Luke 6:12-16

Luke chapter 6 verses 12 through 16. And it came to pass in those days that he, meaning Jesus, went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day he called unto him as disciples, and of them he chose 12, whom also he named apostles. Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Elfius, and Simon called Zillotis, and Judas, the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the true. traitor. May God bless to us, His sacred and holy word this morning. Most people could not name the 12 apostles. All they probably know Peter James and John and Judas, but the other ones are certainly rather obscure with regard to the apostles. The other eight, they’re only mentioned occasionally in scripture. And yet Jesus selected these men from among his disciples in general, as verse 13 indicates to us. These are special men and worthy of our careful consideration. Christ in his high priestly prayer in John 17 speaks directly of his apostles when he says, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the men, world and they have kept thy word. Jesus now is about to lay down his life. He’s going to conquer death. He’s going to ascend to the Father. And now, I am no more in the world, he says, in John 1711, but these are in the world. I’m going to be leaving. These will stay, and these men will carry on the work. So these apostles are presently being prepared. for that occasion. In fact, we’ll find even shortly they will be sent out to preach the gospel, even while Christ is still ministering here on the earth. Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. So let us consider then these special men chosen by Christ to be his apostles. We have looked at the first four. We looked at Peter and his brother, Andrew, and then James and John. And he’s noticed they’re in couplets here as we go through these various men. And so we look at the fifth one found in verse 14, Philip. Philip. Philip is a Greek name signifying warlike. or horses. His call to follow Christ is found in John chapter 1 and verse 43. What we read, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip and said unto him, follow me. And of course, Christ, when he tells someone to follow him, it is effectual in this case. And of course, his divine power is used and they immediately obey him. Philip was originally from. the city of the Bessadia or Besseda. The same with Peter and Andrew to begin with. They moved to Copernian, but they’re up there on the north-westernian part of the Sea of Galilee, one of those coastal towns there. No sooner had Philip been effectually called, and he desired to bring others to Christ. Look with me at John, chapter 1 in verse 45. John 145, Philip findeth Nathaniel, said unto him we have found him, whom Moses and the law and the prophets did right, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now, Nathaniel, who we will see as a truly pious man, an Israelite indeed displayed an unreasonable prejudice against Jesus of Nazareth on this occasion, verse 46, and Nathaniel said unto him, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Clearly Nathaniel did not know the full story of Jesus Christ that he was born in Bethlehem and Gadia. He didn’t originally come out of Nazareth at all. Sometimes a partial knowledge of Scripture limits you, and it does. doesn’t allow you to properly draw a right conclusion, and thus the need to proclaim the whole council of God, lest we miss something, and it harms us in our understanding of things. People often have prejudiced against the most exemplary followers of Christ, and they oppose the message that they hear. Philip here doesn’t enter into a debate with Nathaniel trying to persuade him about Jesus. He just simply says, as verse 46B says, Come and see. Come see for yourself if this is not the Christ. Consider his character. Listen to what he says as he expounds the scripture. Judge for yourself, is this is not the Messiah that is spoken of in the Old Testament. And then we find Nathaniel followed his excellent advice in verses 47 to 49. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, saith of him, behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no gau. Nathaniel said in him whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him before that Philip called thee. When thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee, Nathaniel answered and said unto him rabbi, thou art the son of God, thou art the king of Israel. When Jesus is about to feed to 5,000 in John chapter 6, he specifically asked Philip a question. You read John 6 and verse 5, when shall we buy bread that we may eat? and this he said to prove him for he himself knew what he would do. Jesus is testing, Philip. What do you think, Philip? How much money is it going to take to feed all these people? What are we going to do? Philip adds up the cost quickly in his mind. He says, 200 penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that everyone have a little bit. A little. Philip. apparently has forgotten already. Jesus turning the water into wine in John chapter 2 at the wedding of Cana. In this instance, Philip discovered the weakness of his faith. It doesn’t occur to him that the Lord could easily provide bread in abundance. And so we find he learns lesson here. another incident we find in John chapter 14 if you would turn with me to John 14 by the way when I was preparing this is interesting that of the eight more seven really more obscure ones we know Judas pretty well I guess the other seven a lot of the references are in John’s gospel you know it’s the not the synoptic gospels but John’s gospel