Every time I think of that, I
am with you, it's the parting words to the Lord Jesus Christ
in Matthew 28. He says, I am with you until
the end of the age. He says, you go out into this
world, teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world." One of the great
declarations of our God in Exodus chapter 3, when Moses said, whom
shall I send? Whom shall I say has sent me,
and he says, I am that I am. I am the eternal one, I am the
beginning, I am the one who rules and controls all things. I am,
therefore everything else that is has its isness, has its existence. because of the great I Am. Every
particle of this universe, every action of every person on this
planet, everything is under the hands of the great I Am. And
the Lord Jesus Christ infuriated the Jews of his day by declaring
himself to be the I Am. He declared himself to be the
I am. I am the door. I am the light
of the world. I am the bread. I am the good shepherd. And the
good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And he declared
that he's the one that Abraham met. But one of the wonderful
things is that he was using those words out of Exodus 3 to describe
himself again and again and again in the scriptures. And our topic
today is peace with God. But in the original, in that
verse in Matthew 28.20, the I am for the first time in my understanding
in the New Testament is split apart. After the resurrection,
the I am is split apart and in the original it says, I with
you am. As if in the crucifixion of the
Lord Jesus Christ, there is this opening of God and the embracing
of his people with him. The great I Am is now the great
I Am who is with His people. He lives amongst His people. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Let's turn to Acts chapter 10.
And I was going to resume looking at this, this sermon, this remarkable
sermon that began began by the hand of the sovereign God, began
the proclamation of the gospel into this Gentile world. And Cornelius in Acts 10.33 makes
a remarkable statement about anyone who truly comes to church
to worship God. He says, you've done well to
come here. And then he says, now therefore we're all here
present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee
of God. We've come together to hear the
word of God. And Peter opened his mouth and
said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth
him and worketh righteousness is accepted. And I love how the
Holy Spirit has said that we are accepted with him. God works in the hearts of his
people to cause them to fear him. He works in the hearts of
his people to cause them to hunger and thirst after righteousness. And he causes them to see that
the very righteousness that allows them to be accepted with him
is the righteousness of God displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then
he begins, it's almost as if These were private thoughts of
Peter's and now he begins this sermon. the word which God sent
unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. That word,
I say, you know, which was published throughout all Judea and began
from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, and how
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with
power. He went about doing good and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with
him. We are witnesses of all things
which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the
third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto
witnesses chosen before of God, even unto us who did eat and
drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded
us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he
which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and
dead. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. And it's almost as if the Holy
Spirit interrupted Peter in his message. And while Peter yet
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard
the word. And they of the circumcision
which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because
that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy
Ghost. For they heard them speak in
tongues and magnify God. Magnify God. That's to take God,
who seems to be small and obscured by all sorts of things, and as
it were, put him under a microscope or look at him through a telescope,
and all of a sudden, he becomes clearer and clearer and more
magnificent. That's what happens when the
Holy Ghost comes upon people. That's what happens when the
preaching of the gospel comes. And people who have peace, have
the peace that comes by Jesus Christ, are people who are raised
up to magnify God. May that be our portion this
morning. Let's sing again. When peace like a river has headed
my way, When sorrows like sea billows roar, Whatever my Lord
has called me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Though Satan should bother, though
trial should come, let him express assurance and hope. That Christ has begun in my elbows
to stay, And has shed his own blood for my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul, It is well, it is well with my soul, I've seen all the bliss of His
glorious love I've seen how He fell upon the cross He's held
to the cross and I'll never know more Praise the Lord, praise
the Lord, O my soul It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. And Lord, haste the day, my refuge
shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as
a storm. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. He is well with my soul. He is well with my soul. He is well, He is well with my
soul. I want to thank Simon for last
week. I hear that it was a time of sweet fellowship. I appreciated
his message very much and trust the Lord blesses it to you people. It is one of the wonderful joys
that we have is that the Ascension gifts of the Lord are always
perfect and complete and sufficient for all that's required for us
to magnify the Lord. Why don't we pray? Heavenly Father,
we pray that you might grant us that peace that passes understanding,
that peace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. You promised
your disciples that in this world they will have troubles. in this world they'll have the
trials that are common to all men and they'll have the trials
that are particular to the children of God as they walk through this
wilderness world. But you promised Heavenly Father
that you would carry your little ones close to your heart, carry
them in your arms, that you would cause your beloved to lean upon
her Saviour as she comes up out of this wilderness. And may it
be our portion this morning, Heavenly Father, that You would
cause us, as Your Spirit takes Your Word and makes it spirit
and life to the souls of Your people, Heavenly Father, that
we might together magnify Him, that we might be caused to see
Jesus, to see Him high and lifted up. and to see Him who is our
peace. May He preach peace to us, our
Father, this morning. We do pray for John, especially
at this time of deep sadness in his life, and pray for his
witness and his testimony, and we are thankful, Heavenly Father,
to you for what you have done in his life, and you have brought
him to be such a wonderful encouragement to so many here and in other
parts of the world. And we do pray for Simon and
Jenny and others who are absent from us, Heavenly Father, that
you would bring them back safely to us and that you might bless
them in their absence from us, Heavenly Father. We pray that
you would make your word living before us this morning, Heavenly
Father, that the Lord Jesus might minister as he's promised to
the hearts and the souls of his redeemed and precious bride. We pray in his name, our Father.
