All right, Luke/Acts for Beginners, lesson number 19, Peter Preaches to the Gentiles.
We're covering Acts chapter 10, verse one to 12:25. So this is the last lesson of
part one of this series on the book of Acts, that deals primarily with Peter's
ministry in and around Jerusalem. So Peter, a marvelous ministry that
he has had. He's been privileged to be the first to preach the full gospel on
Pentecost Sunday, and in this section Luke will describe the events that
precede and follow his preaching to the Gentiles for the first time. So far the
Apostles and their disciples have been preaching to Jews and to Gentile
converts to Judaism. Philip, for example, when Philip was preaching to the eunuch -
interesting that Philip preaches to a Gentile convert to Judaism, but someone
of a different race now, because the eunuch was from Ethiopia. We see the
progress: to Jews only, to converts to Judaism, and now even to people of
different nations. Peter however, will break through this wall of
separation between Jew and Gentile and he'll be the one to bring the gospel to
a Roman soldier, a Gentile obviously, thus opening the door for Paul and others
later on to freely proclaim the good news to all men, regardless of culture or
gender or religion or position in society. So let's begin reading that
section in Acts chapter 10, beginning in verse one, it says, "Now there was a man at
"Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a
"devout man and one who feared God with all his household and gave many alms to
"the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the
"day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to
"him, 'Cornelius.' And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed he said, 'What is
"it, Lord?' And he said to him, 'Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial
"before God. Now dispatch some men to Joppa and
"look for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter. He is staying with a tanner
"named Simon, whose house is by the sea.' When the angel who was speaking to him
"had left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were
"his personal attendants and after he had explained everything to them, he sent
"them to Joppa." So we need to understand first of all that the Jews had two
classes of converts. When we're talking about proselytes,
the Gentiles who become Jews, they had two classes of converts - one,
proselytes of the gate, these were converts who were not subject to
circumcision and observed only a limited portion of the law: forbidding idolatry,
blasphemy, disobedience to judges, murder, fornication, incest, theft, and eating of
blood. The eunuch, for example, that Philip baptized, he was one of these, as was
Cornelius, probably because he was a Roman soldier and a foreigner. The idea
of proselytes of the gate meant that these converts to judaism could come to
the temple, but could not enter in. They were stopped at the gate. They
could not go further into the temple complex. Then you had the proselytes of
righteousness, these were Gentiles that became complete
Jews, accepting circumcision and subject to the entire law. These could enter and
worship at the temple. Although he was a proselyte of the gate, Luke
describes Cornelius as a centurion first of all, centurion is a Roman officer of
more than - not more than of, but rather, an officer over of about a hundred soldiers.
Luke describes this centurion in the following way: he says, he was a devout
man, pious. In other words, the things of God were important to him. That's
the idea of piety, that all the things connected to God and the
worship of God are important to you. He was a man that feared God. He was a
proselyte who worshipped the God of the Jews and led his household in that
direction. Luke also describes him as one being benevolent. He used
position and wealth to benefit the poor, thus confirming that his faith was
sincere. And he was spiritually minded. He wanted a spiritual relationship with God
and he pursued that relationship through constant prayer. So we see that his
prayers are answered as God gives him instructions to bring Peter to his home.
