Shall we turn in our Bibles to Acts chapter one and verse fifteen? Acts chapter one and the fifth verse And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and the staff. The number of names together were about the hundred and twenty. Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took heed. for he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity, and falling headlong, he burst the thunder in the midst of all his bowels just out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem, in so much that that field is called in their proper tongue a seldomah, that is to say, the field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalm, let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein, and his discipline for his office let another taste. Wherefore of these men which have company with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two Joseph Paul Varsipus, who was surnamed Justice and Matthias. and they prayed and said, Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast told, that he may take part of this ministry and the apostleship from which Judas by transgressions fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon the fierce, and he was numbered with the eleven. I must, you have been enjoying these studies on Acts, I must say. I have had a blessing. I did not expect studying and preaching from this amazing book. If there is one thing that it teaches us, it is that when Christ comes in, many things have to go out, and that includes tradition. And also we must not give up until we go up, and we will learn that demons fly when faith functions. And now our last study in chapter one. You know you have the New Testament divided into four sections. You have the Gospels, you have the Acts, you have the Epistles, and you have the Book of Revelation. The Gospels present the person of Christ. And the Acts of the Apostles presents the preaching of Christ. That's what they went forth to do. Preach Christ. The Epistles present the principles of Christ. You'll notice these words beginning with peace. So the Epistles teach or present the principles of the Lord Jesus Christ, which simply means His doctrine. his precepts, and his conviction. You need in the epistle the very conviction of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have also the very nature, the very origin, the very source, and the very course and character of the epistles, or of these principles that are found in these epistles. Then when you come to the book of Revelation... you have the power of Christ because God is there unveiling the day of His power. And thus you have the New Testament divided in those four sections, and you have those four feet, he, the person, the preaching, the principles, and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now there are seven remarkable facts from these first opening verses. first amendment verses we're just going to give you more or less the bones and you can put the flesh on at your leisure it'll take us too much time to do that we've been long enough in this one chapter as it is in verse one you have the first great fact and that is the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ his life because he could not have had this life but he not had this amazing birth Thus you have Christ's life. Now that's a fact. Then you have in verse three his death. You have in verse three also his resurrection. You have his kingdom referred to in verses three, six, and seven. Then you have reference to the Holy Spirit in verses four, five, and eight. you have this remarkable ascension into heaven in verses nine and eleven, then you have the second event. Forecast this same Jesus which has taken from you into heaven shall so come in light manner as he has seen him go. This second coming of Christ is in two stages. This confused me when I first found Christ, and I used to hear preachers refer to the two aspects or the two phases of the coming of Christ. And I've had several speak to me recently about this. It somewhat confuses them. But if you study the Scriptures closely, you'll see that there are two aspects or two phases to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. First, he's coming for his people. That's what you find in John fourteen one and three. He's coming for his people, also in first Thessalonians chapter four. Then he's coming with his people. He's coming to be glorified in his faith. Now if Christ is to come with his people, it's fair to believe he must have come for them first. He comes for them at the rapture. and he takes them up to be with himself to meet them in the air, then he's coming down to the earth in just the first aspect, we meet them in the air. He comes to the air. The second thing, he comes right to the earth, and his feet shall touch the mount of all. And so you have the two aspects of the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes for his people, He comes for his own, and only his own. Then he comes with the people, and every eye shall see him, and the whole world shall wail because of his. For the first time he comes to the air, for the second he comes to the earth. Now there are the two phases of