shall be her church and friends,
yet she on earth hath union with God the free and one, and mistakes
sweet communion with those whose rest is won. O happy ones and
holy, Lord give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with Thee. Thank you, Caesar. I love your words, don't you?
Mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won. We thought
about that recently, that God's people, if they're aware of what's
going on, they're with us. Anyway, they're with us in spirit,
aren't they? They're doing what we're doing yet perfectly. And
a multitude of heavenly hosts watches over His people. You
believe that? That's what the Scripture says.
I don't think a squadron of A fighter jet could bring this house down. Acts chapter 2. Let's look at the book of Acts.
We're going to go through the book of Acts and see something
that will mean more to us now than ever. The early church,
after the Lord ascended, Endured persecution, trials, tribulation,
afflictions such as we will probably never know. According to the promise of the
Lord, He said that. Matthew 24, He gave a brief summary of what
all would take place. And the first days of the early
church were, He said, tribulation such as never been before. He
said if those days hadn't been shortened, there would be no
flesh be saved for the elect's sake, those days were short.
The early church went through great tribulation. It was the
sword that our Lord said. Remember, He said, I didn't come
to bring peace on earth, but a sword. And even in our own
hearts, when the Lord comes to take captivity captive, to deliver
us from the gods of this world, sin, it's a violent act that
the Lord does. His kingdom. We're not so much
aware of it as He was and is. But it's a sword. And He takes
the sword of the Word in our hearts, doesn't He? In our bones.
And smites us. Breaks our heart. But the sword
which the Lord said He would send, divided and separated back
then and still today. This is the sword our Lord sent
that He came to bring. It divides the sheep from the
goats. It divides the wheat from the tares. It's true from the
false. God's true family from their own earthly. That's the sword that He taught. It divides the Sunday. In Acts
chapter 2, there was a great gathering. Peter, the Lord used
Peter to preach. What did he preach? A sovereign
Lord. High and lifted up. Became a
man. Made flesh. Dwelt among us. According
to the purpose of God. Made sin of God's people. A substitute to bear their sins. Went to Calvary's cross. Made
a curse for them. This is what Peter preached at
Pentecost. That Christ died for His people.
Beared the wrath of God against them. Was crucified. Buried. Risen again. ascended right now,
back then and right now, seated on the right hand of the majesty
on high, reigning and ruling over all things, all judgment,
all things, everything that goes on. Jesus Christ does it. Okay? That's who Peter preached. Alright? At Jerusalem was gathered
people from all over the world. going through the motions, going
through the ritual, going to Jerusalem, kind of a Mecca like
the Muslims go to Saudi Arabia. People were gathered at Jerusalem,
alright? They didn't have a clue what was going to happen. The
Lord in great mercy, great grace, should have wiped the lot out
after they killed his sons and us too. But the Lord, but God,
rich in mercy, say 3,000 people. Not one, not two, not a few,
3,000 from every kindred, nation, tongue, under heaven that day
through the preaching. What was the means? Preaching
the gospel. We don't have to do this. Yes,
we do. God commands it. It's the power of God. The gospel
is the power of God and the salvation of everyone who believes it.
This is what the Lord used. That's what He used then, and
He still uses it today. What's the gospel? Christ crucified,
risen, ascended, reigning and ruling. In that bulletin, the
article by my pastor, a faithful preacher whom I heard the gospel
from, when the Lord took the sword of His Spirit and pierced
this hard heart, this rebel, They said of me, there's no hope
for him. There is in the Gospel. It's
the fire of God. My pastor wrote in that article
that there is no Gospel if Christ is not reigning and ruling right
now, seated, controlling all things. There is no Gospel about
a Jesus that tried and failed and wanted to and can't. That
is not the Gospel. The good news is that Jesus Christ
did what He came to do. And He's right now where He will
be until He gets up and comes for His people. And He's going
to take them all home. Everybody He died for. That's
a good news. What salvation? Believe. Not do. Believe. And that's what
happened to these people in Pentecost. And they believed. They were pricked in their hearts.
Peter verse 38. He said, repent and be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Is baptism important? It's a command. Our Lord said,
he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Do you believe? Confess Him. That's the public
confession. You shall receive remission of
sin. You shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. What's that? Peace, comfort, assurance, trust
in Christ. You keep opening Scripture after
Scripture after Scripture, showing Christ your substitute, Christ
your mediator, Christ your hope, Christ your peace, Christ your
all, Christ your Lord. That's the Holy Spirit. Comfort.