Amen. It is remarkable to To see what the Holy Spirit did
in gathering these people together, he humbled Peter, who was a Jew
and thought it was beneath him to actually even go into a Gentile
house and to eat with them. And he humbled Cornelius, who
had every reason to think that he had power and authority over
these Jews. And He humbled both of these
men at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, at His cross. He humbled
them and He brought them together. And in verse 36, There is this
great description, isn't it, of the word sent. The word which
God sent. When the gospel comes, it's a
word sent by God. And the word that is sent by
God comes to this earth, as Isaiah promises, it comes here and it
returns Never void. The word in the scriptures is
always the word of God and we should always relate it particularly
and personally to the word who has made flesh and dwelt among
us, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he came to this earth and
he didn't go back to heaven empty, did he? He went back to heaven,
taking all of His blood-bought bride with Him. And they are
now, according to Ephesians chapter 1, they are now seated together
with Him. This word that God sent, under the
children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. This is, the word preaching there
is the word gospelising. So gospelising peace by Jesus
Christ is our topic this morning. When the gospel is proclaimed,
it's a gospel that declares the peace of God The peace of God
between fallen sinners and a holy and just God, that peace of God
which is only found in and by and only revealed by the Holy
Spirit taking the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and making
them known to it. And I love the fact that this
gospelising peace by Jesus Christ is a gospelising peace which
comes from a sovereign hand. Peter is very quick to affirm,
isn't he, that he is Lord of all. He rules and reigns over all
things. In fact, this meeting here right
now that you're participating in is but the unfolding of an
eternal covenant promise of God. All those who are here were promised
to be here in that eternal covenant. All those who here will hear
because of the workings of that eternal covenant of our great
and glorious God. Preaching peace. Preaching peace. And this is the great foundation,
isn't it? This is a foundation. We've looked
at these activities in Acts, these works of God in Acts, as
foundation. They are laying a foundation
for the rest of the New Testament. All the activities of the apostles
and all the epistles are founded on these foundations that are
laid here in these sermons in Acts. And here in this first
Gentile gathering is this foundation of gospel preaching, and it's
lovely, isn't it, that it's the gospelising, the preaching, peace
by Jesus Christ. The Church proclaims peace, so
often It seems as if, from the world's point of view, that we
are there for war in so many ways, and there for controversy
and debate and division and other things. And the Church is assailed
and the Church will stand and defend itself. The glory of God
is at stake in contending as one for the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His bride disdains to hear her
husband spoken ill of. And as Paul said to the Galatians,
he didn't give in to them for a minute. When they wanted to
take, and Peter joined with them for a little bit, they wanted
to take away from the glory of the glorious finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bride of Christ stands up. But always, always when the Bride
of Christ, the Church of God stands, it's always with a hope
and a longing desire that there would be peace again. We want
there to be peace and we love for there to be reconciliation.
