Faithful Until That Day (Acts 1:9-26, Jeff Kliewer)

Worship Through Hearing the Word

Here before you and we're continuing to worship. We worshiped you in song, and now we pray that you would receive our worship in the hearing of your word. We pray that our hearts will worship you by listening carefully to the things that you say.

Every word in the scripture is truth, and every word is breathed out by the spirit of the living God. The scripture is Theanusta, God breathed. And so we take this morning the opportunity to worship you by listening to what you say.

Quiet our hearts before you, help us to receive. And Lord, it's my prayer that of those who hear the word today, that each one will be saved, that not one will be lost. We know you're sovereign over these things, Lord, but we appeal to you and pray that not one of us would be shown to be a Judas in the end, but that each one of us would be faithful until that day of your return.

In Jesus' name, amen. Last week, we opened up the book of Acts and began to study through, and it's 28 chapters. We are in the first one, and today we hopefully will finish the first. The main idea last week was the promise of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God would be given to the people of God. When Jesus ascends to heaven, he doesn't leave us here as orphans, but rather, he promises to send his Holy Spirit to fill those who believe in him, to keep us until that day.

Without the Spirit, we cannot make it on our own. We can't do this Christian life, we'll stumble and fall. We talked about how they needed to wait in obedience. So they needed something spiritual, but they also needed something earthly.

They needed the simple work of obeying. In chapter one, verse two, they were given commands through the Holy Spirit, namely, the command to wait in Jerusalem. And one of the hardest things about the Christian life is to just obey God in waiting, to wait on the timing of the Lord, to wait for his plan to unfold in our lives.

We need to learn to be patient. Notice in verse four, he orders them. That's the language of command. He orders them, and so the appropriate response to an order is to obey. We talked about how we need the Spirit, but today we're gonna fill that out a little bit.

What does that obedience look like? What does faithfulness look like? And it's not a one-time experience. Faithfulness needs to be until the end, seeing something through to completion. If someone goes strong for a little while, but then in the end falls away, their early beginning is of no use.

In fact, my heart was broken not many years ago when I learned that a couple of the people that I baptized when I was a missionary in the city have become Muslim. And you know, they started off strong, and they were in the presence of the assembly like we are today, and they look like true worshipers.

They really did.

But they let some sin creep into their lives. And before long, that gave birth to greater sin, and then scandalous sin. Went to jail, one of them, and in jail learned the teachings of Islam, and fell away from the living Christ, demonstrating that they never were truly believers in the first place, although they looked the part.

This morning, we'll look a little bit at the story of Judas Iscariot, one who looked the part of a disciple, one of the 12, numbered among the 12, and yet in the end, not faithful, and not a true believer.

Let's begin in chapter one, verse nine and following. So please, if you have the scripture with you, turn to that. If you don't, you can find it really quickly on your phone or iPad, whatever you have.

Acts chapter one, we're in the English Standard Version, verses nine and following. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight.

And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And 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 the 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 he 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 no one dwell in it, and let another take his office. So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that 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 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 11 apostles. The first thing to notice in chapter one, verse nine, when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud hid him out of their sight.

Here we have the ascension of Jesus Christ. His return from earth back to the right hand of his father. And in verse 10 and 11, we realize that the way in which he went will be similar to the way in which he comes back.

And so that time from his ascension until his second coming becomes a marked-off period of time where we are left here, where he is there in heaven, and we, his children, are here on earth, implying that we are being left here to be faithful until he returns.

Verse 10, and while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? The point being, don't just stand here and look to heaven.

You have an obedience to walk in. What you were commanded to do, to be faithful. This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go in to heaven. There's a simplicity to verse nine.

It simply says he was lifted up.

He was lifted up.

And because of that simplicity, someone might think, well, this is no big deal. But consider the earlier scriptures about the life of Jesus. And she gave birth to a son and laid him in a manger. The incarnation, so simply stated.

And there they crucified the Lord. The simplicity of how he was crucified and he breathed his last. How he died on the cross. And the women going to the tomb, they talked to an angel who says, he is not here, he has risen.

The incarnation, the cross, the resurrection stated so simply here, the ascension. He was lifted up. You see, the simplicity of the language of the Bible never ceases to amaze me. The economy of words of scripture, how much is communicated in so few words?