the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this chapter, we want to get into this chapter. has four sections, which will do well for us to note, the great forty days. You may have something to say about that next week. The great forty days of Scripture. In other words, here is the Lord Jesus. He rose from the dead, and he was with them for forty happy days, wonderful days, showing himself alive unto his own. Then the next thing... you have his ascension. That's a remarkable event, and that's given us in verses nine and eleven. Then you have ten days of waiting. Those remarkable ten days after Christ disappeared into the heavens, and ten days later was the day of Pentecost. There you have those remarkable ten days, and what the Christians were doing during those ten days. They were reflecting upon those wonderful days that had passed when the Lord Jesus in resurrected glory mingled among his own. They were able to see his hand, his feet, and if they wanted to cross-side his garment, they would see his wounded side. What wonderful days they were. As they accompanied with the Lord Jesus Christ, in his resurrected glory here upon the earth. And so that third section goes remarkable ten days of preparation. And then finally, the closing section of this chapter, verses fifteen to twenty-six, you have the apostolate completed for the replacement of Judas Iscariot by Matthias. Now I think if you divide that chapter up like that, you'll get much out of it. We'll try and go into detail now, and also I might say that you have in this section, you have the ascended Christ who is our peace, you have the living Christ at God's right hand who is our power, you have the coming of Christ which is our crosshead. All these things are so wonderfully given us in the Scripture. You'll notice how the Spirit of God is referred to four times in this chapter. I'm going to let you read them and draw your attention. Notice in verse two, the four times the Spirit of God is mentioned. Here you have the commandment of the Spirit in verse two. Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he to the Holy Ghost had given commandment. unto the apostles whom he had chosen. There you have the commandment of the Spirit. Then in verse five you have the baptism of the Spirit. For John truly baptized with water, that ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Then you have the enduement of the Spirit for certain. but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Then you have the teaching of the Holy Spirit in verse sixteen. Then and again this scripture must be, have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David straight before concerning Judas, which was guy to them that took thee. And so you have these four references of the Holy Spirit. You have the Spirit of God commanding, the Spirit of God baptizing, the Spirit of God endowing for service, and the Spirit of God teaching the meaning of Old Testament scripture. Now the Apostle quotes a remarkable word. over, I think it's in Second Corinthians five and sixty. He said, if I have known Christ after the flesh, henceforth I know him no more forever. I no longer know Christ as the babe of Bethlehem, or as the boy of the carpenter's shop at Nazareth. I no longer know him as the man of Galilee, I no longer know him in his ministry here on earth for three and a half years. I owe him as a living curse at God's right hand. And so the apostle makes it plain that Christ is not to be known any more after the flesh, but by the indwelling Holy Spirit. And as you, I as Christians, As we journey through this world, we can have the realization that conscious awareness of a living Christ, not one who is here on earth, but a living Christ now at God's right hand. Had he remained on earth and not gone back to heaven, there would have been no salvation for you or for me. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is a living, glorified man at the right hand of the Father. And he's the man. I want to know something all about. That I might know him and the power of his resurrection. And notice how the apostle begins. That I may know him and he doesn't go over his miraculous life. That I may know him and he begins where? The power of his resurrection. the fellowship of his supper that I might be made conformable unto his death. And this is what God would have us to be exercised about and hungry for, a closer walk with our listen, glory by glory. Not that there are not lessons to be learned from his life of obedience here, obedience to the will of his fathers, but I want to know him in the glory of his present position at God's right hand. This makes us look after where he is. Set your affections on things of thought and not on things on the earth where Christ did it at the right hand of the Majesty on high. If Christ were here on earth, they were in Jerusalem, why people would be going from all parts of the earth to see him, and only a few could see him at a same time. And if we were to be seeing people all around the time, twenty-four hours a day without any time for sleep, he could hardly see two billion people, even during his lifetime. Though he seepeth now with God's