Out of the blue I had a fellow who stood opposed to me with
some violence and some serious contention about 10 years ago
and he just turned up completely out of the blue at my place one
Saturday morning and we sat on our front veranda drinking tea
and it was just the most delightful thing to think that there is
restoration and there is reconciliation and there it may just be that
there's gospel reconciliation where there was enmity. And all of this is the work of
God the Holy Spirit that God magnifying, that Christ exalted,
that Spirit created testimony to the faithfulness of the triune
God, to His eternal covenantal promises written in the prophets,
written and sealed with His precious blood. It says in Genesis chapter three,
chapter two, doesn't it? Of all the goodness, he looked
at everything, and everything was good in the garden. And everything
was good, and then it was very good when he created man. And
then there is one problem, isn't there? There's only one not good. It's not good for man to be alone. It's not good for man to be alone. It's a reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ and his bride. Signed and sailed. It's shown
openly to all in verse 40, and it's embraced by the poor. The
poor have the gospel preached unto them. Cornelius was a rich
man, and he's made a poor man. It's always good to remember
that our Lord Jesus Christ was a gospel preacher. He came, and
his ministry was a ministry of preaching. It's the word which
God sent. God is going to be exalted by
His Word, His Word. His Word preached, His Word proclaimed. He taught all the people in the
temple and He preached the Gospel and He sent His disciples out
in Luke 9. He sent them out and they went
through the towns preaching the Gospel and and healing everywhere. In fact, Paul declared in his
ministry in 1 Corinthians 9, he said, necessity is laid upon
me. He was forced by the hand of
God to be a preacher. And then he says, woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel. The preaching of the Gospel comes,
this preaching of peace, comes as the Holy Spirit gathered these
men together. He gathered these people, this
family in Cornelius' house and others of his friends, And if
you actually go through this passage of scripture, it's just
extraordinary yet again to see how, as in the first sermons
of Peter, again and again, everything is directed to the activities
of the triune God in doing these things. Let's just go through
them with me as we just examine this message that brought peace,
this message that preached peace. You see in verse 38, in verse
36 we just looked at it, the word which God sent. If the word
ever comes to you, it's going to come because God sends it.
It comes from heaven and it comes with the power of God and it
comes through the preaching of the gospel. There is no word
from God apart from the preaching of the gospel. He speaks to his
people through the preaching of the gospel. And that word,
which was published throughout Judea, verse 37. But it's God's
activities, isn't it? God's activities, the Trinitarian
acts of our great and glorious God. How God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth. God declared him to be the Messiah. That word anointing is the word
from which we get the word Messiah. He anointed him with the Holy
Ghost. and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil,
because God was with him. All the works of the Lord Jesus
Christ were works that were done because God was with him. God
anointed him and God witnessed him. And God raised up witnesses. If you look
at verse 41, the witnesses are witnesses chosen before of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ rose
from the dead, the witnesses were those who were chosen. He
was going to build his church. by the preaching of the gospel,
not by the display of great signs and wonders and great demonstrations. What a great opportunity the
Lord Jesus Christ had to go to Pilate and show himself openly. What a great opportunity he had
to go to that temple and show to Caiaphas and Annas and all
those others who he really was. And yet he didn't. He only ever
revealed himself to his chosen ones. He only ever reveals himself
to his chosen ones. God chose them. God chose these
witnesses. God raised him up, verse 40. God raised him up the third day.
