Acts chapter 10, 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, which 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 in to
him and saying unto 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 alms are come up for a memorial before
God. And 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. He shall tell
thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake
unto Cornelius was departed, he called to 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. But Peter said,
Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common
or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the 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,
and 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 ye 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. Then called he them in, and lodged
them. And on the morrow Peter went
away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And
the morrow after they entered into Caesarea, and Cornelius
waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near
friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell
down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying,
Stand up. I myself also am a man. And as
he talked with him, he went in and found many that were come
together. And he said unto them, You know how that it is an unlawful
thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company? or come unto
one of another nation. But God hath showed me that I
should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I
unto you without gain, saying, As soon as I was sent for, I
ask therefore for what intent you have sent me. And Cornelius
said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth
hour I prayed in my house. And behold, a man stood before
me in bright clothing, and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard,
and that alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send, therefore,
to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is
lodged in the house of one Simon of Tanner by the seaside, who,
when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately, therefore,
I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come.
Now, therefore, are we all here present before God to hear all
things that are commanded thee of God. Then 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. Now that's his introduction he
said this is why I'm here because God sent me to you. I didn't understand before now
I see he's taught me and I'm come here to teach you now here's
the beginning of the message the word which God sent unto
the children of Israel Preaching peace by Jesus Christ. He's Lord
of all. Does that sound like a message
you may have heard before? I hope so. That word, I say,
you know. You know, which was published
throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism
which John preached. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. This is the message. The anointed,
the Christ. Christ means anointed of God.
with the Holy Ghost and with power. Christ said all power
is given unto me in heaven and earth that I should give eternal
life to as many as the Father gave me. And he went about doing
good. He established a righteousness
for his people. This is the gospel. And healing
all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him. He
did good and he healed. And we were witnesses of all
things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew. He did good, he healed, and he
died. And they hanged him on a tree.
Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree. The Son of God cursed,
yes, he was made a curse for us, that he might redeem them
who were under the curse of the law. Him God hath raised up the
third day and showed him openly, not to all people, but unto witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with
him after he rose from the dead. He didn't show himself to everybody,
but he showed him to us and we're telling everybody. That's what
we're still doing. We're still telling everybody. Of him whom God anointed. and
who was slain for sinners and who God raised up. Verse 42, 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 quick and dead. To him
give all the prophets witness. It's not a new message. That
through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sins. That's how God saves a sinner,
by grace through faith. in the Son of God. 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, he
had brought some with him, because that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. They were amazed. For
they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered
Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized,
which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they
him to Terry a certain day." Don't be scared, I'm not going
to preach verse by verse through this, but I want us to see everything
in it if we can. Evidently this man Cornelius
was not well educated in the things of God, he was a Gentile,
and he apparently had been inquiring. He'd been praying, and the answer
to his prayer was a preacher. But here he was a worshiper of
God. In the light which he had from
God, he worshipped God. And that's a good lesson, isn't
it? That's so important. And he was devout about it. That
is, he was earnest. He was earnest in the worship
of God. It wasn't just a religious thing. He was serious about it.
