T.B.I.F.

Well, I understand there was a magician, and he was working on a cruise ship, and because the cruise ship would change passengers about every week, he didn't have to learn more than this one set of shows that he presented. And so he'd let himself go ahead and do those same shows over and over again. There's only one problem, though. The captain's parrot was in the showroom when he was performing and would see the shows each week, week after week, and he began to understand how the magician was doing each one of his tricks.

So once he understood, he began shouting in the midst of the magician's performance, Look! It's not the same hat! Look! He's hiding flowers under the table! Look! How come all of the cards are the ace of spades? The magician was really upset about this, but he couldn't really do anything about it because after all, it was the captain. And so one day, the ship had an accident, and it sank, and the magician found himself

floating out in the middle of the ocean on a plank with the parrot. And they sat there and they looked at each other with hatred, day after day after day after day, neither one saying anything to the other. And after a week had gone by, the parrot finally looked at the magician and he said, Okay, I give up. Where's the boat? . . Sometimes as believers, we can find ourselves in circumstances trying and trying to figure

out what God is doing. And like that parrot, we kind of stare God down because what is happening doesn't fit to our normal perception of how we think things ought to go. And we're wanting to know what to do and how the thing is working and what God is trying to accomplish. And all God's wanting us to do at that time is simply to wait, to just sit and to wait upon him.

Let's go ahead and read verses 12 through 26 as we finish Acts chapter 1, and we will do that. We did it first service, so I know we can finish it second service. We're going to see TBIF, which is the title of the message this morning. TBIF. We know what TGIF is. Thank God it's righty. Well, this is TBIF, or the time before the infilling, the time before the spirit fell.

Jesus is simply wanting his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, none of this is insignificant. And if you've been with us very long as we've studied the word, you've heard me say that over and over. None of this is insignificant. God has a purpose for every word that's in here. Jesus told the Pharisees that not one jot or tittle, not one little mark of the Hebrew

language would pass away until everything was fulfilled. Every part of it is significant. The rabbis even have a saying that when the Messiah comes, he'll not only explain the words in the text. But he'll explain the spaces between the words. They know that everything is significant. And so as we look through this, I want us to see four things. I want us to see, first of all, the place, actually five things.

We'll see the place. Well, no, we'll see four, whatever. We see the place or the setting that all of this happens in. We'll see the participants, everybody that's involved in this little section from verses 12 through 26. We're going to see Peter's proclamation, the proclamation that Peter makes. It's very interesting what he has to say. And then we'll see the process by which they seek to carry out the proclamation, this purpose

of Peter. So let's look here, first of all, at the place of the setting, the setting of this last section. Verses 12 and 13. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. And when they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. So there's two places mentioned there. There's the place around the Mount of Olives.

And then also the upper room. The room upstairs where they were staying. Both of these are significant. And so I want us to ponder these for just a minute. First of all, they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk or a Sabbath day's journey from the city. What's significant about this? Why is this necessary for us to consider?

What's important about this? Well, first of all, Luke, who we mentioned last week, we believe wrote the book of Acts, in his gospel in chapter 24 in verse 50. As Luke concludes his gospel. Last week, we mentioned he concludes with the ascension. And so in chapter 24, verse 50, Luke writes, when Jesus had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hand and blessed them.

Verse 51, while he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Remember no insignificant words. When he led them out to the vicinity of Bethany. Now you remember from our study in the word in other places, Bethany is on over the Mount of Olives. It's on over the other side. Just a, well, not just barely on the other side of the Mount of Olives.

Jesus led the disciples there and it was there that he blessed them. And as he was blessing them, Luke says he was taken up out of their side. We see that repeated for us somewhat here in Acts chapter one. Well, okay, big deal. What's the significance? What are you getting at? Well, just this, and I'll, I'll tie it together in a minute. If you, if you go to Israel today on the Mount of Olives up towards the top, there is a church,

a Catholic church. It's called the Church of the Holy Ascension. And we went by it. Um, Pastor Chuck didn't take us into it. That's one of the things I like about going with Chuck was you don't go to all the touristy stuff that the guides like to take you to because most of those are shrines and most of those have little guys outside selling stuff. And, uh, but there's a, there's the Church of the Holy Ascension and it is believed that

that is the place that Jesus ascended. And they say there's a rock in there that has his footprint there that shows that that's where Jesus ascended into heaven. Which is interesting to me because down on the Temple Mount is, is the Mosque of Omar, the Dome of the Rock. And in there is supposedly a rock with the footprint of Mohammed that Mohammed supposedly ascended from when he was taken off into heaven.