gives us more information about some of these more obscure individuals and here we find in verses 7 through 11 of chapter 14 if he had known me you should have known my father also from henceforth ye shall know him and have seen him and philip saith unto him lord show us the father and it suffices thou and jesus said unto him have i not been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me philip he that hasst thou not known me philip he that has seen me and have seen the father. How sayest thou then show us the father? Believest thou not that I am in the father and the father and me the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself but the father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the father and the father in me or else believe me for the very works sake. Philip here expresses an earnest desire to be an acquaintance to be an acquaintance with the father. Now which certainly is commendable that he would want to you know be with the father. Perhaps Philip desired a visible display of God’s glory like God showed the afterglow of himself to Moses remember. Yeah, he hit him in the rock and we see that in the Old Testament. But Jesus had to explain to Philip and to the rest of the disciples here. That in see the son, they have seen the father. As verses 9 and 10 indicate, the glory of the father is to be found in Christ, his beloved son. He is of the same essence. He is of the same character. Philip, the apostle, is nowhere mentioned in the book of Acts. So we don’t have any information about his work as far as preaching. Philip, the demon, our demon Deakin is mentioned in the book of Acts. Notice sometimes as Philip the evangelist, he is mentioned, but not Philip here the apostle. Philip was not inspired to write any New Testament books. Let me make a practical observation or a couple of them here. One is this. When confronted by prejudices, sometimes it’s good to use Phillips method. And that is the this. While there’s nothing wrong with full discussions or answering objections and detail or carefully examining scriptural passages that try to persuade those that are opposed to us, there are some with prejudice, there’s nothing better to say than, well, come and see. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Bless is a man that trusteth in him, Psalm 348. Taste and see for yourself. Suppose that Christian is at work. He’s eating at the, at the, in the break room, and he’s being harassed by a fellow worker who is an atheist, railing against him in his Christian faith. And all the while, he sits there calmly peeling and eating oranges, orange slices. He’s peeling the orange and eating. And the atheist, having unleashed his full salvo, finally he says to him, and what do you say to all of that? to which the Christian replied, well, how did it taste? The atheist says, what do you mean? How did it taste? The orange. How did it taste? How should I know, says the atheist. And the Christian says exactly in the same manner, you cannot appreciate Jesus Christ and the Christian faith unless you taste it for yourself. Come and see. The second thing that we might learn. from this is this. You need to learn to see God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn’t that what John 14 is indicating to us? We shouldn’t expect to see some type of physical manifestation of God in this life. Nor do you have any need to see him on the earth. If you wish to see the father, study the son. For in him, dwell with the fullness of of the godhead bodily. Colossians 2.9. So we should ponder Christ’s person and character as revealed in scripture. He is the brightness of the Father’s glory. So here we have Philip. The next apostle that is mentioned to us here is Bartholomew also in verse 14. Now his name has only mentioned four times in scripture and always in the list of the apostles. there’s good reason to believe that the word Bartholomew here means the son of Tomai and therefore that the reference is to Nathaniel. And so that Bartholomew and Nathaniel are the same individuals. And so just as we have Simon Barjona, we have, you know, the son of Jonah. Here we have the idea of the idea of Bartholomew being like the family line and not the actual name. Bartholomew is always associated with Philip because he’s the, Philip’s the one who brought him to Christ. And therefore he’s linked with him here. He’s paired with him in verse 14. While John’s Gospel nowhere speaks of Bartholomew, it does speak of Nathaniel, being among the disciples. In fact, in John chapter 20, when the disciples decided to go fishing, he’s among them. He’s listed there. And John 20, verses 1 and 2. So this Bartholomew was the man on whom, it seems, the Lord bestowed, the high praise, behold an Israelite, indeed, and whom there is no guile. He gives a wonderful testimony of who Christ is in John 149. that we read earlier. Rabbi, thou art the son of God, thou art the king of Israel. He was not used to write any scripture. As far as practical application, let me say this. It’s a great testimony when someone says about you, boy, that’s a true Christian that lives a godly life. That’s a Christian indeed. It provides a power of God. testimony for people to see that we have a faith that we live as an impact upon them. And certainly something for value of Jesus Christ, his omniscient, to say these wonderful things about Nathaniel. Sort of reminds us of Job, where God says, has thou considered my servant Job, that there’s none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and shueth evil. There’s nobody like him. Nathaniel gets high words of praise. And so