And just look at the end of that verse that Peter declares. God
raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Why did he raise
him from the dead? Because death could not hold
him any longer. The sin that caused his death,
the sin for which he was punished, the death which he died, was
sufficient. And God in justice raised the
Lord Jesus Christ. And God in justice raised all
of the Church of God with him. And then look what it says, what
Peter says, guided by the Holy Spirit. He raised him up the
third day, and God showed him openly. God is in the business
of displaying his Son, showing him openly, showing him openly
to witnesses. God commanded, verse 42, God
commanded these people, these witnesses, to preach. They commanded
them to preach unto the people. They commanded them to testify. What were they to testify? The
judgment is sure. Judgment is certain. Judgment
is for all. That this Lord Jesus Christ,
this risen Lord Jesus Christ, is the judge of the quick and
the dead. God ordained him to be a judge. God promised, in verse 43, that
through his name, this is what all the prophets witness, that
through his name, I love that word whosoever, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. That word remission
means letting them go as if they had not been committed, which
is to be justified. That's how completely the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ was done. Letting them go, released
from bondage, released from imprisonment. And the Holy Ghost fell on those
who heard. The Holy Ghost fell on them. In verse 45, it was poured out,
this gift of the Holy Ghost. And the purpose of this gospel,
this gospelizing Peace is that people would magnify God. It's a word that God sent. It's a word that God sent. So peace, in the context of this
message here, isn't it, is this acceptance with God in verse
35. To have peace is to be accepted. I love how Paul describes it
in Ephesians 1.6, we are accepted in the beloved. Here, Peter says,
we are accepted with him. When God accepted his son back
into heaven, he accepted all of his people with him. To have
this peace is to be accepted. To have this peace is to be reconciled
with the judge. God has appointed that the Lord
Jesus Christ will be judge of all. It's been very interesting
when I was away, I spent some time studying John's Gospel again. It's interesting how the word
that we have to judge and the word condemn, we know that famous
verse, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life, because for God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved
through him. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, But he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, and neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are
wrought in God. And the word that really struck
me is that word that's used, translated so often as condemnation
and judgment. And it's the word from which
we get our English word crisis. Crisis. When the gospel comes,
there's a crisis. There's a crisis for people. A crisis. that reveals who we
are, a crisis that reveals who God is, a crisis that reveals
that the reconciliation of you and I, who are nothing but sin
and can never do anything but sin, and a God who is holy and
a God who is righteous and a God who is just and a God who is
sovereign, a God who is eternal, can only be reconciled, can only
be at peace That crisis can only be averted when God himself brings
that peace to the hearts of his people. That's what we sang that
hymn, isn't it? Peace like a river. It flows from God. It's reconciliation in the terms
of verse 42 of our text, isn't it? He's the judge of the quick
and the dead. It's a crisis. to be reconciled with the judge
is to be at peace on the day of judgment. That's why John
says in all of the gospel writers throughout the scriptures, they
never look at the day of judgment as a day anything to be looked
forward to, a day of the vindication. We have confidence, says John,
in 1 John chapter four. We have boldness, it means, on
the day of judgment. Why? Peter's declared it here,
we're accepted with him. We have believed God's children. We have believed and we have
remission of sins. We have boldness on the day of
judgment because as he is, so are we. in this world. Right now, right now, there is
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is
peace because the crisis has been averted. The crisis is over. It's a remission of sins in our
text. To have this peace is to be released
from satanic oppression. In verse 38, he went about doing
good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. What's the oppression of the
devil? What did he do in the garden? How does he begin his
oppression? Did God really say? Did God really say? Hath God spoken? Is the word
of God that you have on your laps before you, and opened before
you, and read before you, is it true? Satan caused Eve to
doubt the Word of God, and then, having doubted the Word of God,
she was caused to change the Word of God. And then he made
a promise to her, you shall be as gods. You shall be as gods. You will determine your life. You will sit on the throne of
your life, and you will make the rules and make the judgments.
You will decide what is right and wrong. You will decide what
is best for you. You will go your own way." And then he said to her, you will
not die. You will not meet God in judgement. Satan has oppressed this whole
world by lying to people. He's a liar and a murderer from
the beginning. He lies to you when he tells
you that you have autonomy. He has different lies for different
people. He has a multitude of different
lies that he can cause you to hold on to. For the non-believer,
he'll tell them that they're not as bad as Hitler, and if
there is a judgment, then they'll escape. won't they? For the non-believing
religious person, you'll say to them, well look at all your
works, look at all the things that you have done, look at all
the good things that people say about you, look at your devoted
life, look at all the witnessing, look at all the other things
that you do. You are surely good enough by your activities. God
must accept you because you've been so good. To the believer,
He comes along as an accuser and he says to the believer again
and again, how could you possibly call yourself a child of God
when you have those thoughts, when you have those actions,
when you have that bondage, a child of God? is made by the accusations
of Satan to flee from the oppressor to the one who brings peace.
