Well Meaning Interference (Part B)

How difficult it is to watch Christians going to a good church and Satan trip them up over something silly, and they leave that good church, and then they flounder. It happens so often. I'm not talking about the loss of salvation. I'm talking about the loss of serving, the privilege, the high privilege it is. It is the church's duty to offer, positions to serve.

So much action takes place there. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Acts.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will continue teaching through the Book of Acts chapter 1 in his message called Well-Meaning Interference. When we come to the scripture, we have to call it like it is. The rabbinical Judaism was brutal, and Christ took every chance he could get to go against it. And he left his apostles to have to deal with it also.

And much of this separation is because of the rabbis. Anyway, here are the women praying alongside the men. When we get to Pentecost, the emphasis will be on the men, not intentionally, it's just the way it was. The women, again, home, doing things, and the men were there at the temple. Pentecost, again, as I mentioned, likely occurring at the temple. Just for example, chapter 5, verse 14 of Acts, to make my point, and believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

And so they make that distinction because of the things that I just pointed out, the differences and how the genders had their assignments and kept to it. It says here, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, wait a minute, they're here praying, Mary is present, but no one's praying to her. That's not little.

This is big. She would have considered it blasphemy to pray to her. She would have called you out. No one would dare be so foolish and sinful to pray to her at this time. Is anyone so anti-Scripture to believe that they are saying, Hail Mary, Mother of God?

Do you really think that that was going on at this point? All the Scripture is against such a thing. Mary is called the mother of Jesus, never in Scripture is she referred to as the mother of God. How can God have her mother? The mother of Jesus, she is the one. Now listen, no slight on Mary. Mary was blessed among women, a virtuous woman, and I'm looking forward to meeting her. We don't vilify her because others have injected into pseudo-Christianity Mary worship. And I'm not going to put a gag order in place and say, well, I might hurt somebody's feelings. I can't speak the truth.

Nonsense. This is what the Bible is teaching, and there are those who would like to believe that she is co-equal with Christ in our redemption, which is blasphemous. There are those who take the names of Jesus and Mary from the Bible and leave all its truths behind.

They just cherry-pick the names and do what they want to do. It is, again, flat-out blasphemy to pray to Peter, to Mary, or to anyone except God, and Jesus, of course, is God the Son. Mary worshiped, invaded the church about 250 years, a little more than from this time in the Book of Acts. And once that came in, bringing all the pagan practices with it, the ridiculous, baseless stories, it is astounding what people will believe once they overrule Scripture. Once they just sort of, as I mentioned, take the names out and forget everything else associated with those names in the Bible and begin to put other things on them. It is astounding.

I mean, Joseph Smith with the Mormons, you put these glasses on and you can see all sorts of stuff. And people believe this. To this day, they believe it. Anyway, we do not read of virtuous Mary again in the Scripture after this, meaning she played no leading role in the development of Christianity and the church. And it's not an insult.

It is an honor. Her position in Scripture is very honorable. So it says here, with his brothers, Mary had other sons, and now they're saved. In Scripture, it says she was no perpetual virgin.

To try to say, well, those were Joseph's sons, come on. That's not what the Bible teaches. You make your choice. You choose what the Bible says or what someone else says.

And it always comes down to that. But the question is, his brothers were there, Mary was there. Where were the multitudes that Christ had healed and laid his hands on and taught?

Well, this is not intended to be an exhaustive list. In fact, the 120 we'll come to in a minute. This is a different event. And still, there were the 500 in Galilee. There were others that believed, but just the 500, just take that for an example. Imagine going into a courtroom with that many witnesses on your side.

500 people said, we saw him crucified and then risen. And these were credible people also. But the world does not want it to be that way, as a whole. But there are individuals for whom it is going. They are going to believe the message. We just don't know who they are. Before I got saved, there were many people who said, there's no way.

He's super lost. And then I get saved. So, they didn't know I was going to get saved. I didn't know I was going to get saved. And to this day, you don't know what unbelievers will come to Christ, so don't lose heart.