I want you to note that the angel who appeared to Cornelius could have
preached the gospel to him then and there, but that task was given by God to
men, not to angels, so that even if it was more complicated to arrange, Cornelius
sends for Peter. And so, now the scene shifts to Peter and what Peter's
doing during this time. So let's keep going in Acts chapter 10, it says, "On the
"next day as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on
"the housetop about the sixth hour to pray, but he became hungry and was
"desiring to eat. But while they were making preparations he fell into a
"trance and he saw the sky open up and an object, a great sheet, coming down, lowered
"by four corners to the ground. And there were in it all kinds of four-footed
"animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came
"to him, 'Get up Peter, kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord, for I have
"never eaten anything unholy and unclean.' Again a voice came to him a second time,
"What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.' This happened three times and
"immediately the object was taken up into the sky." It says that when Peter arrived
at Joppa, and there on our map we see where Joppa is - northwest from Jerusalem,
not far from Caesarea. God provides a vision where Peter is commanded to eat
food that Jews were not permitted to eat, according to Jewish food laws. The Lord
had prepared Cornelius with the visit of an angel to give him specified
instructions and now the Lord prepares Peter with a vision
that will enable him to carry out God's mission despite the challenges it'll
present him as a faithful Jew. I mean, Jewish ceremonial and food laws
were given to the Jews by God in order to make a distinction between themselves
as God's people and other nations. Gentiles, if you wish, who were not God's
people. For example, the whole world at that time labored seven days, seven days
a week. The idea of the weekend, that's a relatively new
phenomenon. One hundred and fifty years ago there was no such thing as the weekend, being
promoted by different entertainment venues. There was no
weekend, people worked. Well, it was the same way in that time, no such thing as
the weekend. People worked seven days a week, but the Jews were different in that
they devoted one day, the Sabbath day, to the Lord, and rested on that day, even the
slaves in that society had to observe the Sabbath day; and in this, they
were different from the nations around them. The other nations ate every kind of
food, but Jews were different because what they did or did not eat was guided
by their law given to them by God. So once Christ came, the way to be
separated from the world was to follow Him and submit to the direction of the
Holy Spirit who leads Christians through His word, the New Testament spoken by
Christ and taught by his Apostles. We read about that in Acts chapter 2, verse
42. So you see the problem here. The problem for Peter, as well as the other
Apostles, was that the practices that they had followed as Jews: food laws,
Sabbath Day observance. These were now taken away or
fulfilled by Jesus, but they were slow to understand this idea, this
included the rules concerning their association with Gentiles. They
could not enter a Gentile's home or share a meal with a Gentile, nor could
they, the Gentiles, enter a Jew's home, or they couldn't
enter the temple, but they couldn't enter a Jew's home either, or share a meal with
them at the same table. And they had been conditioned this way for centuries. So in
the vision of the clean and unclean food and the command to eat, God was teaching
Peter two things. First of all, that God had the authority to establish laws, to
change laws, or to suspend laws, because He was God, the giver of laws.
And secondly, He was now amending the law concerning food, declaring that all food
was to be considered clean and thus could be eaten freely by Jews, all
right. And of course by Jewish Christians. That's the idea. So understanding this
reticence of Peter concerning Gentiles helps us to understand what is going to
take place here. So let's keep reading Acts chapter 10, it says, "Now while Peter
"was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be, behold,
"the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon's
"house, appeared at the gate; and calling out they were asking whether Simon who
"was also called Peter was staying there. While Peter was reflecting on the vision,
"the spirit said to him, 'Behold, three men are looking for you, but get up, go
"downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them myself.'
"And Peter went down to the men and said, 'Behold, I am the one you are looking for.
"What is the reason for which you have come?'
"They said, 'Cornelius a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man, well
"spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy
"angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.' So he
"invited them in and gave them lodging." Incredible. I mean, Peter, still trying to
absorb the meaning of the vision, is told that those sent by Cornelius are at the
gate and he should welcome them. And so Peter greets them and after hearing them
explain the reason for their journey, he invites them to spend the night with
him and Simon's family in that place. Now Peter
not having understood the full impact of the vision, but nevertheless obeyed God's
instructions to invite the Gentiles in, despite his discomfort. He had to go
against an entire lifetime of conditioning to keep away from the
Gentiles, to separate himself from them, certainly not to eat, not to have them in
your home, not to have them sleep in your home, all of this he had to go
against. It was, I'm sure, a very difficult moment for Peter. So we keep
reading, it says that, "On the next day he got up and went away with them and some
"of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him. On the following day he entered
"Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his
"relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and
"fell at his feet and worshiped him, but Peter raised him up saying, 'Stand up,
"I am just a man.' As he talked with him he entered and found many people
"assembled. And he said to them, 'You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a
"man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him and yet God
"has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean, that is why I came
"without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I asked for what
"reason you have sent for me?' Cornelius said, 'Four days ago to this
"hour I was praying in my house during the ninth hour and behold a man stood
"before me in shining garments and he said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been
"heard and your alms have been remembered before God, therefore, send to Joppa and
"invite Simon, who was also called Peter, to come to you. He is staying at the
"house of Simon the tanner by the sea.' So I sent for you immediately and you have
"been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all
'that you have been commanded by the Lord." So Luke describes both Cornelius'
preparations for Peter's visit. Notice he had no doubt that Peter would come.