And he had apparently been praying for more light, for a preacher,
because the answer to his prayer, according to the angel of God,
was to have the apostle Peter come and preach the gospel to
him and those that he loved. Maybe his prayer had something
to do with God saving his loved ones, because that was the result
of the preaching, wasn't it? Many of his friends and family,
God revealed himself to. Maybe that was the answer to
his prayer. That would be an answer to prayer,
wouldn't it? How are they going to be saved
if they don't believe on Christ? And how should they believe on
Him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? And how is anybody going to preach unless
God sends them? Romans chapter 10. That's what's happening here
in this text. God sent an angel to him. He'd
been praying about that. And God sent an angel. Now you
may think that, well, we can't really relate to that because
God doesn't send angels to us. Are you sure? Are you sure about
that? Keep in mind what's important
here now. An angel is a messenger of God. And God sends all kinds of messengers
to his people. Some have entertained angels
unawares. Now this angel here was not a
man. He wasn't a messenger in that
sense. Like Paul said, we have this
treasure in earthen vessels. This apparently was an angel
of God from heaven, but told Cornelius that God saw his devotion
and his generosity, his alms, and he gave him something to
do. He said, send for the apostle Peter. Now, why didn't the angel
just preach the gospel to Cornelius and his family? He's already
there. He's perfect. He dwells in the very presence
of God. I know one reason. Paul said,
as I just tried to quote a while ago, we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. 1 Corinthians 1, 26-31. Let's just
have you jot that down. I don't want to take the time
to turn there and look at that. But this is important now. God chooses
the base and the weak and the foolish for his glory. That's why he does that. Sinners
are too enamored with angels. If God sent angels to preach,
we'd be all taken up with the angels, looking at the angels
and glorying in the angels. So angels don't preach. Cornelius
even made too much of the Apostle Peter in verse 25 you see that
there where he fell down and began to worship Peter imagine
The angel says he was afraid he had reverence for the angel,
but you see God's message comes in a plain package that the excellency
of the message itself may shine forth of him who is the message
of God of the glory of the one spoken of and might be seen clearly. God uses the means that he does for his own glory. And beside
all that, an angel, I suppose, is better than a man in every
way, except as a preacher of the gospel, a man, a sinner,
who is an object of God's grace and has experienced the grace
of God in Christ That sinner, like no other creature, even
angels, is able to tell what God does for sinners and how
he does it. We've experienced it, an angel
never has. Who better to tell how God saves
a sinner than a sinner whom God has saved? Now, that being said,
our sufficiencies of God, we have experience that is vital
to the preaching of the gospel, You can't preach a gospel you
hadn't experienced, but we would be too wretched to tell it right
if it were not for God's grace. That in itself doesn't qualify
us to preach it. But see and marvel at the arrangement
of God. Go get impetuous, denied me three
times, too much of an idiot just to obey God, as we saw in verse
14. He said, not so, Lord. Those are words that should never
come out of a man's mouth, not so Lord. When you're speaking
of the Lord, don't ever say no. When you're speaking to him,
don't ever say not so. But go get him, that old fisherman
that was so weak and pitiful that when he got a little bit
discouraged, he was ready to go back fishing and quit the
ministry. I can call Peter an idiot because
I know what one looks like. It takes one to know one, doesn't
it? I am one. But do you want to hear the glories
of Christ, the redeemer of sinners? Go get old Cephas. Go get Simon. Now God was preparing the apostle
for what he was about to experience. before he even knew he was going
to experience it. Can we learn something from that?
He didn't have any idea he was fixed to go preach to Cornelius
and his family and friends, but the Lord was already teaching
him about that. How to do that right. Has God
ever done that for you and you didn't know it until later? Maybe
you never, maybe you still don't know it. God has prepared you for what he's going to use you
for. And here's the lesson here now. Let's leave the providence
up to the one who knows the end from the beginning. Whatever
he says, do it. And let's quit second-guessing
God. We see something happen in our
lives, and we say, that don't make any sense. You better believe
it makes some sense. Now, it just don't make sense
to you yet, and may not ever. I won't talk anymore about the
vision itself, because I want to get to the message that Peter
preached, other than to say that Peter still had some things to
learn here. In this vision, the Lord taught
him some things, and don't ever imagine that you don't, that
you've learned it all, that you know everything now. You've been
listening to the gospel for 35 years, I guess, now, and don't
know anything yet. And one other thing, look at
verses 14 and 15 again. Peter said, not so, Lord, for
I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the
voice spake unto him again the second time, what God hath cleansed,
that call not thou common. Now this is talking about, in
the illustration here, the dream was of animals, but God is teaching
the apostles something about people, about the Gentiles in
this case. This refers to the Gentiles who
were considered unclean by the Jews, but the truth is, all of
us are unclean until God cleanses us. And then God said, don't
call someone unclean that I have cleansed. Now you think about
that. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of one that God has justified? Don't call anything unclean that
I have cleansed, he said. Now I've heard preachers say
that we should never refer to a sinner as good, ever. Don't
ever say that of any sinner he's good, that he's a good person
or a good man. And I've also heard preachers
say that we should never refer to a believer as evil. But God
does both in the scriptures. So I just can't see that. We
just need to understand the difference. What we need to understand is
the difference. God's love for Jacob, and Jacob being one of
God's elect, and being chosen and holy in Christ from eternity,
didn't stop God from calling him a worm. Okay? God still knows you're a worm,
though he saved you and his son from eternity. He knows that.