we see he is a godly man. So I believe that Bartholomew here, the son of Ptolemy, is actually Nathan, the son of Ptolemy. Nathaniel, excuse me, the son of Ptolema. And then, of course, the seventh one, we find in verse 15, is Matthew. Now, we’ve recently considered his call to follow Christ in chapter 5, verse 27 through 29. He also bore the name in Matthew’s Gospel of Levi. He’ll recall. He was a tax collector by trade, and so he calls himself Matthew the publican in Scripture. There is little else recorded about him in Scripture. In Acts 1, he is at Jerusalem. He’s gathered with the other disciples and brothers. Matthew was moved by the Spirit to write for us the gospel of Matthew, which we have in our Bibles, concerning the life and ministry of Christ. If I could make a practical application is this. In this life, you have an example here of, in his life, you have an example of the power of divine grace. For Republicans who are the low lives of society, they were the scummelms of society. of society, and he’s the one that’s called by Christ to be a disciple and then an apostle. You also find in Matthew a readiness to submit to the gospel call. Jesus said, my sheep, hear my voice and follow me. And so when he is called by Jesus, he immediately leaves the tax-collecting work and goes to follow Christ. And we see a desire. for him to reach out to his friends and coworkers and having the feast, inviting Christ to the feast, evidently to speak to them about the gospel. So Matthew here is listed for us. And then the other one here is Thomas that’s mentioned in verse 15. He was called in the Greek didamis, which means a twin. The Hebrew word Thomas means the same. thing. Most of what is recorded about Thomas is recorded in John’s Gospel. Look with me at John chapter 11, verses 14 to 16. And Jesus said unto them plainly as disciples, Lazarus is dead. I’m glad for your sakes that I was not there. To the intent that you may believe, nevertheless let us go unto him. Then said Thomas, which is called didamus, unto his fellow disciples, let us all go that we may die with him. This is a declaration that there is some danger evidently in going to the house of Lazarus when he has died. See Martha and Mary and raise Lazarus, of course. Where Lazarus lived in Bethany, it was in Judea, which was closely associated with Jerusalem. It wasn’t too far away. and therefore he was being exposed to those religious leaders that wanted to put him to death. And so the danger is there for Jesus to go into the area of Judea here at this time. Thomas only sees the negative. We’re all going to die with Christ. We’re going to share his pearls. We’re going to be exposed to the same wrath of the Jewish leadership. I suppose there’s some little bit of faith in what he says here. He’s seeming will. willingness to die and suffer with Christ. You know, they say, like, okay, we’ll just go die with him. However, he shows some ignorance of Christ’s preserving power, because no one can harm him or them, unless given divine permission. And Christ is not going to let that happen. They’re perfectly safe as the account goes on to explain. And then, of course, there’s John chapter 14, and verses 1 to 6. Here we see Thomas coming up again. Let not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my father’s house, there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am there, you may be also. And whether I go, you know, in the way you know. Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not whether. thou goest. Now can we know the way. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth in the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now, no doubt, Thomas and the disciples were still dreaming of some type of earthly kingdom in which they would take part. He’s thinking of a place here on the earth that Christ might go and set up. But Jesus is talking about God’s house in the sense of heaven here. And the way to heaven, the Father’s presence, being only through himself, the Savior of sinners. So he speaks the truth, and he gives eternal life. But Thomas didn’t, you know where he was going to go, and he didn’t know how to get there. So Jesus is explaining this a little bit more further to him. Now, the next time that Thomas is mentioned is John chapter 20 if you flip over a couple pages. This is the one, if anybody remembers anything about Thomas, this is the one that people remember. Beginning with verse 24. But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didamis, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples, therefore, said under him, we have seen the Lord, but he saith unto them except I see in his hands the print of the nails. put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, again, his disciples were within. And Thomas, with them, then came Jesus, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, Peace be unto you. And he said to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my hands. my side and be not faithless but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, my Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. Initially, when the risen Savior appeared to the disciples after his death and his resurrection, Thomas was in there for some reason. And he wasn’t about to believe that they had actually seen the resurrected Christ without him touching the wounds in Christ’s body himself. He says, you know, I’m not going to believe unless I can do this. Now this was sinful unbelief and got him the nickname doubting Thomas. That’s the one that sticks out in your mind when you think about Thomas. Now the next time that