So you have the two contrasting shrines of the footprint. And yet when you read scripture, it says that he went over to the vicinity of Bethany, which was on over the Mount of Olives. And it was from there that he ascended. So that's not scripturally where we see Jesus ascending from. Another thing to keep in mind is this. Because at the time, almost the time of Pentecost, Pentecost, the feast itself we see celebrated

in chapter two, but they are the, the, the Jewish males that were 20 years of age and older, remember, were required to come to Jerusalem to the temple three times a year, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles to celebrate the feast. And so they were gathering there to celebrate the feast. It was coming into the Sabbath, uh, of not only the, the week, but of the feast day itself. So a lot of times there were double Sabbaths in there.

Multiple Sabbaths. And so they could not journey further than two thirds of a mile or whatever it is in the Hebrew, but roughly two thirds of a mile on a Sabbath day. And so quite possibly there were thousands and even tens of thousands of people camped out on the Mount of Olives, did not have residents in inside Jerusalem coming from out of town and they'd camp. They just camp out on the, on the hill.

It's just a hill. It's not a huge mountain like you think. It's just a hill. And so it's very probable that that's another reason that Jesus went on over the Mount of Olives mountain over the hill to the other side, to the vicinity of Bethany, where it was less congested. He could have that special time with his disciples. Okay. What's the purpose? I'll get to that in a minute.

Then it says, secondly, that the disciples, verse 13, returned to Jerusalem and they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Um, this is possibly the same room that they celebrated the Passover in with Jesus. The last supper was, was participated in the night that he was arrested very, very possibly that same upper room. If you read Mark's gospel, you get a little personal, uh, hint from Mark that maybe he was there.

Maybe he was involved in that room. Maybe his parents actually owned the room. We don't know, but it could be that same room. And let's just kind of think for a minute that it possibly was because to even find a room like that at this time of the feast would be nigh impossible unless you knew somebody. And so it was very probable that it's the same room that they'd just been staying in

since that particular time, since the night he was. Jesus was arrested. They'd been hanging around that particular area. What's the deal? What's the significance? Okay. I don't know how you see these guys, the disciples and all the people that are here. I don't know how you see them, but very often one of the sad things that happens when we read the word of God is that we look at the people in here as being something mysterious

and beyond us. I mean, they are the, as Gail Irwin likes to say, they are the a possible as opposed to the B possible. These are the big guns. These are the a guys, you know, and, and so they're up there and we're just little peons here in the 20th century and it's hard to relate. But I want you to understand that these are people just like you and I, and every, everything

you read in scripture, even the guys that are called the prophets, they're just like you and I call to the Lord anointed by him to do a special task, but just like you and I. Okay. So let's consider. Now. In the last 40 or so days, these guys have just come to Jerusalem thinking that this is it, that the kingdom is ready to come. I mean, they've all disputed over who's going to sit at his right hand or his left hand.

They're ready for the, whatever the events to happen so that they get to rule and reign with Jesus and they get to Jerusalem and what happens immediately. They go into shock as he's arrested, betrayed by one of their own. He's taken and flogged, beaten near to death, taken out and crucified. Dead and buried. Now their dreams have just been shattered. They have gone from thinking they're coming to set up the kingdom of God to losing the

king, losing a loved one close to them. And if you have lost a loved one close to you, tragically at a time when you're unprepared for that, you can begin to kind of relate to how they had felt. They'd lost it all. They were empty. They'd been hit in the stomach. The wind was gone. The emotion was just peaked and valid. The anxiety was maxed. They were torn apart.

And then three days later, he raises from the dead and appears to them. Now that's joyous, yes, but they're scared to death. I mean, this guy floats in among locked doors and all of a sudden, bing, there he is. Touch my hands. Put your hand in my side. Let me have some fish. Eats for a minute. Then bing, he's gone again, you know. Some 10 odd times we're told that he appeared to the disciples over a 40-day period.

I mean, there's excitement and yet what's going on? What's God doing? Can't figure him out. Wants us to go meet him in Galilee. Now they're back in Jerusalem 40 days later, seeing him at odd times, not knowing when and where he's going to be there. But he just shows up, two on the road to Emmaus, James here, Peter there. Now he's walked with, he's here. We got him.

He's with us. Okay. Now we walk over. Here's all these thousands of people. We can't, you know, walking over the Mount of Olives. You just want to say, look at this, he's here, you know, he's with us. We got him. Walk over the Mount of Olives, get to the other side. He's standing there talking to us and all of a sudden he starts rising up out of our midst. That never happened before.