right hand and by the eye of faith we all see him, those who are saved, and have punished his living. And so we find that Christ does not be known any more after the flesh, but didn't be known by the Spirit as the living, glorified man at last by hand. Now in the book of the Acts you see seven remarkable traits of the one who were filled with the Spirit. Next week we'll be starting chapter two, the remarkable chapter, the day of Pentecost, and the last of the end for two or three Lord's days. Well, first of all, you have the fullness of the Spirit spoken of three times. The fullness of faith as seen in Stephen. Stephen was full of faith. You find that in chapter six and verse five. And Barnabas was full of faith. Here you find old Barnabas in a wonderful character, the man of consolation. And over in chapter eleven and verse twenty-four, he was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. So here is one of the traits of a person who is enthroned the hungry presence and expression of the Holy Spirit. He has faith. Fullness of faith. Again, the fullness of wisdom. Hearing concerning Stephen who was filled with the Holy Spirit, they could not resist the wisdom by which he stayed. And a Christian who is filled with the Spirit of God, a Christian, knew something of being filled with heavenly wisdom. Wisdom which is from above, which is procured and peaceable and easy to be in peace. This is the fullness of wisdom. Then again you have the fullness of joy. I think it's in chapter thirteen and about verse fifty-two, the fullness of joy. And when a Christian is in the enjoyment of the infrelling Holy Spirit, and that Spirit is dominating his life, he'll have a joy. A wonderful gift, a wonderful joy in his heart and in his life. Then you have the fullness of hope in, I think, chapter seven, in relation to Stephen. You remember how Stephen, when he was stoning him, he looked up and he saw the smell of man standing. on the right hand of the flock. The Lord Jesus was looking down as they were stoning Stephen, the first martyr of the church age. And Stephen finally asked me forgiveness for those who were doing it. He said, Lord Jesus, receive my strength. Here is fullness of hope. And every day we are tempted to be filled with his hope that one of these days We're going to see him in the air, or if we die before he comes, we'll be able to say, Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit. That's a wonderful way to pass through time in Jesus. Then you have the fullness of power. Yes, they were filled with power in Acts chapter ten. He had his people around his preaching and the power of the Holy Spirit. And as he preached, read that over I think in chapter ten and I think it's about verse thirty eight here you have Peter and he's preaching and as he preached the Holy Spirit came upon those who believed and they were saved that very moment during the service today we have the opinion that no one can be saved until the end of the service and until they come up to the altar from the church. That's not true. I believe if I can look back over forty years of preaching, I see far more people saved during my preaching, or during the church, or at home, or at work, than I've seen up the phone. They come up and told me they've gotten saved. But the Spirit of God can work anywhere. Whenever a soul comes to the end of himself or hersa, there he, that person may be, like a Lithian jailer, midnight in jail. Saul of Tartan, midday, under the master's rule. Libya, down by delivery. An equal Ethiopian unit in chapter eight is in the chariot in the death. friend, it matters not where you are, that you acknowledge that you're lost, your helpless, and you're undone. And you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your stranger. He'll send you, no matter where you are. You don't have to be in church. I was sitting in the kitchen of our home when my father appointed me to Christ. Now I just come from the church. But after people get saved, and naturally they want to confess it publicly, that others may know that they have found the saved. But the Spirit of God works in every way. And we are not for the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, but the very little God. He's the one that convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of self. So they have the fullness of power. And then another thing that is characteristic of the St. Christians in the early church in the Acts is the fullness of speech, that's the thing, and the fullness of action. You can understand that. When a Christian is full of faith, full of wisdom, full of joy, full of hope, full of power, what do they want to do? and asked, Say, what is Steve? That's exactly what was true on this occasion. I had in verse twenty-three of chapter two and verse thirty-one of chapter four, and in chapter seven again you had Steve. Oh, yes. They couldn't resist this Steve. Here was Steve, and he had a message, and he couldn't keep it in. He wanted to give it out. when Christians are enjoying the Lord, they want to give it up. They want to tell others about the stages they have promised. And, of course, going along with their testimony, going