The Comforter. There is no comfort outside of
a sovereign Lord and a finished work. None. This is the gospel. 40, with many words he testified
and exhorted, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Never been more untoward than now, is it? Untoward means not
to God, before God, or going to God, going the other way.
Read on. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. In verse 42, they continued steadfastly
doing what? One thing. Hearing the gospel
preached, the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread,
prayer, fear. That's the defining characteristic
of God's people. They fear the Lord. Fear. The world fears everything but
God. Let us not fear anything but
God. I'm not just preaching. I'm not
just preaching, I'm telling you the truth. Seriously, people. Fear came upon every soul, many
wonders and signs. Verse 44, all that believed were
together, had all things. Everywhere I look, you see that
now. They were together, together, together, together. Communion
together. Read on. Verse 45, "...who sold their
possessions of good and parted to all men as every man had need."
That doesn't mean everybody sold everything they had and lived
in a commune. That does not say that. It says, "...as there was
need." You couldn't have fit everybody in one place in Jerusalem. They didn't even meet in the
same place. We're going to see that. There wasn't another place
big enough. Temple was the biggest place.
And they were forced out of that. Read on. Verse 46. They continued
daily with one accord in the temple when they could, breaking
bread from house to house. This is how the early church
started. House to house. Somebody said, let them come
to my house. A John and an Irene said, come into my house. And
they did. And no doubt, No doubt. Because
there were eleven apostles, they all stayed around Jerusalem. None of them left and preached
to the Gentiles. Seventy others, that means eighty-one preachers
in and around Jerusalem. So they went from house to house.
Just like now, right now. I'm preaching to this house.
And the Lord had reserved at least 7,000 to Himself that had
not bowed in any veil. And they met from house to house
like this. We're doing what the early church did, though not
persecuted at all, like this. This is so minor compared to...
I hesitate to even compare it. Don't you? And as I said in that letter,
we cannot, we must not, we will not bow to fear and we won't
do it. We're only going to do what they
tell us to do. I mean, we're going to abide
by the law. But we're going to gather together and we're going
to worship God in the way that God tells us to worship. Whether
it's two or three. Right? You with me? Yeah, you
with me? You're here. Huddled up. Sheep, that's the nature of sheep.
You can't keep sheep from huddling up. You can't do it. It's a night travel. Look at
Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. And a great persecution
started. Great persecution. Such as we
have never seen or known. Probably will never know. Acts
chapter 4 verse 3 or verse 2. Religious leaders grieved. They
taught the people and preached the resurrection from the dead.
They laid hold on Peter and John. They laid hold of them and took
them before them and were wanting to be done with them. Verse 7,
when they set them in the midst, they asked, by what power, by
what name have you done this? They said the same thing to the
Lord, didn't you? Who gave you the authority to say this, to
do this? He went in the temple, remember? It was His temple.
The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof. Who gives you
the authority to come here? He gave you the authority to
come here. We're no trespassers unless we
ask Him for permission, unless we give Him thanks. Right? This
is the Lord's earth. He's the one who decides who
does what, who goes where, who gets what. Man is so puffed up
with pride. You can't do that. They said, who gave you this
authority? By what name? Peter, the name is above every
name. Verse 10, be it known unto you, all the people of Israel,
by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Verse 11, this is a
stone which was set at nought of you builders. Come to the
head of the corner. The end is their salvation and
any other. There is none other name unto heaven. given among
men whereby we must be saved." What a verse! Now, Peter's life was in danger.
They have him before the Sanhedrin. If you read the bulletin, read
it, read it, read it, read it. William Tyndale, like Martin
Luther and there are so many others, stood pretty much alone.
And he wanted and knew that the people needed to read God's Word,
the light, But religion was so corrupt in darkness that they
kept the word from people. Why? Because it's freedom. The
truth will set you free. Free from men to hold you captive.
God of this world. So William Tyndale said, I'm
going to translate this into English language. And they got
him before the cardinals and the bishops. Catholicism reigned.