We didn't know what to think. Watch him go up. As he's going up, all of a sudden, two guys standing next to us, we look over, dressed in white, doesn't say angels. They're scared to death. They don't know what they are. They're dressed in white. Why are you gazing off into heaven? The same Jesus, which has been taken from you will come again in the same way that you've

seen him go. And then I'm supposing they're gone. Now how would you feel? Oh. Oh. Okay. They're confused. It's not going the way they thought it ought to go. It didn't go according to their set plans as to how God was going to work all of this thing out. Matter of fact, nothing has. They're in total confusion. And all they've been told now is to go and wait in Jerusalem.

What God is saying is that in the midst of these places that seem like they're so confused and so out of whack, God has prepared those places. God has prepared these spaces. God has prepared these specific times. And when it seems like it's chaotic and it's out of whack and it's not going according to the plan that I know, I'm not being able to figure you out, God's in control.

He's still in absolute control. He's still moving according to his plan. He still has the things prepared that he's purposing to bring into their lives as disciples here in just a couple days. He's doing the same thing with you. He has a place prepared and you're in the midst of it and you may not like it and it may be confusing. And it may be unnerving and it may be somewhat chaotic because you can't put all the pieces

in the right place in the puzzle. But it's according to God's plan and he simply wants you to trust him. He simply wants you to be obedient and to do the things that you know to do because he's directing and he is drawing the hearts and lives of people together in the midst of this place to accomplish that that he has purposed. He has prepared these places to demonstrate his faithfulness and he just wants you to trust him.

He's asking you to trust. Now secondly, let's look at these participants. This is fun. The end of verse 13, where they were staying, those present were Peter and John and James and Andrew and Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. And they all joined together constantly in prayer along with the women and Mary the mother

of Jesus and with his brothers. And then down in verse 15, we also notice that there's roughly the group itself is about 120 believers. Now the mentioning of all of those that way is not insignificant. Again, God doesn't do anything that's insignificant. God doesn't do anything that's meaningless. There were, first of all, the remaining 11 disciples given by name.

Now amazingly, that's amazing to me because they're still together. You know, I mean, when Jesus was there, they were fighting over who was going to sit where. Now he's not there and they're still together and they've seen all of this stuff and they're still together. And that's amazing. And I don't know if you've thought about it. But from the indication of verse 4, you look over in verse 4, on one occasion, it says

while he was eating with them, he gave them this command, do not leave Jerusalem, which implies to me that some of them at least were thinking about leaving Jerusalem. Otherwise he wouldn't have had to say, do not leave Jerusalem. So just to make the plan straight, don't leave Jerusalem. Stay here until the gift, the promised gift of my father comes. So these guys are still together.

After seeing what they've seen, I'm sure some of them are just close to, you know, mush and wanting possibly to leave. And go sort this out. But they're together. They come to the upper room together, waiting obediently. Also we see here that it says that there were the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Again, nothing insignificant. Who were the women? I mean, they're mentioned.

He could have just said there was probably 120 people altogether, but he singles out the disciples, the women and Mary and the brothers of Jesus. So who were the women that are here? Well, if we look back in the gospels, we find that there were various women that traveled with Jesus and the disciples. We know that there was Mary Magdalene who was a minister to their needs.

We saw several of them in the closing scenes of the crucifixion. We know that Mary was there. We know that there was another Mary. We know that there was Mary Magdalene. We know that there were several women who were of well-to-do means that helped finance, that helped minister to the needs of Jesus and the disciples financially while they were traveling. Plus we know that from Paul's indication and the epistles that there were wives too, that

Peter had a wife at least. We can assume that out of the 12, probably several of them had wives and the wives probably went with them. So there were several women that traveled with them and we find them here graciously as God is putting together his church. They are together with him in this place, in this upper room and they have significantly been labeled by the Lord especially.

And then he says, and Mary, the mother of Jesus. Now some things I want you to think about as we think about Mary being here at this particular spot and mentioned in this passage. First of all, I want you to realize that at this point Mary has finally been fully vindicated from all of the suspicions about her pregnancy. For all of those years, 33 of them to be exact, there had been the rumors.

She said it was the Holy Spirit, but we know that it had to be somebody else. She said he's the son of God, but I don't know, he looks like everybody else around that we've seen. And for all of those years she had to suffer the indignities of the assumptions and the accusations. But I want you to remember, as we came out of James in chapter 5, that if the works of faith are working within us, then we respond with hope.

