Why don't you turn with me in
your scriptures to Acts chapter 10. It is the most blessed history.
We've been looking at this history, this foundation of the early
church from two points of view. One is that we want to make sure
that we see every week that this is, these are the acts of the
risen Lord Jesus Christ. These are the acts of the blessed
Holy Spirit. These are the outworkings of
the purposes and promises and the will of God the Father. And
in this extraordinary age of wonders and miracles that we
have before us in Acts, we have the foundation laid for the New
Testament church. And as Paul said, there is no
other foundation to be laid, and so when we encounter these
stories in Acts and these sermons in Acts, we are going right back
to foundational things. And if you want to find out where
you've gone astray, you go back and examine the foundations and
you'll find that if you've gone astray, you've gone astray from
the foundations. And so it's incredibly important. These are incredibly important
and significant passages of scripture. They are full of wonder and weightiness,
and they are full of significance and meaning. They're full of
promises fulfilled. They're full of the Word of God,
vindicated and validated, and a reminder that our God cannot
lie. And it's a great reminder as
we look at these Acts and we think about what we've looked
at so far in Acts, we see the words of the Lord Jesus Christ
to Nicodemus so powerfully fulfilled. to our understanding, Lord willing. He said to Nicodemus, you must
be born again. Accept a man, be born again.
He cannot see the kingdom of God. That born again is to be
born from above. The heavens must be opened and
God must come and reveal himself to him. And verily, verily, said
the Lord Jesus in chapter 3, verse 5, I say unto thee, except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. And then he makes this remarkable
statement, that which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. Then he describes the activities
of the Spirit's work. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
where it wishes, where it wills. And thou hearest the sound thereof,
but thou cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. Without the Spirit of God you
are none of His, but to be born of the Spirit is to be born from
above. It's to have the heavens opened
and God revealed to you in power by the proclamation of His Word. And Acts is full of these heavenly
visits. And in Acts chapter 10, we have
several of them. We have this story, this remarkable
history of Cornelius in verse 10. Chapter 10, verse 1, there
was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion
of the band called the Italian Band, a devout man and one that
feared God with all his house and gave much alms to the people
and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision, evidently
about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him
and saying to him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he
was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? And he said unto him,
thy prayers and thine arms are come up for a memorial before
God. Now send men to Joppa. and call
for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one
Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside, and he shall
tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which
spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household
servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all
these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. On the morrow,
as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city,
Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. And he became very hungry and
would have eaten. But while they made ready, he
fell into a trance. and saw heaven opened and a certain
vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit
at the four corners and let down to the earth, wherein were all
manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts,
and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a
voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. And Peter said, Not
so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him
again a second time, What God hath cleansed. that call not
thou common. This was done thrice, and the
vessel was received up again into heaven. Now while Peter
doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should
mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made
inquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate, and called
and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged
there. While Peter thought on the vision,
the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore,
get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have
sent them. Then Peter went down to the men
which were sent. unto him from Cornelius, and
said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek. What is the cause wherefore
you are come? And they said, Cornelius the
centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good
report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God
by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear
words of thee. when we gather together. We are
gathered here that the heavens might be opened, that we'll hear
words. We'll hear words of thee. We'll hear words of thee. We're going to sing again, thanks
Norm. I think each of the students
has something to read. Oh, if things of thee are spoken,
Silence, beauty of our Lord, His word cannot be broken, Only
for his own alone. Honour of all ages founded, What
can shape but glory for? His salvation's warmth surrounded,
round his smile a lullaby flows. See the streams of living waters,
streaming from eternal life, Curled up by thy sons and daughters,
and no fear of wandering looms. Who can faint when such a river
ever flows e'er so still? Grace which binds the Lord and
giveth never fails, from age to age. Now each habitation lowering,
since the cloud and fire appears, for our glory and our covering,
showing that the Lord is near. Thus she, riding from her banner,
glide by night and shade by day. Stay they, feed upon the manna
which she in spring rain may bring. Placed in matters best
of scion, plushed in the dreamer's lover. Keepers whom their souls
rely on, hates them, kings and priests ignore. Tis his love
his people raises, for the self to be as he. And as preaching
song embraces each new-born angel in grace, Take glory from Zion's
city, I to grace am enthroned. Let the world hear my all-pleasing,
I have a glory in thy name. Faith is the worldlings' treasure,