Jesus comes, he sort of gently rebukes him and says, here I am. Put your hand on my side, you know, put your finger in my nail prints in my hand, touch me, see if it’s not really me, that I’m not just a ghost or something. Christ wonderfully condescends to allow Thomas to feel his body and verify that he’s truly alive in a resurrected body. Thomas convinced his heart overjoyed. cries out my Lord and my God. For Thomas sees the glory of Christ’s whole character here. The Lord, he is the Lord, and the divine nature of Christ is acknowledged. So he goes from doubt to devotion in a moment’s time. Thomas is mentioned in the last chapter of John. He’s fishing with the other disciples in John 20. and well as Acts chapter 1. He’s among the apostles at Jerusalem. He was not used to write any scripture for us. Let me make this practical observation. You should always think the worst is going to happen. We should remember God’s good providence that governs everything that comes into our lives. Christ can marvelously preserve his people, and so we don’t have to just, well, let us go and die with him, have that attitude, but we can have the attitude. Well, maybe the Lord will provide some type of protection and watch care for me. You should have a clear understanding of the way to heaven and the blessing of being in the Father’s presence. Jesus is the only way, and therefore there is no other. That’s important. We know that. Also, be not slow of heart to believe what Christ has told you and still demand some type of proof. We’re to walk by faith and not by sight. Be as ready as Thomas, though, to make a public declaration of the deity of Christ. That’s Thomas. Also in verse 15, we have the name James, the son of Elfius mentioned. Now, in order to distinguish him from, James, the son of Zebedee. He is usually called James here the less or the younger. James, it appears, was Jesus’ cousin on his mother’s side, along with Jude, his brother. We’ll take up in a moment. You’re given no particular information about him until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He ends up rising to a very prominent place among the disciples after the death of James the son of Zebedee. When James is beheaded in Acts chapter 12, later on in Acts it is this James that comes to the forefront. When Peter was delivered from prison in Acts 12, he said, Go show these things unto James and to the brethren. Acts 1217. at the famous Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. The subject of mandatory circumcision for Gentile converts was rejected. And it was James who spoke up and proposed the motion that was adopted. In Acts 15 verses 19 and 20. Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them, which are among the Gentiles, which are turned to God, but write under them that they abstained from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood. That was his judgment that they decided to follow. When Paul went to Jerusalem to present the love gift, the money offering that he brought from the Gentile churches, you read that Paul went up with us, meaning Luke and others, under James, and all the elders were present. So James was there at the church in a predominant role there. This shows that James continued to reside in this chief role throughout the Book of Acts. James, the less, wrote an inspired epistle. It’s a general epistle to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. That’s the book of James that we have. I’ll make this practical observation. Sometimes Christians start out rather obscure. And they may remain that way for a number of years. And then all of a sudden, they’re raised up. They’re gifted by Christ to have a more prominent role in the kingdom of God. Once James of the Holy Triumvirate, Peter James and John, once he died and is martyred, you find James, the less eventually assuming the leadership role, a very prominent place among the disciples or apostles. Once a mighty oak falls, the younger trees growing in its shadow have a chance to flourish and come out of the shadow and become great trees themselves. So we can learn from this to accept the lesser roles that Christ gives us and await exaltation in God’s due time to serve in his kingdom. James, the son of Elfus. Then there is Simon called Zillotus, verse 15. This means Simon the zealous. Now, some people think that Zalotis refers to a radical group called the Zelots. These were. Jews that were in armed rebellion against the Romans at this time, trying to overthrow them. However, it’s more likely that this is an honorable title that’s given to James, and that Simon was, it was an honorable title, and that Simon here was distinguished as a man of great zeal in embracing and promoting the gospel. In Matthew and Mark, he’s called Simon the Canaanite. Now, it’s interesting that the word Cana in the Hebrew is the word for zeal. And Zelatis is the Greek word for zeal. And it’s interesting that the word canaanite also has the idea of merchants. And I guess they were very zealous in selling their way or air, so maybe that’s where they got the zealousness from. I don’t know. But this apostle is only known by name. in scripture. No acts of his are recorded for us. He is no, not inspired to write any scripture for us. So this is all we know. We don’t know anymore about this man. Let me say this. It’s not been given, even among all the faithful apostles, to be given a noted place in the sacred record of scripture. You may find your lot as a sincere and genuine Christian to be one of obscurity. Where you serve the Lord all your days and, you know, no one’s writing about you, no one’s, you