Okay. Nor, though, did Lot's absolute
wretchedness stop God from calling him a righteous man. God has never been shy about
reminding his people of what they are by nature. And he also
makes it clear in his book that his people are without splot
or blemish or any such thing in Christ Jesus. Purchased with
his own blood. We just need to understand, and
I pray that we will more and more understand, that the difference
is Christ Jesus and Him alone. That's what we need to understand.
Don't worry about, well, I can't call a believer evil. God does. Don't ever refer to a sinner
as good. God does. We just need to know
the difference. Christ is the difference. Now
here's the truth. Believers are perfect, holy,
righteous, just, pure because we are in Christ Jesus. We just
are. God considers us holy and so
we're holy. What God says is so is so. God
just reminds us what we are in ourselves in his word so that
we know how to praise him for his grace so we know what he
saved us from. So we can sing His praises. It
is where sin abounded that grace did much more abound. And we're
still singing about that. But this is an important lesson
here too. What we see in our text here. What God has cleansed
is clean. And don't you forget that. And
that includes me. Includes you if you're one of
His. Now we cannot comment particularly
on every verse of this chapter obviously, but in verses 30-33
I want us to skip down there and look. Cornelius said, four
days ago I was fasting until this hour. Cornelius is recounting
his experience of the past few days to Simon Peter and he said
immediately, look at it, all that happened and then in verse
33, immediately therefore I sent to thee, God sent a messenger
and told him, you sinned for Peter, and Cornelius was able
to say, and he wasn't bragging, he was just telling Peter what
happened. Immediately, I sinned for you. That's more than Peter
could say. That was more than the apostle
could say. Here's a man that knew very little
about God, most likely. God spoke to Peter now, and Peter
resisted at first. Said, not so, Lord. And here
this man, who didn't really know very much, was immediately obedient. There's a lesson in there for
us somewhere. God was gonna teach Cornelius
and his loved ones in this whole thing, but God taught the apostles
some things, too. I just pray that we'll all be
teachable, that I'll be teachable. And I want you to picture this
scene and how the Holy Spirit describes it. All these people
had gathered says he called his family and his friends together
And it says that they all looked they were all gathered together.
They said we've come to hear what you have to say Can you
picture that there's Peter standing there in a room and it's just
full of people And they're all looking at one man God had sent
to them to preach to them And it says in verse 33 the preacher
opened his mouth You see that when we read it in verse 34? We are all, look at verse 33,
now therefore the middle part, now therefore are we all here
present before God? And that's something we need
to remember too. There's a hundred messages in
this chapter. We're gathered before God here
today. You ever think about that? And we're all here present before
God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. Don't
hold anything back. I want to hear what God said.
I want to hear all the truth. I want to know what he said about
me. If he reveals himself, I want to know what he said about himself.
And if there's mercy for a wretch like me, I want to hear about
that, don't you? Then Peter opened his mouth. Why do you suppose it tells us
that? If it just told us what he said, we could assume that
he had to open his mouth in order to say it. But we have the same
language in Matthew 5.1. Listen to this. And seeing the
multitudes, our Lord Jesus Christ went up into a mountain, and
when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened
his mouth. And taught them, saying, blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. God
opened his mouth. And that's exactly what's happening
when his true messengers speak. We're just ambassadors of the
king. It's the king's message. The king is speaking. I pray
that that meant to us what it ought to mean to us. I know that I'm not worth listening
to. Don't you think I know that? I'm not worth five minutes of
your time unless I have a message from God. And here's the message. That
message in our church is the message. There's just one message. It's always been the same from
the beginning. After explaining, as I said,
why Peter was there, because God's no respecter of persons,
in verses 34 and 35, he begins the message in verse 36 with
two words, the word. I've got nothing to say to you
except the word, the word that God sent. That's what we come
in to preach now. This is the Word of God, sent
by God. We don't make up something to
say. That's not what I do during the week. I try to find out what
God said so I can tell you. And you may already know. But that's what Peter said. He said,
I'm putting you in remembrance of things you already know. I'm
talking to you that believe that you might believe. People who are in the business
of motivating the flesh, they have to do that, they have to
make up stuff, they have to come up with something. We just simply,
by God's grace, I pray, rightly divide the word of truth. That was the first two words
out of Peter's mouth, the word. And then here it is, here's the
word, peace. Isn't that what the angel said when our Lord
Jesus Christ was born into this world? Peace, and they were talking
about somebody. And so is the apostle here talking
about somebody. Peace by Jesus Christ. Peace by the blood of his cross. Paul said he hath made peace
by the blood of his cross. Peace. Is there anybody here
at war with God this morning? Anybody? Are you aware that you're one
problem from which all of your problems are born? Is that you
are enmity against God? You are opposed to God in your
heart by nature? The message of God's word is
peace by Jesus Christ. He said, I didn't come to condemn
the world. You're already condemned. I came
that the world might have peace, might have life, might have life,
might be saved. How can there be peace by Jesus
Christ? Verse 39, he was slain. How did you make that connection?