All is roasted, all has shown. What a lovely, lovely hymn. Saviour if of Zion's city, I
through grace a member am, let the world deride or pity, I will
glory in thy name. Well here we have, in Acts, the
first gathering in this gospel church age. of the Gentiles in
this particular manner. As you would recall, the Gentiles
were gathered before the Ethiopian eunuch was a Gentile. There were
Gentile proselytes in Jerusalem that are mentioned from 15 nations
in Acts chapter 2. But here we have this event that
is profoundly significant. It's the event about the salvation
of the Gentiles. And other than Col, it's particularly
relevant to all of us. The way, it seemed, to this early
church into fellowship with the Lord Jesus was via the Jewish
way of religion, which was Cornelius' way. is a story that is so extraordinarily
poignant and so relevant to us in this day and age. And it's
made particularly relevant and poignant because God the Holy
Spirit has chosen to repeat it again and again. two and three
times he repeats these same stories. And you know from your scriptures
that when things are repeated, as the Lord Jesus said, verily,
verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, you take careful note. We
take careful note of all of what God says. But when the Lord is
described in Isaiah 6 is holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. It's there to emphasise the reality
of that holiness. So these stories are repeated.
They are repeated again and again, right through into Acts chapter
11 and then repeated again in summary form in Acts chapter
15. And so this is an incredibly
significant story, an incredibly significant part of biblical
history. And it's full of wonder. It's
full of the wonder and the weightiness of heavenly visits. It is a remarkable
time in the early church when the heavens were opened and angels
visited and angels spoke and the Spirit audibly spoke to these
people. We see it again and again. Throughout
these early chapters in Acts chapter 5, the angel released
Peter. In Acts chapter 7, Stephen saw
the heavens open and he saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He saw him reigning and ruling from heaven. The heavens are
opened. In Acts chapter 8, Philip was
sent by an angel to a particular eunuch on a particular road at
a particular time when the eunuch was reading a particular scripture.
for a particular purpose, that the eunuch would be sent all
the way back down to Ethiopia, a saved and redeemed man, without
needing to go back to the Jewish law. The heavens were opened. It is a glorious picture of the
salvation of God's people. Why don't we ask the Lord to
help us, open these words to us. Heavenly Father, we do thank
you that you speak by your word. through your spirit in the lives
of your people, and your words are spirit and life, and they
are truth to us, and they speak in ways which are beyond human
understanding. And we pray, Heavenly Father,
that as we examine the life of Cornelius, you would guide our
thoughts and our hearts, and that we might see wondrous things
of the glory of our great Redeemer. and that Spirit might do as He
has promised to take the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and
reveal them to us. Father, once again, we come like
that Syro-Phoenician woman, that Canaanite woman, and we are just
begging for crumbs from the Master's table. Feed us with fresh manna,
Heavenly Father, that causes us to live in light of the glory
of Your dear and precious Son. We pray in His name. Amen. So let's just examine Accompanying
what's happened here, we read some of the passages in Acts,
and as I said, it's repeated again in Acts chapter 10, and
repeated as Peter is challenged in Acts chapter 11, and then
it's repeated again at the council in Jerusalem in Acts chapter
15. And so this particular event
is full of weighty, weighty significance. It's the gospel going out to
the Gentiles. It is the fulfilment of those
promises of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, you shall receive power
in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, after that the Holy Ghost has come
upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of
the earth. And here we are down here in
southern Australia, we're about as geographically the outermost
part as you could possibly imagine in this part of the world, as
southern New Zealand and Tasmania is any further away. We are written
in the scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28, gave that
commission, that's called the Great Commission, isn't it? He
said, Go ye therefore and 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. Go therefore. How did they go? They were sent. They were sent
by persecution. They were sent by angelic visions. Peter was sent down here as part
of that mission that followed the persecution. When the persecution
in Jerusalem happened, the disciples were scattered and they went
everywhere talking to people about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gatherings of people were formed and churches were formed. after
he had been to the Uthiopia in Munich, he went to the coast
on due west of Jerusalem and then all went all the way up
and it says he went preaching through all the cities all the
way to Caesarea. But the remarkable thing is that
he didn't seem to, that message that Philip had brought had not
reached Cornelius at this stage. So Cornelius in the sovereign
hand of God was there as an emblem, a picture of the salvation of
the Gentiles, a picture as Peter would remind the people in Acts
chapter 15, a picture of the salvation of the Jews is a picture
of the salvation of all people. And you have to wonder why both
Cornelius and Peter needed to have these particular visions,
these particular visits from God for this meeting to take
place and for their hearts to be opened. They had to have a
change of mind, didn't they? They had to have repentance granted
to them. They had to have, Peter had to
understand that the gospel is for the Gentiles. At this stage,
the early church had thought that the gospel was for the Jews. It's extraordinary with all of
the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ that they had such extraordinary
ignorance, even after the resurrection, even after all of the wonders
of that. The first thing they, well not
the first thing, but one of the things they asked the Lord Jesus
in Acts chapter 6 is, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again
the kingdom to Israel? Without the Spirit's work in
our lives, we will just see things from a human, earthly perspective.