along with their witnesses, their speaking, there should be real action and a life consistent with their testimony. This was true. of the Christians in the early days of the church. They should acknowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. They could see it. They could be taken by their thinking, their preaching, and their behavior, their active activity, visibly engaged, serving the Lord. There are some other striking things that they learned in this passage. You have the inspiration of Scripture. Notice verse sixteen. Therein brethren, this Scripture must need had been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that should be. Here you have gotten, the lady, inspiration of the Old Testament Scripture. Peter is quoted. from Psalm sixty-nine and from Psalm a hundred nine and verse eight. And he's telling us three things in this Old Testament passage that he has heard. In other words, he tells us that these utterances were by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David. Here is the Spirit of God speaking through David the king. And that's exactly how the Old Testament scriptures were given. Holy men of God's faith as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God. You have it right there in that book. David was filled with the Spirit, the Spirit of God, till upon him and he stayed. Thus we see these utterances where the Holy Spirit flew to the mouth of David. Then again these were prophetic of Judas because Peter tells us there concerning Judas in that very same word. Then brethren in the Scripture must need have been fulfilled with the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David's spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that day of Jesus. And so these were prophetic occurrences. Four times that one of the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ would be at stake. And Christ there is my old familiar friend, and this is in the Old Testament, Christ speaking prophetically through the church, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, has lifted up this deal, I said. And again, they must need be fulfilled. They've got to be fulfilled. They've got to be fulfilled. These scriptures concerning Judas must be fulfilled, and this teaches the prophetic value, inspiration, certainty, reliability of the Old Testament spirit, showing even in this case how reliable the Old Testament is. We're tucked away in the Old Testament of those few words pertaining to Judas, and how his bishopric, his officers, the gifts of someone else, We read all that, nothing is wrong. And here it has been fulfilled. And Peter, recalling these scriptures, says, Brethren, it's time for us to act. Judas told the Lord, he betrayed the Lord, prayed to their suicide. And we're only eleven. And we're to be twelve. We're to be twelve for the foundation of the church. We've got together a replacement for food. I can give you a scripture for. Maybe someone might have said, Peter, it's not necessary. There's eleven of us that take care of the situation. No, Peter said, and he did quote right here in the Old Testament. We've got to replace Jesus. We've got to complete the apocalypse. There has to be plans to fight the apocalypse. fell foundation so with respect upon the apostles and the prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief born or so then again that the servant of God by transgression wanted the honor of working of Christ that the second thing you find in that yes Judith you tell by transgression who never fell from grace to you and never in grace, who fell from heart. From God you see this man forfeiting the honor of working for Christ because of his transfer. God is seeking cleanliness, vessels clean and meat for yield for the master Jesus. How often God has got the steps a servant of the flesh, because he has failed, he has stumbled, he has dishonored his Lord, and brought him along with him. Many a real born-again Christian have been put on a shelf simply because of sin in his life or her life. Then the next thing you notice in this passage is the casting of what? This method of deciding questions has Old Testament authority. Find that over in Proverbs chapter sixteen, I think it's verse thirty-three. The love is cast into the left, but the whole disposing of it is of the law. And you remember in the Old Testament on the great day of atonement that God told Israel's high priest to get to go, and he was to cast love as the which ghost was to be slain, and which ghost was to be the scapegoat. And the one upon which locke fell, had been slain, and his blood was sprinkled upon the other one, and the other was taken out into the wilderness and released in the land unimpeded. Here is God instructing the use of locke. And you remember Joshua was commanded, to divide the land of Canaan by law. Here we have two and a half million people across the Nehru, going across Jordan into the land of Cain. There are seven nations in the land, and all that land is to be divided among the twelve tribes. My, that was a big fact. And Joshua was the one who passed law through Mr. Gephardt, and where. Assuring that God used this method in the Old