I got him before the cardinals on the mission and said, by what
authority are you doing this? He said, God willing, I'm going
to make it so the plow boy knows more about God's Word than you
do. And he did. He translated it. There are so many other stories
like that. Remember Ridley and Latimer? being burned
at stake together. Brother Ridley said to Hugh Latimer,
he said, play the man, Brother Ridley. Today we are going to
light a candle in England such as nobody is ever going to put
out. Brother John. Hmm. Wonderful. Wonderful. You thank God for that. Verse 20, he says, verse 19,
Peter and John answered and said, whether it be right in the sight
of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. We cannot
but speak the things we've seen in heaven. But they threatened
them. And they let them go. And that's
when they went back to their own company. And what did they
do? Where was their own company?
Where were they? I don't know. It doesn't say.
Somebody's house? Somewhere. They were meeting together. And
so Peter and John came back rejoicing, and they all got together like
we are. And they prayed, and they read Psalm 2. While the heathen raged, and
the people imagined the same thing against the Lord and against
His anointing. Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter
5. More persecution. And it gets
worse, and it gets worse, and it gets worse. Acts chapter 5.
Verse 18, they laid their hands on the
apostles and put them in a common prison. And brethren, I don't
need to tell you what those prisons were like back then. And nothing's
new. All the prophets were... Our
Lord said, which of the prophets have not your fathers killed?
Stephen. They took Jeremiah. He's called
the weeping prophet. Why? Because he wept over his
people. And they weren't worth weeping
over. But he did. And he preached at the hazard
of his own life. And they apprehended Jeremiah,
and it says they put him down into a pit. They lowered him
down, put ropes under his arm, and lowered him down into a pit.
And it says he sunk in the mire. You know what was down in that
pit? He said there was no water there.
And they left him in that mire. Would you do that for the sake
of the truth? Well, he did. Until God had mercy on him. An Ethiopian whom the Lord turned
his heart. Imagine that. An Ethiopian, not
a Jew, an Ethiopian said, we've got to get Brother Jeremiah out
of there. And they did. They drew him up
out of that book. What a picture of us that is. But chapter 5, they put Peter in prison. And they shut the prison. Verse
23. They laid hands on him, put him
in the common prison, but the angel of the Lord by night opened
the prison door, brought them forth, and said, go stand and
speak in the temple. The church never met in fear.
Secretly. No, no, no, no, no. That's a
tale they told of some that they put a fish in their window so
you'd know who was meeting them. Do you see that here? They'll stand in the temple.
And they did. They preached in the temple.
Well, they heard that they were preaching. They came and got
them again. In verse 28, they said, Did not we straightly command
you that you should not teach in this name? You filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine. No, it's not their doctrine.
It's God's Word. Do you intend to bring this man's
blood upon us? No, we're preaching His blood.
Sacrifice is the only redemption for sin. Preaching the only remedy
to being hate. Unbelievable. Peter 6 and the
Apostles, verse 29. We ought to obey God rather than
men. Chapter 6, Stephen. Chapter 6,
verse 5. Paul and the Apostles, or not
Paul, but Peter and the Apostles, He said in verse 4, we'll give
ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word.
That's what preachers are to do. And they sought out men and
chose a man named Stephen full of faith and the Holy Ghost. Oh, let that be me. How about
you? Full of faith and the Holy Ghost. Philip. The story of Philip,
you know. Philip, a deacon, the Lord used
to preach. Full of faith. He was full of
faith. And down in verse 10 it says that the enemies could not
resist the wisdom and the spirit, the attitude. Leek yet bold. Humble yet dogmatic. But they could not resist the
wisdom and the spirit by which they spoke. And then Stephen in chapter 7.
You want a blessing, read this. He just goes through the whole
story of the children of Israel, how they were all a bunch of
rebels against God. But God sent His Son. Again,
same message at Pentecost. Well, they didn't like it. And
it says down in verse 54, after they heard these saying, they
were cut to the heart, gnashed on Him with a teeth, but He being
full of the Holy Ghost, Looked up steadfastly into heaven, saw
the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." He
is the glory of God. The glory of God is seen in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The person, the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it says there, they saw Him
what? Standing. You understand? The Hebrews said,
after He had purged our sins, sat down. at the right hand of the majesty
on high, meaning the work's finished, there's nothing to do. There
was no chair in the temple above, no chair, because the work was
never done. But when Christ came and made this one sacrifice for
sin forever for His people, it says He sat down. It's done.