There's also a marvelous image of these two pious and humble men deferring to
one another. Here's Cornelius, the Roman centurion,
kneeling in front of this Galilean fisherman, in view of his family and
friends. And then there's the servant of the Lord refusing this type of homage,
declaring the truth: that before God, both of them are only men. In other words, both
of them are only sinful men. So Peter begins by speaking to the obvious
elephant in the room here. What are a group of Jewish men doing visiting and
entering the house of a Gentile, something that everyone knew was not
permitted for a Jew. He doesn't describe his vision as Cornelius will do, but he
demonstrates that he has understood the meaning of the vision that he had and he
has obeyed it. So Cornelius explains his own vision and how this has led to
Peter's arrival in his home. The stage has now been set for the first instance
where the gospel is proclaimed to the Gentiles. And so Peter's lesson assumes
the fact that his hearers are all familiar with the facts of the gospel, as were
most people who lived in the area and knew of Jesus and His ministry, as well
as His death and reports of His resurrection. He also includes the new
information given him by God in the vision, that the gospel is for everyone,
not just for Jews to whom he had been preaching since Pentecost. His main point
is that he and the Apostles are actual witnesses of the death, the burial, and
the resurrection of Jesus. So let's kind of jump into his sermon from this point
on in chapter 10, verse 39, he says, "We are witnesses of all the things He did, both
"in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging
"Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become
"visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by
"God. That is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead and He
"ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the One
"who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.
"of Him all the prophets bear witness, that through His name everyone who
"believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."
So Peter preaches the gospel, preaches about the death, and the burial,
and the resurrection of Jesus, and the fact that they, as Apostles, who are
witnesses of this, of all of this, including the resurrection, are here to
preach the good news of Jesus Christ. So now we see the response to Peter's
preaching in verse 44, it says, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the
"Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message, all the
"circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of
"the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles. Also, for they were hearing
"them speaking with tongues and exalting God." So I have a question here, before
Peter can finish by encouraging his audience to repent and be baptized,
because that's where he's going, that's where, that's how he
preached at Pentecost. This is the direction that he's going. Before he gets
there, the crowd, not the crowd, but the people that are listening to him in
Cornelius's home and the individuals that he had invited, began to
speak in tongues. They began to praise God. Luke describes this phenomenon as
the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles, okay. So now I want
to stop here in the reading and I want to ask you the question, think back to
our other lessons where we talked about the Holy Spirit, and answer this question:
what has just happened here, empowerment by the Holy Spirit or indwelling by the
Holy Spirit? The answer, of course, is empowerment. The Holy Spirit empowered
these people to speak in tongues. I believe this happened in order to
convince those that did not have a vision like Peter. Peter had the
vision, but his companions didn't. I believe that this happened in order to
convince those that did not have Peter's vision that God was
the gospel to the Gentiles not only the Jews. Now, there were many prophets who
said that this was to be so, a powerful, excuse me, there were many prophets who
said that the gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles as well as the
Jews, Micah chapter four, verse two and Zechariah eight, Amos nine, including Jesus
Himself in Mark 13:10. So the scriptural basis for the fact that
the gospel was to be, not just for the Jews, but for the Gentiles also, is well
established. The problem was the people with whom Peter was traveling, they
needed some convincing of this, of this fact. So we keep reading, verses 47, 48,
he said, Peter says, "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who
"have received the Holy Spirit, just as we did, can he?' And he ordered them to be
"baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And then they asked him to stay on for a few
"days." So now Peter finishes his lesson by directing these new believers to be
baptized, because if there were any who doubted that the gospel was also for the
Gentiles, their questions had been answered by the Holy Spirit Himself when
He empowered these people to speak in tongues. Peter mentions that they had
received the empowerment by the Spirit, just as the Apostles had received it.
In other words, without human intervention. So we know that the empowerment of the
Spirit was also transferred by the Apostles' laying on of hands of the
Apostles. We understand that. We've read that in the past, but when Peter
says, can anyone refuse baptism, for the ones who have received
the Spirit just as we did, well, they were empowered without any human
intervention. Well here Cornelius and these people, they were empowered without
any human mediator, if you wish. And he also insists that they be
baptized, meaning that they be immersed in water, in order to obey the gospel and
so they can also receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
See, they received the empowerment directly from the Spirit as a witness to
the people there, that the Gospel should be preached to the Gentiles.