Keep at it. And don't think that it's going to be necessarily the one that you've been praying for. It could be somebody else. We don't want to interfere. We want to be usable instruments in the hand of God. And He is no respecter of persons. That is not a scary thing.

That's a sobering thought. That God is going to adhere to His truth and His holiness, no matter what people might feel. Verse 15, and in those days, we've got a lot more here. Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples.

Altogether, the number of names was about 120 and said. Now, so what he says, and in those days, it's a disjunctive. It breaks from what he was talking about. And he's now coming to another event within that ten day or so period between the ascension of Christ and Pentecost. Remember, Luke is writing 30 years after these events to a Gentile named Theophilus. And he says, hey, in those days, this is old school, he's saying to Theophilus, in those days, Peter stood up. So, again, this verse is separate from verse 14.

And you'll miss that, at least I have at times in the past. You kind of think, well, this is the 120 that's named with the apostles and Mary, but it really is not. Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples. What a wonderful phrase.

I'd like that to be said about me. He stood up in the midst of the disciples. Not during service. There's no standing up now, except the preacher man. But just in life, to stand up in the midst of the disciples. Anyway, that's a bit of an allegory, but we move on. Altogether, bottom of verse 15, the number of names is about 120.

And again, it would be difficult to accommodate that many people in the local upper rooms of the city. They're likely back at the temple, as I read from Luke's Gospel, where that's where they tended to rove before Pentecost. Verse 16, men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled.

Which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. Those apostles, whenever Judas' name came up, they just had that traitor kind of a spirit. You can't blame them. They were very much hurt by that whole thing.

I mean, they spent three years with him. They thought he was one of them. And he betrayed the Lord and he betrayed them. But where he says, men and brethren, fellow believers, whom he's talking to at this point, because there's no outreach yet.

They're not reaching anybody. Everything we're reading right now before Acts chapter 2 is about the believers. And the Holy Spirit's going to be the one to change all that or expand it. The scripture had to be fulfilled. Now, this is in contrast to those who claim Christ and devalue scripture.

We don't do that. The scripture's the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

And he became flesh and we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the Son. I mean, it's a big deal. Scripture's not a little thing for us.

It's not secondary. It doesn't line up behind our feelings. It dictates to us.

And we are supposed to love it so much. And John received the revelation. He loved what was said to him.

He lost all of his strength. And that was just at the beginning. What Christian approves of Bible teaching being distracted or interfered with? What Christian would, you know, let's open up a Chick-fil-A in the sanctuary?

And so as service is going on, you can get yourself some waffle fries and whatever else they have. Of course, that would be absurd. What Christian supposes a true church can grow through the preaching of the Word being messed with, interfered with? Who believes that?

Would you sign off on something like that? You see, Satan knows that we try to reduce distractions from teaching because it is thus saith the Lord at this time. He routinely sends those who disagree with this determination, our determination to guard from the distractions from the very beginning, from the Garden of Eden. Satan has been trying to shake man's respect from God's Word. Genesis 3, now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Yahweh, God, had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? You see, he's messing with the Word.

He does it with you and your alone time. When you say I've got to have my devotions and distractions will come and the flesh will accommodate and you've got to fight for the Word. Imagine a pastor who just was too lazy to study and stepped up in his pulpit and just told you the same things you already know every single time he got up there. Jesus loves you, you're saved from your sins if you come to him. Well, that's true and it's vital, but there's much more than that. So, not a speck will pass away, Jesus said.

Not a dot, not an apostrophe, it won't pass away. And this is the value the kingdom of God puts on it and we must too. And it's heartbreaking to see how many people name Christ and really just aren't moved by God's Word. He says here, which the Holy Spirit spoke, there is the Word before the mouth of David concerning Judas. God speaks through believers and what David wrote was scripture. The entire life of Jesus fulfilled what was prophesied about him.