And He's expecting to His enemy to be made. He's got His feet
propped up on the earth. And when it's time for Him to
come, He's going to get up. And He's coming back for His
people. To bring them back to glory. And then fold this thing
up and it's all over. Alright. But here it says He... Oh, let me take a stand. Huh? He stands with... Do you understand
me? He stands with those that stand
for His truth. And will not bow. Like Shadrach,
like Hananiah, Azariah, and Moshe. They said, we will not bow. We
won't fear. Throw us in the furnace. One way or another, He'll deliver
us out of the king's hands, God of this world. One way or another,
whether it be by death or life, He's going to deliver us. It's
certain. And they threw them in. What
happened? There are four of them. You understand that? That whoever
stands for Christ, He stands for them. He stands with them. He's with them. Oh, I'm with
you. He said that even to the ends of the earth. He said there
shall be tribulation, persecution. Be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. I own this place. Everything
is for your good. Everything is for my glory. And
everything, I do it to Christ's sake. I'm doing it. The church. That was the apple of His eye.
That was His precious bride. The church. Nobody could touch
His anointing. His church. Nobody could touch
Him except He decided to. For His glory. For their good.
As a witness and a testimony. Nobody! They had a hedge about
them. And whatever persecution they
faced, God sent it. Christ sent it. For His glory. Because every time that they
persecuted the church, This gospel just expanded. I don't know what the Lord is
going to do through all of this. Let's hope He saves at least somebody
in our midst. Maybe it's for our young people. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't
that be worth it all? Well, they stoned him. And Stephen,
I love this, verse 59, received my spirit. And he kneeled
down, cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin of their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Are we worried about
that? Our Lord came to deliver us from
the fear of death. All our lifetime was subject
to that bondage. That binds us with fear. Binds
us with unbelief. Binds us. It's bondage, isn't
it? It's bondage. Snare. Oh, the Lord came to deliver
us from this. It's not death. Like Spurgeon
said, the thing that we fear the most is the best thing that's
ever gonna happen to us. He fell asleep. He was getting
his brain, Brother Kelly, with rocks and beating his head in
with rocks. Was it painful? Yes, it was. Over. No more pain. Ever again. No sin. No persecution. No affliction. No worries. No trouble. No fear. Joy unspeakable. Full of glory. You know what Stephen would say?
I'd do it all again ten times. Persecution. Affliction. As I
said, we're not really going through that. Chapter 8, Saul. This man named Saul was consented
under his death, great persecution. Verse 1, against the church scattered
abroad. Verse 2, they carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentation over him. Imagine,
just imagine if they had buried him. Just imagine if he stood
up and they beat his brains out and killed him and we were taking
him to bury him. Try to imagine what they were going to do. Were
they afraid? Yes, they were. But who did it? We had this story. You were just blessed by reading
that one. And so had the saints been from then on. Encouraged
by it. Emboldened by it. Edified. Built up on this hope. Saul. Oh, what a tyrant. What a man. What a measly little worm. Yeah, but he's got authority. Chapter 9, it says he wreaked
havoc, put him in jail, whoever he decided. Oh, really? Oh, really? Well, he found out, didn't he,
sister? He was on his high horse riding toward Damascus to get
more authority to bind more Christians. And Christ came and put his face
in the dust. He said, now what will you do? Now who are you? Now what are
you going to do? Saul was a freewheeler. Not when
Christ met him. You can't know the Christ of
Scripture and be a free will. Can't do it. First thing Saul,
whose name was changed to Paul, was, Lord, what will you do? What are you going to do with
me? Are you going to have mercy on me? Grace? Pardon me? Or kill me? It's His will. That's spirit. You've never had
fear of God before. Fear. Fear of Jesus Christ. Imagine the fear that the church
went through. And they did. When the Lord saved
Saul of Tarsus and converted him to a changed man. Truly.
Born again. A new creature in Christ. And
he told this story the rest of his life. The rest of his life
he told this story. In Galatians, he said, they feared
me. The people feared me. But then
they found out that he now preaches what he used to hate. He's now
joined with those he loves. He used to hate. Look at this
in chapter 9. I love this. Chapter 9. Barnabas was the only one who
wasn't afraid of him. Verse 27, Barnabas took him,
brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had
seen the Lord and the way. The Lord had spoken to him. He
preached boldly. It says he was with them coming
in and going out of Jerusalem. From that day forward, they were
his only friends and family. Like Ruth. Couldn't he have said... I know he read Ruth. He was well read in the Scriptures.
