Acts 10

Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 10 as we continue our study here on Sunday morning through the Book of Acts. Through the New Testament, actually, but right now in the Book of Acts. I love this book. The Book of Acts is so cool. It's about the leading of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit to enable and empower the believers to go and do what they were called to do, which is share the gospel. And we're going to do our best to cover this entire chapter this morning. It's a fairly lengthy chapter, but I think we'll get through it. I want to remind you though, I want to set the stage if I may, just for a moment before we get into this, that up to this point, the gospel has primarily gone out to Jews. It has also gone out to Samaritans. We read that. The Samaritans, as you know are half Jews, but the gospel has not yet really been forcefully offered to the Gentiles, and there's a very good reason for that. The Jews didn't believe the Gentiles could be saved, bottom line. You see, the Jews were a special people, an honored people. They were a holy nation. They had been given blessings that no other nation on the face of the earth had been given. They had received the law of God. They had received through the prophetic giftings, the ministry of prophecy about God's redemptive program. And God taught his people, the Jews, to live differently from the Gentile nations. He called them to live apart, to be set apart, to be a holy people. Let me show you a passage from Deuteronomy where the Lord says it. He says, Deuteronomy 7:6 (ESV)

“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you (He said to the nation of Israel) to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” You'll notice that the word there is, holy. He says, I've called you to be holy. That word doesn't mean perfect, it means, set apart. Okay. A holy one is a set apart one. It means somebody who's living differently from the rest of the world. Right? And that's what God wanted His people to do. Why? Why? So that they might attract the attention of the Gentile nations, bring them into a worship of the one true God, and that eventually lead them to the promised Messiah. The problem was, Israel misinterpreted their understanding of what it meant to be a holy nation, what it meant to be a set apart people. And rather than seeing the Gentile nations of the world through the eyes of God, through the compassion and the mercy of God, they saw the Gentile nations as garbage. That's probably the nicest way I can put it. They literally saw the Gentiles as refuse. The Jews were taught that the reason God created Gentiles was to fuel the fires of hell, literally. That's all they're good for. They can't be saved. All they can do is stoke the fires of hell, so there you go. That's the…, have we set the stage? It's pretty interesting, isn't it? Here's Peter. He's been raised as a Jew. He's been raised with all of these ideas concerning the Gentiles, and now God is calling him to reach the Gentiles for Jesus. We're going to see how that happens. But here's what's interesting. Here's what's interesting. Had the Jews really truly been paying attention, they would have seen that God had always included or desired to include the Gentiles in His redemptive plan. Let me show you a couple of passages. First from Isaiah chapter 49, check this out on the screen. Isaiah 49:5-6 (ESV)

And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, (and by the way, this is referring ultimately to Messiah) to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him — for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength he says: (He says) “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Here's the message that God gives to Messiah. He says, I've raised you up to be a light, but it's too small a thing that it would be limited just to the sons of Jacob, meaning the people of Israel. He says, I have also called you to be a light to the nations, to bring the Gentiles into the family of God. This is in the old Testament. This is a passage that the Jews had, but they misread it. Zechariah repeats this message. Zechariah 2:11.

And many nations shall join themselves to (YAHWEH, to) the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. God spoke through the prophet Zechariah but the Jews missed it. You see, the Jews thought that a person could, a Gentile could maybe come in if they became a Jew first. But they'd have to basically come into the covenant of Moses first and submit to all of the rules and regulations, and then maybe you might have a chance. Even Jesus talked about the in gathering of the Gentiles. It's recorded in the Book of John on the screen from John chapter 10. He says,

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be (ultimately, He says at the end of this whole thing, just be) one flock, (and there's going to be just) one shepherd. Jesus said, and that's going to be Me. And it's all going to be one. Not Jew or Gentile, and that's where we are today. In the body of Christ, Jew and Gentile doesn't mean diddly squat. We're just children of God as we come to faith in Jesus Christ, amen? This is where we are today, but this is not where Peter was back in that day. Peter is the man, again, who has to have his heart prepared for what God wants to do through him to reach the Gentiles. And that's what we're going to read about here in Acts chapter 10. Look with me here and read along with me as I read.