That's how serious God was about it, including the sufferings. At this point in church history, there was no Bible except the Old Testament. There was no New Testament yet. Peter's scripture knowledge skyrocketed at this time, though he lacked anointing. But he still, you know, I'll come to Luke's quote about that later on, but Peter knew enough to know that he better start getting into the scripture like never before. And it's going to come out when he starts preaching in Acts chapter 2. Without anointing, believers fall prey to this risk, knowing the Bible with misapplication. Without the Holy Spirit, you can know the Bible, you can learn the stories of the Bible, but your application is going to fail.

And that's what we're going to watch in a moment. Yes, Peter had the Spirit in him. He was spiritually awakened. Jesus said, receive the Holy Spirit, and he breathed on the apostles. But there was another experience to happen, the promise of the Father. He was spiritually awakened, all of them were, but spiritually weak also. They were not yet endured with power from on high, according to Luke 24, 49.

We do not read of them making converts until Pentecost. You give your life to Christ, some Christians are filled right away. I was filled right away. I mean, when I came to Christ, it just came together. I couldn't wait, just, you know, so excited, just weeping all the time out of joy and happiness, almost giddy. I couldn't understand why my friends didn't want to hear it.

I just was such a, you know, new believer. It's like, you got to listen to this, listen to this verse. And just, and calling people, hey, you want to get together for lunch like we always do? And they're not answering the phone, lying to me, he's not home. And I can hear him saying, tell him I'm not home.

That really wasn't exactly how it was, but I knew they were there. Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean someone's not after me. Anyway, so Peter goes back to, here in verse 16, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. At this time, of course, Judas is dead and he is damned.

And that's what he is, he's laying out before them. God used the betrayal of Jesus, of course, and his purposes for saving sinners, but as an individual, Judas is done. Verse 17, for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry. Well, Judas was chosen by Christ himself. There have only been 13 men handpicked by Jesus to be apostles. Judas was one of them, he forfeited his position, and that's where Peter is going with this.

He is the greatest underachiever in history. Imagine being handpicked by Jesus Christ to be with him and then to carry the resurrection, to lead with the message of the resurrection after the ascension, and then to throw all that away. How hard it is to see Christians go to a good church, and I know that there are people in other churches who will be listening to these messages online at different times, and maybe this is for you, how difficult it is to watch Christians going to a good church and Satan trip them up over something silly, and they leave that good church, and then they flounder. It happens so often. I'm not talking about the loss of salvation, I'm talking about the loss of serving. The privilege, the high privilege it is. It is the church's duty to offer positions to serve.

So much action takes place there. Anyway, Judas ran out of confidence in Christ. Why is that? Because he did not enthrone Christ on his heart. Christ really wasn't the master, the Lord. He was, you know, this Messiah figure, was something other, but the others, the other eleven, of course, they enthroned Christ on their heart, and that was the downfall of Judas. In verse 18, now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity, the money he got from betraying Christ, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all of his entrails gushed out. Gasp!

That's there for you teens to keep you awake, because you may be like, ooh, there's entrails, tell us about the entrails. Well, there was a... Judas was, as I mentioned, chosen by Christ, and yet that's what he did with the choice. He got close to him and he betrayed him. Well, he gives the money back, but they take that money that they paid him, and they could not keep it because they considered it blood money, so they purchased a burial plot for Judas after his death, Romans chapter 6, 23.

The wages of sin is death, and that is pronounced here. Falling headlong. Okay, so he goes to hang himself, and he falls headfirst. Likely what happened, the rope broke, the branch broke, or the knot slipped. You know, if you are going to tow a car with some sort of a rope, you want to get a little strain on that rope, make it tight, because if you just pull off when it's loose, it's going to snap the rope more than likely. Well, if he doesn't know what he's doing and he just jumps and there's a lot of slack in that line, it's going to jerk and either break the branch or the rope. Anyway, that's just the mechanics of him falling, going to hang himself and falling, and he lands on the rocks. Evidently, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. So Peter was very articulate about this, very detailed. What a waste of an invested three years with Jesus.