And I'm sure he from then on said, treat me, Lord, to the
Lord, and treat me not to leave thee or return from following
after thee. I'll go where you go, I'll go. Coming and going. Where you lodge, I'll lodge.
Your people, wherever your people are, that's where I want to be.
That's where I want to be. Your people, my people, your
God or my God. And where you die, I don't want
to die with them. Now, Lord, do so to me, if anything but
death, Departs me from them. He was with them from then on.
Family. Gathered. Etcetera. But imagine the fear the church
had of this fellow. He had powers such as nobody
else had. No power but of God. Chapter
10. I'll go there real quickly with
them. Let me dwell here for the rest of the time. Just a little
bit. Chapter 10. There was a certain man, verse
1, in Caesarea called Cornelia, a centurion of the band called
the Italian Band. This is a Roman soldier. A centurion. Brother Kelly, he worked his
way up through the ranks. You don't start that way. You
work your way up. You start out as a bug private. And then if
they promote you, you keep going. And how you're promoted in the
Roman army is by killing people. Force. Cruelty. That's wrong. So he was promoted up to where
he's now a centurion. That means he has at least 100
men under him. He's the equivalent of a battalion commander today. Hardened soldier. But, God. Like that centurion at the cross. God smoked this man. God dealt
with this man. God changed this man. And verse
2, he was a devout man, devoted, one that feared God with all
his house. See that? He feared God. All his house. Gave much alms to the people
and prayed to God. Well, unless anybody gets confused
by this, no man cometh unto the Father but by me, Christ said.
Salvation by one name, Jesus Christ. Nobody is saved apart
from Jesus Christ. and hearing the gospel. He had
not yet heard the gospel. How can you be a devout man and
fear God? Well, Paul said that about himself. He said, I served
God from my youth. But if he hadn't heard Christ
crucified, he was not saved. That being said, God sent Cornelius
a preacher. If it wasn't necessary, He wouldn't
have sent a preacher. Right? To preach what? Not of what?
To preach Christ. So you can be devout. You can
seem to fear God. You can give alms and all that.
That doesn't mean you're saved. You hear me? That's what this
whole story is telling us. Okay? So, the Lord, before the
Bible was written, before the New Testament was concluded and
written visions and things like that. The Lord, He saw in a vision,
verse 3, an angel coming to Him. Verse 4, He said unto him, Your
prayers and your alms are come up for a memorial before God.
Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's
right. How are you saved? By one person,
Jesus Christ. By hearing the Gospel. Go into
all the world and preach the Gospel. He that heareth and believeth. He was baptized, should we say.
Cornelius, all these things. But who serveth shall call? Why
was he calling on the Lord? Why was he praying to the Lord?
Because the Lord was calling him. This is grace before grace. That preacher used to say that.
Grace before grace. Meaning, the grace of God, the
mercy of God, leading someone to read the Bible, to call on
the Lord in prayer, doesn't mean they're saved. They're not saved
until they see Christ. And not saved till they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And really not saved till they
confess Him before everybody and say Christ is mine. Oh, this
Christ. This Christ. Saul of Tarsus. This Christ. Not Jesus. This
Lord Jesus. He was baptized. You know how
humiliating that was for Saul of Tarsus to be baptized? Cornelius. Just like the Ethiopian eunuch. I mean, not the Ethiopian, What
was his name? Elijah went and preached to the
leper. Naming the leper. Naming the
leper. He stood outside. Let that preacher
come to me. You're going to come hear him. He doesn't bow and pray. God
doesn't need you. You're a leper. You need Him. He said, go down and wash in
that mud, Jordan. I ain't doing it. And he will
never be cleansed. Seven times. Finally, he took
off all his pride, all his attainments, all of that before everybody,
his soldiers and all those people that thought he was somebody,
and all they saw was a naked leper. And he got down in that
muddy Jordan and dipped seven times until the water was coming
out of his ears. Until he was thoroughly humbled
and broken. And he'd come up out of that
water, you know what? Clean. Like a baby. Boy, did Lord change
that man. Cornelius. Cornelius. I've got
to hurry. Down in chapter 10, Peter was up praying. Verse 9. Peter went up on the housetop.
He was staying with a man named Simon. It was a tanner. Tanned
hides. I guess his shop was out back.
