{"id":1225,"date":"2018-09-21T10:07:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T18:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1225"},"modified":"2018-09-21T10:07:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T18:07:15","slug":"devotion-acts-115-26-judas-remorse-without-seeking-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1225","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 1:15-26 Judas \u2013 Remorse Without Seeking Forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 1:15-17\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0\u201cIn those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)\u00a016\u00a0and said, \u201cBrothers and sisters ,the Scripture had to be fulfilled\u00a0in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas,\u00a0who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.\u00a017\u00a0He was one of our number\u00a0and shared in our ministry.\u201d\u00a0\u00a018\u00a0(With the payment\u00a0he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field;\u00a0there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.<\/span>\u00a019\u00a0Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language\u00a0Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20\u00a0\u201cFor,\u201d said Peter, \u201cit is written in the Book of Psalms: \u201c\u2018May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,\u2019 and, \u201c\u2018May another take his place of leadership.\u2019 21\u00a0Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, 22\u00a0beginning from John\u2019s baptism\u00a0to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness\u00a0with us of his resurrection.\u201d 23\u00a0So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.<\/span>\u00a024\u00a0Then they prayed,\u00a0\u201cLord, you know everyone\u2019s heart.\u00a0Show us\u00a0which of these two you have chosen<\/span>\u00a025\u00a0to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.\u201d<\/span>\u00a026\u00a0Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s first look at\u00a0Vs 18-20<\/b>\u00a0\u201cWith the payment\u00a0he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field;\u00a0there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.<\/i><\/span>\u00a019\u00a0Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language\u00a0Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20\u00a0\u201cFor,\u201d said Peter, \u201cit is written in the Book of Psalms: \u201c\u2018May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,\u2019 and, \u201c\u2018May another take his place of leadership.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 Since the Word of God is inerrant, surely this happened as both Matthew (Matthew 27:1-10<\/b>) and these verses in Acts testify to.\u00a0 Some think that these two versions contradict each other, but it is not so.\u00a0 Dr. Charles R. Swindoll in his commentary on Acts explains it this way \u201cIn his (Judas) fit of remorse, Judas cast the thirty pieces of silver on the temple floor and then hanged himself in a remote field.\u00a0 No one found him until his body had decayed, become bloated, fallen from the noose, landed face down, and burst open, and his organs had spilled onto the ground.\u00a0 The Greek word translated \u201cheadlong\u201d is prenes [4248] which doesn\u2019t have the meaning \u201cheadfirst\u201d in other Greek literature but simply \u201clevel,\u201d \u201cprostrate,\u201d or face down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAncient people considered this gruesome scene the most shameful way to die and an unthinkable way for a body to decay. In the Jewish mind, a hanged man was \u201caccursed of God,\u201d and if the corpse was not buried the same day, the land was considered defiled (Deuteronomy 21:23<\/b>).\u00a0 Moreover, Jews avoided cadavers and blood at all costs.\u00a0 This was cursed ground.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe priests didn\u2019t want the money and no one wanted the land, so the landowner was compensated for this loss and the field reviled as \u201cthe blood field.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some think that Judas, being in an isolated place, was not found right away and the rope broke and he fell down to the land below the cliff and his rotting body burst open when he landed, face first.<\/p>\n

We see that the two accounts are not contradictory, but rather complementary, both giving truthful accounts while including different details.<\/p>\n

Family, whatever sin we slip into, we need only repent of it, call out to Jesus for forgiveness, and we will be forgiven.\u00a0 All sin.\u00a0 For the unbeliever, all sin is shame and the shed blood of Jesus is strong enough to wash sin it all away.\u00a0\u00a0Romans 10:9-<\/b>10 \u201cIf you declare with your mouth, \u201cJesus is Lord,\u201d and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.\u00a010<\/a>\u00a0For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 The Gospel is that Jesus paid the full price for all sins of mankind.\u00a0 That men hear the Gospel, confess the truth of being a sinner and therefore in need of a Savior.\u00a0 They confess that Jesus is the Savior.\u00a0 The ask Jesus to be their own Savior and also ask Jesus to always be the Lord of their life.\u00a0 That is how we are saved.\u00a0 Once one becomes a Believer\u00a01 John 1:9<\/b>, clearly states that when a Believer sins we need confess our sins to God He will purify us. For the Believer, he has already accepted the free gift that all sins have already been paid for by Jesus, past, present and future.\u00a0 In\u00a01 John 2:1-2\u00a0<\/b>the Believer is admonished to not sin.\u00a0 Yet, in the same verse, our weakness is recognized and we are told that Jesus is our Advocate and His blood will continue to wash us clean of all sin.\u00a0 \u00a0What do we learn from this, we learn that when we fail, when we stumble, when we have been playing in the filth of the world, forgiveness is always available to us, we just need to come to Jesus and receive it.\u00a0 Family, we should never run from God after we have sinned, He knows we have, and like God sought out Adam and Eve, God continues to pursue us and call us to stay close to Him.\u00a0 He will forgive us each and every time we ask.\u00a0 And the wonderful thing about the sin we can\u2019t stop doing is that He will help us with that also (1 John 1:9b<\/b>).\u00a0 Family, when our conscience is clear, run to Jesus.\u00a0 When our consciences are not clear, do not give up, run to Jesus.\u00a0 Never run away from God, but always to Him.\u00a0 He has already proved His great love for us.\u00a0 Run to Jesus, it is the right choice all the time and eternity will bear it out.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 1:15-17\u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u201cIn those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)\u00a016\u00a0and said, \u201cBrothers and sisters ,the Scripture had to be fulfilled\u00a0in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas,\u00a0who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.\u00a017\u00a0He was one of our number\u00a0and shared in our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1872,100,94,17,10],"class_list":["post-1225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-deuteronomy","tag-john","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1226,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225\/revisions\/1226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}