Even the saints of God need to be continually reminded to take
our eyes off earthly things and fix them on heavenly things. So Peter needed to be sent on
this mission to reach out to the Gentiles and we know that
Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles and so there's something remarkably
significant that Peter was actually given the commission and sent
by God to do this first preaching of Jews in a Gentile house. And for Cornelius, Cornelius
is a man described in remarkable ways, isn't he? He's a devout
man. He's one that feared God with all his house and gave much
alms to the people and prayed to God always. Cornelius is one
that was esteemed highly amongst the Jews. And yet we'll find
that Cornelius needed to have a visit from God, because Cornelius
needed to know who the Christ was. It was one thing for these
Old Testament, these believers, these Jewish proselytes, to talk
much about the Christ. But salvation is knowing the
Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is what you say about
Him. Saving faith is what you say
about Him. We know what men say about him,
but what do you say about the Lord Jesus Christ? What do you
believe about him? And Peter in his sermon, as we'll
look at a little bit later on in the next couple of weeks,
Peter in his sermon defines the Lord Jesus Christ in similar
ways to his definitions of him in Acts. He takes the scriptures
and he reminds him and shows him that this Jesus of Nazareth,
the Christ is now defined The Christ is now defined historically
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The other
thing, of course, about all this is that it's honouring the fact
that God, if God is going to speak to someone these days,
if God is going to speak to a Cornelius, he had an angel there, an angel
in shining clothes before him, but the angel said, you go and
get a man. and a man will speak to you. If you're going to hear, you're
going to hear not from some intellectual, you're going to hear from a Galilean
fisherman, you're going to hear from an ordinary man declaring
the wonderful works of God. That's how you come to know and
you come to trust this Christ. Of course, The extraordinary
thing about the Jewish nation is that they had thought themselves
to be the ones that were on the inside track with God, that salvation
was of the Jews and that the Jews were the ones that had this,
because of their heritage and their history, they all thought
that they were the ones that were the ones that were closest
to God. They were so proud of their religion and so proud of
their heritage, which had gone on for a long time. But the extraordinary
thing is, like all nationalistic groups and tribal groups throughout
the world even today, they never go back far enough, do they?
They never go back far enough. I'm always amazed at these people
that sort of think that they've been someone in some past life,
and they've always been a princess, haven't they? They've always
been someone who is highly esteemed. We always want to go back to
our family tree, don't we, and find someone extraordinarily
special. You'll find sinners, brothers
and sisters. You'll find idolatrous sinners,
I promise you. That's all that's there. All
the rest of it is just rubbish, isn't it? The reality is that
the Jews traced their lineage to Abraham, and what was Abraham? He was a Gentile idolater. You just have to think about
how that family that the Lord dragged him out of there in Ur
of the Chaldees, when it comes to Laban. Laban's great concern
is not that he's lost his daughters and his grandchildren, but Rachel
has taken his gods, of all things. He's taken his little idols.
