Holy, holy, Lord God the Spirit,
fill me now, and fill me now. Fill me now, fill me now, fill
me now, and fill me now. OK. I want you to first turn to Ephesians
2 to read something from there. Ephesians 2. I have manifold purpose in bringing
this message in the at least in the direction I want to take
with this message. Is my desire, as I said before,
my desire in looking through the book of Acts. That we see
an accurate account commentary on the on the passages. And the
real temptation to stop at each verse and preach, but. I want
us to see the story. I want us to see the Lord's workings,
the Lord's dealings in the early church. That's what the book
of Acts is. It's called the Acts of the Apostles. It's the Lord's dealings in the
early church. And we can get a great blessing
by seeing his hand at work in the early days in furtherance
of the gospel. And we'll see tonight how all
of this pertains to us, the fact that we have the gospel now.
I want this. This should be very interesting
to you tonight. This study should be very, very
interesting, very informative, very edifying, profitable. Jeremiah said, the Lord said,
Jeremiah, that he would give pastors that would feed with
knowledge. And this is a very full message, require your utmost
attention. Once again, you need some, your
thinking caps on a little bit and follow along with me in the
scripture. You're going to look at a lot
of scripture and I'll do my dead level best not to keep you very
long. I believe this will be a blessing
to you. Ephesians 2, you know, Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. And this epistle here is written
to the Gentiles, and he says this in Ephesians 2, verse 12. Look at it, or verse 11. Now,
remember, he says, that you being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh, are you looking at it, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called a circumcision." In other words, the Jews call
Gentiles uncircumcised. And the Jews are called circumcision
in the flesh made by hands. That at that time, he says, you
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without
God in the world. in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes
were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is
our peace, who hath made both one, both Jew and Gentile one,
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition, prejudice
that separated us, and hath abolished in his flesh the enmity between
Jew and Gentile." and between God. Even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances to make in Christ two, Jew and Gentile,
one new man, a Christian, so making peace. And that he might
reconcile both unto God in one body, for that is in Christ by
the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. and came and preached
peace to you which were far off, and to them that were nigh, Jews.
For through Christ we both, Jew and Gentile, have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
of the household of God." And whenever you and I hear the word
Gentiles, our ears ought to perk up. You know what? That's us. Whenever we hear the word Gentile,
we ought to perk up. Any non-Jew is a Gentile, right? But since we're so far removed
from Judaism or the Old Testament days, we don't realize the promises
of God and what the promises of God to the Gentiles really
mean. We take them for granted. You understand what I'm saying?
We're so far removed from Judaism. We're not confronted with it.
There's no synagogue here in this little city. We just don't
know anything about Judaism. We've never seen it. We've never
been in it. We've never been over there. And so we take it
for granted what God says to the Gentile. The people in the
Old Testament days, now the Gentiles in the Old Testament days, and
the days of the apostles. You know, the days of the apostles
were Old Testament days until the New Testament was written.
They were. The Gentiles in the Old Testament
days sure perked up when they heard something about the Gentiles.
What? Gentiles? They perked up. Turn over to
Romans now, and so should we. But like I said, we're so far
removed from that that we just take this for granted. Gentiles
is always our right. been all along, you know, our
right to this, to the Word of God. No, no, no, no, no. If you'd
have lived more than 2,000 years ago, you were a nothing and a
nobody, a dog, an animal, no better. And you had no right,
no part to anything that pertained to God Almighty. Unless he unless
he made an exception in your case. And look at the book of
Romans now we're going to go through this and like I said
you don't have to stay with me. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles
and we just read his epistle to the Ephesians. And. And now in the book of Romans. He is going to tell us the difference
between Jew and Gentile in the book of Romans. We're going to
see that. Romans chapter 1 now. Romans chapter 1 is a summary
of God's judgment against all sin, whether Jew or Gentile,
how that all by nature know something of God and therefore are under
the wrath and judgment of God because they don't do anything with that knowledge.
Romans 1, let's read it, verse 18 through 21. The wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. What does that
mean, the truth in unrighteousness? Well, go on, explain. That which
may be known of God is manifest in them or to them. to their
conscience, to their heart, all, it doesn't matter who it is.