And then Peter completes the preaching of the gospel by insisting that they
also be baptized, immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins, so that they may
receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, according to Acts chapter two, verse
38. This is why I talked about this back in chapter two, because there's
always confusion as to what is taking place here. God uses the
appearance of an angel, a special vision, and the empowering of the Gentiles to
direct Peter to open the gospel to non-Jews. We find out that all of this
and more would be necessary to convince the early church, made up exclusively of
Jewish Christians, to accept this directive from God, alright. So we move
ahead now to chapter 11, verses one to 18. Luke here describes Peter's return to the
church in Jerusalem and his explanation of the breakthrough for the Gospel
message, now brought to the Gentiles. I mean, he was there, he
experienced the vision, he heard Cornelius explain his calling
by the angel. He and the other Jews that were with him witnessed the empowering
of Cornelius by the Spirit. So they've all had some direct contact,
but the brethren in Jerusalem, they've not seen any vision, they've not heard
any angel, they've not witnessed any empowerment. So they need some
explanation here. So upon his return he faces a skeptical reaction from the
Jewish Christians, who are concerned that he has associated with and preached to
Gentiles. I mean, it's only natural. Can you, I mean, it was a big church here.
People are saying, did you hear about Peter? He went to a Centurion's
house. He had them in his house and then he went to a
Centurion's house and he stayed with them. And he even preached the gospel to them.
What's going on? So it's interesting to note that Peter the Apostle was still
subject to explaining his actions to the church, in order to guarantee and prove
that what he had done was from God and not his own initiative. Just a small note
here, it doesn't sound like Peter is the boss apostle. It doesn't
sound like Peter is the apostle who's in charge of all the other
Apostles, because he has to go back to the church in Jerusalem and explain
himself and give good reasons why he did what he did. Today, of course, leaders and
teachers in the congregation are accountable to the church, and the church
uses the scriptures in order to judge their teachings and their ministry. Now,
Luke doesn't give a whole lot of explanation as to the conversation that
took place between Peter and the others, when he
came back to report to the church, but I suggest to you that he
probably used the scriptures that I mentioned before, that prophesied
that the gospel was to be proclaimed to all men, not just to Jews.
Along with the witness of what took place in his personal experience, along
with the witness of the other brethren, to confirm to the church that
what Peter had done was according to God's Word and according to God's will.
So now Luke is going to change his focus and look at the church in
Antioch. And we're going to read about that in Acts chapter 11, beginning in
verse 20, it says, "But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came
"to Antioch and began speaking to the greeks, also preaching the Lord Jesus. And
"the hand of the Lord was with them and a large number who believed turned to the
"Lord. The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem
"and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then when he arrived and witnessed the
"grace of God he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart
"to remain true to the Lord, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and
"of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord." So here we see God's
providential care ordering events in favor of His kingdom on earth, which is
"the church." Let's see the things how all of this
works itself out. So you have Peter, who's opened the door to the preaching of the
gospel to gentiles, then Christians are forced out of Jerusalem
with the death of Stephen, the martyrdom of Stephen, there's a persecution of the
church, the Apostles, we are told, remain in Jerusalem, that's their base, but many
people in the church are scattered throughout the nation. And
so, Christians forced out of Jerusalem begin preaching to people. And as they
move away from Jerusalem and from their own country into the
northern territories, they begin to preach the gospel to Gentiles. This news
reaches the leaders in Jerusalem, who have already given their blessing to the
evangelization of the Gentile people. Barnabas, who has proven his faithfulness
and generosity to the church, is sent to teach these brethren who have formed or
joined the church at Antioch, again, in the northern part of the country. And we
remember Barnabas was a Levite, right, so he was able to teach. He knew the law, he
knew the scriptures, plus he was a faithful and generous Christian. Luke
writes that Barnabas's ministry there was successful and the church grew.