As I said, Paul said he made peace by the blood of his cross.
And I'll tell you how else. You know what they're singing
in glory right now? And we're already singing it with them.
We just don't experience it yet. We don't know it yet. We're already
singing it with them, if you know Christ. You know what we're
singing? Revelation 5, 9, they sung a
new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book. The Lamb is
worthy, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation. Thou wast slain. The good news,
the gospel, that's what gospel is, good news, is that there
is peace by Jesus Christ and him slain. And notice the next
phrase in verse 36. He's Lord of all. This is not
some Jesus that died trying to do something. This is the sovereign,
almighty, invincible, victorious Christ shedding his blood for
his people. And he said, everybody, I lay
down my life for my sheep, and they're not gonna perish. There's
a direct correlation there between him laying down his life for
you and you not perishing. That's the reason you're not
going to perish, because he died for you. Not because he died
for you and you did something about it. I lay down my life
for my sheep and I give them eternal life and they shall never
perish. This is the Lord of glory now.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, There's a reason
why it doesn't say there, whosoever shall call on the name of Jesus
shall be saved. There's a reason why it doesn't
say that. It's because you're gonna submit.
That's what Paul said about the Jews. His heart's desire and
prayer to God is that he would save them. Because they haven't
submitted to the righteousness of God, which is Christ. They're
going about to establish their own righteousness. They haven't
bowed to the Lord. A Jesus who ever tried to do
anything and couldn't can't save you. A Jesus who ever wanted
anything he didn't get is no savior. But the Savior, Peter
said, is Lord of all. He does as he pleases in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And
none can stay his hand or even question him. Say, what are you
doing? This is the one who said, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. We're talking about the Lord
of all now. This is the one that that leper came to and said,
Lord, if you will, if the Lord will, he can make me clean. That's just the definition of
Lord. He gets to do as he pleases. He has the power and the authority,
the ability and the authority To save sinners whom he will
to give life to him. So ever he will Lord if you will
you can make me clean And he said I will I Will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy and you're one of them. I will be
thou clean That's how God saves sinners
by wanting to and Doing what he wants to do He is Lord of all. And I'll tell
you what Mary said to the wedding guests. If he's Lord of all,
you remember what she said? Whatsoever he says to you, do
it. Because he's Lord of all. He asked by his prophet Isaiah
in Isaiah 46.9, remember the former things of old, for I'm
God and there's not anybody else. There's not another God, there's
no rival. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the
end from the beginning and from ancient times of things that
are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will
do all my pleasure. Does that sound like the Jesus
they're talking about in this religious world today? I'll call
a ravenous bird from the east to feed my prophet. A man that
executes my counsel, I'll say to him, go, and he'll go, and
I'll say to him, come, and he'll come. From a far country, if
necessary. Yea, I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also
do it. He is Lord of all. This is who
we preach. And then he said, that word,
I say you know, verse 37, you know. which was published throughout
all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John
preached. This is not a new message and this wasn't done in a corner.
You remember Paul said to Agrippa, do you believe the prophets Agrippa?
I know you believe. I know you believe up here what
the prophets said. And those of you who are here
this morning and have not been saved, you don't know the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know what I'm talking about. It's not complicated. It's just simply a matter of
submission. He's Lord of all. It's a matter of your will or
His will. Your way, His way. It's a matter of who's God, you
or Him. It's not complicated. You know exactly what I'm saying. Will you bow to the Lord of all?