What happened here is absolutely crucial to our salvation. In fact, Augustine said, unless the Savior had ascended into heaven, his nativity would have come to nothing and his passion would have borne no fruit in us and his most holy resurrection would have been useless.

You see, the plan of God, in all its simplicity, is complete in the ascension of the Son of God to the right hand of the Father. This part of the work of Jesus, as simple as it is, is important. Sometimes we think of the work of Jesus as what?

Cross and resurrection. But according to Psalm 110, the priest must come and accomplish his work as a new Melchizedek. In the Melchizedekian priesthood, then he would ascend and be seated at the right hand of the Father.

There remains yet work to be done. The Spirit now must come. If Jesus ascends to his Father, then the Spirit will come. And the Spirit here on earth applies redemption.

To our lives.

I'm born a dead sinner. I walk in sin and follow the course of the pattern of this world. I follow the prince of the air, that's the devil, and I do what my flesh wants to do. Until that day, when God, by his Spirit, applies redemption to me, he takes what Christ has accomplished on the work and applies it into my life, and that moment is called being born again.

If Jesus goes to the Father, if he ascends to the Father, then he sends his Spirit. And if he sends his Spirit, then his Spirit is in the world to accomplish redemption. To apply that redemption, I should say.

Christ accomplished it, finished the work on the cross, but now the Spirit applies that to us. The ascension is actually a crucial and important part of the Gospel. He has risen and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

And it implies that the same way in which he ascended, he will come. From what mountain did Jesus ascend? The Mount of Olives. We're told in Zechariah 14, four, that when Jesus returns, his foot will strike the Mount of Olives.

And so powerfully will he descend in the same way he ascended, that that mountain will split from north to south and create a valley. And water will flow from Jerusalem to the east and to the west, as far as to the great sea in either direction.

Jerusalem raised up as the capital of the world. Christ now in the flesh, reigning and ruling from Jerusalem. He will return in the same way he ascended. So what do we do until that point? We remain faithful until the end.

Let's keep reading. Verse 12. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. You'll see that they'll enter and they'll go into the upper room.

The apostles, the disciples, as well as as many as 120 gathered together. A simple word to describe what happens here is obedience. The command, don't go back to your lives, your old way. Don't go back to Galilee and become fishermen.

No, return to Jerusalem and wait for the gift of the Father. In the simple language of verse 12, and then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet. Now what is this Sabbath day's journey away?

The distance from the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives to the gate into Jerusalem is about a mile and a half. The Mount of Olives itself is east of the city of Jerusalem. That region, that part of the Mount of Olives is called Bethany.

Remember how Jesus came by his triumphal entry? He came through Bethany over the Mount of Olives and from that eastern side coming down the mountain, he entered into Jerusalem. A Sabbath day's walk is approximately a mile to a mile and a half.

Just a simple walk. And so begins a long obedience in the same direction. There's a book by that title. I actually didn't get as much out of the book as the title. That title has stuck with me. Very often in walking this Christian walk, I begin to think it's a long obedience in the same direction.

Obeying the Savior.

It began here. Just go back to the city. Just do what you're told to do. Not much more than that. Verse 15 and following. Now we have a sermon. Peter began an expository sermon from the book of Psalms.

He begins, 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. Peter begins by saying that the scripture had to be fulfilled. Was it possible that Judas might not have betrayed Jesus? Was it possible that the prophecies of old would have been turned on their head?

No, the scripture had to be fulfilled. We've already mentioned Zechariah chapter 14, verse four. That's where Jesus sets his foot on the Mount of Olives and it splits. But in those last six chapters of the book of Zechariah,.

Over and over again,.

We have prophecies about the coming Messiah. And here's what I want you to understand about prophecy. Especially predictive prophecy. Not all prophecy is predictive. Some is a call to repentance. Some is professing what is.

But sometimes a prophet will predict things into the future. Predictive prophecy is when God pulls back the veil of his will. His secret will, which was previously unknown. He pulls that back and shows something that will most certainly take place.

The scripture had to be fulfilled. Predictive prophecy means that God has a plan and purpose that he's working out. John MacArthur says nothing can stop the plan and purpose of God from advancing. Not even the apostasy and suicide of an apostle.

