Well, greetings to all. Since we cannot meet here at the building because of the condition of the roads and the parking lot, the next best thing is for me to preach and record a message so we can all watch it together on Sunday morning and worship together that way. Not the way that I had hoped we could meet, but this is the next best thing.

Hopefully, your souls will be fed and encouraged by being pointed to Christ through the message today. My text is found in Acts chapter 10, if you care to locate that in your Bibles, Acts chapter 10. And before we begin, let's bow before our Lord together in prayer. Our Father, I thank you that you've given us these means where we can still hear the gospel preached, we can still hear the the precious good news of our Lord Jesus Christ and have our souls fed and comforted and encouraged by being pointed to Christ. Father, I pray you'd bless the message this morning, that you'd bless me in preaching and you bless your people in hearing. Father, enable us to see the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in the text this morning. Speak to our hearts, we pray.

Father, we pray for the sick and afflicted of our numbers in this difficult time, we pray that you would be with them, that you'd comfort their hearts, that you'd heal and deliver according to thy will, and Father, that you would be pleased to give us a break in the weather where we can meet together in person soon. Father, it's in Christ's name, for his sake we pray, amen. of persons.

Now you remember when we last looked at this chapter, the Lord, in answer to Cornelius's prayer, had told Cornelius, you sin for Peter and have him come and preach to you. And Cornelius did that. Now Peter's on his way, but Peter's going to have a problem here. He's always, his whole life long, been so prejudiced against the Gentiles, but the Lord sent Peter to preach to these Gentiles, to teach Peter a lesson. but also to teach us a very important lesson that God is no respecter of persons. Now let's look first, beginning in verse 33 of Acts 10. This is after Peter has arrived at Cornelius' house, and Cornelius says, immediately, therefore, I sent thee, and thou hast done well that thou art come.

Now, therefore, are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. What a wonderful attitude that Cornelius and the people that he had gathered together there had. Peter, we're here to hear. We're here to hear from God. We're here to hear what God has commanded you to preach.

You know, the gospel is not something that men have made up and we just, you know, declare men's ideas and thoughts on doctrines and thoughts on religious things. The gospel is what God has commanded us. to preach, commanded us to preach and commanded us to believe it when we hear it.

But like I said a minute ago, Peter had such a problem all his life long with prejudice against the Gentiles. He just thought God wasn't gonna save Gentiles, God wasn't gonna be merciful to Gentiles. If you're a Gentile, you're a Gentile dog, that you're just a life form that is much beneath that of the Jews. But now Peter sees this big group of Gentiles gathered together. We're here to hear what God's commanded you. And Peter looks at these Gentiles, and this is the conclusion that he draws, that the Lord has sent him to preach to all these Gentiles.

His conclusion is this, God is no respecter of persons. Verse 34, then Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. Now this lesson that Peter's gonna learn, and you know the story of Peter's life, he's gonna learn it again and again. He's just gonna stumble over this problem of prejudice against Gentiles his whole life. But the lesson that Peter learns on this day is good news for sinners. God is no respecter of persons. There's nothing that a person can do to earn God's respect and make him accept that sinner into his presence.

The only one that the father has respect for is his son. He has respect for everything about his son. That's the only one that God respects because that's the only one who's perfect and righteous and holy and did everything that was necessary to do to please every attribute of the father. The father respects the son.

But at the same time, God is no respecter of persons. And all you need to do to see that is go to the cross. When you go to the cross, you see clearly God is no respecter of persons. When God the son, the one that the father respects, was made sin for his people, the father punished him fully and completely.

The father didn't lighten the strokes because he said, well, son, I know you didn't really do it and you're suffering for the sin of someone else. He didn't lighten the strokes. He didn't turn down the heat of his wrath because this was his son that he loved. No, the father gave his son absolute strict justice because the holy God is no respecter of persons. Where he finds sin, he'll punish it with death. And where he finds righteousness, he'll be pleased and accept it. The father showed no respect for his son when his son was made sin.

But when the sacrifice was over, The father had respect under the sacrifice of Christ because that sacrifice was a sweet savor to God. That sacrifice took away the sin that made God angry and made him happy with his people, made him well pleased with his people. The father respects the sacrifice of Christ because it pleased him. And the father respects everyone who's in Christ. He respects everyone for whom Christ shed his precious blood, because the blood of Christ took away the sin that made God angry. And all that's left is the righteousness of his son, which the father respects.