We respond with the hope of the coming again of Jesus. And we wait patiently for that coming, remember, as the prophets who witnessed while they waited for God to vindicate them. They went ahead and shared about the things of the Lord while they waited for God to vindicate them. People thought they were nuts. Nobody believed Jeremiah. Very few believed Isaiah at times.

But they went ahead and tested. They went ahead and testified. They went ahead and witnessed while they waited for God to vindicate them. And to most, it wasn't until they were in his presence that they were vindicated. But here God blesses Mary and she is vindicated. They have seen Jesus go to the cross, die, be buried, raised from the dead, and now ascend

into heaven. Truly, he is the son of God. God has blessed her after 33 years. So as you are waiting and you are serving the Lord and you're sharing with others about him and they scoff at you. Here's an example of a woman who waited 33 years along with the others who waited indefinitely and some never receiving the fullness of that. But Mary has. God gave Mary that opportunity to be vindicated.

This is the last mention that we have of Mary in the New Testament. It's the last time we see her. And so to me that emphasizes another fact that Mary is not a co-redemptrix with Christ. Mary is not a co-redeemer. Many Catholic churches outside of the United States. One in Italy. One in the Philippines. One in the United States. The Philippines that I know of for sure have Catholic churches with the crosses outside

them that have Jesus on one side of the cross and Mary on the other side of the cross. As if Mary were a co-redemptrix with Jesus. That Mary is up there, you know, even with the Lord as far as the redeeming value. And that's simply not the case. We don't see her again in scripture. She's not mentioned again in the word of God from this point on. Now there is, or there was in Jerusalem, a church that was called the Church of Mary.

And the Catholic church built that church because they believed they had found the actual burial place of Mary, the mother of Jesus. And so they built the church on it. And the church was open until in the 50s when the Vatican Council got together again and they reversed themselves and said, well, Mary really didn't die. She was assumed into heaven. And so they closed the church because you could have a church over Mary's grave if Mary

didn't die. So a lot of misconceptions about Mary that are cleared up if we simply look to the word of God. Now. She was present here in the upper room with a discipleship. The disciples from the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples. So I guess as John Corson says, you could consider Mary the first charismatic Catholic. I mean, if you want to go into all of that, but other than that, she disappears off the

pages of scripture here. So we have the 11 disciples are still there. The women marry the mother of Jesus. And then it says in the last part of verse 14 and with his brothers and with his brothers. Now Jesus had brothers. They were half brothers. They were the sons of Joseph and Mary, James and Jude in particular. And they are mentioned as being here. And that's exciting to me because when you go to first Corinthians 15, you find that Jesus

made special appearances after his resurrection and he appeared to his brothers. James specifically is mentioned. And now they are here in the upper room waiting for the promise gift of the father, the promise of the Holy Spirit that's coming. And we have James and Jude in our Bibles, the epistles written by the half brothers of Jesus as they've spent that time with him.

And. I've mentioned 120 people altogether, roughly. That's how many were there, including everybody that's already been mentioned. The significance of all these participants is this is a rag tag bunch of people. This is a hodgepodge, put them together group. This is not the elite of the society. These would not be readily admitted into the country club. These would probably not show up very quickly in the chamber of commerce page section of

the paper for opening a real good business. This is a group of individuals who, for most intents and purposes, is. Is set aside by society, kind of like all of us in this room, you know, never will probably be noted for our great accomplishments in the world, according to the worldly standard. But they were a group that was together, that God had brought together, that he was preparing them to use them in a mighty way that would glorify his name and would be on the pages of history forever.

And that's what God is wanting to do with each of us. Insignificant in the world's eyes, but blessed and special to the Lord and God wants to use you. He wants to bless you in special ways that cannot be done through anyone else, just through you. And he wants to bless not only you, but bless people through you. So that brings us to their practice. And that's very simple.

We see the place prepared by God, the participants called together by God, and now their practice. And it's just the last half of verse 14. It says, and these joined together constantly in prayer. They joined together constantly in prayer. This was a hallmark of this group. Even before the Spirit of God came upon them. From the time of the ascension of Christ until the time that the Holy Spirit comes, we see

them gathered together, constantly praying. Now, what's significant about that? Well, Jesus has just ascended and he appeared off and on to the people for over a period of 40 days. So roughly, if we take it that he ascended on the 40th day, maybe, then between seven and 10 days, probably eight to 10 days from his ascension. That is when Pentecost is going to be, roughly, okay?