a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” 23 So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.” 30 And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” 34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” (ESV) I want you to stop there if you would please, let's pause for a moment. Let's pray as we get into verses Father, we just open our hearts to You. As we dig into the Word, as we unpack these verses, we pray in Jesus name, that You would open our hearts to hear the message You have for each of us. We pray that You'd speak to Your children, that You would minister grace, and that You would nourish our souls. That You would feed us and guide us, that You would lead us into all truth and show us Lord God, how to apply Your truth to our lives. We ask it in Jesus name, amen. Amen. There are so many, as we've already said, cultural and religious dynamics that are coming into play in this particular story and what is happening here. But first I want to talk a little bit about this man, Cornelius. That is has been visited by an angel. Versus 1 to 2 tell us quite a bit about him. We learned that he was a centurion, which means that he was a man with some authority, a centurion typically had up to 100 men under them who they commanded. He was of the Italian cohort, which simply meant that he was part of a larger detachment of soldiers. And he was also a devout man who feared God. And that's an important thing to remember. Because he was devout, we're told that he gave alms. That's not a word that we use much today. It essentially just means he was involved in a lot of charitable giving, but it also goes on to tell us he was a generous man. Now you might say, well, isn't that the same thing as saying that he gave charitably, well, not necessarily. Some people give charitably just to be noticed. It isn't because they're generous. It's because they want to be known as being generous. But this man was truly generous in his heart. We learned that he was a man of prayer. He was a man who prayed continually. And then in verse 22, we find out that he was well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation. A lot of people knew of him and the Jews, that is, held him in very high regard. And then finally, we learned about this man that he cared about other people because when Peter got there to talk to him, the house was full of his friends and relatives and acquaintances. He wanted them all. He invited them all to come and hear what Peter had to say so he was a man who cared about others. He didn't keep this good news to himself. Well, everything we learned about Cornelius really sets this man apart from what we know essentially of the Roman people. Remember, the Romans were essentially pagans and because they were pagan, they lived a very lascivious lifestyle; a very immoral lifestyle for the most part. But this was a man who believed in the one true God. He opened his heart to the revelation that God has given us in nature that there is a designer that has designed this incredible universe and all that is in it. And because he opened his heart to the Lord God and worshiped the one true God, God now was going to fill in the gaps. Because you see, this man Cornelius, he's a good man. If you met a man like Cornelius, you would say, hey, he's a good man, he's a good guy. But we also know something from the Bible, and that is that being good isn't enough. You can't be a good man and go to heaven because Jesus didn't die for good people,

He died for sinners. And you see, you can't be good enough to go to heaven. Cornelius is still, even in the midst of all these wonderful things it says about him, he's still lacking. He's lacking a knowledge of the Savior and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And that is what God is going to fill in for him through Peter. But wait a minute, this is Peter, he was raised as a Jew, he believed all the things we talked about that there's no such thing as a saved Gentile. These people are, they're reprobate. There's no way they could possibly be saved. They're garbage, they're dogs. Well, Simon has had an adjustment of his own related to this whole thing and it all came about through a vision that the Lord gave him as he was waiting for lunch to be prepared. He saw this sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners filled with all kinds of animals that were forbidden for the Jews to eat. You see, in the law of Moses, God gave the Jews dietary laws. People refer to the law of Moses and we talk about it in a general sense of the law of Moses. But actually the law of Moses had many features. In the law of Moses, you had things like the moral law, you shall not commit murder. There were things like the ceremonial law, which was keep the Sabbath and the feasts and things like that. Within the context of the law, you had the civil law, which was how to treat your brother or your sister, how to deal with your neighbor. But there was also made up in the law, the dietary laws and restrictions. And the Jews were told that there were some animals that they were allowed to eat, and there were some animals that were forbidden them to eat, and they followed this very strictly. In fact when Peter hears this voice of the Lord saying, get up, kill and eat, Peter objected. He figures, I don't know, he's probably thinking this is a test. And he says, not so Lord, I never, I've never eaten anything that was forbidden for a Jew to eat. And that's when he heard the Lord say, what God has made clean, do not call common, or as the NIV puts it, do not call anything impure that God has made clean. And so the Lord is speaking to Peter about the Jewish dietary restrictions but He's also talking to him about a lot more. He's talking to him about the Gentiles and He's preparing his heart to share the message with the Gentiles. But you know, as it relates to the Jewish dietary restrictions, boy, those things didn't die easy. I mean, for the Jews, this was just, this was hardwired into them.