Something of who, that God is God, the Creator. God has showed
it unto them, the invisible things of God from the creation of the
world are clearly seen. They are understood by the things
that are made, creation. Even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. And when they knew God and his
Creator ship, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened." Verse 24, so God gave them up
to uncleanness to do all sorts of things. Verse 26 says, for
this cause God gave them up unto vile affection. to even they
did not like to retain or think about God in their knowledge.
God gave them over. Gave them up. To a reprobate
mind. A mind void of judgment. Reprobate. God gave them up. Now who's this
talking about? It's talking about all men and
women by nature. But chiefly it's talking about
the Gentiles. is talking about every non-Jewish
nation and tribe and people all over the planet Earth who to
this day are wholly given over to paganism and idolatry and
perversion. Gentiles, are you with me? Gentiles. Romans 1 is, chiefly
speaking, about the Gentile world, non-Jew world, okay, that is
absolute. And there are three basic religions
in the Gentile world, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism, which
are full of idols and paganism and all of this wickedness. All
right? So it's principally talking about
the Gentiles. And salvation is in those two
words. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved some people, God sovereignly chose to love some people. Freely, unconditionally, he set
his love to nobody lovely. Nobody on planet earth was lovely. Not the Jew. They weren't lovely.
They weren't a special people. We see that all through the Old
Testament, don't we? How they were just as wicked,
if not more so, than the Gentiles, because they sinned against God,
against love and against light. Right, Terry? The Jews. But God
chose a people and he purposed all things for the salvation
of these people. God chose a people out of a mass
of human corruption. We talk about two terms, election
and predestination. OK. Election and predestination
are nothing more than God creating his own family tree. It is God
taking a pen, a pen of iron, and writing it in the rock. What's
that? That's Christ, writing it on
the breastplate of his high priest, Christ. It is God Almighty taking
a pin of iron and writing it in a rock for eternity, the names
of all of his chosen, his family tree. He's going to write them
all down. He knows every member of his family. He predestinated
them to be conformed to the image of his son, to be in his son.
All right. Adam, the first man. Now here's
a genealogy of God's election and predestination. This is going
to be interesting to you. Adam was the first man created.
I believe that Adam was the saved man. It's just my opinion. For
all it's worth, it's my opinion. I believe that because God so
quickly gave Adam the gospel. Just as soon as he fell, God
came and talked with him. God came and talked with him.
And God didn't say anything about judgment. that you are dying
and the consequences of that. But God said, I'm going to send
a woman. See, he gave him that blessed
promise. Adam was the first man. Adam had many sons and daughters. One son was chosen by God. No,
Abel didn't have any sons. Abel wasn't married. Abel was.
Now, Abel died before he was married up. Adam had a son named
Seth. And from Seth, There was a long
line of people that descended. Several men went down to the
line of Seth, his son. The 6th or 7th, no, the 8th,
9th, I didn't count, from Seth was a man named Noah. Noah was the great-great-great-great-grandson
of Seth. Noah's daddy was Methuselah.
And this is a free little message here. This is free information.
Methuselah knew Adam. Methuselah was Noah's daddy.
He knew Adam. When Adam died, Methuselah was
56 years old when Adam died. He knew him. He talked to him.
And I guarantee you, he told his boy Noah, hey, I talked to
Adam. Listen to this. And he told Noah,
at any rate, Seth, that's free. Seth had a great-great-great-great
grandson named Noah. Noah, as you know, only Noah
was saved from the planet Earth, from that flood. Noah and his
family. Noah had three sons, didn't he? Shem, Ham, and Japheth. There are many speculations revolving
around Ham and Japheth. The scriptures talk about and
will be a servant and all of that. The Cushites came from
Ham. And I'm not going to go into that. One of Noah's sons
was chosen. One of Noah's sons, who's that?
Shem was chosen to carry on the lineage. Shem had a son or grandson,
didn't count that either. Shem on down through his line
had a great great great great grandson named Abram. Abraham, and he lived in a place
called Ur of the Chaldees, all right? Abraham. Now, and God
later changed his name to Abraham. Abraham, you know, Abram, was
one that God promised, I'm going to give you a land. I'm going
to give you a seed. Abraham believed God and it was
counted for righteous. I'm going to give you a seed.