So the Spirit of God is going to descend upon them in eight to 10 days, but they don't know that. See, we have the privilege of hindsight. We can look back and see that that's what happened. They didn't know that. All they were told was to go and wait in Jerusalem for the promised gift of the Father. They didn't know it was going to be eight to 10 days. They didn't know how long it was going to be.

Now put yourself in their place. Several days have passed and you start getting antsy. You call a plumber and you say, well, I've got this problem here. I need to have you come out. He says, okay, I'll be there as soon as I can get there. What does that mean? Eight to 10 days, maybe, you know, who knows? You don't know. But you got this problem. And a couple of days go by and you still got the problem and three or four days go by and

you still got the problem. You start getting antsy. Where's the plumber? Well, these guys go wait in Jerusalem for the promised gift of my Father. Okay. We're gathered in the room. Is he here yet? What does he look like? I don't know. What's going to happen when he comes? I don't know. One day goes by. Two days go by. Three days go by. You start getting antsy.

You start getting nervous. I mean, he's popped in and popped out. He's gone up. These guys have been pink and they're gone, you know, and all this stuff. Where is he? Now, after a week, discouragement is probably really starting to set in. Been a week. Not here. Remember, these are the disciples that when Jesus appeared, arose from the dead and appeared to Mary and she hung on to him and all that.

He says, don't hang on. I got to go to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. But go back to my brethren and tell them I'm going on ahead. To meet them in Galilee and I'll meet them there. Okay, great. Goes back. Tells the disciples. They're semi-excited and confused. What do they do? Go to Galilee. Jesus there? Uh-uh. But he said, I'll go before him to Galilee.

That's what he said. That's what he said to tell them. They get to Galilee. He's not there. What do they do? They wait a couple days, three days, four days. Not here. Don't see him. Start getting antsy. Got to do something. What do we do? Well, we're in Galilee. We're home. Let's go fishing. They get tired of waiting until they see Jesus on the shore cooking the fish.

Then they go, I think that's him. Could be him. Peter goes, yep, that's him. Peels off and dives in, swims in. See, they got tired. It's already a history with them. They get tired of waiting. Patience does not come naturally to us. We cannot teach patience. Patience is a gift and a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can only be patient so long and then unless the Spirit of God is producing that in us,

we go bonkers. But this is TBIF, so these are still waiting and so they're getting antsy and they're getting nervous. Can you relate? Now, prayer is the only sensible thing to do when you haven't got a clue in the world as to what you should do. But do we do that or do we just keep getting antsier and antsier? See, prayer is the only sensible thing that we can do when we have not got an idea what

to do. It brings us back into communion with the Lord. It brings us back to that point of knowing that he's in control in the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the confusion, in the midst of the things that I don't understand. I take that time with him and I just spend it with him and I realize he is constant. He is the same. He is my peace who has broken down every wall.

He is my rock. He is my fortress, my God in whom I trust. He is the strength and the lifter of my head. It's as I commune with him I realize that. How do you put the armor of God on? Well, when I'm thinking about Ephesians 6, I think and I understand what the helmet of salvation is. I know what that is. And I know what the shield of faith is. And I know what the sword of the Spirit is.

It's the word of truth. How do you put it on? Through prayer. Through taking time to sit before the Lord. And realize your salvation I'm bought and paid for with a price. To realize the breastplate of righteousness. I am in him. I am set apart unto him. I can follow him. He's empowered me to live righteously before him. To put on the belt of truth. I can speak truth without fear because of him.

To hold up the shield of faith. To know that God you have prepared this place. You have prepared the participants. You have done these things that are necessary. I can trust you. To use the sword of the Spirit. I can know what to say, when to say it, when to be silent. It's only through prayer. It's only as we commune with the Lord and that is active and regular before us.

And so they were praying constantly. John Bunyan says that prayer is the shield to the soul. John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress. He says prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan. Prayer is a shield to the soul. This is what we mentioned about the armor of God. It is what activates the armor. It's a sacrifice to God. God loves to hear us pray.

To call out to him. To be in that relationship with him. That's his desire for us. And it's a scourge to Satan. The word scourge is, Jesus was scourged when he was whipped. And as we pray, it rips Satan's intent apart. It's a scourge to Satan for God's people to pray. And they were given to that prayer as a community. Now we pray individually probably. And we have our intercessory prayer groups.

The women pray and the men get together to pray occasionally. But I want to see more of the community. Of our community praying like we did this morning. Praying together. It's a picture of the early church. The beginning of the church. So that was their practice. That was their practice. They prayed. Now let's look at the proclamation quickly. Peter's proclamation.

Verse 15. In those days Peter stood up among the believers, a group numbering about 120, and said, Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in this ministry. With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field, and then he fell headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines spilled out.

And everyone in Jerusalem heard about this. So they called that field, in their language, akaldama, that is, the field of blood. For, said Peter, it is written in the book of Psalms, May his place be deserted and let there be no one to dwell in it. That's from Psalm 69. And may another take his place of leadership, from Psalm 109, verse 8. So Peter stands up to make this proclamation.

Now, remember, this is tibiaia. This is Peter before he's filled with the Spirit. And so he's still impetuous, presumptuous, pushy, still probably thinking, in the words of a modern-day pulpiteer, don't just sit there, do something. I mean, after all, according to Jesus, Peter was the leader. You are Simon. You're called Simon, but you shall be called Cephas, the stone, the rock, your rocky.

Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus commended. It's not from flesh and blood. Only God could reveal that to you. And upon that rock, upon that confession of faith, will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. And I give you the keys to the kingdom, that you should open that which is bound. So through our testimony, through bringing someone to that point of surrendering their

hearts to Christ, we are able to open the door from bondage, release them from the bondage of hell. And they're free. They're saved. They're released by the beautiful salvation of the blood of Christ. And Peter was the first one commended by Jesus. For this is the first one. Let's look at that. In Luke, chapter 22, verse 31, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has desired you, that he

might sift you as the sand, but I have prayed for you. And when you have been restored, strengthen your brothers. In all of the lists of the disciples in the scripture, Peter's name is first. Peter was part of the inner three with Jesus all the time, constantly seeing everything that Jesus had done. And so Peter is already the assumed leader. And now picture Peter, TBIF, sitting there.

Answering. Prophecy. Still impetuous. Still not able to surrender to control the Holy Spirit because it hadn't come upon him yet. He's got to do something. I'm the leader. If I'm the leader, I better lead. And so he stands up and begins to speak. Now, to Peter's credit, he rightly interprets prophecy, I think. He rightly applies prophecy, the prophecy from the Psalms in verses 16 through 20.

Also here in verse 16, he says, and he said, brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David. So he believes in the inspiration of scripture. He believes in the divine inspiration. He believes in the word of God. So Peter's right on where this is concerned. And then he tells us about Judas. He says these scriptures, these scriptures had to be fulfilled.

They were prophetic and they related to Judas. Now you look at this and you think, well, now there's a contradiction because didn't Judas go hang himself? And here it says he fell headlong. We spent a lot of time with this on a Wednesday night. No contradiction. You read in the gospels that Judas, when he saw that Jesus was not going to just overthrow the Roman government, but that he was being scourged and being taken to be crucified.

It says he went out and he hanged himself. And that he did. And very probably as he hung there for a period of time, his body became distended from decay and he, the rope either wore itself through and dropped or somebody got tired of seeing him hanging over this edge and cut the rope down so that he fell and just popped open. I mean, that's what happens with a distended body.

But the interesting thing here is that they call this the field of blood, which Judas purchased. Now Judas didn't buy anything. He went out and hung himself. He cast the silver back at the feet of the Pharisees. They, they, it says in the gospels, they couldn't take that money back because it was blood money. And so they purchased the field to bury the strangers, to bury the aliens in.

And it's called Akaldama, the field of blood because it was bought with blood money. And probably because Judas kind of made a mess of things when he popped open down there on the field. What does that have to do with anything? Just this, it was a potter's field. It was an insignificant place. A potter's field was simply the place where when a potter worked and some of the, some

of the clay would not work with him. And it was marred and it was useless then. Once it was marred, once the clay began to set and could not be molded anymore, the potter simply cast it out, just threw it out into the yard, threw it out into that field. And so all over this field is, if the potter's there for any length of time, you have an entire field of broken chards of pottery, broken vessels all over that field, kind of like all of us again, broken vessels, useless in our own eyes, useless in the eyes of the world.

Never really. They seemingly amount to much of anything, have already been used and abused maybe in many situations and cast aside, discarded as useless and worthless. In our own eyes, we just seem to be insignificant, never measuring up to our own standards of what we think we ought to be, let alone what we see other people in the world accomplishing and feeling absolutely useless. We're all in that field.