God has a plan. He has a decree, a purpose that he is working out in history and when a prophet comes and predicts something, it must happen as he said. Zechariah chapter nine, verse nine. He will come riding on a donkey.

Gentle, humble, having salvation. And so it must be that Jesus would enter Jerusalem from that eastern mountain, not on a horse, not in a tank, but on a donkey. The humble king presenting himself. And in chapter 11, verses 12 and 13, we learn that Zechariah was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.

He took that and threw it to the potter. And so it must be that the Messiah will be sold out for a mere 30 pieces of silver. And thus it happened that Judas Iscariot, that handsome price at which he valued his master, was 30 pieces of silver.

And with the reward of that wickedness, he threw that money down to the potter and that money was used to buy a potter's field, exactly like Zechariah 11, 12 and 13 foretold. And in chapter 12, verse 10, we're told that one day the Jews will look upon the one they pierced.

In chapter 13, verse one, a fountain will be opened up for the cleansing of sin and uncleanness. And when Jesus was pierced, a fountain was opened because the flow of blood and water from his side is a cleansing flow.

To all of us who look to him in faith, that blood that is poured out is a cleansing for us. Our sin is washed away by the precious blood of Jesus. Zechariah foretold it and so it had to be. Chapter 13, verse seven, strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

It must be that when Jesus is taken, the disciples would scatter like sheep. And so it happened in the garden of Gethsemane. The shepherd taken and taken to be struck. The disciples are nowhere to be seen except for John.

Chapter 14, verse four, he splits a mountain. In verse nine, we're told he's a king that will rule over the entire earth. This coming Messiah will rule over the entire earth and in chapter 14, verse 21, there will no longer be a traitor in the house of the Lord.

There I listed seven prophecies from the book of Zechariah, each one fulfilled in Christ because Christ cleared the temple of the traitors. Twice he did that. And ultimately, his body is that temple. It's pure and undefiled.

It's not sold for money. His body is given for the salvation of a people. His blood poured out and it's more valuable than silver or gold. The prophets foretold all these things, but here's what we need to understand from this text.

Peter understood it. God is in control. He is working out his plan and the prophets are able to foretell these things because God is peeling back the pages of history, looking in and looking ahead to show you what must take place.

What this means for you and I is that we can trust the plan of God. God is in control. You might feel out of control in your life, but God has a plan and a purpose and your part is to remain faithful until the end.

Keep reading now. It turns a little bit scary here. All of a sudden, we're talking about a field of blood. Could be one of these zombie movies that you see on TV. All of a sudden, we are talking about a reward of wickedness, a falling headlong, bursting open in the middle, bowels gushing out.

Why has Peter turned so graphic? Why the description of Judas's body being split open? Well, we know Judas hung himself and it's probable that on those cliffs where he hung himself when he was cut down, his body was cut open as he hit the rocks and a literal happening here where his bowels gushed out.

All of Jerusalem knows about this. Why is it necessary that we do? Judas walked with Jesus and yet in the end, he proved unfaithful. In the end, he was lost. I think the graphic description is a warning to us that it's possible to let a little sin creep into our lives.

You know, John 12 verse six tells us that when Judas was walking with the disciples, even back then, he was the keeper of the money bag and he used to help himself to a little bit of money, stealing from time to time.

The seed of his ultimate apostasy was sown very early on. One sin led to another and before long, he abandoned Christ altogether. I pray when I see those little children going off to children's church that not one of them will be lost, not one.

And when I see each of you and when I think of my own life, that not one of us would be lost. One out of 12 were lost among the apostles. What math, what would math say to us in this building? But it does not need to be so.

We are called to be faithful, faithful until that day. It says he acquired a field. He became a guide to those who arrested Jesus and acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness. I wanna ask you a question.

Who is responsible for Judas' sin? It was decreed in Zechariah 11 and 12, chapter 11, verse 12. But who is responsible for Judas' sin? The answer is Judas. It is his wickedness. In the decree of God, he does not need to do anything in order for us to sin.