Now that's good news. That's the good news of the gospel because there's nothing respectable about me. There's nothing respectable about you. But even though there's nothing respectable about us and God has no respect of persons, sinners still have a good hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. So let me give you about four things, four points on this topic. God is no respecter of persons. Number one, the Father is no respecter of persons in Adam. Because like I said a minute ago, the reason for that is there's nothing respectful about us. The only thing we are is sin.

We're guilty, we're defiled, we're vile, we're willing rebels against the authority of God, and furthermore, we enjoy it. We enjoy our sin. We enjoy our rebellion against God. We enjoy insulting God's son by trying to earn our way, earn our own righteousness, and earn our way into God's favor. We love it that way. The flesh loves it that way, even though the scripture plainly tells us God hates us.

There's nothing respectable about us because you and I are born dead in sin. Dead and stinking and rotting. It's not like a corpse that's been treated with all the chemicals and stuff to slow down the decay and stop the stench. You and I are dead and stinking and rotting.

We're offensive to the sight and the smell of Almighty God because of our sin. The only thing we can do, because we're dead in sin, the only thing we can do is sin against God. We have no desire to submit to the righteousness of Christ. We have no desire to come to Christ begging for mercy. And I tell you what all of that means. We don't have any works. There's nothing that we can do to make God respect us.

And the moment we start doing religious works, trying to make God be happy with us, because we're going through all these motions of religion, and we've studied and made sure our orthodoxy is right, and we're doing all the ceremonies just right. If we do these things, God will be happy with us. If we act better than somebody else that we know, we think that makes us more righteous. Those works of righteousness that we do, trying to make God happy with us, that's the most vile sin that can be committed in God's creation. Because that sin says, I don't need God's son. I don't need the sacrifice of Christ. I don't need the obedience of Christ. I can clean myself up. I can make my own self righteous. And God will not respect. He will have no respect for all that religious activity. that we do trying to please him. Let me show you that in Isaiah chapter one. In Isaiah chapter one, in verse 11.

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I'm full of the burnt offerings of rams and of the fat of fed beasts. And I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread on my courts?

Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It's iniquity. Even the solemn meeting, even your most solemn, most religious, even your most solemn meeting, Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. There are trouble unto me, I'm weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

See, what the Lord is describing here is these Jews who outwardly, they're doing everything right. They're observing the feast days and they're having their sacrifices, they're burning their incense, all these things that the law commanded them to do.

Outwardly, they were very orthodox, but God says it's an abomination to me because they were trusting the ceremony, not Christ, to whom the ceremonies and the sacrifices pointed. They were just going through the ceremonies thinking that those ceremonies would make God happy with them and that they didn't need the Messiah who was coming.

Now I know that is speaking to the old time Jews, but that's speaking to us just as clearly today as it was then. People think, well, my knowledge of scripture, my knowledge of church history, my knowledge of all these doctrinal meanings, I got all these definitions down. That's not gonna make God respect us. Our Calvinism, our orthodoxy, our religious heritage, all those things that we take pride in, without Christ, is an abomination to God. Now, it's good for us to have a knowledge of scripture. It's good for us to have an understanding of the pillars of the gospel.

But without Christ, without those things taking us to trust Christ, they're an abomination to God. doesn't respect the Calvinist any more than he respects the Armenian. The father only respects his son, and he only respects those who are in his son. Christ is the only issue.

And God having no respect of persons, it's hard for us to understand, because it is our nature to automatically have respect for one person over another person. If someone is nice to us, or if they're wealthy, or they're good looking, or they can entertain us, or they can benefit us in some way. We have more respect for them than somebody else. I mean, just without even thinking about it, we have respect for one and hurt another because we have respect of persons based on what they can do for us.

You know why God has no respect of persons? Nobody can do anything for him. Nobody can do anything for God except God himself. Nobody could take away sin except God. Nobody could please God but God. So God's not gonna be a respecter of any person based on our religious activity or our religious knowledge. God sees no difference. He has no respect to persons. He sees no difference in any son of Adam. God looked down on all the sons of Adam. And you know what he saw?

There's none that doeth good. And just in case we think we're the exception, he says, no, not one. There's none that doeth good. No, not one, not even one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So we've not given God any reason that he should respect us.

We're all equally sinful in Adam. And we should show no respect of persons because there's nobody who's worse than us, nobody. We shouldn't withhold respect from someone else because we think they're worse than us. We're all equally guilty and equally sinful and equally vile in Adam. So there's nothing about us that God should respect. All right, number two, God's no respecter of persons.