So we continue reading, "And he left for Tarsus," this is Barnabas, "right away and
"he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him he brought him to
"Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable
"numbers. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." So growing
churches need ministers. Barnabas finds Saul, since as a
Roman citizen Saul will be effective in teaching these Gentile converts. Now we
can understand that the name Christian was coined at Antioch, since they had a
mixed cultural group. There were Jews and there were Gentiles, and they needed a
concise name that would eliminate any cultural or social or former religious
identities from them. And so the term Christian, the term Christian was perfect,
because under that terminology, all of these disparate cultures, men, women,
former Gentiles, the former Jews, Gentiles converted to Judaism, who are now
converted to Christianity, all of these people could come together
under one name, and that name was Christians; the name that we hold even to
this day. We continue reading, it says, "Now at this time some prophets came down
"from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and began to
"indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the
"world and this took place in the reign of Claudius. And in the proportion that
"any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution
"for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And this they did, sending it in
"charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders." So a true test of fellowship
arises, this time for Gentile Christians. A famine is predicted by one of the
prophets from Jerusalem, along with a request for assistance. This was the
first example of inter-congregational cooperation for the purpose of
assistance and benevolence. Now the challenge for Antioch was if the Gentile
brethren there would send money to their Jewish brothers and sisters, who before
becoming Christians had despised them. And the challenge for the Jewish
Christians in Jerusalem was the reverse. Would they receive charity from Gentiles,
even Gentiles who had confessed Christ. Of course, the answer is in verse 29,
where Luke reports that all who had the ability, both Jew and Gentile,
gave. And the two main teachers, Barnabas, and he's named first because he is still
discipling Saul at this point, Barnabas and Saul are entrusted with delivering
the gift to the church in Jerusalem. So the way that all of this was handled was
a testimony that the Apostles in Jerusalem and the teachers, Barnabas and
Saul, were doing a good job in their teaching and in their preaching
ministries. How do we know? Well, we see what's taking place here, faith
being expressed through love. Their faith was strong and sincere and it was proven
through the love that they showed in helping their brethren. Now another
episode takes place that Luke is going to describe beginning in chapter 12, and
that's Peter's arrest and his subsequent delivery. So we begin reading in Acts 12,
"Now about that time Herod the King laid hands on some who belonged to the church,
"in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death
"with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to her arrest
"Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him,
"he put him in prison delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him,
"intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. So Peter was
"kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to
"God." So Luke chooses to end his narrative of Peter's ministry with his arrest by
Herod and miraculous deliverance by the hand of an angel, we read a little further
on. Luke also adds more early church historical information by including the
death of the Apostle James. The church in Jerusalem is undergoing severe trials
and challenges at this time. For example, the challenge brought about by rapid
growth. I mean, several thousand people were added to the church in just a
couple of years. That brings all kinds of procedural
problems, technical problems in delivering ministry to all of these
people, all of a sudden. There were demanding benevolent needs.
Imagine if you have seven deacons and their only job is to supervise food
distribution for widows, and that's daily food distribution. There was the local
famine on the general population that was prophesied by Agabus, that we just
read about. And of course, the persecution of the church, beginning with Stephen's
death and the dispersion of many members from Jerusalem. Now Luke adds that
James is killed and Peter is arrested, and this time not by the Jewish
religious leaders, but by King Herod. Now this King Herod, he was not Herod Antipas,
who had questioned Jesus. He had only ruled in the northern region of
Galilee. This was Herod Agrippa the first, a grandson of Herod the Great, who now
ruled all of the region and was seated in Jerusalem. He's the one that had Peter
arrested to curry favor with the Jewish leaders. And so, if we were to continue
reading Acts chapter 12: 6-19, we don't have time to do that, this is pretty much
what is contained there. Luke mentions that despite their many trials and
discouragements, the church prayed for Peter's release. Peter's miraculous escape
is made possible by an angel and it is described in the kind of detail that
could have only been provided by an eyewitness. Luke also adds a humorous
account of how a young maid's excitement left Peter standing out in the street
knocking on the door of Mary, that is Mary, John Marks mother's house, while she
ran in to announce that Peter was at the door. So the church is praying for Peter
to be somehow delivered from jail. Peter is released from jail, but by
the miraculous act of an angel. He makes his way to John Mark's
mother's house. He knocks on the door, the girl, the servant girl's name is Rhoda. She
looks and she sees that it's him. She's all excited and she runs in to tell that
Peter is at the door, but Peter is still at the door banging, trying to get in.
