Let us turn back to that chapter
that we were just reading in Acts chapter 10. We read the first 33 verses.
I want to complete the chapter as we read now from verse 34
through to the end. Acts 10 verse 34 following. Remember we finished on that
33rd verse. the words of Cornelius as he
speaks to Peter, 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. the word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He is
Lord of all, that word, I say, ye know, which was published
throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism
which John preached. Now 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. God raised him 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 quick and dead. To him give
all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake
these words the Holy Ghost fell on them all which heard the words
and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished
as many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also was
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak
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 tarry certain days." Here then we have Peter's preaching
at the house of Cornelius and the outcome, the consequence
of that preaching. And what we really have we might
call the Pentecost of the Gentiles, the Pentecost of the Gentiles. Now last Lord's Day In the morning
we were there in the second chapter of the Acts, the Day of Pentecost,
and we considered how that sermon that is recorded of Peter concludes
with those words at verse 36. There in Acts 2.36 Peter says,
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God
hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord
and Christ." And speaking of the way in which that sermon
is divided, we observe now that repeatedly, in the course of
his preaching, we see the Apostle very much addressing himself
to Israel. He begins in verse 14 of that
second chapter. Ye men of Judea, and all ye that
dwell at Jerusalem. He was there of course for the
Jewish festival, the Feast of Weeks, or of Pentecost. And so we considered something
of the content of his ministry, but we also looked at the consequences. Now, as a result of that preaching
and the remarkable outpouring of the Spirit, the Word was brought
home by the Holy Ghost and there was awakening in the souls of
so many of those Jews and proselytes, Gentile converts to the Jewish
religion. There was awakening, there was
conviction of sin, there was faith and repentance. And we're
told our 3,000 were added to the church. What I want to do
tonight is to compare that event with what we've just read now
here in Chapter 10 of the Acts. To compare Chapter 2 and Chapter
10 and observe something of the similarities. So, first of all
to think about that first Pentecost. spoken of in the second chapter.
And we have to remember the historical significance of the day of Pentecost. We have to think of the symbolism
of the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Pentecost. It is here
in the book of Leviticus and you can read the verses. It's
in Leviticus chapter 23 and verses 15 to 20, how they were to observe
that particular feast. Other feasts are spoken of in
that same chapter. For example, the Passover is
previously spoken of, but there are a number of feasts that are
spoken of there in Leviticus 23. And amongst them that feast
of weeks, sometimes called Pentecost. It was one of the three great
Jewish feasts which were to be observed. by all the males as
they were commanded quite clearly in Deuteronomy chapter 16 and
verse 16 three times in a year shall all the males appear before
the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose in the
Feast of Unleavened Bread that was Passover and in the Feast
of Weeks or Pentecost and in the Feast of Tabernacles and
they shall not appear before the Lord empty." They were to
bring the prescribed sacrifices and offer them as they go up
to Jerusalem for those three great festivals. And in Leviticus
23.16 we have this statement, it says, "...even unto the morrow
after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days." It was
called the Feast of Weeks because they were to number seven weeks,
seven sevens, 49 days, and then as it says there in that 16th
verse, they were to number the next day, the 50th day. And Pentecost,
the word Pentecost comes from what's there in the Greek version
of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, an old translation of the Jewish
scriptures which the apostles and even the Lord Jesus Christ
himself would have been familiar with. And the word for 50 there
in that version is Pentecostus. So we have our English word Pentecost.
But it's there you see. Even unto the morrow after the
seventh Sabbath shall ye number 50. Pentecostos, days and so
they called it the Feast of Pentecost and we have those words at the
beginning of the second chapter when the day of Pentecost was
fully come and they're all together and there's that remarkable outpouring
of the Spirit of God and The disciples are speaking in unknown
tongues but they're speaking in languages that those who were
present because they were there from many quarters, Jews from
other nations, together with Jewish converts, proselytes,
and they're all hearing the wondrous words of God in their own languages
being spoken by the apostles. Now, that's Pentecost in a sense. that 50 days before, 50 days
before Pentecost was Passover. And so the events that we're
reading of there you see are some 50 days after what they'd
observed in that last Passover when they sat with the Lord Jesus.