That has to mean salvation is by grace and grace alone. Now there is a difference between the believer and the unbeliever. There is a difference. One believes, one does not. One is dead, one's alive. One sees, one is blind. One hears, one is deaf. There is a difference between a believer and unbeliever, but you know who made the difference? God did. There was a great difference between Jacob and Esau. There was a great difference between Moses and Pharaoh, but who made the difference? God made the difference, and he made the difference by his grace. Salvation is all by grace and none of our works. Let me show you that in Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11 verse five tells us plainly that salvation is by grace and grace alone, 100% of grace. Romans 11 verse five.

Even so then at this present time also there's a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. Now what's Paul saying there? The salvation is either all of grace or all of works. It's grace, which excludes works, or it's by works, which exclude grace. It's all of one or the other. There's no mixture of the two.

So if salvation is by grace, Who gets the credit for it? God does, doesn't he? Because he is the fountain of grace. God is the one who makes the difference between the believer and the unbeliever. It's not anything that we've done in ourselves to make us believe Christ and trust Christ. If you believe Christ and you trust Christ, it's because God's been gracious to you. And you know that.

So if salvation is all of grace, there's no reason for any of us to get respect, is there? We got nothing to be proud of. The one who's been gracious to us, the one who made the difference and saved us by his grace, he's the one that gets all the respect. He's the one that gets all the attention. He is the object of our worship.

So if the only difference between the believer and the unbeliever is the grace of God, don't be hard on the unbeliever. We'd be just like them, apart from God's grace. And at one time, we were just like them. Don't be hard on them, but pity them. Pray for them. Invite them to the service. Give them a link to a message or something, but don't be hard on them and don't look down your nose at them because salvation is by grace.

And I promise you this, God's grace that was sufficient to save me is sufficient to save any sinner. That's so, salvation is by grace and grace alone. The third thing, and this is something that I've already mentioned, that God is no respecter of persons. The father only respects his son. Do you know the first time the word respect is used in scripture? Excuse me. It's used in Genesis four, verse four.

And the Lord had respect unto Abel. and to his offering. Now, why did God have respect unto Abel and his offering? Because that offering pictured Christ. It was a picture of Christ, and Abel was offering that sacrifice in faith, looking forward to Christ. That's why God had respect to that sacrifice, because it was a picture of his son, the sacrifice of Christ, and he's the only one that the father has any respect for.

Because the son has always done, Before creation, during man's time on earth, and after earth is no more, and during especially his time as a man, during his earthly ministry, the son did everything to please the father. Everything he did glorified his father. He glorified the justice of his father by suffering and dying for the sins of his people, satisfying justice by dying for the sins of his people. He glorified God's truth. He glorified God's grace and his mercy and his love. He glorified God's wisdom.

It's in the obedience of Christ and the sacrifice of Christ, the sinless sacrifice, suffering and dying to put away the sins of his people and giving his righteousness to his people to make them the righteousness of God in him. That glorified God's wisdom. God found a way to save the sinner and still be just. He found a way to save the sinner, show mercy to the sinner, and still be holy. He found a ransom. He glorified the Son, glorified the wisdom of God.

And the Father has respect for that. It's well-pleasing. The life of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ is all well-pleasing to the Father. The Father has respect for His Son, and here's the good news of the Gospel. What the Son did, He did for a people. He did for the people that the father gave him to save. And the father has respect to all of those people who are in Christ.

He has respect for them because they've been washed in the precious sinless blood of his son. Their sin has been cleansed away. Their sin has been forgiven because of the sacrifice of Christ. The blood of Christ took away everything that offended God's holy nature. So he has respect to those people who are in Christ. In Christ, every believer is holy and righteous and loved perfectly by the Father. Every believer. He doesn't love one more than another. He's not more gracious to one than another. Every believer. God has no respect of persons who are in Christ. They're all holy. They're all righteous. They're all equally loved.

You can't get any better than perfect in Christ. And the moment that I try to do something to add my works, to add my works, add what I've done to Christ to make God respect me more than you, I've ruined it all. I've ruined it all. It's got to be all Christ. He's the only one that the father respects.