You know that you just, there's things you don't eat. There's just certain things you don't eat, period. And when God overturned that, which He did, that was a very difficult thing. Do you know, to this day, to this day, there are Christians who observe the dietary regulations because they think they have to. They believe they are under the law and restricted from eating certain foods even to this day, I'm talking about Christians. There are movements that tell Christians, you have to keep the dietary restrictions. Well, had the disciples been listening when Jesus taught about things about food, they would have realized that this was being overturned. And this is actually recorded for us in the Book of Mark. Let me show you this, interesting statement. This is Jesus talking here. He says,

Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside (and that means what goes in through their mouth) cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (look at this parenthetical statement) (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And that means permissible, right? You see, the Jews believed that if you ingested an unclean animal in any way, it would defile you and Jesus is correcting that particular mistaken notion. But this teaching about food laws, it was something that even later on the apostle Paul had to address because it worked its way into some of the churches where people were judging Christians by what they ate or didn't eat. Let me show you this from the Book of Colossians. Paul writes here. He says,

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, (he says, in fact, don't let them judge you about anything) or (even) with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. (what does he say here? Look,) These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Remember what Jesus said, I have not come to abolish the law. I have come to fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17) Jesus came to fulfill the law. As Paul says here, the reality of all those types and shadows is found in the person of Jesus Christ, right? He says, don't let anybody judge you by those things. But boy, I tell you, there are Christians still doing it. I cannot believe someone calls them self a Christian, reads the Bible, comes across verses like this, and still thinks they need to keep the food laws. I just I don't get it. It really is incredible. And you know the fact that God overturned the food laws in the Old Testament causes a lot of people to ask the question Well, why did He even instigate such things in the first place? I mean if He was just going to overturn the thing eventually, then why even tell them at some time or another that in their history, here are some animals you can eat and which are kosher, right? And here are the animals that are forbidden. And of course there's a lot of people who have ventured a guess. Do you understand that God never actually explained it. It's really something about God. He doesn't feel obligated to explain Himself all the time. And there's a lot of people who've said, well, there's health reasons for certain animals they didn't eat, and there's this, and then there's that, or whatever. I think one of the main reasons that God gave Israel, not just the dietary restrictions, but frankly, all the restrictions that He gave them, was because He was teaching them to discern the difference between holy and unholy, good and bad, right and wrong. It's like when you teach a child, there are certain restrictions you give a child that you don't have to give to an adult because they can reason through things. But when somebody is a child, you have to teach them what's right and what's wrong. And He wanted them to do that. In fact, He expressed that He, in fact, was doing that. Let me show you this on the screen from Leviticus chapter 10. It says, this is God talking to the Jewish people. He says, Leviticus 10:10 (ESV)

