We turn again to God's Word and
with the Lord's help I want to draw your attention this evening
to the words that we read here at the end of Acts chapter 10
and the verses 44 and 45. Acts chapter 10 and verses 44
and 45. 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." In Acts chapter 10 then and verses 44 and 45. Previously, of course, we have
the record, a very brief account of Peter's preaching here at
the house of Cornelius, recorded from verse 34 through to verse 43. And so this is the
outcome, the consequence of that message that he had proclaimed. earlier today in the morning
we were considering those words at the beginning of Acts chapter
2 when the day of Pentecost was fully come and we sought to say
something with regards to the fullness of the day of Pentecost. Now the fullness of the day of
Pentecost is continued here in chapter 10 There of course we have a much
fuller account of the preaching of the Apostle. A long account
really of that sermon that was preached on that particular occasion
and the outcome. Remarkable outcome to the sermon
in that there was an awakening, there was conviction. Conviction
of sin, there was faith. repentance and we're told how
some 3,000 were converted. Well what I want to do for a
while this evening is to compare the two events and to see that
there are similarities between what we were considering this
morning was recorded in the second chapter and that that we have
set before us here in the 10th chapter. We have to Remember then something
of what we said earlier today with regards to the historical
symbolism of the significance of the day of Pentecost. It's often referred to also as
the Feast of Weeks and it was a feast that recognized and reminded the people of the fact
that God had been mindful of them by granting to them again
the fruits of the harvest. a feast, the Feast of Weeks,
Pentecost, that was very much associated with the first ingathering
of the harvest. And it was one of the three great
feasts that the children of Israel were always to observe throughout
all their generations. It's spoken of quite particularly
together with Passover and Tabernacles there in Acts 16. verse 16 three
times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord
thy God in the place which he shall choose in the feast of
unleavened bread the Passover in the feast of weeks or Pentecost
and in the feast of tabernacles and they shall not appear before
the Lord empty it says as they were to properly observe those
great Feasts and as I said the Feast of Tabernacles rather the
Feast of Pentecost is identical really with the Feast of Weeks. Leviticus 23.16 we read even
unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty
days. and 50 days is the Greek word
Pentecostus and so our English word is simply a transliteration
of the Greek words for the 50 days, Pentecost. It was the day,
the second day of the Passover that they were to number those
seven weeks seven sevens 49 days so it's 50 days after the Passover
and we saw this morning how there in the second chapter we have
the fullness of the day of Pentecost when the day of Pentecost was
was fully come but how it's very much related to to the Passover
Passover was that that had taken place some 50 days previously
and clearly in scripture the Passover is a remarkable type
of the Lord Jesus Christ and we remember how it was very much
at that time of Passover of course that Christ came to make the
great sin atoning sacrifice Matthew 26 17 the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Breads
the disciples came to Jesus saying unto Him where wilt thou that
we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? It was the Lord's last
Passover but it was at that very Feast that He instituted what
we know now as that Holy Supper of the Lord which we observed
even the last Lord's Day evening. The Passover then so clearly
identified with the Lord Jesus and associated very much with
the time of him making the great sin atoning sacrifice. And Christ
himself is spoken of as our Passover. 1 Corinthians 5.7, even Christ
our Passover is crucified for us. Or the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is the fulfillment of the Paschal Lamb. And there are certain
similarities that we can draw between the type as we have it
there in Exodus 12 and the anti-type that we see in the Lord Jesus.
But on the 14th day of the month that they were to celebrate the
Passover, the 14th day of the first month but they were to
make choice of a lamb for the Paschal lamb on the 10th day
and that lamb was to be without any blemish One of the best of
all the flock was to serve as the Paschal Lamb, blemishless,
and set aside four days before the actual sacrifice. Well, of
course, we know that the antitype is much richer and fuller than
what we see in the type. Why, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. He was
set aside in the eternal purpose of God, set aside in the everlasting
covenant, the covenant of redemption, before ever the world was created. And he was that one who came
as a lamb without blemish and without any spot, holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. And so we see the significance
of the Passover and then we come to what was the next great feast
in the Jewish calendar and it was this feast of weeks or this
feast of Pentecost and it was as I said the time of the first
fruits the beginnings of their harvest and so they're told there
in Leviticus 23 to bring out of their habitations to wheat
loaves and it says they are the first fruits unto the Lord and
they wave them as it were before the Lord, they wave offerings
and how important all of this is it's an indication of a far greater
harvest that is to be gathered in, we spoke of it this morning
It's a type of the first fruits of the New Testament Church.
