his days be few; [and] let another take his office.
PSA 109:9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
PSA 109:10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek
III. THE REQUIREMENTS FOR APOSTLESHIP.
A. One that companied with us all the time that the Lord went in and out among us from the time that Jesus had been baptized by John, and continued till the ascension.
B. One that can bear witness of the resurrection.
C. They appointed two.
1. I believe that it is wrong to give the Lord limited options.
2. "Which of the two have you chosen?"
3. What if it were neither?
D. They gave forth their lots. Sort of drawing straws.
1. This was an Old Testament method of discerning God's will.
a. On the day of atonement the High Priest would cast lots concerning the two goats.
b. In the dividing of land for the tribes, lots were cast.
c. The priestly duties were often determined by the casting of lots.
LUK 1:9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
E. The lot fell on Matthias.
1. It is interesting that we hear nothing else about Matthais.
2. Foxe's Book of Martyrs tells us that we know less about him than any of the other apostles. According to tradition, he was stoned in Jerusalem then beheaded.
3. From this time onward the Lord's will was never determined in the scriptures.
4. They seemed to look for the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