I'm going to give you a promised land. Abram, Abraham later on,
had two sons. Isaac and Ishmael. One of those
boys was chosen, right? The Ishmaelites to this day is
the Arabic nations. Isaac was the son, God chose,
the son of promise, wasn't it? Isaac was the son of Abraham,
all right? Isaac had two sons, right? Who were they? Good. Jacob and Esau. But one of those
was chosen, and the other one rejected. Right? Jacob. All right? Jacob. Later on, his
name was changed to Israel. Israel. Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, as you
remember. Twelve sons who settled in the
land of Canaan. All right? Canaan. They settled
in the land of And later on, you know, they went to Egypt
when their brother Joseph was in Egypt, when there was a famine.
You remember that? And that's where they came into
bondage. And then later on, a fellow named Moses brought them out
of that, back to the promised land, and Joshua brought them
in. But of those twelve tribes, or those twelve sons of Israel,
those twelve sons, one of them was principally chosen. Do you
know what his name was? Judah. Do you know where the
name Jew comes from? Judah. That's where the Jew,
the word name Jew comes from. Judah. Judah was the kingly tribe. The lion of the tribe of Judah
would descend. Out of thee, O Judah, shall come
him, the king of Shiloh shall come. Prince of peace. And then
ultimately the son of David the Lord Jesus Christ came from Judah. This is where we get the term
Jews. It doesn't have anything to do
with Jerusalem. I thought it did until I looked it up. It
comes from Judah Jews were Judah Judah the tribe of Judah. All
right. This is a picture of God's sovereign
election. And nobody seems to mind that
today, do they Rick? You hear anybody arguing about
God's election now? Did you hear, see all that? He'd
choose one son and reject the other. Choose one and reject
the other. You hear anybody arguing that
today, Violet? Huh? The Gentiles did back then. The Gentiles argued that like
the Armenians do today. That's not fair, they said. Whether
you think it's fair or not, that's the way it is, God said. They
hated election. The Gentiles hated election.
They said only the Jews will be the chosen people of God.
Election, Henry, that's what it's all about. And it was true,
except for a few. There were only a few Gentiles
that were allowed into these covenants of promise. Those that
were servants to Jews, or those that had been captured, those
whose strangers somehow had wandered through, just kind of happened
up on the same. But wait a minute, and like Paul said in Romans
1, all the rest of the world was reprobated, lying in wickedness,
doomed to be damned, left to themselves, a wicked world. But
wait a minute now. Not all out were Jews. were considered
by God to be Jews. Chosen people. Not outward Jews.
Now look at chapter 2 with me. Chapter 2, verse 11. I've got
to hurry. I've got a lot to cover here. Romans chapter 2, verse 11. Does
this sound familiar? There's no respect of persons
with God. No respect of persons. As many
as have sinned without law shall perish without the law. As many
as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, and not
the hearers of the law just before God, but the doers of the law
shall be justified. When the Gentiles, which have
not the law, ten commandments, ceremonies, and so forth, Levitical
law, when they do by nature, when they naturally know right
and wrong in themselves, the things contained in the law,
these having not the law are a law unto themselves. You see
that? God is no respecter of persons.
All right, verses 28 and 29. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. Now, this is part of the reason
the Jews rejected. Paul said, all right, you remember
that time when Paul finally said, all right, seeing you deem yourselves
unworthy, I'm going to the Gentiles. This is one of the reasons, And
they heard him talking like this, hey, he said, Paul said, a Jew
is not an outward Jew, but inward. Well, who said that? God said
it a long time ago. In Deuteronomy 10, God said circumcisions
of the heart. He is a Jew which is one inwardly.
Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, or outward, but of God. who sees
the heart, who doesn't see is man-sick. All right? A Jew, a
chosen, elect child. Now when I'm talking about Jews
from here on out, I'm talking about the elect of God. A Jew
is one who is one inwardly, which is born, not of blood, not of Jewish parentage, Hebrew,
of Hebrew, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, but born of God, born of God. And the Jews of old thought
that they were God's people, because they were born over in
the land of Israel. And many were cast out by God because
their heart was uncircumcised, right? And many people think
they're God's people today for various reasons. But salvation
is of the Lord through his choosing and inward work. A true Jew,
a true Jew, a true Israelite, true people of God have always
been God's elect, have always been God's elect, who God writes
his word in their heart and reveals himself to them, reveals the
Messiah to them, reveals Christ to them by faith, who grants
repentance to them and faith to them. Look over at Romans
9. Look over at Romans chapter 9 now. Romans chapter 9. A true Jew
is one that God grants this faith to. Romans 9, verses 27 and 28,
Isaiah cried concerning Israel, though the number of the children
of Israel be as a sand to the sea, only a remnant shall be
saved. Huh? He'll finish the work, cut
it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make
upon the earth, as Isaiah said. And if you want to see some promises
to the Gentile Isaiah has more shows more than any other passage
in the scripture Isaiah Isaiah said before, except the Lord
of Sabbath left us a seed even of the Jews. We had been a Sodom
and had been like in the Gomorrah. See only a remnant of the Jewish
people were saved. So a Jew is not God, no respecter
of person. Now look back at Romans three.
All right, Romans three, now look at verse one of Romans three.
Well, what advantage then hath the Jew? What advantage then
hath the Jew? Well, what profit is there of
circumcision? Well, much every way. Cheaply,
because under them were committed the oracles of God, the law of
God, the ceremonies of God, the types and pictures and symbols
of Christ, of God. That's the advantage. Well, then,
are the Jews better than the Gentiles? Are we better than
they? No, and no, why? As we have before proved, both
Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, as it is written, is none
righteous, no, not one. On down. Now, we know, verse
19, that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world become guilty, Jew and Gentile. Guilty, because
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. The law was given to expose sin. That's the only reason the
law was given, to expose sin. And Paul said in another place,
the law was given to, as a schoolmaster, to what? To point to Christ. And the Jews used it as a righteousness,
right? They used it as a standard, which
they thought they met, and therefore God accepted them. It never was
given for that reason. It was given to expose sin. The
law was given and every mountain of it stopped. That's the reason
Paul said, you that desire to be under the law, don't you hear
what it's saying? The Jews didn't hear what it's saying, they thought
they kept it. Paul said, Paul boasts, he said, concerning the
righteousness which of the law blameless. When he was a Jew,
you know, a Pharisee, he thought he was blameless. But when he
said the law came, it shut my mouth. I was guilty before God,
but it pointed me to Christ, who fulfilled it for me. And the law was given to point
to Christ, to point to the sacrificial lamb. The law was given to point
to Christ, the only sin substitute. The law was never given to put
away sin. All right, read on. Verse 21,
Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and by the prophets, even the righteousness
of God my faith of Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness of God,
right? That provided righteousness. Christ is the righteousness of
God. All right, read on. Verses twenty-nine
and thirty. Verse 28, we conclude, a man
is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Well, is
he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also. See, and it's one God who shall
justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through
faith. All right, now Romans 4, verse
1. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? What about
Abraham? And Paul goes to great lengths
to say that Abraham wasn't a Jew. And the Jews hated this. You remember that, Ed? He said,
when did Abraham receive the promise? When he got circumcised
or before? Before. Before. Four hundred years before
the law. Oh, the Jews and Abraham was
their father, and they put so much stock in their lineage,
you know, their genealogies. Jews were born Jews. That gives
us rights to God. No, it doesn't. He is a Jew,
which is one inwardly. What advantage? What did Abraham
find? Same thing you and I did. Verse
two, if Abraham was justified by works, he can glory, couldn't
it? Not before God, though. What does the scripture say?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
And Christ said it more clearly. Christ said it more clearly,
didn't he? Christ said, Abraham rejoiced. Can you finish it? To see my day. And he saw it
and was glad. And Terry, I can't help but think
that he was alluding to when he took Isaac up on that mountain
and sacrificed him and came down. Buddy, they were singing Worthy
is the Lamb. They didn't know the words yet, but Dan, they
started singing it. Abraham saw his eyes were wide
open then, but God shall provide himself, son, a lamb. Isaac and Abraham walked down
from that mountain, that high off the ground, singing, worthy
is the lamb. They rejoiced to see the coming
Christ, and Abraham looked to the coming Messiah, and that
was counted to him for righteousness. What? The coming Messiah and
his work, his person, his work. Simple faith in him. And everyone
who does the same is Abraham's seed. A Jew. Christi Matherly, a Jew. Everybody
look at Christi. Look at her. Blonde hair, fair
skin. There sits a Jew. Huh? That's right. a Jew, a spiritual
Israel. Just, you know, back in the old
days, most of the people at one time, most of God's people lived
in the land of Israel. They were Israelites as pertaining
to the flesh. Now look over at Romans 11. Romans
11 is a difficult chapter. Let's go. Let's get into it.