Testament, the casting of Lot. You know, in this case, the Lot was used, the casting of Lot. And it was right because God confirmed this in that he went along with them in the selection of Matthias to replace Judas. in preference of this other man whose name is there. So we see how the casting of Lot was used here in reference to the man who could take Judas's life. But I want to say this. It's not the office that God is so interested in. The office really means what it is. It's the man. And it's the fruit of the Spirit in the man that God is looking for. We have men today have taught. Higher officials, you can begin with the reverend, the right reverend, the bishop, the cardinal, the fool. Yes, they are official officials. They have official titles. They may scare men, but I'll tell you they don't scare God. Those men can't. officiate in their office, they can function in their office without even the spirit of God at all. God is looking for men, not in any great official capacity. He's looking for a faithful man, and willing, still with the faith, bearing the fruit of his work. If you research history, you'll find some hope for anything but God their lives were settled fixed on God. What does that title mean? Not a faith, not a faith. Today a man may be called reverent, but if he hasn't got the Holy Spirit, and his life has not been consistent with that, and his speech he doesn't have the power and grip of the Holy Spirit, his being called a leper, doesn't mean not here it is. It's what the man has more than what he's called. That was true in this case. Judas has the power, he has the passion, but he didn't have Christ in his heart, and he didn't have the power in his life, and in his roots it fell flat. When Paul says, I am coming to court, And there have been some argument in Colin. We have nothing to say about that next week. Well, if it's time to look after it, Paul is coming to court. Some of them are questioning his being an apostle, stolen from a flock. Paul says, I am coming to you. And he says, I'm going to know, not the speech of them, you should criticize me. I'm going to know the power. They can talk of a storm. They can be uttered and proved. I've paid no attention to that. I want to feel the power of the Holy Spirit in their vision. I know not their words, but their heart. And that's what God looked for. That's what God looked for. If anyone is preaching his word the way he wants, And the Spirit of God will not give power or help to any man who questions the inspiration of the Bible, who questions the version first of Jesus Christ, who questions his blood atonement, his resurrection, and his ascension, and his ultimate coming again. The Spirit of God will not accompany the creation of the man that he is. The Spirit of God will only accompany that which is according to this blessed book. That very clearly talking of shit. There's something else here that's very noticeable. That's it. That this is the last time in the Bible that lots are used. Ask me a lot. That's not the only thing that ceased when the Spirit of God came in the New Testament was yet. Why did they not use lots after this? Because the Spirit of God came and the Spirit of God was the one who met him in the fish that he had not passed off there yet. So why was God also trying to bend in matters of the sea? And so lips were the woman of fame that passed when the Spirit of God came and when his testimony was given? No more fasting of what? God used it in the Old Testament. It was used here from it was never used again. There are those who try and tell us that Peter, on this occasion, was a little hasty. Brother Lawson Shire came up this morning, and he mentioned a man that I have high esteem and respect for, and the Bible teacher of the loved man Oliver is. And so he said that He was reading all of the things, or he heard them over the radio, and he said that it wasn't the mind of God that Matthias, he chose to replace Peter. Peter was patient. He was impetuous. He was impatient. And he discovered that scripture. Oh, we've got to replace. We've got to replace Peter. He didn't wait on God, feeling that God was bringing the right apostle along in due course, but one used to replace you. And so there are those who believe that the apostle Paul was one that God intended to be included to be a letter, to make up the thread. Well, you'll see whether that is true or not. And I want you to notice these scriptures. In other words, there are three qualifications of the one who is to be the apostle who is to wrestle out the trail. And it tells you exactly what those qualifications are. And it says, I think, in verse twenty-one, wherefore are these men which are accompanied with us? All the time that Jesus, where Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John. That's one day. On to that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. That's the second thing. He has to be one who accompanied with Christ during those three and a half years of his earthly ministry. Where he must be a witness of the resurrected Christ and third he must be chosen by God. And it tells you plainly, and they appointed two Joseph called Varsipa with a surname