The Lord Jesus Christ? Verse 38, how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, with authority,
who went about doing good. He was what we weren't. And are
not and never will be. And he is that. And healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with him. And he was God with us. We know from the Lord's own testimony
why God anointed his son with power. We see it here. He anointed
him with the Holy Spirit without measure and with power. Why? John 17, 1. Our Lord lifted
up his eyes into heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, and that thy son may also glorify thee, as thou hast
given him power over all flesh. That's what Peter was preaching
about. God anointed him with power. What for? That he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. That
he should come down here and give life to everyone that the
Father sent him to give life to. not just those of that flock
that were walking the earth the same time he was, but to all,
he said in his prayer in John 17, to who shall believe on me
through their word, all of them, those that you've given me. And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, who now has sinned. The only way to know
God is to know Jesus Christ. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me, he said. Peter is identifying a person
here. You see that in verse 38. He's
identifying a person and telling who he is and what he did. That's the gospel. The person
and work of Jesus Christ. That's the ordinances, the message
of the ordinances. We do show forth Christ in his
death until he come with the ordinances. How? By picturing
his body and his blood, his person and his work. That's what Peter's
doing here. Telling about somebody and what
he did. He is the anointed Christ of
God. He is God in human flesh. He is the one with all power.
He is the Lord of all. He's God the Son, promised of
old, and in these last days come to accomplish the Father's will
by doing good, by healing whom he would, and by dying, by being
slain. Thou art worthy, for thou was
slain by the death that he accomplished. Goodwill toward men, the angel
said. Peace on earth. And goodwill
toward men. What did Peter say? Peace by
Jesus Christ. And good. He went about doing
good. Who did Christ heal? There's
a lesson in that part of it, too. He healed those that were... You know who he healed? Everybody
that needed it. How about you? Are you one of those? Do you
need it? Do you need his healing power? Verse 39, and we're witnesses
of all things which he did. He did. Those words are important now,
aren't they? These are key words. We are witnesses
of all things which he did. What was done means nothing unless
he did it. And he came to do some things
both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they slew
and hanged on a tree. This is the reason every lamb
and bullock and goat and every animal that was ever slain in
the Old Testament under the old covenant was slain to picture
and set forth him who was slain at Calvary. We saw a while ago how that his
being slain is the song of the ages. Thou wast slain, and we saw the
result of it, didn't we? Thou wast slain and hast redeemed
us. Those are not two different things.
It's the same thing. It's what he did and it's the
result of it. Thou wast slain, and when you
were slain, you redeemed us that way. He redeemed everyone for whom
he was slain. Every priest, Hebrews 10, 11,
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, this
Lord of all, this anointed man, God-man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. He did what no priest
ever did before, or sin. He sat down on the right hand
of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. Why did he sit down? For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. When he offered himself unto
God, his precious blood, he perfected those that he made holy. He accomplished
their sanctification. They're being made holy before
God by that one offering No conditions No contingencies. He did it That was Peter's message
and I pray it's ours as plain as it can be. I pray it is verse
40 him God raised up He raised him up the third day and showed
him openly and 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. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again. If he just died an example, if
he just died a martyr, then he's not Savior, but he
died, yea, rather, is risen again, showing himself to be who he
said he was, and showing that the offering that he offered
that we read about there in Hebrews was accepted of God. And again, notice the word openly.
Ignorance cannot be pleaded. These hearers that day had likely
never heard the gospel this way, so concisely and plainly set
forth. But they knew what Peter was
talking about. He said, you know what I'm talking about. You know
what I'm saying. You know who I'm talking about. And you know
the things that I'm saying he did. You've heard of that. You've
heard that that happened. Those to whom he has revealed
himself are witnesses. We are witnesses. He reveals
himself to witnesses who tell others about him and what he
did. They testify of him and what he did. Paul said, we preach
Christ and him crucified. And that's all we have to say.
We're witnesses of Him. Verse 42, and He commanded us
to preach unto the people and to testify. You talk about key
words now. We're preaching and we're testifying.
What? Three words. It is He. It is He. which was ordained of God to
be the judge of quick and dead. What are we to teach? What are
we to testify? It is he. It is he who is ordained
of God to judge. It is he that shall decide the
whole matter. And the matter is life and death. John 5.21, for as the Father
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth
whom He will. He gives life to whom He will. Only God can do that, and He
sent me, His Son, God the Son, to do that. to quick to give
life to whoever I want to give life to. And here's why. Verse
22 of John 5, for the Father judgeth no man that hath committed
all judgment unto the Son. This is the judgment of God.