But Satan, according to the scriptures, keeps his own goods in peace. There is a peace that the people
of this world have that is a peace that comes from Satan. There
is a peace that the religious people of this world have that
is a peace that comes from Satan. He keeps his goods in peace. He's very, very active. And Satan
oppresses the children of God. At the end of the day, he despises
humanity. He despises all humanity because
all humanity reflect, reflect the one in whose image they were
created. But he particularly despises
the children of God. He particularly despises the
places where the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified are raised
up. be released from Satan's captivity. That's what the Lord Jesus came
to do, to undo the works of the devil. The works of the devil
are to cause you to believe his lies. And the other work of the
devil in the garden was to veil the character of God from us. He was saying effectively to
Eve in that discussion in the garden, God is not being good
to you. God is withholding something
good from you that if you reach out and take it, you can have
it. Isn't that the essence of sin?
To reach out and take for something rather than waiting for God to
give what he has promised. To take rather than to receive. The character of our God is remarkable,
isn't it? In the scriptures he's declared
to be the God of peace. The God of peace. He came preaching
peace. This word, This gospelising,
to preach this gospel is to preach peace. To have this God magnified
before us and for us to be reconciled to him is for us to see him in
the glory of that character as he reveals himself to his people. Eve thought God was mean and
withholding things from her. And Satan oppresses us, oppresses
even the children of God, by hiding from us the character
of God. I love the Lord Jesus' description
of himself in Matthew. 11, he says, come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'll give you peace, is the promise.
And he says, take my yoke upon me, and learn of me. Don't just learn about me, learn
of me. Four, and this is his description
of himself. For I am meek and lowly in heart. How often do you think of God
as meek and lowly in heart? How much do we need the revelation
of God in the scriptures through this gospelising, this preaching
peace by Jesus Christ, to have us reminded that He is meek and
He's lowly in heart, and what's His promise? You come, you come,
is the command of scripture. You come to Him. Whosoever, says
our text, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sins. Come unto me, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. And then
he says in verse 30, for my yoke is easy. The yoke that God puts
on his people, the yoke that they submit themselves to. They
delight to be under a yoke, to be yoked as oxen were yoked was
to be joined together, wasn't it? So that the two oxen with
the plough in between them had the same yoke that covered both
of them and made out of one piece of wood and it joined them together
and they walked together. They walked in union. God's children
cry out and say, Take me, take me, put me under your yoke. Your
yoke is easy. And you might think as we look
upon the pains that our brother John and others have gone through
and will go through, we might think that that yoke doesn't
seem easy sometimes. We bear the burden of family
and friends that we love and appear to be lost. and headed
for eternity, separated from God and under his judgement forever. We bear in this world the burden
of things not being as we would wish them to be in so many circumstances. We wish so often that things
would change. One of the things about that
word easy is it was a description you could buy, you could get
in those days just an ordinary old yoke, a generic yoke as it
were. One size fits all type yoke.
But I was told, and I trust that I've been told rightly, but one
of the ways that that word easy was used is that the yoke of
the Lord Jesus Christ, an easy yoke, was one that was easy on
the beast. And it was perfectly moulded
to the shape of the oxen, so that when the oxen pulled, it
pulled evenly on them and didn't bruise them and wear them out. The yoke's easy. It doesn't seem
easy as we go through the trials. But His sovereign hand is our
peace. We are reconciled with Him. We
have peace with the resurrected Lord. And Peter doesn't hesitate
to declare that he is Lord of all. He's Lord of all. We have peace with a resurrected
God, a resurrected Saviour, who rules over all things. All things. The yoke is easy. It's a paraphrase,
in a sense, of what Romans 8.28 says, that everything that comes
to you, everything that comes to me, is ordained of God for
His glory. and for the good, the eternal
good, and the spiritual good of every soul of his. He loves
everlastingly. He rules and reigns. He has given
himself and his life's blood for his people. Shall he not
along with him give us all things? To have that peace is to be at
peace with the resurrected Lord. To have that peace is to have
this resurrected Lord displayed before us. To have that peace
is to have Him magnified before us. The resurrected Lord Jesus
is the delight of all of his own. The resurrected Lord Jesus
Christ is the delight of all of heaven. He is the song of
heaven at the moment as we gather here. Heaven is singing songs. The people of heaven are looking
upon him. Now dear friends that have departed
to be with him are singing songs of joy. If you had a tiny glimpse,
a tiny taste of the joy that they're experiencing now, you
would be so envious. No wonder Paul could say, for
me to die is gain. For me to die is gain. To be
with the Lord is gain. Peace. Peace is what so many
people are looking for. Peace is such a blessed thing,
isn't it? To have peace in family, to have
peace among friends, to have peace in your conscience with
God. But peace implies some things,
doesn't it? It's peace declares that there
was a state of friendship and a state of fellowship, and that
that is now broken. And peace is the restoration
of that which was broken. That's why the Gospel is a ministry
of reconciliation. Peter has described that reconciliation
there. The ministry of the servants
of God is a ministry of reconciliation. Therefore, if any man, 2 Corinthians
5, 17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who
has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given
us the ministry of reconciliation. this ministry of peace, this
gospelising, this preaching peace by Jesus Christ, to wit, verse
19, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. Why? Why is he not imputing any
trespasses unto them? Because they were all imputed
unto him, and he took them and owned them, and he bore them
in his own body on a tree, and he bore them away. Not imputing
their trespasses unto them has committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Be at peace with God,
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made. You don't work the righteousness
of God, you are made the righteousness of God. We're made the righteousness
of God in him. That's this ministry, isn't it?
