Key Principle #2: WITNESS (part 3)
Acts 1:8-26
Don’t Let
Opposition From The Accuser keep you from witnessing
Thirdly,
don’t let adversity and opposition stop you from witnessing. Acts. 1:21
says “Let another take his
office.” That word office is episkopen
or sometimes translated as bishop or overseer. Peter used this word of position
for what Judas held. Judas had a position of leadership, as did all of the
apostles, and when his position was open, Peter found a Scripture which stated
it should to be filled.
If you
read Psalm 109, you’ll quickly see Peter was studying Psalms. Read verse 3, “They have also surrounded me with words of
hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are
my accusers but I give myself to prayer thus they have rewarded me evil for
good and hatred for my love.”
Peter had
heard Jesus use this same Psalm 109 on the night He was betrayed. John 15:25 ("But this comes to pass, that the
word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, 'They hated me without a
cause'") proves it is a Messianic Psalm; that is, parts of
this passage, written a thousand years previously, was a prophecy about Christ
and also about Judas. So here in Acts, Peter quoted the same Psalm which
Jesus referred to on the night Judas betrayed Christ. That prophecy said that
Jesus would be hated without a cause. So Peter undoubtedly read on in the
Psalms to see what else might be prophetic. He didn't have to look far. In
Psalm 109:6, it reads, “Set a
wicked man over him, and let an accuser stand at his right hand.” That
word accuser is the word also translated as Satan. Jesus said that he had
chosen 12 disciples, but one of them was a devil. John recorded that Jesus knew
from the beginning that Jesus was going to betray Him. And Jesus said that
Satan had filled Judas’ heart.
That’s the
way the devil works. Satan will tempt you to fall and then when you fall, he’ll
accuse you of not being good enough for God and fill you with guilt and feelings
of worthlessness. When Satan was through with Judas, he left him with nothing
but guilt and remorse. And if we are not careful, the devil will do the same
with us and effectively steal our witness.
In Psalm
109: 8, the Psalmist, likely King David, prophetically said that Judas’ days
would be few and so they were and that after his death, “let another take his office.” Judas’ days were few, with his
final days overwhelmed with guilt and the accusation of Satan. Judas walked
with Christ for three and a half years, was called a disciple and part of the
inner twelve. Meanwhile, that same night, a thief on the cross simply called
out to Jesus and said “Remember me when you come into Your Kingdom.”
Both Judas
and the repentant thief on the cross entered death’s dark domain that evening.
Judas, who had been with Christ in life, was separated from Him for all
eternity in death. The other, the thief on the cross who asked Christ to merely
remember him, had lived separated from Christ in almost all of his life. But in
the final fleeting moments of this existence, the thief did what Judas did
not and would not do. He called upon all of God's mercy and is forever in
heaven with our Lord.
What a
great testimony: we should never allow anything, including opposition, to stop
us from sharing a witness to the gospel. By faith alone, a life-long thief can
have eternity and without faith, a man by all outward appearances to be an
upstanding Christian disciple, lost his soul.
Look down
Psalm 109:30, “I will greatly praise the
Lord with my mouth; Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.” In just a
few days, Peter would do exactly that. He who was too terrified to testify and
stand up to a little servant girl, would soon lead 3,000 people to Christ.
Don’t let
excuses, failures or adversity stop you from witnessing.