And that field was purchased with blood money, not Judas blood, but Jesus blood. Jesus bought the field with his own blood. The field is the world, a world of broken vessels. And it is now truly a field of dreams, akal dama, meant to be a curse, but in the minds of a believer, the wonderful promise of the blessing of God on the broken vessels. Peter quotes from these two Psalms and he rightly determines that Judas, his vacancy

in the midst of the disciples, that has to be filled. And so who better to fill it? I'm the leader. I'm not just going to sit here. I'm going to do something. So Peter gets to work. And now we have the process by which Peter fulfills this proclamation, seeks to fulfill it. Therefore, verse 21, it's necessary to choose out from among us men who have been with us

the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. So they proposed two men, Joseph called Barsabbas, also known as Justice, and Matthias. And then they pray, Lord, you know everyone's heart, show us which of these two you have chosen.

And then they went over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs. And then they cast lots and the lot fell to Matthias. And so he was added to the 11 apostles. Now, here again is Peter, TBI, in the time before the infill, making the proclamation. This is prophetically what God said was going to happen. Now we've got to fill it. And here's how we do it.

It's got to be somebody who's been with us from the time of the baptism of John the Baptist, right up until the ascension, right up until now. They've had to see everything that's happened. They've had to see everything that's happened. They've had to see everything that's happened. They've had to be a part of us. So they've seen the miracles. They've seen all that Jesus did and said.

They've been a part of us through the whole particular time period. That's got to be somebody that fills this position, right? It seems logical. That's how God had wanted, right? That's how God would do it. That's the right thing to do. Have you ever tried to proceed by simply doing the right thing? You just want to do what's right. Have you ever said that as you're moving into a situation?

I just want to do what's right. I want to do the right thing. I don't know if you read the paper last night, but in our traveler. As little insignificant as it seems, it is packed full of goodies, besides the typographical errors and all that stuff. It's got some good stuff in it. There's an article in there about how I mentioned last week, I think, or the week before about

the rise among Christian young people with the bracelets, the WWJD, what would Jesus do? This is taken from Charles Sheldon's book, In His Steps, where the whole story there is that you would put yourself in a position where whatever position you're in, whatever consequence or circumstance you're in, you would ask yourself, what would Jesus do? Well. The young people have really picked up on this in the last few years, and they have the bracelets, the WWJD bracelets, what would Jesus do bracelets?

Well, the Mormon church has done something similar, and that was in the paper last night, an article in the paper. Back in about 1970, they developed a bracelet called CTR. They put it in there, it's called CTR. That's all it is. Same thing, little letters that say CTR, and it simply means choose the right. And they had a whole big article in the paper about that, coincidentally, corresponding

to the WWJD. And it sounds good. Choose the right. We need to try and choose the right thing to do. This is something, I'm in this situation, I want to do the right thing. But let me ask you, right according to who? The Bible says, there is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof ends in death. So, right according to who? We're being, right now, moving into the midst of being governed by that kind of an attitude

that leads to situational ethics. Choose what's right. Well, what's right to you may not be right for me. It may be right for you. It may be right for you to be a heterosexual. But for me, it's right to be a homosexual. So I'm choosing what's right. We need to choose what God's will is, and we're even told that, His good, pleasing and perfect will. We can know that according to Romans 12.

What the disciples seem to be doing, what Peter's suggesting, this process that they're going through, it seems right. I mean, after all, they did the best that they could, right? They did the best that they could with what they knew. I mean, they narrowed the process down. Processes narrowed down, got it down to two men. And they prayed. I mean, you got to pray.

And what they prayed was, right? Right on. Then they prayed. Lord, you know everyone's heart. How honest, how wonderful, how true. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs. They prayed. You know the hearts. That sounds good. Sounds right. And then they cast lots. Now, not to condemn them for that, because that's all they knew at that point.

That's what they'd seen in their religion growing up, in Judaism growing up. The high priest had a role. He had a robe. And then over the robe, over the front of his robe, of his ephod, was the breastplate that had the stones in it, the jewels that represented each of the 12 tribes. And behind that was a pocket. And within that pocket, he would place the Urim and the Thummim, which most Christians

don't even know. A what? A urinal and a thimble? No. The Urim and the Thummim. Now, we don't know for sure what they were, but it's assumed, and according to tradition, it was very probably two stones. Probably two stones of some particular shape. They were both identical in shape. But one was a dark stone and one was a light stone. And they would come before the Lord when they had difficult decisions to make, difficult

things to determine. They'd pray and they'd ask God what they should do, reach in and pull out a stone. And if it was the black stone, it was no. If it was the white stone, it was yes. That's where all of the things where somebody's blackballed from an organization, same kind of thing. It came from that. And so here, the casting of lots. They're not sitting there going, okay, we've got Matthias over here.