Abraham was part of that mob. The Gentiles, Abraham was a Gentile
and the scriptures speak again and again and again of this gospel. going and being preserved specifically
and especially by the Jews, and there was much that the Jews
had in privilege, but all of that was to point them to the
fact that their God is a great God, and that their heritage
was the heritage of Gentiles, and that Abraham, like Noah,
and the other Gentiles that came before him, was an object of
God's saving grace. They trace their lineage. They
didn't trace their lineage far enough. And their Old Testament
scriptures are absolutely full of the fact that this gospel,
this gospel, this saving gospel of the Christ of God, It was
going to be a gospel that was going to gather the Gentiles
in. And so this Jewish nationalism, this prejudice that Peter had,
that he needs to have burnt out of him by this vision coming
from God three times and a word from God coming to him three
times, It needed, that prejudice needed to be undone. And you
know from the rest of the history of Acts and the New Testament
writings, that that was the continual effort of the false teachers,
wasn't it? Was to take people back. The Galatian false teachers
wanted to take people back into Judaism. You take them back to
the law of Moses. You sanctify them. You cause
people to be sanctified by the law of Moses. The traditional
teaching in our time, isn't it, is that the Lord Jesus Christ
saves you and then he takes you back to the law. The law drives
you to Christ and then Christ sends you back to the law for
your sanctification. Absolute rubbish. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. The law worketh wrath. There
is no sanctification in the law. The law was there to expose sin
and to show people the depth and the depravity of their wickedness
and to cause them, with the grace of God working in their lives,
to call out to a saviour. So let's just read some of these
Old Testament passages there, just beautiful pictures of the
promises of God that are now going to be fulfilled before
us as Cornelius and his household are saved. And then almost the
rest of the book of Acts is a story of Gentile conversion, the gospel
going to the Gentiles. Isaiah 11.10 says, in that day
there shall be a root of Jesse. which shall stand for an ensign
of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious." Isaiah 42.6 is one of those glorious
passages that speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as the covenant
of God. I the Lord have called thee in
righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of
the Gentiles. And the Gentiles shall come to
thy light. I love what Jeremiah describes
in the midst of Jerusalem and the nation Israel being plundered
by the Gentile nations and decimated in extraordinary ways. Jeremiah
16.9 says, O LORD, my strength and my fortress and my refuge
in the day of affliction. The Gentiles shall come unto
thee from the ends of the earth. and shall say," this is what
the Gentiles shall say when they come, "'Surely our fathers have
inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.'"
That's what we've inherited, haven't we? Our fathers have inherited lies,
vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. And in his name
shall the Gentiles trust. When Zechariah had that vision,
it was in Luke 2.32, it's a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ caused
the ire of those people in Luke chapter four. In his hometown
of Nazareth, he described how grace had come to Naaman And
yet there were many lepers in Israel at the time, and grace
had come to that widow of Zarephath, and the Jews were irate. The
Lord Jesus Christ declares himself, I love how he describes it in
John chapter 10, he describes this ownership. Isn't it wonderful? Don't you delight in being owned
by God? By being his possession, is what
he says, isn't it? He says, you're mine. Just as
he spoke of the Shulamite in the Song of Solomon, in John
chapter 10, he says, he says, I am the door, 10.9. If any man
enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. The thief cometh not but for
the steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they
may have life. and that they might have it more
abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he that is in
hiling and not the shepherd, whose own sheep are not, seeth
the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth, and the wolf
catches them and scattereth the sheep. The hiling fleeth because
he is in hiling and careth not for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd. and know my sheep, and I love
how he describes his sheep, and am known of mine. He makes himself
known to his sheep. As the father knoweth me, even
so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Then
he describes the Gentiles. And other sheep have I, which
are not of this fold, Them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it up again. Other sheep, He has the other
sheep that he has. They're his. They're not of this
fold. They're not of this Jewish fold.