So even a little humorous note that we find. Peter is finally led in and
instructs the brethren to inform James, James the Lord's brother, not the apostle
who had been killed by Herod, that James is John's brother. James
and John, that James is killed. There's another James who's not an apostle, who
was the Lord's brother, who was a leader in the church at that time.
So Peter instructs the brother to inform James and others of his freedom and
Peter probably went into hiding to avoid Herod's effort at recapturing him. Luke
mentions Peter again in chapter 15, where he and others discuss certain issues
taking place at the church in Antioch. In Acts chapter 12, verse 20, all the way
down to 23, there's an epilogue where Luke adds a few verses describing
Herod's death soon after Peter's escape. And this death of Herod brought a kind
of a lull, if you wish, on the ongoing persecution of the church. And Luke ends
the section on Peter's ministry on a positive and hopeful note that we read
for a chapter 12:24 and 25, "But the Word of the Lord continued to grow and to be
"multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had
"fulfilled their mission, taking along with them John," right, John, John Mark, "who
is also called Mark." That's in Acts chapter 12, verses 24 and 25. And that ends
the section about Peter and Peter's ministry. Next time when we start, we will
begin Paul's ministry, but a couple of lessons that kind of come out from the
things that we have read today. Lesson one, obey what you know. Obey what you
know. We don't always have all the facts. We don't always clearly see God's
overall plan or purpose for us when making decisions about obeying His will
in a certain matter. In this type of situation it's wise to obey or to follow
the ways or the commands of the Lord that we know and are sure of. After all,
we live by faith, we don't live by sight. Sometimes we just have to obey and pray
that God will provide us with understanding at some point.
I mean, imagine if Peter had been stubborn, not understanding God's greater
plan. In other words, he has the vision and everything, and God is telling
him, whatever I make clean - and Peter says, yeah, yeah. Well, I know
that you can do that, but I'm not convinced. I mean, I'm not sure
about this. I'm comfortable in this particular custom. I'm kind of
uncomfortable with this particular thing. I don't think I want to do
that. If he, not understanding God's greater plan, refused to mix with the
Gentiles, God would have used another
servant and another way to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, because God's
plans are never completely stopped. He'll find another
way to do what He wants to do, but think of the opportunity and blessings that
Peter would have forfeited had he not obeyed what he knew,
what was right in front of him. Another lesson, God blesses those who bless.
In Acts 10:4, Luke says that Cornelius' prayers and alms giving, giving
to the poor, were recognized by God. Now it wasn't that his piety and benevolence
saved him. It was that his good works were seen as sincere, and in return God
gave him the opportunity to hear the gospel. So there's a lesson here for both
the good person who is a Christian, and the good person who is not a Christian.
For the Christian, he needs to remember that it is not a person's goodness or
generosity that saves them, it's the gospel and obedience to it, that's what
saves a person. In speaking of personal righteousness, Isaiah said, "All our
"righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." as Christians we shouldn't
assume that good and kind and generous people are somehow excused from the
Gospel message. What does Paul say in Romans three? "All have sinned and fallen
"short of the glory of God." Everybody. You, me,
my nice old grandma, Queen Elizabeth, the president. All have fallen short
of the glory of God. There's also a lesson for the good and upstanding
person who is not a Christian. That good and upstanding person never
harmed anyone, always did their best. These people
should not depend on their own goodness to save them if they're not Christians.
The reward for your good life is not salvation. God's reward to the good
person is exposure to the message of the gospel. You can only offer up the
sacrifice of Christ through faith, expressed in repentance and baptism in
exchange for eternal life with God, because He won't accept your life no
matter how good you believe it to be. You may be a good person. I may be a
good person. I try to do my best. But I can not exchange my, quote, good life, in
exchange for salvation, because it's not good enough, it's not perfect. I can only
offer up the life of Christ through faith expressed in repentance and
baptism. That's the only thing I can offer up to God in exchange
for my salvation. All right, so we finished with Peter's section in the book
of Acts. Next week we're going to start looking at Paul's ministry, as Luke
describes it, beginning in Acts chapter 13:1. And we're going to do all the way
to chapter 15, verse 35. So I encourage you to read ahead and be ready for that.
Thank you very much. God bless you.