And we know that the Passover is very much a type of Christ
and his sufferings. We have the record in the Gospels
about how Christ very carefully planned for that final Passover
that he celebrated with his disciples. For example in Matthew 26.17.
We're told that the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples came to Jesus saying unto him, Where wilt thou that
we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And he gives them very
specific instructions, made arrangements. and he gathers together for that
final Passover, and of course, it was on that occasion that
the Lord instituted what we call the Holy Supper, the Lord's Supper,
the service of communion. It was very much then that time
when Christ was to make that great sacrifice for which he
had come into this world. 1 Corinthians 5, 7, for even
Christ, our Passover, He sacrificed for us. All the Paschal Lamb
that was offered at the Passover, year by year, since the events
that we have recorded back in Exodus, when they came out of
Egypt, after God had visited that terrible 10th plague upon
the Egyptians and all the firstborn had been killed by the destroying
angel but the angel did not come near the homes of the Hebrews
because they were sheltering under the blood that had been
put on the doorposts and the lintels the blood of the Paschal
Lamb. Christ is the fulfillment of
the Passover. Now, going back to Pentecost
it was also the time of the first fruits I do recommend that you
read that passage in Leviticus 23 from verse 15 to verse 20
where we have the detail, and there at verse 17 they are told,
Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves, they are the
firstfruits unto the Lord. They were to take and make bread,
and they were to make these loaves, wave loaves, they were to take
them, and they were to wave them before the Lord. It's the first
fruits of their harvest. And so as Passover is a type
of Christ, Christ in his sufferings upon the cross, his sacrifice,
so the Passover is a type of the first fruits. And the first
fruits of the church. That's what we see, the very
first fruits, really, of the New Testament Church. Christ
had been ministering here upon the earth for some three days,
sorry, three years. He began his ministry after he
had come forward and gone to John the Baptist at the River
Jordan and been baptized, and then he begins his ministry,
and it lasts three years. And after his crucifixion, we
have these men who are the chosen witnesses of that blessed truth
that he is risen and the proof of it is that they
were witnesses as Peter says here in chapter 10 at verse 4
to 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.
Now remember in first Corinthians 15 the beginning of that great
chapter Paul names many of those who were the witnesses and he
concludes by saying there were above 500 brethren He calls them
brethren, 500 brethren who were witnesses of the resurrection. And it does appear that the sum
total then of Christ's disciples at the end of his three years
of ministry was something slightly in excess of 500. 500 plus, maybe 550 disciples. But there on the day of Pentecost
there were 3,000 added to the church and then if we go back
or rather go forward just a couple of chapters here in chapter 4
and verse 4 we read of 5,000 5,000 being added to the number of
the disciples many of them which heard the
word believed and the number of the men was about 5,000. If that was the men, there were
probably at least as many women. So, it would be 10,000. So, you
can see how remarkable things were at the beginning of the
Acts of the Apostles. This is really the fulfillment
of the type of the first fruits. This is the spiritual significance
of what they were doing back in Leviticus 23. and we see continually
here in these opening chapters. What do they do? Well, there
on that day of Pentecost, in verse 42 of chapter 2, besides
baptism, because that's one of the exhortations that Peter gives,
they were to repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord. as it
says here at the end of this 10th chapter. He commands these
also to be baptized in the name of the Lord. That's in the name
of the Lord Jesus. Doesn't mean that they were not
baptized in the name of the Trinity. They were of course. That was
the command of Christ, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. But those who are being
baptized are those who are trusting in the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
They've shown faith and repentance. and they are therefore to be
baptized. But we see subsequently there
at the end of chapter 2 that there were other ordinances that
they began to give attention to. They continued steadfastly,
it says, in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers. There we have marks really of
what a gospel church is. There will be proper baptism,
there will be the breaking of bread, there will be fellowship,
there will be a continuation in the doctrines of the apostles. There will be an attention to
the discipline that's associated with those doctrines. And so
we see quite clearly what's happening there in the Acts in chapter
2 that we have the beginnings really of the New Testament order
of the church. And Paul reminds us of that in
his epistles when he writes to the Corinthians he says, by one
spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or
Gentiles. He says again in Ephesians, Ephesians