Romans 11. Let's spit on my hands here.
Romans 11, all right? Look at Romans 11, verse 1. Well, Paul says, I say then,
hath God cast away his people? What do you mean, his people?
God forbid. He says, I also am an Israelite. Remember God saying, you'll be
my people forever, the nation of Israel. All right? I also
am an Israelite. Paul said, I'm an Israelite,
the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. All right? Verses 4 and 5. Well, here's what God said. Elijah, remember, Elijah said,
Lord, I'm the only one on earth. And the Lord said, and this was
back in Israel in that day. Elijah thought he was the only
one. that all these false prophets and the people were going after
them. The Israelites, the Jews were going after them. Even so, Paul says, verse
5, at this present time, what time? Paul's time. John is not talking about it
right now, is he? Huh? Is he? That's Paul talking
right then. At this present time, there's
a remnant of the Jews according to the election of grace. Of
grace. There's a remnant right now.
Now, do you remember in our studies through the book of Acts, do
you remember when the Lord poured out his Spirit on the early church
at Jerusalem? It all started at Jerusalem.
This pouring out of the Spirit of God. Do you remember at Pentecost
there were how many? Three thousand souls remember that couple of
chapters later and Peter was preaching again five thousand
were saying that's a thousand. And then Nancy a great persecution
erode many of them were killed for the sake of the gospel and
many of them spread out but there were still some in in in Jerusalem
seven thousand later. Even in Paul's day seven thousand
the Lord's word is so exact, but it began to diminish. The
church at Jerusalem began to diminish through persecution
and it scattered. Now, this is interesting to you,
you Gentile youth. It all hinges right here. The
word began to diminish the church at Jerusalem. What if they didn't
have any problems? Just one good, big, happy Jewish
family there in Jerusalem. No trouble, everybody received.
It's not the way the Lord does it. He killed Stephen, you remember
that message on Stephen? And the word spread, scattering
the early church, rejection of the gospel. Israel as a nation
began to reject it. They began to disallow it completely
from their coast. Verse 25 in Romans 11, look at
verse 25. And my brethren, I would not
have you ignorant, he said. Don't be ignorant of this mystery,
lest you be wise in your own conceit, that blindness in part
is happened to Israel. until the fullness of the Gentiles
become in. Verse 26, he says, All Israel
shall be saved. You think for a minute that's
talking about the nation of Israel, huh? He's talking about his Jews.
I've just been telling you who the Jew is, right? There's a
remnant in Israel who were born in Israel called Jews, kinsmen
after the flesh. that they are not all Israel
which are of Israel, but they are all Israel who are sons of
the promise." Inward, circumcision is out of the heart. All Israel
will be saved, Henry Soward. All Israel will be saved. And
God has some Jews, at this time, God Almighty foresaw in the future
some Jews in Rocky Mountain, Virginia, USA, of all places. some Jews. He said, I've got
some Jews, some Israelites that the gospel has to go to. And
they're, my, my. All the way across the ocean.
He said, what has all this got to do with Acts 11? All right,
turn over there. Acts 11. What does all this have
to do with Acts 11? Well, as I said in the beginning,
This story of Cornelius was the beginnings of the gospel going
to the Gentiles. Us. This is the story. We ought to just be so interested
in this. This is where it started, John.