The Lord Jesus Christ had made the great sin-atoning sacrifice
and He is to see of the fruits of those sufferings. To see of
the travail of His soul and He is going to be satisfied. He has not shed that precious
blood in vain. but by that one sacrifice for
sins forever he has accomplished redemption for as many as the
father had given to him in that eternal covenant it's a particular
redemption we are of course a particular baptist church in that sense
how much misunderstanding there is with regards to what we are
as a strict and particular baptist church i've heard it said i remember
years ago you may remember Kenneth Dix. He worked as a agent really, a deputation speaker
for the Trinitarian Bible Society for a number of years and he
was from a street Baptist family I believe. I think it was his grandfather
or his great-grandfather who was the pastor at Ebenezer Chapel
in Luton in the days when there was a great congregation gathered
there, John Kemp Jr. was the pastor, well that was
Kenneth Dix's grandfather or great-grandfather but I remember
him saying on one occasion that when he was a young man he was
so ignorant and I don't know whether he drifted away from
the religion of his forebears but there was a young lady and
he used to go with her to various services and if I remember rightly
she would play the piano and he would sing solos and she'd
talk with him and she was saying on one occasion she'd passed
a church and it said on the notice board that it was a strict and
particular Baptist church and she thought that was rather a
strange title to give to a church and he said, you know I can explain
that, he says I know what the words mean, strict, they're strict,
all that really means is that they restrict communion to those
who are baptised as believers in that sense they restrict communion
it's restricted he said but I'm not sure really as to what the
word particular means but they are rather fussy in several ways
and they are fussy about women wearing hats he had no understanding
of the importance of that word particular Baptist. The theological
significance of it. It reminds us, doesn't it, that
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is particular in the sense that
it is limited, but limited only in that it is for a specific
people. And what Christ did in dying
then is not to make salvation a mere possibility for all men. It was not a general redemption.
and men themselves must decide whether it's going to be efficacious
in their case or not no what he did was to accomplish salvation
and not just make salvation a possibility all the significance in of his
dying he must see of the travail of his soul and Pentecost is
a wonderful tied to us of the the firstfruits the firstfruits
of all his sufferings there on the day of Pentecost there were
three thousand that were brought under conviction of sin and three
thousand who that day were added onto the church And though it
was to go on daily, the Lord was adding to the church such
as should be said. When we come into chapter 4,
we read of, I think it says, 5,000 men. And besides the men,
there must have been women also. How there was tremendous fruit
right at the beginning, and it's the first fruits. Pentecost is
the feast of the first fruits. and yet you know it's so strange
because we're told aren't we in Acts chapter 1 at verse 15
before the day of Pentecost that the number of nymes together that's the
total sum of the church the number of the nymes together were about
120 at the end of his own earthly ministry
that's what we're told the number of the disciples about 120. Men might say, well that's such
a mean number. When we think of all that follows
of course, 3,000, 5,000, daily numbers being increased. Well
that was surely a mean number. But I read, oh it's probably
the church at a state where it was never any stronger. That
was the strongest church that ever existed on the face of the
earth. It was said, you see, that we
don't discover the strength of the church by counting numbers.
What we need to do surely is not to number it, but to weigh
it. To weigh it. It was those 120, of course. who were there on the day of
Pentecost. That was the church that was visited with that gracious
outpouring of the Spirit as he came upon the apostles there
in that upper room in Jerusalem. And Peter preaches that remarkable
sermon and the consequences of it. That's what we were considering
then this morning, something of what happened on that occasion. And here, surely we have something
similar we see the Holy Spirit being
poured out upon the Gentiles and Peter says doesn't he can
any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we It was another Pentecost. That's
what we're really considering tonight. It's a second Pentecost. We have the first Pentecost there
in chapter 2. We have the second Pentecost
here in chapter 10. It's a Pentecost that comes now
upon the Gentiles. And so they are to be baptized.
