Turn to the book of Acts chapter 1.
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.
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,
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 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
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
understand
why
they
did
it
here
and
R.C.
Sproul
wrote
this
concerning
it
in
choosing
lots
they
were
following
an
ancient
tradition
in
the
Old
Testament
involving
the
use
of
the
urim
and
thumim
which
were
symbols
on
the
breastplate
When
Old
Testament
priests
were
unable
to
discern
the
will
of
God
they
prayerfully
cast
lots
the
outcome
of
which
was
determined
by
the
providence
of
God
so
the
apostles
used
this
old
practice
which
they
still
believed
and
apparently
it
was
otherwise
I
believe
God
would
have
intervened
in
the
process
an
appropriate
practice
in
this
case
and
this
is
the
way
that
God
showed
them
whether
they
should
select
between
these
two
men
Joseph
called
Barsabbas
also
Justice
and
Matthias
and
the
lot
falls
let me
say
that
we
often
use
the
term
disciple
and
capital
A
apostle
the
office
of
apostle
interchangeably
in
referring
to
the
twelve
we
preach
through
Mark's
gospel
and
I
believe
I
did
that
a
lot
I'm
guilty
of
doing
so
just
interchanging
disciple
apostle
back
and
forth
but
this
can
be
a
mistake
it's
possible
that
this
is
a
mistake
disciple
the
Greek
for it
simply
means
a
student
or a
learner
the
idea
of
apostle
uppercase
is
much
weightier
an
apostle
uppercase
Greek
was an
ambassador
commissioned
by a
king
so
it has
a
greater
deal
of
weight
to it
so
all
of
the
capital
A
apostles
were
disciples
but
not
all
of
the
disciples
were
or
are
capital
A
apostles
so
you
hear
me
clearly
there
now
there
is
a
sense
of
which
we
now
as
Christians
are
ambassadors
for
Christ
we've
been
made
ministers
of
reconciliation
there
is an
apostolic
sense
to what
we do
but we
are not
and never
will be
anybody
today
capital
A
apostles
okay
so
here's
these
criteria
I've
laid out
for you
the
three
find
them
here
in
this
text
what
about
Paul
the
thirteenth
we
refer
to
Paul
as
an
apostle
capital
A
as
he
does
so
himself
in
fact
he
takes
great
labor
and
Luke
takes
great
labor
a number
of
times
in
Acts
to
present
him
as
an
apostle
capital
A
for
the
sake
of
his
apostolic
authority
to speak
on behalf
of
God
amongst
the
churches
of
the
Gentiles
one
example
him
stating
this
Galatians
1
Paul
an
apostle
capital
A
not
from
men
nor
through
man
but
through
Jesus
Christ
and
God
the
Father
who
raised
him
from
the
dead
Paul
did
not
possess
the
first
two
criteria
he
had
not
been
with
Jesus
through
the
entirety
of
his
ministry
in
fact
he
had
not
been
with
Jesus
during
any
of
his
earthly
ministry
and
he
had
not
been
an
eyewitness
to
the
resurrection
he
had
not
seen
Jesus
post
resurrection
pre
ascension
he
sees a
vision
of him
on the
road
to
Damascus
but
he
didn't
see
him
in
the
flesh
post
resurrection
pre
ascension
however
he
did
possess
the
third
he
was
commissioned
by
God
by
Christ
himself
on
the
Damascus
road
and
told
to
go
take
the
gospel
to
the
Gentiles
so
those are
the criteria
for
Paul
right
why
can
no
one
today
if
those
are
the
criteria
he
meets
one
of
the
three
why
can
no
one
today
claim
to
be
an
apostle
why
can
I
not
come
to
you
and
say
I
had
a
vision
on
my
drive
from
here
to
my
house
Jesus
Christ
told
me
that
I
am
an
apostle
and
I
now
speak
!
on
behalf
of
God
and
be
very
wary
beloved
of
anyone
who
does
this
the
reason
is
because
Paul
was
confirmed
by
other
apostles
Galatians
chapter 2
verses 1
through 10
I'm not going to go to the text or read the text but I want you to get these notes down and look at the text together
!
Again here for the sake of time
but I want you to note the following verse 2
Paul did this to be sure that is received the confirmation that he was truly teaching and preaching the truth.
So God tells him go to Jerusalem make sure get this confirmation from the elders.
In verse 6 the elders in Jerusalem did not add anything or take anything away from the message that Paul taught or preached.
Verse 7
the elders recognized that God had entrusted to Paul the preaching and teaching of the gospel to the Gentiles.
And then in verse 9 James, John, and Peter confirmed God's call upon the life of Paul.
So this is how Paul, a single person in history, gets around those first two requirements because he was confirmed his teaching and everything he was doing,
his ministry to the Gentiles was confirmed by living, capital A apostles.
He was confirmed by those with higher credentials
and no men of that caliber are alive today.
No capital A apostles live anymore.
Therefore,
we can't be confirmed by them.
That's an impossibility now.
And so capital A apostles
no longer exist.
So,
they were submissive
to apostolic authority
in the selection
of Matthias.
And further,
in Acts 2.42
we see the church devoted to the teaching
of the apostles
as messengers,
those who spoke with authority
on behalf
of Christ.
And today,
because we don't have those men walking amongst us today,
we have the canonized Scripture
before us.
This book,
God's 66 books
written for us,
for His glory and our good,
we should listen to it
in order to believe His promises
and obey its commands.
We should devote ourselves
to the study of it.
This is the right
and proper activity
of the church.
In the first chapter
of the book of Acts,
before things
just blow up
in chapter 2
in the most glorious way,
we already gain a glimpse
of the work
of the early church
which sets forth
patterns
for us to observe
and to follow.
They were obedient.
They were together.
They were prayerful.
They were scripturally concerned
and they were submissive
to apostolic authority.
Let's pray together.