All gone, just like that. Verse 19, and it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem, so that field is called, in their own language, a keldama. That is, field of blood. Well, this was headline news about the apostate who walked with Jesus for three years, and then goes out and kills himself, and it's a gory death. And so everybody, the talk of the town, it became known, it says in their own language, to everyone dwelling in Jerusalem. So that field is called, in their own language, a keldama. Aramaic words, the vernacular of the first century Jews, writing to Gentiles about these events 30 years later in the Greek language, which was more widespread.

The Greek language was used throughout the Roman Empire, thanks to Alexander the Great, and that's the language God would use to spread the gospel, and it was very effective. That is the field of blood, padama, verse 19. Judah should have been associated with the blood of the lamb, and instead it's this field of blood that he ends up with. One pastor says in one of his sermons, the one traitor in the inner circle of Christ's kingdom became his own executioner. That's not how it was supposed to be, and it only happened that way because he betrayed Christ. He turned against him. He became an apostate and a traitor. Verse 20, For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it, and let another take his office. Now would we have known that those Psalms were prophetic, of Judas in connection to the Messiah, had it not been for Peter's interpretation?

Would we have connected? If we did not have Peter telling us this, would we have read the Psalms and said, he's talking about Judas? Well, maybe, but listen, this is what I meant earlier about, I hope you've been listening the whole time, and when I say listen, that doesn't mean, okay, now start listening. When I mentioned Peter's knowledge of scripture skyrocketed, why, what is the evidence of that? Well, Luke 24, verse 45, and he, Jesus, opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures.

You can't do it on your own. You need Jesus to comprehend the scriptures, but still that's not enough according to Christ. There has to be the Holy Spirit to bring even more life to it. God's judgment upon Judas, according to Peter, Psalm 69, 25, let his dwelling place be desolate, and the need for a replacement, Psalm 109, verse 8. Peter had been in the Word, and he comes across this. These are imprecatory Psalms. These are Psalms that invoke evil or curse on the enemies or the unrighteous.

The New Testament Church does not function this way, but that was before, and there have been changes, major changes since Pentecost. Let his dwelling place be desolate, barrenness, let no one live in it, forfeiture, forfeiture, he forfeited it. Let another take his office, banishment, three condemning let statements, let his dwelling, let no one live in it, let another take his office.

Very sad. Peter felt something had to be done. The Scripture says another one is supposed to take his office. That's what the Bible says Peter would have said. Well, Peter, always well-meaning, always, but impetuous nonetheless. In other words, the feelings rose up and began to dominate, captained the ship.

Let's just review three of them. You can't go to the cross, Jesus, even though you said you're going to the cross. You know, be it far from you, Jesus said, get behind me, Satan.

That was pretty serious. How about let's build three shrines, one for you, one for Elijah, one for Moses, and the father rebuked them and they got very scared. And then how about, you know what, Malchus, I never liked you anyway. And he, you know, resisting the arrest of Christ with the sword. So this is Peter, and here he is saying, hey, the Scripture says, and we got to be careful. Yeah, the Bible can say something.

That doesn't give us the right to misapply it. And that's what I strongly believe Peter is doing here, and I'll make my case in a minute. I've read all the other guys, the good guys, too, that don't agree with me, but, you know, what are they going to do about it? No, I'm kidding.

That'd be funny. I don't agree with them, and I'm not the only one, but the majority take the position that Peter was right, and Matthias was one of the 12. I'm about to rip that apart, hopefully. I don't say that with pride.

Okay, a little bit. Verse 21. Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. Okay, so he's now setting the standards. We can find a replacement, and so he has to have been with us the whole time we were with Christ. Peter is setting the standard for apostleship, but it's not his place to do so.

There's a fine line between initiative and impulse. You've been listening to Cross Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply visit crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com, or simply search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Acts, right here on Cross Reference Radio.