that's one of the ordinances that is clearly established the
Lord Jesus when he gives commission to his disciples mentions baptism
going into all the worlds make disciples of every nation baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost and Lo I am with you always unto the end of the world we
know the passage there at the end of Matthew but we're reminded
aren't we also in that second chapter that there were other
ordinances because they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine
it says and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers
these are the marks of the new testament church believers baptism
but also the breaking of bread and prayers and the apostolic
doctrine, the preaching of the Word of God, and fellowship together. How they are all, as it were,
made one body in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says to the Corinthians,
by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be
Jews or Gentiles, and that's what we see here. That salvation
is not just for the Jew, it's for the Gentile also. The old division is gone. No more Jew
and Gentile. No, says the Apostle, he is our
peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition. and now he came and preached
peace to them that were afar off and to them that were night
to Jewish, to Gentile the Jews were those who were nigh, they
had all the privileges of the Old Testament but now here is
that that is for Gentiles also and so it's not surprising that
we should have mention of the second Pentecost in the passage
that I read here in chapter 10 Who were those present in chapter
2? Well, they were Jews. We're told
they were Jews and they were proselytes. It says as much in
verse 5 and again in verse 10. Jews and proselytes. The proselyte, of course, being
a Gentile who had converted to the Jewish religion and therefore
had been circumcised as a Jew. and the promise is given that
the Spirit is going to come upon those who are met together on
that occasion in chapter 1. The Lord Jesus says to his disciples,
you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is 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 so, as we said this morning, we see the outworking
of that throughout the Acts beginning at Jerusalem, the very place
where Christ had been crucified Those very people who had stood
there and demanded of Pilate, crucify him, crucify him. But
the preaching first to the Jerusalem sinner, then in all Judea, then
in Samaria, and ultimately the uttermost part of the earth.
The account as we read through the Acts finishes of course with
the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul, taking that message
far and wide. and how strange it is as these
matters are worked out in the sovereignty of God there was
persecution and persecution very much led by Saul of Tarsus, the
very man who was to become Paul the Apostle we read of him in
in chapter 8 he's consenting on to the death of Stephen the
first martyr and then in verse 3 of that chapter as for Saul
he made havoc of the church entering into every house hailing men
and women committed them to prison therefore they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the words then Philip went down
to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them and so through
the persecutions by this Mansur the gospel goes by Philip to
the Samaritans Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria how God is in these things
even persecution leads to the great spread of the gospel he
begins now to go out from the Jews to Samaritans even to Gentiles and in a strange
way this man Saul the persecutor is instrumental it's because
of his persecution that there's such a scattering of the disciples
but the really significant event for the Gentiles is what we have
in this passage in chapter 10 it's Peter's preaching in the
house of Cornelius because it reads as another Pentecost in
the words that we have at the end here our text verse 44 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 it on the Gentiles
also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost for they heard
them speak with tongues and magnify God same as we see in chapter
2 they speak with tongues and we referred this morning to the
significance of the tongue speaking known languages There were Jews
and Prophets from many nations there speaking different languages.
And these Galileans who were unlearned men are able to speak
in their very languages. And we said of course it was
the reversal of that terrible judgment that had come upon men
in Genesis 11 at the time of the Tower of Babel, when they
were confused, when they couldn't communicate together. because
God's judgment had fallen upon them but now that remarkable
gift of tongues and it's here again with regards to these Gentiles
upon whom the Spirit has fallen they spake with tongues they
magnified God and then Peter says can any man forbid water
that they 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. It's a remarkable event and of
course it's so strange when it comes to the ears of others of
the apostles. And so we find in the following
chapter how Peter himself now begins to answer and to explain
matters to the apostles. In verse 1 of chapter 11, the
apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles
had also received the word of God. And when Peter was come
up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended
with him, saying, Thou wentest into men uncircumcised, and did
eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter
from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them. And so we have his explanation
in the following verses. And when we come to verse 18,
they heard, when they heard these things, they held their peace
and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles
granted repentance unto life. Oh, it is, I say, a second Pentecost
that we read of. But then there's more persecution Verse 19 in chapter 11, Now when
they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose
about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch,
preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some
of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were
come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord
Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number
believed and turned to the Lord. The initial persecution there's
only preaching to the Jews but now there are those who are preaching
to Gentiles also. Now God's Word is by persecution
being spread far and wide and so there's this remarkable outcome
of the preaching. It's Peter isn't it? and it's
significant, it's Peter who is the man there in chapter 2 preaching
on the first day when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
that first Pentecost, it's Peter who preaches and here when we
read of the second Pentecost that comes to the Gentiles, it's
Peter again And we think of the words that were spoken by the
Lord to this disciple. There in Caesarea Philippi, when
Peter made his great confession, thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And the Lord says, Blessed art
thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood. I have not revealed