The desire of our heart is wicked from our birth. We are born fallen sons and daughters of Adam. And if we are allowed to go the natural course of our way, we will each one be just like Judas. There's no limit to what we're capable of doing.

And so the responsibility for sin in the Bible is always with the sinner and never with the God who decrees all things. It was his wickedness, his wickedness. The wickedness of the apostate, not God's.

So how can you and I be sure that we will not be like Judas in the end? How can we be sure that we won't be one of those baptized ones who begins to fall away and in the end loses our salvation?

Look to the cross.

Look to the Savior. Keep your eye on Jesus of Nazareth. The author and perfecter of your faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the Father.

He is the ascended one. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don't let yourself be distracted by the things of this world. Don't tolerate a little bit of sin in your life. Don't make those compromises that in the end could lead to death.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. And no, you cannot do this on your own. You will not be perfect. You will stumble. But when you do, when you fall, you turn your eyes back to that cross where your salvation was first won for you.

And repent. And trust the cleansing flow that comes from his side. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is your only hope. Now the scripture tells us how we can know for sure that we will belong. And it's not what most evangelicals in America today say.

It is not. Most evangelicals say that if you have walked that aisle at that crusade or at that youth event and you prayed the prayer, you can write it down in your Bible and you know for sure you're going to heaven.

Because if your name is written in that Bible, then it's written in the Lamb's book of life. That is not what the scriptures teach. The scriptures tell us that our assurance that we can know that we are saved is built on faithfulness until the end.

It does come from the Holy Spirit. He confirms, according to Romans 8, that we are children of God. But the faithful Christian who is walking in obedience finds that assurance, according to the scripture, through faithfulness.

If there is a believer who says, I believe in Christ, but is wandering off into sin, the scripture does not offer the comfort of salvation to that person. Now, any believer at any point can come back to Christ and turn to him.

And any sin is forgivable. And I'm not even saying that you must maintain your salvation and your justification before God. I'm not saying that at all. But read the book of 1 John. According to chapter five, verse 13, it's written so that we would know that we have eternal life.

And how are we to know these things? There are tests given that cycle through that book.

Over and over again.

This is how you know you're a child of God. You walk in the light. And you do not make a continual pattern of sin. You're faithfully obeying what God commands you to do, as best you understand it, not perfectly.

And if you say you're perfect, you're a liar, according to 1 John one. But you're walking in obedience. You're faithfully, truly a Christian. And here's how you know.

You love your brother.

How can you say you love God if you hate your brother? If you're harboring wickedness and hatred towards someone in your heart, if you don't forgive from the heart, why do you think that you're forgiven, according to 1 John?

I like the way the author to Hebrews put it in chapter three, verse six. He says you are his house, referring Christ is the servant over God's house. He's the son and the master of the house. In fact, he's the builder of the house, whereas Moses is only a servant in the house.

Christ is the builder of the house. And he tells us that we are his house if we hold firmly to the confidence we had at first. You say, wait, what is this if thing? You are belonging to Christ. You are a true and faithful believer in Christ and you belong to him if you hold firmly to the confidence you have at first.

Are means it's finished. You have become a child of God and it can never be lost. The if indicates what proves or shows that to be the case, that you are continuing to hold to the confidence you had at first.

In other words, you didn't just walk an aisle and pray a prayer and write it in your Bible, but to this day you say, I believe in Christ and here I stand, I'm a Christian. And yes, I fall short. Yes, I'm a sinner.

I repent daily, but I belong to Christ and I believe he's my only hope. You see the difference? It's an abiding faith, a continuing faith that shows that it was true in the first place. We don't have time now to read what Peter wrote on this subject, but in the second epistle that he wrote, second Peter, the first 11 verses, he talks about how you can make your calling and election sure.

And it's by adding to your faith, godliness and knowledge and love. These attributes being added on as you're continuing to grow in Christ. He says, if you're growing in these things, if these things are increasing in you, then you're confident that you belong to him.

That picture of growing, of these attributes increasing in you is the word sanctification in the Bible. A genuine Christian is being sanctified. You're being transformed from your old way of living, the one that was controlled by sin and Satan in your flesh, into the image of Christ.

You're being changed, the attributes, the way that you live and walk are more and more Christ-like. And if these things are increasing, then you have great assurance. Your calling and election is sure.