He had these sheep. He had these sheep from before
the foundation of the world. They were his. They were the
gift of his father to him. What wondrous good things must
the father give to the son of his love? He must bring them
in. The Gentiles declared His glory. Even a Roman centurion at the
cross declared, surely this is, surely this is the Son of God. The Gentiles are going to be
brought in. It's the fulfilment of the promises
of God. It's the fulfilment of that eternal
covenant. And Cornelius is a picture in
so many ways. He's a picture of the salvation
of the Gentiles. So let's look at Cornelius. He
was a recipient of what we love to talk about called provenient
grace. The grace of God is eternal. The grace of God is sovereign
grace. The grace of God is powerful
grace. where God bestows grace, grace
is always efficacious. This notion, this notion of common
grace is worthless grace. It's meaningless grace because
it achieves none of the things that the grace of God in the
scriptures declares it to be. And also the works of grace are
necessarily opposed to everything to do with human works. And sinners love it that way. Sinners need to be saved by sovereign
grace. But there is a grace that occurs
in the lives of all God's people called Pravenian grace. There
was a grace that was given to us before the foundation of the
world, and there's a grace that causes us to be born at a particular
time, and the perennial grace is just a way of saying that
God's grace covers all of the activities of all of the lives
of all of God's people. It is another way of what Romans
8.28 says, God works all things for the good of those that love
him. You think of Cornelius' the Provenient Grace in Cornelius'
life. He was born at this particular
time, wasn't he? He was born at this particular
time in human history that he might end up being in Israel. He might be a Roman soldier and
he might be brought to Israel at this particular time in human
history after the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. At this particular
time when the Gospel is going out to the Gentiles, And he was
brought, not just to that nation, but he was brought to hear of
the God of Israel. Remarkable privileges. He was
brought not only to hear of the God of Israel, but he was brought
to reverence the God of Israel. In verse 2 it says, he feared
God. He was a devout man. He was brought
by the grace of God to seek God. He's a man who prayed. and he
was brought to seek the honour of God by the way he lived his
life. He gave alms and he had a good
reputation amongst all the Jews. Not only this, Cornelius brought
others to acknowledge God. He did it with all his house
and when Peter arrives there's quite a crowd of people in the
house of Cornelius. He received light and he walked
in that light that was given him. And not only that, but Cornelius
had a visit from an angel of God. He saw in a vision, verse
three, he saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour, an angel
of God coming into him, saying unto him, Cornelius. And like all people when they
meet with a heavenly visitation, he was afraid. When he looked
on him, verse 4, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? He recognised that this angel
was bringing a message from the Lord. And the angel said, thy
prayers and thy arms are come up for a memorial before God. He was someone who was remembered
before God. God remembers His people. He remembers them in the days
before their conversion. He remembers them before the
foundation of the world. They're always before Him. Their
lives and the times of their lives and the trials of their
lives are always before Him. God remembers, remembers the
results of provenient grace in the lives of people because it's
His work in their lives. Cornelius in an extraordinary
way was following the dictates of the Jews, wasn't he, that
they prayed in the morning. And David said that he prayed
at nine o'clock in the morning, and he prayed at midday, and
he prayed again at three o'clock in the afternoon. That's the
ninth hour that that he was praying. It's a significant hour, isn't
it? It's the hour of the evening sacrifice. That ninth hour is
the hour at which the Lord Jesus Christ died on Calvary's tree. It is the hour at which Elijah
caused those prophets of Baal to see that the God of Israel,
the God of Elijah, was the true and living God in 1 Kings 18.36. It was at that particular time. Of course the evening sacrifice,
like all of the sacrifices, are a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Cornelius knew something about
that. He knew something about the Christ
of God. In many ways, one of the most
remarkable things to me about the story of Cornelius is here
is a man who is exemplary in character. Exemplary in character
and exemplary in behaviour. And in terms of the religion
that he was exposed to at the time, he was devout, sincere, He was, in a sense, a picture
of the best that the Gentiles could be, given the light of
the Jewish nation. He was the best that the Gentiles
could be. And yet, Cornelius needs to hear. the Gospel proclaimed. He says
in verse 6 He says, this angel, you go, you send these men, verse
five, you send these men to Joppa, call for one Simon, his surname
is Peter, and he tells him exactly where Simon is lodging. And then
he says, in the end of verse six, he shall tell thee what
thou oughtest to do. And the religious world will
look at Cornelius and say, you don't need to tell him what he
ought to do, you need to pat him on the back for what he has
done and what he is doing. But turn with me over the page,
or it might be on the same page of your scriptures. In Acts chapter
11, verse 34. I think I've got the verse wrong, I should
have this right. Sorry, 11.14, 11.14, I want you
to read this with me. Peter is relating this story
and he says, he adds some words that aren't in Acts chapter 10,
but the words of the angel. He showed us, verse 13, he showed
us how he had seen an angel in his house which stood and said
to him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, her surname is
Peter, who shall tell the words whereby thou and thy house shall
be saved." If you're going to be saved,
if you're going to be saved, your devotion and your devoutness
and your esteem amongst the religious people of the world is not going
to save you. Your prayers and your arms are
not going to save you. You are going to be saved. You
are simply going to be saved as God has promised that people
will be saved. They'll be saved by the preaching
of the gospel. Roman 10 makes it so clear. He says in Romans 10, 13, it
says, for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. That's the words that Peter used
in that sermon in Acts chapter 2, isn't it? He was quoting Joel
chapter two. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. And then he makes these statements.