it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And what does he
say? I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven. and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatsoever thou shalt release
on earth shall be released on earth. It's Peter, in a sense,
exercising the power of the keys on these two occasions in chapter
2 and also in chapter 10. And yet, ultimately we see it's
another apostle who is raised up to be the apostle to the Gentiles,
even that man who was the great persecutor of believers at the
beginning, Saul of Tarsus. And when he becomes poor, the
apostle, he tells us, there in Galatians 2 and verse 8, He that
wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision,
the same was much in me toward the Gentiles. It is Peter who really ministers
to the Jews, but it is Paul who is in the outworking of these
things to be the man, the apostle who preaches to the Gentiles. And it was so even when he is
called, remember in chapter 9 we have the account of his calling
there, he's gone to Damascus as a persecutor. But the Lord
apprehends him and addresses him, Why persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest, he says. It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. and he's trembling and he's astonished
and says Lord what will they have me to do and the Lord tells
him to arise and go into the city and he shall be told what
they must do and so the Lord then sends this man Ananias to
him he's converted now And Ananias is assured that he's no longer
a persecutor but a true disciple of the Lord, he prays. Behold,
he prayeth is the assurance that's given. And what is the message
that Ananias is to convey? Well, the Lord says to him in
verse 15 of chapter 9, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel
unto me. to bear my name before the Gentiles,
and kings, and the children of Israel, and I will show him how
great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went
his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands
on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, hath appeared
unto thee in the way, as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou
mightest receive thy sight and be filled. with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from
his eyes as it had been scales, and he received, sighed forthwith,
and arose and was baptized. And then we're told later how
straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is
the Son of God. Remarkable events recorded there. But this is a man who is to be
the apostle to the to the Gentiles. Initially, as we see him ministering,
he will go to the synagogue, but in time, as the Jews are
rejecting the message, he turns very much from them. In chapter
13, verse 46, we're told how Paul and Barnabas waxed bold
and said it was necessary that the Word of God should first
have been spoken to you, that is to the Jews in the synagogue,
but seeing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life, lo, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. We turn to the Gentiles. And
we know, we know the the ministry of this man and how he understands
the true significance of circumcision. It's not a physical rite, that's
what it was under the Old Testament, but it's a spiritual experience
that makes a man a true Israelite, a spiritual Jew. He is not a
Jew which is one outwardly, says Paul, but he is a Jew which is
one inwardly, and circumcision is not that of the flesh. but it is that of the heart,
in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men but of God. There in Romans, Romans chapter
2 and verses 28 and 29. All God's great purpose of salvation
is culminating here then in the New Testament, gospel churches.
It's the beginning, it's the birth of the church really that
we have in the Acts of the Apostle. And how vital is that ministry
of the Holy Spirit in the founding, the forming of true churches. And what is a church? It's God
gathering together His elect from all the nations of the earth. That's what gospel churches are
made up of. And it's bound up with that great
mystery of the calling of sinners of the Gentiles. In times past
we've looked at such passages as that in Ephesians 3 and verses
1 through 11 where Paul speaks of his calling as the apostle
to the Gentiles that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of
the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the
gospel but not only to the Ephesians also at the end of Colossians
1 Paul speaks of his ministry but it is Peter here who is instrumental
in this second Pentecost that comes upon Gentiles and then
the blessed outcome there is neither Jew nor Greek there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for
we are all one in Christ Jesus. No more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of
God. The church and the ministry that
follows and the gathering of local churches of what we see
throughout Paul's ministry wherever he goes churches are established
and then he writes epistles be it the church at Corinth or the
church at Philippi or the church at Colossae or Thessalonica these
are all the places where he went and preached and there was as
a consequence of the preaching the gathering the gathering of
the church we believe in that the gathered church And it's
all gathered unto the Lord Jesus, unto Him is to be the gathering
of the people. But how vital in all of that
is the Holy Spirit. As I said this morning, how we
need ourselves to know something of the fullness of that day of
Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost was
fully come in our own soul's experience to have that Pentecostal
experience in the sense of the anointing of the Spirit, the
sealing of the Spirit. We can receive nothing, believe
nothing at all except we know that gracious work of the Spirit.
Where are we by nature? We're sinners, we're dead in
sin. There's no spiritual life in us. We have to be born of
the Spirit. We have to receive new life.
And again I remind you of the words of Christ in the Gospel.
Oh, if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more. Shall your Heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask? We are to ask. Oh, ye have
not because ye ask not. We are to ask. how we need that
spirit, how we need baptisings, how we need Pentecost again and
again and again, that gracious work. There's words at verse 44 where
while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them
which heard the words. Shouldn't that be our prayer
week by week every time we gather? While the Word of God is open,
read, preached, we need the Holy Ghost to fall upon us whenever
we hear the Word of God. And then it won't just be a matter
of assenting with our minds. When the Spirit comes we'll know
what it is to receive it. as that engrafted word, that
word that's able to save our souls. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to grant that we ourselves might experience these things and know
them to our soul's eternal well-being and all ultimately to the glory
of God as Christ sees the travail of his soul and is satisfied. May the Lord bless His word to
us. Amen.