2.4, speaking of Christ, He is our peace who hath made both
one and hath broken down the middle wall, the partition that
was between us, the partition between Jew and Gentile, that
ancient division that we have in the Old Testament when God
repeatedly says concerning Israel, you only have I known of all
the families of the earth. how God's grace was very much
confined to that one particular nation, His chosen people. But
Christ has come and He goes on to say there in Ephesians 2,
how Christ came and preached to you which were afar off, that
is to you Gentiles, and to them that were nigh, that is to the
Jews. And so, coming then to what I
call the Second Pentecost, here in the 10th chapter, and the
significance of it. As I said, at Jerusalem in chapter
2 there were Jews and there were Jewish proselytes, that's Gentiles. They were converted to the Jewish
religion. Now, of course the Lord had given
promise of that blessed coming of the Spirit. In chapter 1 here
we have the ascension of Christ, but before he ascends on high
he gives instruction to his disciples. Verse 8 he says, Ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall
be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
Quite clear then, their witness is not only in Jerusalem, and
Judea, the country of the Jews, but also they are to go into
Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And what happened subsequently,
We know there was persecution and Saul, this zealous Pharisee,
was an arch-persecutor and he's always breathing out threatenings
against these followers of Jesus of Nazareth. And as he instigates
so much persecution, there's a scattering of the of the followers
of the Lord. In chapter 8 we are told verse
3, As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into
every house, and hailing men and women, committed them to
prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere
preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the
city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. So The Gospel
is going out from Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria now. Samaria
is mentioned. How does it come about? Because
the disciples are being persecuted, they're being scattered, they're
fleeing for their very lives. But the significant event with
regard to the way in which the Gospel is to go to the Gentiles
is what we've read here in this 10th chapter. and Peter's preaching
at the house of Cornelius. We see that it was quite evidently
like a second Pentecost. 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. Then answered Peter, Can any
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as were? And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they
him to tarry certain days. It's the day of Pentecost all
over again. But now it is much more specifically
coming to the Gentiles. But it's the same sort of things
as we have recorded in that second chapter. And then we see how
that Peter has to answer to the other apostles and explain these
things. when we go over into 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, They went as into men uncircumcised,
and did eat with them. Of course that was the significance
of the vision that he sees, the sheep dropped down from heaven
with all those unclean beasts and birds and he is commanded
to take and eat and of course as a Jew he would not eat any
unclean thing but he's not to call that unclean the God has
cleansed and so Peter rehearses the whole matter from the beginning
it says there at verse 4 in chapter 11 and expounded it by order
onto them he recounted all that he had experienced and what had
happened in the house of Cornelius. And we see from verse 18 of that
chapter, When they heard these things, they held their peace,
and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles
granted repentance unto life. What do we have here? Well, subsequently,
we see that there's more persecution. And the Word of God is going
ever further and further abroad. In verse 19 of that 11th chapter,
they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose
about Stephen, in chapter 7, Stephen the first martyr, traveled
as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the Word
to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them, which were
men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they would come to Antioch,
spake unto the Grecians, or the Gentiles, preaching the Lord
Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was
with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the
Lord." Initially they're only, it seems, preaching to the Jews,
but they begin to preach to the Gentiles, and many are being
converted and added to the Lord. and of course the significance
of it is that in chapter 2 and then in chapter 10 we have really
Peter's using of the keys the keys of the kingdom of heaven that's recorded in Matthew 16
Peter makes his great confession there at Caesarea Philippi when
the Lord asks He will say, Ye that I am, and Peter confesses,
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord says,
Flesh and blood, I have not revealed it unto thee, Peter, but my Father
which is in heaven. How blessed this man was. And
then the Lord goes on to 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, and whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven." What is the keys? Later in Matthew
18 we see the same gift of the keys is given to all the apostles.