They're classed as questions, but they're actually statements.
They're just profoundly clear statements. How then shall I
call on him whom they have not believed? And how shall I believe
in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall I hear without
a preacher? And how shall I preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Peter and James remind us again
in their letters that we are saved through the preaching of
the gospel. We are born again through the
word of truth. We are born from above through
the preaching of the gospel. we don't have time to go and
look at it all today now, but the reality is that Cornelius
didn't know. He knew about the Christ of God
that was to come. He knew about the sacrifices,
he knew about the Jewish religion, but he didn't know about the
Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Let's just go down there and
read something of Peter's sermon to him. In verse 34, 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 with him. 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, how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil,
for God was with him, and 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 to 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 the dead, to
him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." He preached
the Lord Jesus Christ to Cornelius. He preached the Jesus of Nazareth
to Cornelius. He preached the crucified Jesus
of the scriptures and the crucified Jesus of history to Cornelius,
and Cornelius didn't know about it, and the Holy Spirit came
upon Cornelius. is a recipient of prevenient
grace. He is someone that the Lord loved from the foundation
of the world. He was saved. We know that he
was saved in the covenant of grace before the foundation of
the world. We know that he was saved when God the Father gave
him into the hands of his dear and precious son and the Lord
Jesus Christ said, I'll take full responsibility. We know
that he was saved on Calvary's tree when that great God and
Saviour, who knows all things, and knows all people, and has
nothing to learn, knew that He was dying for the likes of sinful
Cornelius. He had the names of those people
on his breast as the great priest of God and he took those names
with his own blood into the Holy of Holies and all of them were
saved. But there is a salvation that
comes to the experience of people. And Cornelius reveals all of
those marks of Provenient Grace. Cornelius was a man humbled. He was humbled. He was humbled. He was humbled in his meeting
with the angel, and we'll see later on that he was humbled
in his meeting with Peter. He was a man who had all the
world's power and authority. He had all the world's esteem
and integrity. but he needs a fisherman to come
to him and preach the Lord Jesus Christ to him. Cornelius is a
man who is a recipient of prevenient grace. Cornelius is a man blessed
with the preaching of the gospel. Let's just look briefly at Peter's
vision. And the question is, why? Why was Peter given this special
vision and this special task to be the first ones to go into
a Gentile house full of Gentiles as a clean Jew, to go in amongst
the unclean and to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when very evidently both Peter and Paul acknowledge that Paul
is the apostle to the Gentiles and most of the rest of the book
of Acts and most of the rest of the New Testament is the writings
of Paul and the history of Paul as the Gospel goes out to the
ends of the earth. I think there are several reasons
why God the Holy Spirit ordained that this is how it should be.
I think the one who first preached the Gospel at Pentecost is the
one who begins the Gentile ministry. And he comes back and he witnesses
in Acts chapter 11 to the Jerusalem church. The Gentiles had the
Holy Spirit come upon them just as it did with the Jews. In Acts
chapter 15, Peter can bear witness to this personally and those
people who are with him. In Acts chapter 15, He makes this remarkable statement.
There were these people having this debate and upsetting the
churches, the Gentile churches, and they have the Council of
Jerusalem, and it's a dispute over circumcision. It's actually
a dispute over progressive sanctification. It's a dispute over the use of
the law of Moses. And Peter describes again, his
vision and his meeting with Cornelius. In Acts 15.7 he says, And when
there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them,
Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made
choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word
of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us, and put no difference between us and them. I just love this. He put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God
to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear? And then he makes this statement,
which must have horrified the Jews. But we believe that through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. The testimony of Peter on that
day in Cornelius's house and in that vision beforehand is
a reminder that the salvation of Cornelius is a picture of
the salvation of all of God's people and the devout Jews, the
devout Jews and the devout religious Jews are going to be saved simply
by the grace of God who will purify the hearts of his people
by faith. What a remarkable statement.