You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, Because God wanted them to learn that there's a difference between the holy and the unholy, the clean and the unclean, and so He gave them restrictions so that they would begin to get this into their heart and mind. Well, it obviously got into their heart and mind, but it went way overboard and it became a legalism. And they began to even create rules that God never told them or gave them. Did you notice when Peter came into Cornelius's house, he said, well, you guys are well aware that it's illegal for, unlawful for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile. Do you know that God never told them that? God never said you can't go into the house of a Gentile. He just told them to be holy and separate. And they came up with the rules along the way. And that turned out to be a problem. So here's the question. God gives Peter this elaborate vision about dietary issues so that he might learn that he's talking not just about animals, but about people because the Jews looked at the Gentiles the same way they looked at unclean animals. And here's the question, did Peter get the message? Well, look with me again at verse 34. “So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,” Guys, this is a no brainer for you and me. We read this and we're like, well, duh. We live in the nation that put it into our constitution. All men are created equal. Right? This was not the Jewish thought, that all men were created equal. This does not go along with Jewish thought to say that God shows no partiality. They were raised believing that God shows partiality and it's to us. And now for Peter to make this switch was absolutely mind blowing. This is one of the most radical changes of thought that could possibly come into a person's mind. And so he says this, now I see this. Look at verse 35, “but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Wow! Well done, Peter, you got the message that God gave you. So Peter goes on verse 36, as we keep reading, “As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),” What is Peter saying to the Gentiles when he says, “(he is Lord of all)”? He's saying, He's God in human flesh. What does it mean to be Lord of all? It means He's Lord over all. He's Lord over all creation. He's Lord over all mankind. He's

Lord over the universe. He's saying, he's proclaiming that, Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. Verse 37, “you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, (but look at this, he's going to preach the resurrection) 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him (and that means, puts their confidence in what He did on the cross) receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” That's a beautiful proclamation of the gospel that Peter gives here to the Gentiles who are gathered there in the home of Cornelius. He preaches Jesus, the Son of God, God in human flesh, the death, resurrection of Jesus and that faith in His name is what gives us forgiveness of sins. He's telling Cornelius, Corne, buddy, you're a good guy. You're a good guy. God Himself said you're a good guy, but you need to be forgiven. You still need to…, because you see good people aren't good enough. It doesn't mean that God doesn't appreciate the good things you do, He does. But you can't be good enough to get into heaven. It's like, if you'd have met someone like Cornelius, you'd say, well, man, that guy's in like Flynn. He's good to go. He's got it dialed in. He's a godly man. He prays all the time, you know, he gives his money to the poor. He's a good, if anybody deserves to go to heaven, it's Corne. He's a good guy. Let him in. God, if God doesn't let people like him in, he won't let anybody in. Wait a minute. That's not how heaven works. Not based on personal goodness. That's why the Bible says that our most righteous acts in God's sight are like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) And again, that doesn't mean God doesn't appreciate the things that you do. He does. They're just not good enough when compared to Him.