It's where it started. Cornelius is our Gentile father
in the faith. Not Abraham. Cornelius is our
Gentile grandfather in the faith. This is a story of God breaking
down the middle wall of partition and sending those Jewish apostles,
one of them being Paul, sending him, breaking down the barriers
and the prejudices, to send the gospel forth to pagan lands like
USA. There's no more pagan, heathen
land ever than North America. And he said, let me just read
this to you. I meant to have you read it,
but let me just read this to you. Isaiah said, Moses said
this, Moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy
by them that are no people. Remember that? Moses said a long
time ago to the Jews who wouldn't believe, he said, I'm going to
provoke, God said, I'm going to provoke you to jealousy by
them which are no people, a foolish nation. I'll anger you with them. Isaiah said it, he said, I was
found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto
them that asked not for me. And this is the story we have
here, Rick, of jealousy. These Jews, these circumcised
Jews, when they heard that Peter went down there, and I'm not
going to read it all, I've already read it to you. When Peter went
down there and preached the gospel to Cornelius, these Jews got
mad at Peter, and they called him on the carpet. They contended
with him, called him on the carpet and said, Peter, you can't go.
And you remember Peter was kind of leaving himself out there,
didn't he? Remember that, Rick, in chapter ten? Peter said, you
know, now, you know, now, you know it's unlawful for me to
be here. Peter was worried. Don't think of Peter as some
high and mighty fellow who was just bold and courageous all
the time. He was scared. And he said to those Gentiles,
he said, now, you know that I'm not really supposed to be here.
It's unlawful for me, who's a Jew, to be preaching to you Gentiles.
But God sent me, so here it is. And then they called him on the
carpet. The Jews later on said, what'd you do? Go down to those
Gentiles. Why'd you do that? Hmm? Peter's really apologizing to
these Jews in his story. He's apologizing. He's not going
to take any blame. We will see later on in our studies,
how did he compromise the gospel? You remember the story Paul told
in Galatians 2, when the Jews came down from Jerusalem and
Peter was sitting at one of their tables, at the Gentiles' table?
Huh? And he got up when James, this
high person from the Jewish synagogue came in, or from the church,
a Jew. James came in and Peter jumped up from that Gentile table,
eating that ham sandwich, wiped his mouth with his hand, and
ran over and sat with the Jews. And Paul said, Are we saved by
grace or not, buddy? Huh? Is he a Jew which is one inwill
or outwill? Which is it, Peter? Who are God's
people, Peter? Well, you're going to confuse
these Jews, Peter. I'm getting ahead of myself. That's another
message. That's next week. Verse 14 of
Acts 11, Peter recounts a story. He said that God And he told
these Jews that God gave this Cornelius a dream that
said that somebody would come and preach words whereby thou
and all thy house should be saved. Preaching of the gospel to Gentiles,
words of salvation. Verse 15, As I began to preach,
Peter said, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. I can hear him now. I can hear
him saying it. The Holy Ghost fell on them as
it did us. Now remember, now remember this,
and let me dwell. I've got five, six more minutes. Remember, I dealt a little bit
last week on this thing of the Holy Spirit falling on these
people. Remember, I took you back to Romans 8. It said, If
any man had not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. If
you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit, you're not,
you're not his, you're not saved. That's what Romans 8, verse 9
says, right? Huh? If any man hath not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. Another verse, as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they're the sons of God. If you're
not led by the Spirit, what are you led by, Eve? The flesh. Huh? Carnal mind is invented. The
mind and the flesh is invented against God. But the Spirit of
God is in you now, leading you. All right, another scripture
says there's one spirit even as you're called. In one hope
of your calling. One Lord, one faith. Baptism. One baptism. The outpouring of
the Holy Spirit upon these Gentiles. Well, it's the same pouring out
of the Holy Spirit as upon you when you heard the gospel. Same
thing. Don't make this more than what
it is. As I told one of the brethren last week, that's the message.
If the Pentecostalists, so-called, would preach from Acts chapter
ten or any part of Acts, they'd dwell cheaply on the speaking
of tongues and so forth, wouldn't they? They'd totally forgotten
the message that Peter preached, wouldn't they? John had completely
skipped over the message and got to the tongues. Yeah, they
would. We're going to see here in a
minute And it says that these people,
do you remember where it says, and they spoke with tongues and
magnified God? It said that in Acts 10, verse
46. They all spoke with tongues and
began to magnify God. Remember that? What did you do
when the Lord revealed the gospel to you? Huh? Magnify self? You magnified God. And you did
it how? With your tongue. With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness. But the mouth confession is made.