The heart, says Jeremiah 79, is deceitfully wicked and beyond
cure. It's a medical term for an incurable
disease. Who can know it? If anyone knows
anything of the plague of their own hearts, they'll agree that
Jeremiah is absolutely right. But God takes out a heart of
stone, Ezekiel 36, and he puts in a heart of flesh, and he purifies
our heart. He purifies the hearts of his
people by faith. Faith doesn't create anything.
Faith looks out of itself. Faith doesn't look within, ever.
It doesn't look within for evidences. It's always looking out. It's
laying hold of something. It's laying hold of someone outside
of us. Peter declared that Cornelius'
salvation is the salvation that typifies the salvation of all
of God's people in all of this age and all other ages. Peter
is also, I believe, appointed for this particular task because
All anti-Gentile sentiments and all pro-Jewish sentiments from
here on in must deny this historic reality, which is repeated again
and again in the Book of Acts. And all nationalistic barriers
are wrong. The Lord had to teach these things
to Peter. He had to burn them into his
very soul by this vision. He personally directed and he
personally taught Peter this. Let's read this vision. It's
just lovely. The vision happens at a particular
time. And when the angel which spoke
took unto Cornelius, verse 7, was departed, he called two of
his household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on
him continually. And when he had declared all
these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. And on the morrow,
as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city,
Peter went up unto the housetop to pray about the sixth hour,
which is noontime, another hour, another time of prayer. So at
this particular time, these particular people turned up at this particular
place to meet with this particular man after he'd met with this
particular vision. And he became very hungry and
would have eaten, but while they made ready, he fell into a trance
and saw heaven opened. and a certain vessel descending
unto him, as it had been, a great sheet, knit at the four corners,
and let down to the earth. Wherein were all manner of four-footed
beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things,
and fowls of the air? And there came a voice to him,
Rise, Peter, kill, and eat." It's extraordinary, isn't it?
Only Peter would have the brashness to speak that to God. You've
got to love Peter, haven't you? He just says it. He says it as
he is. He has foot and mouth disease
so often, but there's a sweetness about Peter. Not so, Lord. He said, I have
never eaten anything that is common or unclean. I'm as pure
as a hound's tooth. And the voice spoke unto him
again a second time, What God hath cleansed, call
not thou common. This was done thrice, and the
vessel was received up again into heaven. Now while Peter doubted himself
what this vision he had seen should mean, behold, the men
which were sent from Cornelius made inquiry for Simon's house
and stood before the gate, and called and asked whether Simon,
which was surnamed Peter, lodged there. And while Peter thought
on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek
thee. Arise therefore, get thee down,
and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. So as Peter
went on his journey, he would see what the vision was all about. The vision was unfolded before
him in the meeting with Cornelius and the others, wasn't it? Peter needed to be taught of
God that the Jewish religion is not the way into the kingdom
of heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ in him
is the way, the truth, and the life. All that we lost in Adam
is now restored in the Lord Jesus Christ. We lost the way of God. We lost the truth of God. And we lost the life of God. in our fall in our father Adam
and it's now restored, it's now restored unto God's people. Salvation is by grace, therefore
necessarily it is, it is not by works of any sort whatsoever. And salvation is a declaration
of God about His people. I love how the Lord said, what
God hath cleansed. It's repeated again, isn't it?
It's repeated in Acts 11 verse 9. Peter, when he's recounting
this in Jerusalem, he reminds the disciples in Jerusalem, the
voice spoke from heaven, what God hath cleansed. That call
not thou common. Don't you dare call something
common and ordinary, which I have declared to be cleansed. To be cleansed is to be purged. It is that purging, that extraordinary
verse in Hebrews chapter 9 that I love quoting so often. If the
blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling
on the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge, the same
word, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God. If God has done any work in your
life, your conscience is in constant need of purging, and the purging
is a cleansing work of God. It is to purge. It is the same
word that the Lord Jesus Christ used in those remarkable verses
when that leper came to him in Mark 1.40. The leper came to
him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him, saying unto him,
Lord, if thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. If you will it,
you can make me clean." And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth
his hand, and there was this holy Lamb of God touching that
which was defiled. ceremonially and legally defiled,
unable to go into the temple of God, unable to worship God,
unable to mix with God's people, when the holiness of the Lord
Jesus Christ touches defilement, what happens? Only two things
can happen, either he becomes defiled or that one becomes holy. And that's exactly what salvation
is, isn't it? When God touches his people. He moved with compassion, he
put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will
be thou clean. He's cleansed by a touch, and
he's cleansed by a word. I love how it's put in that tense,
that hath cleansed. He has cleansed them already.