We're not talking about fire and brimstone and scorpion, giant
scorpion stinging people. Judgment is a matter of life
and death. And when he gives life to whomsoever
he will, he's executing judgment in the world right there. If
he passes you by and leaves you dead in your trespasses and sins,
judgment. I give life to whom I will because
the Father judges no man but hath committed all judgment unto
the Son, and here's why he did it, that all men should honor
the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father. Verse 43, to Him give all the
profits. Peter said, I'm just doing what
they did. Giving witness to Him. That through his name and here's
our witness here's our testimony that through his name the name
of him who is lord of all The name of him who is anointed of
god to give life to whomsoever he will to judge between quick
and dead To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him Shall
receive remission of sin That's what we believe in Him for. Remission
of sins. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. In spiritual terms, that's the
remitting of sins. And this has always been God's
message. The prophets gave witness of
what? It is He. What did the prophets say? It
is He. What do we read in the book of
Genesis and Exodus? The Passover. What does the Passover
say? It is He. The difference between bondage
and freedom is He, the Lamb and His precious blood. It is He. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. It is He. Unto us a child is
born. Unto us a son is given, Isaiah
said. What's he saying? It is He. His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. It is He. It is Christ. All the
prophets give witness of him. These are all written that you
might believe. We testify unto you that you
might believe, he said. Do you see that there? Whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. John said these are written that
you might believe and that believing you might have life. The way
you have life is by your sins being remitted. The wages of
sin is death. No sin is life. Same thing, remission of sin,
life. He that believeth on him shall
have everlasting life. Because your sins in the slain
lamb, in the worthy, slain, anointed, Lord of all lamb, your sins are
washed away by his precious blood. It's not believing some things.
What do you believe? Well, I believe this, this, and
this. Life comes by believing in Him. He said to His disciples, you
believe in God, believe also in Me. Believe in Me. Believe what I say to you. Trust
Me. Rest in me. Take me as your hope
before God, as your righteousness, and as your sin offering. Believe
in me. Martha, you believe in the resurrection?
I am the resurrection and the life. Thomas, you don't know
the way? I am the way, the truth, and
the life. You search the scriptures, for
in them you think you have life? They testify of me. Come to me
that you might have life. You see what Peter's saying?
Whosoever believeth in him. This is the record. This is the record of God. That God hath given to us eternal
life. And this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. This is the message of God's
book. It is He. And while Peter yet spake these
words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. Peter didn't have an altar call.
He didn't beg anybody to do anything. This is how it works. As he was yet preaching, as he
was yet preaching. As the gospel went forth, Paul
said of some who heard the gospel, it didn't profit them because
it wasn't mixed with faith in them that heard it. As the gospel
went forth, the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the word.
And I know from other scripture, it doesn't say it particularly
here in this exact text, but in the whole word of God that
we're taught there, I know what the Holy Ghost does. You know
what he does? He takes the things of Christ, and reveals them to
you. He gives you faith in God the
Son. That's what he does. There was
no begging, there was no religious nonsense. While the gospel is
preached, God the Holy Spirit comes and gives life. You must
be born of the Spirit, not do something. Once you are born
of the Spirit, then, verse 48, he commanded them to be baptized.
in the name of the Lord. That's why I said one time, I
said if you believe the gospel, I insist that you're baptized.
Not only will I baptize you, I insist upon it. You believe
what I preach? You believe God? You believe
the gospel? He commanded them to be baptized
in the name of the Lord. Identify with him who died. Identify
with him who was anointed of God and came and was slain for
sinners and redeemed them to God by his precious blood, was
buried, and then God raised him from the dead for the justification
of his people. Identify with him in baptism. I like even the very last little
thing. They prayed him to Terry certain
days. You know, all Peter did was come
and tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ. He came and said
some good things about Jesus Christ. And they said, don't
leave. Don't you leave. I like that, don't you? Would
to God that we would pray like Cornelius. Lord, send us a word. And save our loved ones. Save
those that we love. And then we'd be earnest about
it. Let's pray together.