But there in chapter 16 of Matthew Peter is mentioned quite specifically
after his confession. What is the keys? Well it's the
ministry of the Word. and the consequence of the ministry
of the world because a man is never the same once he's heard
the word of God once he's heard the gospel of Christ the judgment
is made the judgment must be made in his conscience he's going
to be one who is converted to Christ or he will be a rejecter
of Christ there's no middle way there is a binding or there's
a loosing and that's what we have when Peter exercises his
ministry under the Pentecost and preaches, and 3000 converted,
and here he's preaching in the house of Cornelius. It's the
exercise of the keys. As I said, there's that sense
in which the gift is given to all the apostles as we see in
chapter 18 of Matthew. And we know from what we find
in other scriptures that it is really Paul who is the apostle
to the Gentiles. And he says as much, Galatians
2 verse 8, He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of
the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And of course it's only the previous
chapter, chapter 9 that we read of of Paul's conversion at Damascus
and the word that is to be taken to him by Ananias. Remember he's struck down by
the Lord, he's blinded and he's led into the city and then Ananias,
this disciple of Christ, receives instruction And there in verse
15 of chapter 9, the Lord said unto him, Go thy way for he that
is Saul is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the
Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. The Gentiles there
are mentioned first. He is primarily the apostle to
the Gentiles and when we have the record subsequently here
of his missionary journeys his pattern often times was that
he would go to the synagogue he would go there you see first
of all and he would preach to the Jews and to the proselytes
or any who might gather but then when we come to chapter 13 we
find him preaching at Antioch in Pisidia but what do we read
there in verse 46 of that chapter Then 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 these Jews. But seeing
you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Quite deliberately then, he turns
to the Gentiles. because now God's people are
not marked by physical circumcision. It becomes a very real problem
in the churches of Galatia as we read in that epistle. There
were those legalists who wanted Gentiles to be circumcised and
Paul says if they're circumcised then they're subject to all the
law. Now God's people are not those who are physically circumcised,
they're spiritual. Now, spiritually circumcised,
he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is circumcision
that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which
is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. Oh, the apostle makes it quite
clear there at the end of Romans chapter 2. Well, what's the consequence
of all this? Well, we see that God's purpose
of salvation is clearly culminating in the New Testament. This is
those things that were prophesied in the Old Testament, but this
is that mystery. Old Paul makes that quite clear,
the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles. Again, a portion
to read there in Ephesians chapter 3, and the first 11 verses you
can read that portion and Paul makes it quite clear what his
calling was as the apostle to the Gentiles and he says there
in in verse 6 of that chapter that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs
and of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the
Gospel. Whereof I was made a minister."
He's the minister to the Gentiles. And it's not just at the beginning
of Ephesians chapter 3, but he says similar things when he writes
to others in Colossians for example. And there at the end of chapter
1, Colossians 1 and verse 25, whereof
I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which
is given me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery,
which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now
is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you. the hope of glory with Gentiles. And how those words apply to
us. Christ in us. How remarkable, how remarkable. This is, as I say, God's purpose
of salvation as he culminates in this day of grace. Gospel churches and gospel churches,
of course, which are made up of those who are the election
of grace. And so Paul can say in Galatians
3.28, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond
nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one
in Christ Jesus. Now this is a remarkable thing
in view of what we have throughout the Old Testament. This is the
coming of the Gospel. Again, Ephesians 2.19, he says,
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. The household of God. That's
what we are, the household of God. And yet, a remnant, or often
times we feel it's a very small remnant. God says, I will leave
in the midst an afflicted and poor people. And they shall trust
in the name of the Lord, and afflicted people, and poor people,
and people despised and rejected of men, but they are God's elect.
And what is the mark of those who are God's elect? They cry
to Him day and night. And that's what we come together
for, of course, to pray. They cry day and night because
of the abominations done in the land, but not just what we see
in the land that we have to confess, what we feel in our own evil
hearts so often times. What a privilege is ours that
we should live in such a day. Think of all those Gentiles during
the many centuries of the Old Testament
Scriptures. But we live in this Gospel day.
We hold now is the accepted time. We hold now. is the day of salvation
or God says in a time accepted have I heard them well the Lord
be pleased to help us as we come now to turn to him in prayer
but before we do that we'll sing we'll sing to him 715 the tune
is Pembroke 719 When the blessed day of Pentecost
was fully come, the Holy Ghost descended from above, sent by
the Father and the Son to bring immortal blessings down and shed
abroad God's love. 715-719