They were cleansed from the foundation of the world. They are cleansed. It is the same word that we read
in Acts 15.9 that talks about the purifying of their hearts
by faith. 1 John 1, it's referred to twice,
this same word in 1 John 1.7, but if we walk in the light as
he in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. It has cleansed. It is the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the sovereign work of God
to cleanse them. And He cleanses all of His church. That's the picture of that sheet,
isn't it, that comes down from heaven. It's held at four corners,
which typify all of this world. It's held at four corners, and
it's let down from heaven. I love that picture, isn't it?
This great sheet that Peter saw, which represents all of the Church
of God, the Jew and the Gentile, it's actually let down from heaven. Its attachment to heaven never
ceases. It's let down from heaven, and
it does its work here on earth, and then it's taken back up to
heaven. We are pilgrims and strangers
in this world. Heaven is our home. Heaven is our home. We're here
for just a short time. Heaven is our home. Hath cleansed. It is a cleansing which is particular
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the work that he does in
his church, isn't it? That he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word. This is Ephesians
chapter five, verse 26. And verse 27 says, that he might
present it to himself. a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish." There is a particular bride, there is a particular
people in Titus 2.14 who speaks of the Lord Jesus, who gave himself
for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and to purify
unto himself. A peculiar people. We are peculiar
in the eyes of the world. We are a particular people. I
like that word peculiar. The world sees us as peculiar.
Zealous of good works. But mostly, and in this text,
it is to pronounce clean. The Lord Jesus said of the disciples,
you are clean by the word that I have spoken to you. We are clean. God's children are clean. Peter is not not to countenance
the thought that what God hath cleansed, he says, is common
and vile. It is a cleansing that's on the
basis of the Lord Jesus Christ's sacrifice. In Hebrews 1 chapter
3 he says, who being the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his
power when he had by himself, I love that, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high." Peter needed to have this word from God and this vision
three times. What God has cleansed, call thou
not common. The Church is one. My dove, my
underfather, is but one. She is the only one of her mother.
She is the choice one of her that bear her. We're all children. The mother of all of God's children
is the Jerusalem above. And all of the members of God's
church are all members of His body, and they always have been. They're pure because of the word
that He's spoken. They are pure and cleansed because
of His work on Calvary's tree. They are pure by His work within
them. They are so pure, they are so
pure in the eyes of God that they are, as they walk in this
world, a perfectly fit habitation for God himself. Isn't that remarkable? It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. And how can Christ be in you?
How can the Holy One be in something that is so defiled? Because He's
purged it. He's made it clean. He's washed
it. He's made it a fit habitation. He and His church are always
one. They've never ever been separated. I'll read Psalm 139 verse 16
and we can close. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being imperfect, and in thy book are all my members were
written. are all written in his book,
all of his members, all the members of his body, which in continuance
were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. They're all
there, together with him, in all eternity. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank
you again for the wonder of the redeeming work of your dear and
precious Son. And we pray, Heavenly Father,
that those that listen to us might know the wonder of redeeming
love and the wonder of salvation, the declaration of God about
His bride, that she is one, she is undefiled, she is holy, not
in anything that she has ever done, but purely, purely by the
sovereign grace of God, purely by the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that wonderful work on Calvary's tree that's applied
to the hearts of your people. And Heavenly Father we need it
applied to our hearts again and again. We need for the heavens
to be open and we need for you to speak peace to our hearts. A peace that the world doesn't
understand. A peace that's won through the
blood of your dear and precious son. A peace that endures forever. a peace that carries your people
close to his heart, carries them through the trials of this world,
carries them into heaven's glory, perfectly fit. what God hath
cleansed. May that be our portion, Heavenly
Father. Help us to remember the Lord Jesus Christ and remember
with great fondness and gratitude the wonders of his redeeming
love and his death for us on Calvary's tree. For we pray in
his name. Amen.