That's this preaching of peace by Jesus Christ to these Gentiles
who were far away, these Gentiles who, in the Word of God, were
declared to be aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers
to the covenants of promise. They hadn't heard of the covenants
of promise. Having no hope, and without God
in the world. That's what these Gentiles are,
described by God. Not only that, these Gentiles,
according to Ephesians 2, were dead. They were dead people,
they were dead in trespasses and sins. Cornelius was a dead
man and so was everyone else in that room. Wherein in time
past you walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh, in the children of disobedience, among whom also we had our conversation. We had our lives in times past,
in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrong, even as
others. But God, but God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us when we were dead
in sins has quickened us has made us alive together with Christ
by grace you are saved and has raised us up together and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages
to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are
you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
That's reconciliation, isn't it? To be brought from that state
where all you did, all you did under the power of the Prince
of the Air, fulfilling the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, reconciled to Him. These Gentiles, just like the
Jews, have been brought near. In verse 13, the apostle goes
on to say, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes
were far off, are made nigh. You're far apart as you could
possibly be. You're far apart from each other
as you could possibly be. And then you're brought together.
You're brought together. brought nigh, why and how, by
the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus brings people
together. It was lovely to talk to Ben
last night and hear him testify to the fact that he came as a
stranger to us some time ago and now he comes as a friend
and he goes away delighting in the sweetness of fellowship.
They were far off. Jerry's going to come in just
a matter of weeks. He was far off, as far off as
you could have anyone in Florida. We'd never heard of him and knew
him. And he's been brought near, hasn't he? We've been brought
together by the blood of Christ has made us one, in one family. And Peter will come. Peter will
come with Jill, and we'll have that same sweet fellowship. that
same extraordinary sweet fellowship. We haven't had it for a couple
of years here. And when they come back, it'll be as if they
only went away for a few hours. They'll come back with renewed
fellowship. Such is the glory of the gospel, such is the power
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, such is the wonder of
the Holy Spirit, bringing people together, bringing them together,
making them nigh. Our verse goes on to say, and
we can read it in Ephesians, continue reading in Ephesians
2, because Paul goes on to say, for he is our peace. He is our peace. One of the things
that's extraordinary about the oppression of the devil and the
deceptiveness of religion is that the extraordinary thing
is that when we declare the glory and the nature of God, The thing
that upsets the religious world the most is the declarations
of the character of God as revealed in the scriptures. They find
a sovereign God offensive. They find an exclusive God offensive. They find an electing God offensive. They find a redeeming God offensive. The very things that delight
the hearts of God's people, the world finds offensive about him. Don't you love the fact that
he's absolutely sovereign? Don't you love the fact that
as he sits there he knows the thoughts and he knows the intents
of your heart? Don't you love the fact that
you can lay your life out before him and say, this is what I am?
nothing but sin. And in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I am nothing but absolute perfect holiness before God. Don't you
love the fact that he's sovereign, that everything that's ever happened
to you, you can trace the lines, as Psalm 16 says, the lines have
fallen to me in pleasant places. You can trace and set up the
Ebeneezers, thus far the Lord has been faithful. I love what
he says in Philippians 1.6, isn't it? The work that he's begun,
the work that he's begun in his church is the work that he's
promised to complete until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You love the fact that he's holy. Don't you love the fact that
he's absolutely holy? That to have peace with God is
to have peace with a holy God. that we have peace with him,
we are reconciled to him because we are made by the Lord Jesus
Christ to be as holy as God is holy. We love the fact that he's
a just God. We love the fact that he tells
the truth all the time. We love that he is faithful.