You see, we compare ourselves to one another and we, you start telling somebody about the cross or what Jesus did and they'll say to you, well, I'm not such a bad person. And what they're doing is they're comparing themselves to the people they know. And you have to say, well, listen, God doesn't grade on a curve. He's not going to pit you against your neighbor. You see the standard of holiness is Him. That's the standard, right? So you're going to measure up to that holiness? Sorry, it isn’t going to happen. You have to be forgiven of your sin. And God sent His son to pay for your sin on the cross so that you could be forgiven. Just put your faith in Him and you'll be, your sins will be wiped out. What a deal! What a deal! Best deal I've heard! So yeah, this is what Peter's sharing with these people. I love it. Verse 44, “While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.” Now stop there for a minute and pay close attention because there's a preposition in that verse that you need to take note of. Did you remember your prepositions from school? What are prepositions? While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell, on. We've talked about this a lot, guys. When the Bible speaks of the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the believer, the Bible uses different prepositions. Before a person gets saved, the preposition is, with. When the person opens their heart to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the preposition is, in. The Holy Spirit comes in to indwell. When God wants to empower the believer for service, the Holy Spirit comes, on. Different prepositions, always used consistently in the Bible. And this is on. You might say, well, now, wait a minute, where's the Holy Spirit coming, in? Well, yeah, He, of course that happens, but that doesn't come with any manifestation. You remember when Jesus is talking to Nicodemus? He's talking about the Holy Spirit and how you're born again. He says, the wind, what do you know about the wind? Do you know where it's coming from or where it's going? No, I don't have a clue. No, that's true. So it is with the Spirit. The Spirit comes, the Spirit goes. (John 3:8) He imparts that born again experience and there's no manifestation. Somebody in this room could get saved today and receive the Holy Spirit, walk out of this room with no visible manifestation of difference. There's a joy in their heart of course, there's an understanding and a confidence that they're loved by God and forgiven, but there's nothing you can look at from the outside or see from the outside that's going to make any immediate difference. Now, when the Spirit comes on, there are manifestations that often go along with that, and the reason that was important in this situation is that Peter and the other Jews who came with him, had to see that God had accepted the Gentiles. It wasn't enough just for the Spirit to come in, because again, there's no manifestation that goes with that. They had to see and hear, to be convinced. Right? And so what does God do? He falls upon these new Gentile believers who had already responded to the gospel with faith in Jesus Christ. And boom, the Holy Spirit comes on them. We're talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 45. And it says, “And the believers from among the circumcised (that means the Jews right?) who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.” Look at verse 46) “For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.” In other words, what Peter and these other Jews heard was the same thing that happened on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell upon the assembled believers. Why was that important? Because these are Gentiles and God had to prove beyond a doubt, that He had embraced and accepted these people and that this was a work of His grace. And so look at, we're in the end of verse 46, “Then Peter declared,” Peter's talking here now. Verse 47, he says, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” You know what he's doing? He's talking to the Jews who are, who came with him. He sees the Holy Spirit. He hears this manifestation of the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And he turns to his buddies who came with him, these other Jews who were raised just like him believing the Gentiles can't be saved. And he turns to them and he says, you guys got a problem with this. Anybody got a problem with us dunking these guys right now? Because if you do, you can see that God has put His stamp of approval on this situation so if you have a problem with it, you have a problem with God. And that's the inference here.

And so it says in verse 48, “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.” What an incredible chapter. But what happened here is that Peter finally embraced the full impact of what the scripture had been saying to him all along. What Jesus had said during His earthly ministry, what the scriptures had declared prophetically. I'll give you one, one more verse 32 of Joel chapter 2. Look at this,

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD should be saved. You see, this is an Old Testament passage. Peter knew this passage. He learned this passage. But you see, the Jews interpreted that as, yes, any Jew who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But now Peter has understood the final and ultimate impact of this verse. Oh, everyone means everyone. Well now wait a second here, pastor Paul, you trying to tell me that if somebody commits murder and then they go to prison and then they hear the gospel that they're going to be saved and go to heaven? Everyone? Wait a minute, pastor Paul, you mean even people that are involved in all kinds of heinous behaviors and activities and belief systems and you mean even Democrats? I'm just kidding. I shouldn't have said that. Forgive me. Hey, everyone, amen? Everyone. Let's stand together and we'll close in prayer. I'm going to get dirty notes now, just, I want you to know that I'm going to get very evil emails, but it's okay because my wife filters them all out. So it's good. It's, it's cool. All right. So Father, thank You so much for Your love for us. Thank You, Lord, that not one single person in this room deserves to be saved, but that we are when we put our faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Lord, I pray for anybody here today who has not yet confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in their heart that You raised our Savior from the dead. And I pray, Father God, they would do it right here, right now, as we're closing in prayer. That in the quiet of their own heart, they would just say, Jesus, I accept You, I receive You. I opened my heart to You. I invite You in, wash me clean, wash me, even me. Because Your Word says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We praise You. We worship You. We adore You in Jesus name we pray. And all God's people said, amen. If you need prayer, come on up front. God bless you.