And, and, and Barsabbas over here and come on seven, you know, they weren't doing that. They went before the Lord, the best they knew, the best they knew and did what they'd seen, what they were trained at. Lord, is it Barsabbas? No. So the lot fell to Matthias and they added him to the rest of the 11 apostles. Now, this is the last time you see the casting of lots in the New Testament.

So it's probably not the best way to find out the mind of God in the scriptures. There's been a argument. There's been an argument down through church history as to was this the right choice? Was God in this choice? Is Matthias really one of the 12? Yes, yes, and yes. Is this the right choice? Well, it was the choice that was made. Is God in this choice? God's in everything that happens.

There's nothing that happens that God's not a part of. Even the bad stuff, God oversees. There's nothing that happens outside of his sovereignty or he's not God. Is this the one that God has chosen? No, I don't think so. We so often limit God. First of all, what was the disciple's job? Wait. Go to Jerusalem and wait. Jesus did not say, at least we don't have it recorded here, that Jesus said, now go

to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of my Father. Now while you're there, Peter, I want you sometime during the course of time to stand up and figure out how we're going to replace the other guy. How we're going to replace you. Figure it out. He didn't say that. Peter took that upon himself. How often do we do that? We're wondering what in the world, just like that parrot sitting on that board looking

at that magician. Trying to figure out how he made the boat disappear. We're trying to figure out what in the world God's doing in the midst of this chaotic circumstance. And we try and figure him out and we want to just do the right thing. We want to go so that this is the way that we think is the right way to go. And so we narrow our choices down to two and we say, okay, God bless it.

Is it A or B? Is it door number one or door number two? And then we pray and we say, God bless this as I go through and we limit God instead of saying. And instead of saying, God, which one, which way do I go? Is it this way or that way? We need to say, God, whatever, whatever way I should go, whenever you want to, you want me to go, whatever you want to do, however you want to do it, whatever you want to do

with me to do that. That's what I want. I want to do what you want. I want to do what you want me to do. The lot fell to Matthias and we never hear from Matthias again in scripture, silence. Several chapters later in the book of Acts, we'll see God choose an individual and call him an apostle and change his name from Saul. Tarsus to Paul. And Paul writes the bulk of the New Testament epistles.

Not the kind of guy we'd have chosen. Matter of fact, he wasn't even on the list, but it's who God chose. It's what God wanted to do. This morning as we close, I just want to leave you with this and hopefully an encouraging word. God has a plan. He has a plan for your life. He has a plan not only for the world and we're seeing this plan come together to its conclusion,

I believe, and the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but he has a plan individually for each one of us and he's working particularly and specifically with each one of us in the completion of that plan. His word says that he's begun a good work in you and he'll continue it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now, in the midst of that plan, there's going to be some chaotic moments. There's going to be some confusing times.

We don't have any idea what God's doing. Why would he do this? How in the world could he use this particular situation? I'm confused. I'm at a loss. I feel alone. I feel abandoned. You seem to pop in and pop out and it's at those times that God wants us to realize he is working his plan. He simply wants us to trust and he hasn't called us to do anything. He wants us to be witnesses.

He didn't tell us to go out and to witness, remember? The whole theme of this book of Acts is he called us to be witnesses as we're in relationship with him in prayer. As he fills us with his spirit and we just move out into the world filled with his spirit wherever he wants us to go, wherever he wants us to go. Whenever he wants us to go, doing whatever he wants us to do, however he wants to get it done.

Hands off. You're driving. You're in control. I may not understand, but I'm here. I'm available and I'm ready to go. Nobody that's part of the church, praise God, we're nobodies in the Lord, covered with his blood. Now, before the spirit was given, there's this overwhelming feeling, the sense of needing to do something. And the interesting thing is, is now that the spirit's come, that feeling can still

be there. God wants us first to just wait upon him. Just wait upon him. Let him open the doors. Let him guide. Let him direct. And God will do what he wants to do through you as you're in that relationship with him. Father, thank you for your word. It's so full, so rich. Thank you that you have the places already chosen for us and there's purposes in those places.

Thank you that we are your participants, that you've called us. You knew what we were before you called and that's why you equipped us. You gave us your spirit. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation.

Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation.

Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation. Thank you, Lord, for letting us see Peter step out and make his proclamation.

ours, and your thoughts are beyond our finding out at times. So you simply want us to trust and do what we already know. Just be obedient to you. Help us, Lord. The days are wicked. The enemy is coming in like a flood, and we just need to move according to your strength and according to your power. Help us to do that, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.