Justin and Matthias. And they prayed and said, God, thou Lord, which knoweth the hearts of all men, and thank God he does. Show where there are these two. Thou hast chosen. So you have these three qualifications to be an apostle, to be a foundation, off this church. First of all, he had to accompany Christ for three and a half years of accomplishment. Second, he had to see Christ in resurrection glory. Third, God had to choose him. Judas did not qualify. He committed suicide and never saw the resurrection. The Apostle Paul did not qualify because he was not with the Lord Jesus from the preaching of John the Baptist for three and a half years. For after Christ was in heaven, Paul was constraining unto the death of the Christians, and they laid down the toes of Stephen, and were beaten by the young man who named Saul. So Saul, in no way, accompanied with the Lord Jesus for three and a half years. Therefore, he should not be the apostle. Only the day. He was a chosen day But there must not be particular about the trail that God wants to fit into the foundation. It looks upon the impossible Jesus Christ himself being achieved for the glory. And so we find that this man, the thief, has been selected. He fit into the picture, did he not? He's humbly with Christ for three and a half years. He saw the resurrected Christ. He was perfectly familiar with all that had transpired. And the lot was cast. And he was single up. We don't know why the other man was turned down. We don't know why the other man was rejected. There is God in his sovereign choice. The other man might have been just as grantly as Matthias. He might have been just as gifted and just as impeller. He might have been. Nevertheless, God says, I'm going to choose Matthias. And only God knows why. Because it says he knows the heart of all men. There was something that God saw in Matthias. He didn't say. In the other one. God knows the hearts of all men. You know there are other apostles, however, in the New Testament. The apostle Paul himself says he was an apostle in Romans one and one. And he speaks of Adronicus, Dunia, where they not noted apostles among you, he says in Romans sixteen and seven. And Paul refers to his fellow laborers as apostles of the churches and the glory of Christ. They were referred to as apostles. but they were not in the same category or the class with the twelve. Not that each other would not probably then and do so, but this is God's sovereign acts. In other words, God too. He has a verse. He knows the heart of all men. Supposing God had left something out in summing up the life of their David was a wonderful kid. On one occasion, God said to David, he's a man after my own heart. God loved David. David longed so much to build a house unto the Lord. Oh, Lord, he longed. I fear you not. God said, no, David, you're not going to build a house. Oh, but Lord, I want you. You're not going to be. Solomon, you're a son. David might have said, Why? Why can't I do it? The Lord tells him, David, you've been a man of war and you're a youth. You've shed too much blood. I want a man of peace to build my temple, but I want my temple to heal. God not said that. He never would have known why God chose Solomon instead of David to go with him. God knows the heart of all men. He chose Peter to be his apostle to the Jews. He chose the apostle Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles. But he also chose each friend to be the church would be built upon himself Christ in the chief corner of the church. This is very clearly thought here in our life. Now we conclude with the potter's field. The potter's field, and it's spoken of as the field of love. You know how, Judas, when he had given of his hidden certain pieces of silver. To praise the Lord, he stole them. After he saw that Christ was two dead, he took those dirty pieces of silver. He couldn't hold them. They were so hot. He went through them down to the feet of the tree, and he went to the parishes and tried to. I've given him that money to the praise Christ. widely decreased, the decreased little strides in the paddocks. Then it was a lot more. And they picked it up, and they drifted and brought the former sleeve with the money they had given to him, and he was a certain hope. He assumed this until I betrayed innocent blood, and he walked that leap, and he there, where Judas had committed suicide, Everly tend to hang stuff, but certainly did. But something must have happened with Goop Goop. And whether he was a shite man, no not, the Bible says. He said, And now is there a shite? And he called that shite a shite, a shite, a field of blood. What? Yes, the field of blood. The world is a field of blood. In Matthew thirteen, Christ speaks of the world as a field. The world is a field. And in a spot on this earth, the Son of God was crucified and put to death. And this world is a field of blood. Say, Christ, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Egypt, say, What is a murderer? It's there for that The world has known nothing but bloodshed since they chose a murderer and shattered a person. The world since then has become a field of blood. It began with the blood of Christ and since then, the blood of all ages. Jesus Christ, Jesus. The world is going to be held responsible for the blood of Christ to be shed on death. One wonders in reference, said Judas, whether he had seen Christ performed for many minutes or so often escaped his captives' hands, when those of his hometown were going to kill him to death by taking him outside the city and throwing him on a hot, old like a cliff, and Jesus passed him through the midst of the Wednesdays. Judas thought, I'll tell him, I'll get thirty pieces of silver. And I'm sure they won't put him to death. He'll get you out of it. I've seen a new living in the world. Get out of this situation like it before. When Judas saw that Christ was condemned, he didn't turn up the way I thought. But I'm sure he read it. But he didn't choose that. He saw the tremendous changes in business. Oh, the momentous nature. I see! He stole the blood, the very light of an innocent man. One he had come to grips with three and a half years. I saw him in faith that he never saw in any other man. He couldn't live. He couldn't stand this. What do you find? That in the world that we have obtained through his brother Abel, and soon the field, the unrighteous paid through the righteous man Abel, and paid as the seed of blood. Also, there are other fields of blood in the Bible. There's the field mentioned over in Deuteronomy twenty-one, one and nine. Here you find a dead body is found in the field. Two children. God's nature is a measure. When the spot where that dead body is found, measure the distance of the surrounding city. And the city, which is the nearest, the elders of that city have got to know most, and they've got to bring us back to that. And they've got to... kill that animal and offer that sacrifice and a gospel of faith, our hands are innocent of the blood of this man. Yes, that was a field of blood. You could have given orders for them to be released, you said yourself, but there's no fault in it. Here you're trying to wash your hands of any sin with the death of Jesus Christ, no. You're not innocent in the blood of Jesus. I want to save him. There's not a man or a woman in this world that say I'm innocent in the blood of Jesus Christ. Or be the Christian. It was our sins that nailed him to the cross. Our sins that put him to death. Give us not to mean that. Because love that soft gets by the name. for Judas ne'er hath found thee, was lov'd up nailed thee to the cross, or iron, had ne'er supported thee to sleep. Yes, it was our ship that made the cross. It wasn't the name that put it there. Oh, yes, the nail did, but through his hands and feet to hold his body up. But what? And who drove those nails to his hands and feet? St. Gome. St. Gome. Christ died for our sins, according to the Spirit. And so no man can say, I'm innocent of the death of Christ. God in the day to come, if you're not born again, will face you up with the sins on your life and the great sin of rejecting Jesus Christ. You won't be able to say, I'm innocent. No, you're very guilty. Very guilty. This morning, we spoke about Judas, who was unhappy man, and only the only one who could help him and do him good. Had to let him go. Christ was the only one who would save you, taking the help. Because of what you've done, he can not save you. He will not leave as long as you want. Christ had to give a month, not a month, because Jesus had made the decision, and the privilege of And then in this situation, here is Judas, as we mentioned this morning, he kissed the very girl of heaven and went to hell because Christ was the girl of heaven. He went from the communion table to hell. He was at the last Passover. In Christ exposed him and Judas went out. He went out and it was night and he's gone out into paradise. He's eternal night. of the communion days with him. But Judas, you're not through yet. You and Jesus Christ are going to meet again. Judas might be drenched that day when he'll stand before this one that he's sold for the use of silver. Judas, how will you meet those eyes? How will you look into that thing? How did all you feel? Hell will be a refuge from those eyes I can't hear, but you will. You'll have to meet it, and you'll have to hear that sense from those lips, the heart is cursed, the ever-lastly punished, repaired with a death at his age. that's where you're going in your place and Judas went to his own place that's how our text practically concludes he went to his own place in verse twenty five that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place recorded out this morning if Judas was a Christian then save people can be lost again. Well, thank God we proved this morning that Judas was not a Christian, therefore born again Christians are saved forever. But that's the case from one angle. There's another angle. Judas was not a Christian in your heart. It shows you how close and how near you can come to being a Christian just look at Judas. His life was such that the other disciples didn't even persist. They had no idea that Judas was a traitor. He covered himself so tactful. It would be hard for man to live with others for three and a half years and not let a word drop.