You know how that smelled, brother. It wasn't the Marriott. It was
good enough. And Simon the tanner, whom the
Lord saved, said, come in Peter and stay with us. Stay as long
as you want. He stayed there a long time. He was by the seaside
and he went up on top of the roof to pray. during the day. And the Lord came, and this is
where the Lord sent this big sheep. Let me just tell you what
it was about. This big sheep. It was full of
all kinds of animals, ok? Simon Peter was a Jew. And he
believed that Jews are God's people and nobody else. Gentiles
are just a bunch of dogs. That's what they all believed.
That's why the Lord said to Nicodemus, God so loved the world, He didn't
mean every single individual. He was talking to a Jew who thought
God just saved Jews. Well, Peter pretty much thought
the same thing. Remember when the Lord rose,
He said, Don't go to Gentiles. You remember that? Don't go to
Gentiles. Go preach to the Jews, the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Why is that? Because they were
the ones who were principal killers of Christ. Was God going to show
more mercy and grace in saving the Jews? He did not yet. They
were the ones rejected. Came of His own. They received
Him not. But they're His people. He's going to save them. In spite
of themselves. And so they went preaching. And
so Simon Figure thought, I'm not going to save any Jews. And
the Lord set this vision of pigs, Crawling, creeping things. That's
us! Do you think of yourself as a
creeping, crawling thing? A worm! That's what Simon Peter
Isaacman had anything to do with that. The Lord said, don't you
call common what I claim. There's a gospel in that in the
John Doe's. So the Lord showed him, now you're
going to go preach to some Gentiles. And Cornelius was one of them,
his half. Now, hurry, hurry. I need to
hurry. Down in verse 19. So Peter thought
on these things. The Spirit said, Behold, there
are three men, seek thee. Cornelius, you know, was praying
and the Lord said, Go sin as a preacher. Go sin for the preacher. And He'll tell you what to do.
That's what the Lord said. He'll tell you what to do. What
did He tell them to do? Believe. Trust. Repent. And verse 20, Arise,
the Lord said to Simon Peter, go down, doubting nothing, I
have sent them. I have sent you. I have sent
them. I get great comfort and consolation Especially now. In the midst of this little bit
of whatever. Believing that this is God's
church. Look. In spite of everything. Look. Just like she. Look. I don't
see any fear on his faces right now. I see smiles. I see joy. I see comfort. I see peace. I see fellowship. I see love. That's of the Lord,
isn't it? That's His Gospel. That's what
these Gospels preach. Brethren, we have something very
special here. Very special. High and heavily
calling, a holy calling. The Church of God. The Church
is our blessed Redeemer saved with His own precious blood.
He sent me. He sent you, didn't He? We're
sent. We're called. Chosen. Faithful.
And verse 22, They said of Cornelius, he's a just man. Verse 22, he's
warned from God. He's sent for thee to hear words. And that describes us. Called, chosen, sent. to hear the Word, the Word of
life. So Peter went there and looked at verse 27. He talked with them. He went in and found
many that were come together. They had been brought together. Cornelius got his whole house
together. And down in verse 33, it says,
"...immediately as I sent for you, Cornelius said to Simon
Fee, I said to you, and you have well done that you have come.
Now therefore, we are all here before God, present, accounted
for. We are all here to hear all things
that God has commanded of God. Simon Fee, you know he was smiling.
Oh, like I am. And his message was this, down
in verse 36. The word which God sent, he sent
to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. But he
said in verse 34, I believe of a truth that God is no respecter
of persons. Every nation, he that fears God,
worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him. This is the Word. This
is the Gospel. This is the truth which God sent,
which Christ sent us to preach peace by Jesus Christ. And this working righteousness
is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not in conflict
with Paul. He said it's not by works of
righteousness which we've done. He's not in conflict with Paul
who said we're accepted in the beloved. Oh no, no, no. What
he's saying is this faith that God gives, it's accounted for
righteousness. This man was gathered together
to hear God's Word, feared God, to hear the Word. He feared God. And he's going to hear the Gospel.