When we pick up this book, And we are assaulted by the things
of our flesh and the things of the devil and the things of this
world. We pick up this book and we know, when we read this book,
that he is faithful. Every single word of it is true. Our God cannot lie. Our God cannot lie. It's impossible
for him to lie. It's impossible for him to fail. It's impossible for him to be
frustrated in his activities. He will build his church and
the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. The gates were defensive
weapons. Satan keeps his goods. And it
takes a strong man like the Lord Jesus Christ and he comes in
and he says, I'll have them, they're mine. Thank you very
much. Thank you very much. Out of my way. He is Lord of
all. This gospel piece is a special
piece. Come back to our text in verse
36 of Acts 10. It's peace by Jesus Christ. If you're gonna have peace with
God, if you're gonna have peace with the children of God, it's
gonna be a peace that's by Jesus Christ. That word by means because
of or through. It is entirely his work. Men's, in this man's world, isn't
it, peace can be undone in a heartbeat. We have friends who have looked
as if they were heading for peaceful, restful, years of retirement,
and in a heartbeat, and in a heartbeat, it has been taken from them.
Everything that you have in this world that you think can give
you peace can be taken away from you in a heartbeat. It's peace by Jesus Christ, this
gospelising peace. The command of the scriptures
is that we preach peace, isn't it? This is what the servants
of God do. They bring this gospel of peace. In Isaiah 40 is the command of
the all gospel preachers. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she has received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Double for all her sins. She's
received a remission of them completely and she's received
the righteousness of God. That's what you get from God
in return for sins. No wonder, no wonder we speak
peace. And I wonder, in Isaiah 52, I
wonder the preachers of the feet of the people, how beautiful
on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publishes peace. We publish peace between God
and man. That bringeth good tidings of
good, that publishes salvation, saith the Lord unto Zion thy
God. What does it say? Thy God, what's
he do? Thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. The feet of them, where they
walk and go in this world is beautiful, isn't it? God's message
goes by his messages and it travels in beautiful paths. paths ordained
for His glory, paths ordained for the good of His people. Thy
watchmen shall lift up the voice, and with the voice together they
shall sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall
bring again Zion. No wonder when the Lord Jesus
Christ was revealed, the angels from heaven had to come and sing. They had to come and sing, glory
to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward
men. The angels had to come from heaven
because the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ was so blessed. It's peace by Jesus Christ, peace
through Jesus Christ, peace because of Jesus Christ. Gospel-proclaimed
peace is entirely the work of God, the offended party, the
innocent party, the injured party, reconciling them who had caused
that broken relationship. See, man has nothing in him.
to work this peace. It's peace by Jesus Christ. He
has nothing helpful in him. He has nothing in him even to
make him aware that he has any need of peace. In fact, when
it's presented to him, he'll reject it. He'll reject this
gospel of peace unless he's made willing in the day of the power
of our God. The Lord's hand must do all of
it. He is our peace. Isaiah declares
him to be the prince of peace. He's the captain of it. gathers
that army together and stands as their sovereign. God was in
Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself, and we are
ambassadors. There's peace, the gospel of
peace, because it's a settled thing, isn't it? Mercy and truth
are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. There is no peace at the expense
of any of God's character, as Peter will go on to define him.
It's a just peace. It's a holy peace. It's a sovereign
peace. It's a gracious peace. It's a
peace with truth. A peace with mercy. That's why
we're accepted in Him. He declares Himself to be the
very God of peace. Those who have their sins remitted
can say in the words of Romans 5, therefore now being justified.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. That peace is a blood-bought
peace. And to come back to this Gentile
gathering, what did the Gentiles have to do to have this peace,
this acceptance with God? Verse 44, they had to hear. The
wonderful thing about gospel preaching and the wonderful thing
about gospel hearing is that in hearing you're entirely passive. You can't stop yourself hearing.