know, mentioning you on the history pages, and you might think, well, you know, I’m a forgotten person when it comes to my service for the kingdom of God. However, God will not forget, and all your works will be written in his book, and he will reward you. Like Simon is the… zealous. Though there’s no earthly record, your faithful service to Jesus Christ will not be neglected. It will be rewarded. Simon called Zolatus. Then we have Judas, the brother of James, in verse 16. His name is linked to Judah in the Old Testament. One of the sons of Jacob, you recall. So Judah, Judas and Jude, all really carry the same idea with them. And the idea is praise. The word has to do with praise. When Leah had Judas, she was praising God that she had a son. So she was excited. Now this Judas was the brother James the less. As I said earlier, he was a cousin. Just both of them were cousins of Christ, it seems. He’s also called Labius in scripture. It’s from the Hebrew word labai, which means lion, which is the emblem of the tribe of Jude. Remember, we read about the lion of the tribe of Jude in the book of Revelation. Speaking of Christ. Matthew 10. 3 says, Labius, whose surname was Thadius. Thadius is a Hebrew word signifying one who praises. So all these are sort of interconnected. So it seems like Thadius, Labius, and Judas here are all, or Jude, are all the same idea. The only reference mentioned about him in scripture is found in John chapter 14, outside of his epistle, of course. That personal reference. Versus 22 and 23. And Judas said on him, Not as scary. He knows how it’s carefully, he’s carefully identified. Is Judas the less, or Jude the less here, not Jude the last, but Jude the brother of James the less. Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not under the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come onto him and make our abode with him. That’s how I will manifest myself to you. So in the midst of much ignorance and temporal ideas about Christ’s kingdom, I think Jude asked, I think, an important question, and he asks for instruction on it, and he obtains a most interesting and gracious reply by our Lord. Jude was inspired to write one book for us, and that is the epistle of Jude, which provides a general unsolomlemm warning against all false teachers. I’ll make this practical observation. You should always acknowledge your ignorance and appeal to Christ for enlightenment. Seek understanding from the written word of God with prayer. Learn the truth that you as a believer are the habitation of God through the spirit. The presence of the Lord will be with you. causing you to experience his love and stirring up your holy affections. So Judas, the brother James, and last on the list, and always last, on all the lists of the apostles, is Judas Ascariot in verse 16. Escariat seems to be a description of the place of his birth or residence. Ischariot seems to be a description of the place of his birth or residence. to refer to a man of Carrioth, which was a small town in southern Judea. He professed himself to be a disciple of Christ, but it was not a real disciple of Christ. In fact, he’s pointed out as being the traitor all along throughout the various gospels. Repeatedly, he is mentioned as the betrayer of Christ. He sold the saviour for 30 pieces of silver. He found fault with Mary, you recall, for anointing Jesus with the expensive ointment. Why wasn’t this sold? And the money given to the poor. But, as John tells us, he was only really interested in the money going into the treasury of the apostles so that he could put his hand in the bag and steal some of it. His hypocrisy about betraying Christ is found in John 20, or Matthew 26. 6, when all the disciples are saying, is it I? Who’s going to betray you when Jesus reveals that one of them is going to betray him? Is it I? Is it I? Is it I? Even Judas had the audacity to say to Christ, is it I? And Christ says, thou sayest. Yeah, it’s you. The natural question to ask is why did Jesus choose Judas to be an apostle when he knew? he was a traitor? Well, the most obvious answer is he had to fulfill the scriptures. And the Psalms, Psalm 69, Psalm 109, other places in Scripture indicate to us that it was for the purpose of betraying Christ so that the death of Christ would take place and so forth. But it was prophesied beforehand. Thus, Christ is fulfilling Scripture. I’ll make this. I’ll make observation. The history of Judas certainly provides an awful warning to us, to every professing disciple Christ. Beware of the danger of hypocrisy. That your faith be not, if your faith isn’t genuine wine, if you are playing the hypocrite, so to speak, you’re going to fall into the same problem that Judas did. Of being our religious, but unregionable, nerd of heart and still in the clutches of Satan, your master. What a sad case that is. So beware also we find of covetousness, which is a besetting sin, and Judas had his hand in the bag, being a covetous man, and that’s why he wanted the money for betraying Christ as well. All may be said to be traitors of Christ. to pretend to be his disciples, but prove themselves in the end to be his enemies. Judas is called the son of perdition in John 17, and all who follow his example are going to end up in perdition in hell themselves. Well, let me close. Many of the apostles are unknown to most Christians, but they are important men, and there are lessons to learn. think from each of them, even in the brief information we have about them. And I pray that this has been useful to you to get to know them a little bit as we go forward here in the gospel.