That's how you know you're not a Judas. And I think the graphic language in Acts chapter one is intentional. Because we cannot take these things lightly. We can't take it lightly for our own soul or for the children that we love.

Anybody that we're discipling and leading in the truth, we have to call them to a genuineness in the Christian walk, to encourage them daily, even as we see the day approaching. Faithful until that day.

Verse 18 and 19, there's the warning. Now in 20, well, how do I walk faithfully? How can I be obedient? Well, in order to do that, you have to know what the word of God prescribes for us. It says, verse 20, for it is written.

Faithfulness means obeying the word. If you're not reading the word, how can you be obeying it? How do you know that you're faithful? You say, because I'm a good person. Well, by what standard are you comparing yourself with other people?

Are you just avoiding the major sins? By what standard are you faithful? The way you know you're faithful is by obeying.

The word of God.

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 notice, now in verse 21 and 22, Peter is gonna take from Psalm 69, 25, put that together with Psalm 109, 8, which means Peter's in the Psalms.

And he's going to see Judas in that Psalm. Psalm 69, Psalm 109, both of them are imprecatory, where David is calling out to God for justice, and even calling for the destruction of the enemies of God.

David could do that because he's a prophet inspired by the Holy Spirit. We have a different standard. What God can do in judging is not something that we can do. We pray for our enemies, but in this case, David is calling for imprecation against them, for judgment against them.

And he sees in the Psalm that Judas would be lost and punished. He agrees with that, and he takes instruction for it, and this is what's so important to you and I. Peter takes instruction from the word and applies it to what they're gonna do next, verse 21 and 22.

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that 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 the resurrection.

He decides they have to replace Judas with somebody else who witnessed all of these things. This is what's called living by the book. A disciple is one who learns from God. God speaks by his word, we learn what to do and what to say and how to think from the book.

That's what Peter's doing here. He's living by the book. That's what it means to be faithful, to receive the word of God and put it into practice, to walk in obedience to the things written, not obedience to what you think is best.

If you were God, you could create your own truth and live by that worldview and by that system of thought. But if God is God, then he speaks, we listen, we apply, we walk in the things of God. And so that's what they're doing.

Faithfulness is living by the book. Charles Spurgeon said, the word of God is like a lion. You don't have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let it loose. It will defend itself. In your life, there's attacks on the Bible all the time,.

Isn't there?

Watch it on TV, in all the shows that come on. There's attacks on the Bible left and right. I don't have to defend the Bible to you. And neither do you have to defend it to anybody else. It's a lion. Just let it loose.

It will defend itself. When you begin to open this book, it will challenge and tear apart every vain imagination of your heart and mine. It will conform us to the image of God. This is how we remain faithful.

By the book, by the word.

Let it loose.

Read it. Lastly, we have a very, very interesting section of scripture. Because as it turns out, there are two people who were walking with the 12 apostles all that time. Either one of them was perfectly qualified to be the next apostle.

So how do they decide? We've read it already. They take lots, they cast the lots, and it winds up that it falls to Matthias. Should we do the same thing? Is that how we should make decisions? Well, there's a couple of things.

Possibly. Number one, the disciples were living according to the word, and the two options were biblically neutral. They couldn't tell the difference. So they needed something to settle that, and they didn't have the will of God.

So it raises the question. How do we know the will of God? How do we know the will of God? To answer that question, we have to understand what the will of God is in the Bible. So follow me on this, a short detour.

I promise it won't be as long as I want it to be. Because this subject is amazing. This subject is awesome.

The will of God.

How do you know the will of God? There are two wills in God.

Two wills.

One is the revealed will of God that's prescribed for us in the Bible. The commands, the precepts, the ordinances. Psalm 119, we delight in those things. They are written for us, and we live by them. That's one.

But there is also what's called the secret will of God. His decree, what he himself knows. Turn with me to 1 Peter for just a minute. We're gonna look at four verses. The first will be the secret will of God.

The second, revealed. The third, the secret, and the fourth, revealed. I think I got in the right order, but the first one comes in chapter three. I'm sorry, chapter two, verse 15. This is worth a few minutes, because it will help you understand the ways of God and the call to faithfulness.