You confessed him with your tongue. You spoke in a language, a heavenly
language, which you had theretofore never learned before, a language
of praise and thanksgiving and worship to God Almighty. You
magnified God in a tongue. We say, well, why does it say
tongue? It uses the word tongue. The word in the Greek is glosa. It means language. That's what
it means. Why does it say language then? You can buy a separate. I'm sorry. They began to speak
with line than there must be with a line. I say that. It's a good question. Let me
establish a little bit. I told you this can be profitable
for you that that you need not be ashamed when rightly divide
the word truth here. This was the foundation of the
early church right the foundation of There were only twelve apostles,
no Bible, no rapid means of transportation, no airplanes, no trains, no buses,
no cars, no telephones, no telegraphs, no newspapers. How did news travel? By mouth. It's the only way.
One man told his neighbor, another man told his neighbor, another
man told his neighbor, another man told a courier, and he got
on his horse or his chariot, and he rode off and told another
town, and they told it, and Paul traveled by chariot and went
all over. The gospel was spread all over the world by mouth,
by tongue. Tongue, all right? This is how
you talk. A tongue, a language, you use
a language. Languages were needed all over
the world to preach the gospel, right? It started with twelve
Jews in Israel who did not know whatever. There's another language,
Mesopotamian. Right? I didn't know that language.
None of them went to school to learn that, did they? There were
no language schools in that day, huh? Christ said this gospel
shall go all over the world, didn't it? It's going to travel
all over the Lord. I have a hard time speaking Hebrew,
they said. I have a hard time speaking Hebrew.
How am I going to talk to people? Don't worry about it. I'll give
you the language. Take no thought what you shall
speak or how you shall say it. I'll be with you." And Peter
found himself one day beginning to preach. John, he stood up
before a bunch of strange faces and he, how am I going to do
this? And he started saying, speaking in a language that they
could understand. And Peter was, wow, this is God's
work, isn't it? Not foolish gibberish, Henry.
A language that they could understand the mighty works of the gospel,
which is the power of God, which they must understand and believe
and know something of the person and work of Christ to be saved,
right? Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, that doesn't
tell you anything about Christ. You've got to understand it,
right? And the Holy Spirit, and this
was still, you say, what's that got to do with these people?
Well, these were Grecians, and the Word was passing on to them,
all right? And there were some people there
that the Lord blessed them with the gift to speak other language,
who would in turn take the gospel to their people. That simple? What's this plain? Plain as the nose on your face.
Even now he equips people, especially with gifts of language, doesn't
he? Huh? Sure he does. So the Holy Spirit
fell on them as the apostles at the day of Pentecost. Same
thing. And they preached to many people
themselves from all over. Verse 16. Peter, Peter remembered. He said, Then I remembered when
this Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost fell on them and they spoke
with languages that they were speaking to one another. And
I remembered the word of the Lord how he said John indeed
baptized with water but you should be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
You say oh there's two baptisms. Anybody think that. John baptized
with water. You should baptize with the Holy
Ghost. Two baptisms. Second baptism. This is where
they get their so what they say. One of water confessing Christ
another one of gifts. Is that right? Let me establish you one more
time, according to the Scriptures. What say the Scripture, if any
man have not the spirit of Christ, he's not a man, and so on. I'm
not quote those to you again, but remember. At the moment of
someone's conversion. And I'm going to quit, this is
it. At the moment of someone's conversion, when the Lord calls
us by the gospel, and someone believes, they are baptized into
Jesus Christ. They are of God, they are in
Christ. Who of God is made under them,
wisdom, righteousness, everything. They are put in Christ. Of God,
they are born of God, not of blood, not of the will of the
flesh, but of God. They're born of God, and they're
put in Christ, who is our Father, our Mother, our everything, our
all. Of God, in Christ. They are immersed in Christ,
and the Holy Spirit is the agent of that new birth. Isn't he? What's your name? Terry? The Holy Spirit is the
agent of this new birth, is he not? Isn't the Holy Spirit the
one who takes the word, the gospel, and all, and applies it, and
regenerates, and creates, gives repentance and faith, and recreates
a new creature, make them walk in newness of life? He puts them
in Christ, reveals the gospel to them. That's what happened. And everybody who's born by the
Spirit of God, you must be born again. And again and again and
again. No. One time more again. All right. Are there not times, though,
when you need a special outpouring of God's Holy Spirit? Ever thought about that? I do. Every Sunday morning, every Sunday
night, every Wednesday night, I need a special anointing. of
God's Holy Spirit, right? Johnny, it ain't no second baptism,
buddy. It ain't no special. It's just
another outpouring of the Holy Spirit that I need. I do every
time I preach, don't you? Don't you? Every time you hear
or when you read the Scriptures in your own private, don't you
need a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit every time, huh?