Now that doesn't mean that I should never do anything in the service of the Lord or in the service of you. If God saved me by his grace, I should give myself to serving the Lord. I should give myself to worshiping Him. I should give myself to helping His people and loving His people and serving His people. I should do those things if God saved me by His grace. Not because I'm trying to get something from God, but out of love and out of thanksgiving. And if I do those things, trying to make myself make God more pleased with me than somebody else, then that service is an abomination to God. But if that service to God's people, that serving the Lord and worshiping Him, if that is done out of a heart of faith, as weak as it is, that's well pleasing to the Father, because He only has respect for His Son. Just like God has no respect of persons in Adam, God sees no difference in anybody who's in Adam. He also has no respect of persons who are in his son. He sees no difference between anybody who is in his son because they're all perfect in Christ. You can't get better than perfect.

There is perfect salvation in Christ. Every believer is equal in that way. We're all equally righteous, equally holy, equally loved, equally accepted. That means that the preacher is no better than the babe in Christ. They're both perfect in Christ. The martyr, the one who's given his life, refusing to compromise the gospel, is no better than the most unknown child of God, the most weak child of God that tucked tail and ran at the first sight of trouble. And the weakest believer, there's no difference between them because they're all perfect in Christ.

My friends, Christ is the issue. Christ is the issue. If we'd get that through our head, we'd get along better with one another. I'm telling you, Christ is the issue. And if you're in Christ, you are completely and utterly saved and that can never change. But here's the fourth thing.

If God is no respecter of persons, you and I should not be respecter of persons either. If you think about it, nothing is more contrary to grace than being a respecter of persons. Treating one person better than another because of some fleshly difference. Nothing's more contrary to grace than that. Let me show you that in the book of James. James chapter two. James 2 verse 1. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and you have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, sit thou here in a good place. and say to the poor, stand out there or sit here under my footstool.

Are ye not impartial in yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?

If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well. If you don't show that partiality, you do well. But if you have respect to persons and you show that partiality, you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

We are to have no respect of persons. Just because of some fleshly difference, we're not to treat one person better than another. Nothing is more contrary to grace and nothing is more hurtful to that poor believer than showing that kind of respect and impartiality based purely on a fleshly difference. A fleshly difference that will soon be burned up and taken away. We're to have no respect of persons.

But this is also true. to whom honor is due. And I've been thinking a lot about that, honor to whom honor is due. How can we show honor to whom honor is due and have no respect of persons? It's by equally respecting all believers. We equally respect, we quickly forgive them, all of them. We quickly overlook their faults. All of us are saddled with faults and sins and Things that we do wrong either intentionally or unintentionally. To have equal respect for all believers is to quickly overlook that. To quickly overlook those faults and those differences so that we promote unity with one another. If we're all equal, we should have unity of spirit, unity of desire, unity of heart in worshiping, serving our God.

Paul said in Ephesians 4 verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That word endeavoring means you hasten to do something. You exert yourself. You put forth a real effort in doing something. Put forth an effort hastily to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

And I tell you the best way that we can do that is by having respect for every believer. If we Put aside these fleshly differences, and we don't promote one over another because of some fleshly difference. You know what we'll do? We'll promote peace with one another. We'll promote peace so that we can worship together where Christ is the focus. See, if we start making differences based on fleshly things, somebody's wealth or or their good looks, or their entertainment value, or whatever it is that we think that they could do something to benefit me, we've taken the focus off Christ.

But if we set those differences aside, and we have respect for every believer, then when we meet together, Christ will be the focus of the worship service, and that's when we're going to be blessed. That's when we're going to be fed. That's when sinners will be saved and called to Christ. That's how sinners are gonna be given faith in Christ. When Christ is preached and Christ is the sole focus of our worship.

Let me show you that in Philippians chapter two. One more scripture here, Philippians chapter two. Verse one. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Think about what's best for others before I think about what's best for me. Do what's best for somebody else, even though it might not be the best or most comfortable thing for me. Here's the best way for us to not have respective persons. Just assume others are better than myself.

Esteem them better than me. and do it because you love Christ. Do it because you love each other. Do it because when we meet together, you don't want the focus to be on any differences that we have in the flesh, but the focus to be on Christ and Christ alone. Well, I hope that'll be a blessing to you. Let's close in prayer. Our Father, I thank you for this time together. Father, pray that you would Overcome the the difficulties and not being able to meet to meet face to face But father that you might bless your word and this means in which you've given us to enable us to see your glory To feed the souls of your people to enable us to feed on the Lord Jesus Christ To see him high and lifted up and be able by your spirit to worship him in spirit and in truth Father bless us for Christ's sake we pray Amen.