You could try, and I'm sure many do. But you can't stop yourself
from hearing. The Word of God is powerful and
it comes. It's passive. The Holy Spirit
is active, therefore. The Holy Spirit fell upon these
people. He was poured out upon them.
And they just simply believed. They simply believed. They simply
received remission of sins. No wonder Paul is so offended
when the Galatian false teachers are saying to the Gentiles, you've
now got to do something. You've now got to do something
to work out your sanctification. You've now got to do some things.
Come back under the law of Moses. We'll show you how to live. Come
back under the law of Moses. Not a mention of it. Not a mention
of it in this foundational sermon of Peter's. And what did the
Gentiles have to do to maintain their peace with God? Verse 46,
what did they do? They magnified Him. They magnified Him. That's what
they did. As you have received Christ Jesus,
the Lord, Colossians 2.6, so walk in Him. You receive Him
as a sinner. You receive Him as a mercy beggar. You don't receive Him because
of your good works, and nor do you keep Him because of your
good works. all of your good works. I love
what Spurgeon said, you can take all of your good works and all
of your bad works. Spurgeon had the wisdom to say
that the longer I go on in life, the more my good works look like
bad works. You take all of your good works
and all of your bad works and you put them all together in
the one bag and you throw them at the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ and leave them there at his feet. Peace with him. How How do they then live with this
peace? You come down to verse 48 in
our text. They were baptised and they received
the Holy Ghost. What did they say? What was their
desire? What was the desire of this little
congregation in Cornelius's house? They prayed, then prayed they
him to tarry many days. What did they want? They wanted
more fellowship. Stay with us. Stay with us. Tell us more about him. Tell
us another story about him. Tell us something more of his
glory and his wonders. I just want to hear about him.
People say that you have to make your peace with God. If anyone
has peace with God, your peace was made with God 2,000 years
ago on Calvary's tree. That's the only place where there'll
ever be any peace. This peace is a determined peace
of God. It was settled long, long ago
by a sovereign God, by an all-knowing God, by an unchangeable God. Colossians 3.15 says, let the
peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you are also called
in one body. Those that have peace with God,
and be ye thankful, be ye thankful, and magnify God, to take that
which seems small and indistinct and bring him into focus again,
to enlarge him, to make him great is what that word means, to esteem
him highly." So true peace. The peace of God which passes
understanding is the peace that's in His company. It's to be in
His presence and to be with Him. It's to be like the Beloved in
the Song of Solomon, leaning on Him, humbled. leaning on him. Peter and Cornelius both humbled
and brought together. It's resting on his word of promise,
relying on his faithfulness, delighting in his being in all
of his character, delighting in looking unto him. I'd just like you to turn to
Isaiah 26 and we'll close. Isaiah 26 says, Thou wilt keep
him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee. Whose mind is stayed, whose mind
leans upon Him, whose mind takes hold of Him, whose mind is established
in Him, whose mind is at rest. His mind stands fast with Him. You keep Him in perfect peace
because He trusts in thee. Trust in the Lord forever. For
in the Lord, the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. It's to remember Him. Verse eight. Yea, in the way
of thy judgments, O Lord, we have waited for thee. The desire
of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee. Verse 12. the Lord's ordained peace. What
the Lord ordains, the Lord gets. Verse 12, Lord, thou wilt ordain
peace for us. Why? For thou hast wrought all
our works in us. In verse 13, O Lord our God,
other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us, but by
Thee only will we make mention of Thy name. The Lord has ordained
what the Lord ordains, the Lord has determined to give His people.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, may it be the
portion of your people here that you would grant them that peace
that we have read about this morning, that peace which is
by the Lord Jesus Christ, that peace which is through him. Peace
with you now, peace with you eternally, peace with you because
of that blood shed on Calvary's tree all that time ago. when all of the sins of all of
your people were made His, and He bore them, and He bore all
of the wrath that they deserve, the eternal and infinite wrath,
and He bore those sins away that they are no longer remembered.
Heavenly Father, what a glorious gospel you bring to the hearts
of your people. What glorious peace there is
for your people with your dear and precious Son. Father, as
we drink that which reminds us of his shed blood, and eat that
which reminds us of his broken body, may you grant us the peace
with him, with you, that you have promised. For we pray in
his name, your dear and precious son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and
for his glory, our Father. Amen.