That make sense to you? That's what happened here. That's
what happened here. All right. So, Peter apologized,
and he said, what, verse seventeen, what was I that I could withstand
God? He's really apologizing there.
I really believe he is. May differ with him. What does
that matter? Verse eighteen, And when they
heard these things, they started talking about tongues. When they heard these things,
they were just so amazed and said, well, then God has given
the Gentiles tongues. Is that what they said, John?
Well, then God has given the Gentiles a special outpouring
of the Holy Spirit whereby they can heal and talk in tongues
and talk about tongues from that day forward. There's no mention
of tongues, is there? What do they talk about? God
has given the Gentiles repentance unto life. Repentance. And isn't that the chief work
of the Holy Spirit? You know what Christ said in John 16?
When he shall come, the Comforter, he shall reprove the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The world. Gentiles. When the Holy Spirit has come
and pours himself out on the Gentiles, they're going to repent
after they hear the gospel. They're going to believe Christ
to the saving of their souls. It's the reason we have to study
in the Henry. Do a little studying. And it's the reason I believe
the Lord puts verses like that in to cause us to dig, to search
the Scriptures, to see if these things are so. Is there a second
baptism of the Holy Spirit? No, there's one baptism, one
baptism. There's an outpouring of it. You know, there are times when
we grieve the Spirit, when he departs from us for a season,
right? When he didn't come back and
be with us, don't we? At times when we grieve the Spirit,
at times when we tempt him, at times when we quench the Spirit,
right? And we need him to come back
and bless us all over again. But it's not what they're saying
today. It's not what they're talking about today. It's second
baptism. That's a spirit alright. It's
another spirit. It's not the spirit of God. Well, I hope that
has been helpful to you. That's the reason you have the
gospel. This story right here is the reason you have the gospel
today. The reason you just heard what you heard. Because what
happened to Cornelius? God given him and Peter going
to preach to him. And from here on, it just explodes.
We're going to see how it just explodes. Gospel just goes all
over. All right. Stand with me and
I'll dismiss. Our Heavenly Father, we once
again, we thank you and marvel at your your glorious dealings
with sons of men, your salvation given to a people who sought
you not. Provoke the Jews to jealousy. Jews that are Jews
after the flesh reject the gospel, reject Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And it's all in your good providence
in order that we Gentiles might have it. Lord, we bless you for
this. We don't take it. We don't want
to take it for granted, though. The Jews of old did that. The
early church at Jerusalem is no more. It is no more. Those seven churches in Revelation
are no more. And who are we who are wild branches
who've been grafted in to boast ourselves against the natural
branches? Lord, we dare not do that. We thank you for your marvelous
providence, your wisdom, your mercy, your grace in bringing
the gospel to us Gentiles, us who are called to uncircumcision.
We thank you, Lord, and we ask that you would further work in
us and among us and not take this gospel from us. Lord, you
could so easily take it from us, and you'd be right in doing
so for our treatment of it. He would, Lord, you'd be right
in removing the gospel far from us. We have taken it for granted
and we're sorry. We ask your forgiveness, ask
you to forgive us according to that same blood. Lord, we ask that you would give
us a hungering and a thirsting after Christ, his righteousness. Seek first the kingdom of God.
Our Lord, the Kingdom of God is among us right now. Today
is the day of our salvation, the day when the gospel is being
preached. There's a feast. We're not in times of famine
here at Central Baptist. We're feasting on the Word of
God. Lord God, don't let us loathe
this light bread, this manna. Don't do it, Lord. Restrain us. Prevent us. for your glory, your
honor. Get glory in us, Lord. Get glory
through us. Get glory in saving these people
for your name's sake. In Christ's blessed name, we've
met together this day. Amen.