And God's going to say, righteous. This is a righteous work. What
we're doing right now is a righteous work. A good work. He that doeth
righteousness is righteous as He is righteous. What is it to
do righteousness? Believe Christ. Worship God in
spirit and truth. Are you with me? And we are accepted
in God through Christ because He went on to preach Christ,
didn't He? Peace by Jesus Christ. He is
the Lord of all. Well, the Lord can say more in
a parenthesis than men say in volumes. That word I say you know. You
know. It began from Galilee after the
baptism which John preached. Do you remember the people that
repented under John's baptism? Paul came preaching and said,
have you heard of that? No, we haven't heard of it. They had to be baptized, confessing
Christ. They didn't know who Christ was,
didn't know what the Holy Spirit was. They heard Paul preach the
gospel. Right? Got to. Got to. There is no salvation
in any other name. So, down in verse 38, God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Ghost, with power and went about doing
good and healing. Everybody knows that. Oh, they
were oppressed to the devil, but God was with them. That's
His name, Immanuel. And we're witnesses of all things
which He did. That's what a preacher does.
Preaches Him, all He did. But they slew Him and hung Him
on a tree, verse 40, that God hath raised Him up the third
day and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before
of God. Simon Peter preached election,
didn't he? Sovereign election. Even to us,
we were chosen. We did eat and drink with Him
after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach
verse 42 unto the people to testify that it is He. It is He. Here's the message in three words.
It is He. What is? Everything is. Righteous
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. All things. It is
He. It is the Lord. Everything. Hope,
peace, comfort, acceptance with God. It is He. It is He. In verse 42, which God ordained
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 sin. Good news that is. Believe. Because it is He. And while Peter spoke this, don't
be confused by this either. The Holy Ghost fell on them which
heard the Word. I see some smiles. I see some
joy. I see some comfort. Nobody in
here looks uncomfortable unless it's these metal chairs you see.
Everybody looks pretty comfortable. You don't seem to be too much
afraid of the person beside you. Comfort. What's our comfort?
He's our comfort. He's our Comforter. That's what
the Holy Spirit does. He takes the Comforter come and
takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us. What things?
All things! Your heart, your mind, your soul,
the hairs... One more time. The hairs of your
head are numbered. Who said that? Jesus Christ! Comfort! Peace! If your hair had come out, He
plucked them! Right! Because there's not a bird in
those million trees out there that falls on the ground unless
God put him down. Not a bird. He said, you're worth
more than any bird. That's Christ we believe. That
gave you comfort? Whew! The Holy Spirit takes the
things of Christ and shows them to us. He fell on them which
heard the Word. That wouldn't come apart from
the preaching of the Word. One more time, you wouldn't be having
this comfort right now if you're sitting at home. Unless God,
through this, said something. He'll not say it. And it says, verse 46, they began to
speak with languages and magnify God. Brother, we speak a language
that the world doesn't speak. Don't we? We speak a language
that the world... I kid Brother Kelly, he starts
talking real fast sometimes. I say, are you speaking English?
He says, no, it's North Carolina. But I've come to understand his
language. In fact, I start speaking like
him sometimes. We speak the same language, don't we? of heaven, of the gospel, of
the scriptures. Words that the world doesn't
use. Words that the world doesn't care about. Truth that the world
doesn't believe. But it's our hope. It's our language. It's our profession. It's our
talk. It's our conversation. And now Peter talked about being
baptized, like the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip the eunuch, In
verse 47, he said, Can any forbid water that these should not be
baptized but should receive the Holy Ghost as well as we? And
he commanded them. See that? He commanded them to
be baptized in the name of the Lord. Boy, they did. Cornelius
and his whole house. Like the jailer. That was a persecution
later on. The Philippian jailer, chapter
16. He took this persecution, but it was for the salvation
of His people. It was for the testimony of the
gospel. Paul and Silas thrown in jail,
shackles on them. What did they do? Oh, what was
that? If only the governor would let
us free. We need to get us a good lawyer. No, let's sing. I'm a
prisoner of Jesus Christ. He put us there. Let's start
singing, Silas. Changed our life. Why does all that happen? There's
a jailer in there listening to you sing. What do you do? Come to my house.
And the Lord saved his whole house. Okay. Let's stand. Number one. We got the number,
John. 187. Let's sing this in closing. 187.
Let's be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The
fellowship of kindred life is like to that of home. Before our Father's throne, we
pour our ardent prayers. Our fears, our hopes, our aims
are one, our comforts and our cares. We share our mutual woes,
our mutual burdens bear, And often pour each other forth a
sympathizing tear. When we asunder part, It gives
us inward pain, but we shall still be joined.