And your Bible is pleased to
Amos chapter 8, the book of Amos, one of the minor prophets. And if you're having trouble
finding it, you're right with everybody else. Hosea, Joel, Amos. Amos chapter eight. And verse 11. Amos chapter eight, verse 11
says, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine
of bread, nor of thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord. There is a famine in the land
of hearing the words of the Lord. God's sovereign gospel. Not too many people preach that. For 40 years, I preached another
gospel, which is not another. And then God, through the preaching
of his word, showed me what the gospel is. I wasn't seeking Him. I thought
I already had Him. But He was seeking me and made
me know I didn't have Him. I was not in Him. But now in
Him, we have that hope of glory that's in Christ Jesus, don't
we? Everything that's done in these
days and all time, was done for God's
people, God's elect, His chosen ones. Was done to save His people from
their sin. All that's been accomplished.
It's finished. And it was fully sufficient.
It took care of every one of my sins, Every one of God's people
all their sins Every sin of every believer has been washed in the
blood of Jesus Christ And he will find his sheep His sheep are out there The reason
we're still here today is that he hasn't found the last one
yet. But when he does, it'll all be
done. It'll all be over. He will call his sheep by name. He knows their names. He of course
knows the names of every person who has ever been or ever will
be born on this globe. But he knows the name of his
people in a particular way. In eternity past, it was written
in the Lamb's book of life. He knows that name. He knew my
name. Only by God's grace and providence
did he finally say, Gary, it's time. Salvation is made effectual to
each one of God's chosen people. Jesus Christ called it the new
Testament in my blood, a completed salvation. And we have before
us a completed scripture. Everything we need to know about
the person, Jesus Christ. I wanted to start with Amos 8,
11, just to remind us that there
is a famine in the land of the preaching of the truth of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. But God himself will either bring
a man to the preacher or bring the preacher to the man so that
he may hear the truth of his sovereign grace. And that's what I want us to
look at tonight for just a little bit. Turn to Acts chapter 10,
Acts chapter 10. And while you're turning there
and after you turn, let's just take a moment to speak with the
Lord. Heavenly Father, in these days,
we need you more than ever. We've always needed you, just
didn't know that we did. But because of your grace, your
mercy, and your love, You showed us our need. And then, Lord, you showed us
Jesus Christ who met that need, who satisfied the father with
his substitutionary death and sacrifice on Calvary, who paid
for our sins, put them away, remitted them, forgave us. Oh,
Father, we are so thankful. So thankful. For this glorious
salvation. You have given to us the person. Jesus Christ. And tonight we want to honor,
praise and glorify him. Father, help me to do just that. because he deserves all the glory. And if he doesn't get all the
glory, what use is there for us to be here? Bless your people. Bless the
reading of your word. Help me as I speak. Give me liberty. May the power
of the Spirit of God rest upon us here tonight. Be with our
pastor and Shirley as they're away from us. Be with those of
our congregation who have gone through operations or getting
ready to go through operations. We continue to think of Bruce
and Bill and Peggy that she is going to have this same kind
of operation. I pray, Father, that you would
be their strength, their comfort, their ease of pain. And may each one of us give honor
and praise to our Lord Jesus Christ tonight. Those around
us who have never heard or never trusted or have heard several
times and become hardened, To the gospel of Jesus Christ, we
pray Father that you would break in on their lives like you did
us. Show them the truth. Make them sinners. Show them
Jesus Christ. Who came to save them? From their
sins. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. The Book of Acts is, of course,
a very peculiar book because it's a transitional book. It's
all about the Lord Jesus Christ, but we have 400 years of silence. Then John came along preaching,
and then Jesus Christ was preaching, and then his disciples were preaching. Most of this was all through
God's people, the Jews, the ones that God had called to himself.
You realize that there are some Israelites who are not Israelites
indeed. There are some Israelites who
have not heard of or not trusting in God's grace. But in this transitional
period, There was the preaching and there were spectacular events
that went along with some of these things, signs and wonders. And then as you get to the close
of the book of Acts, there are fewer and fewer and fewer. Because the Lord doesn't want
us to center our minds on spectacular events. things that could happen,
healing meetings and all kinds of things that people have. He
wants to center our minds on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what happens here in Acts chapter 10. We're going to read this
a section at a time in Acts chapter 10 and discuss a few things that
are happening here. I know it's a familiar story
to many, if not all of us, But, uh, I've entitled it the effectual
call of a man. The effectual call of a man. Verses one through eight. There
was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion
of the band called the Italian band. a devout man and one that
feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people
and prayed to God all way. He saw in a vision evidently
about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into him
and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he
was afraid and said, what is it Lord? And he said unto him,
thy prayers and alms are come up for a memorial before God,
and now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname
is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner,
whose house is by the seaside. and he shall tell thee what thou
oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake
unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household
servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all
these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa. A certain man
named Cornelius, isn't that a, Wonderful way to say it, a certain
man named Cornelius. Now, his credentials were not
anything that we might think are great things. He was of the
Italian band, so he was a Gentile. He was an Italian. He was a religious
man, to be sure. He was a Jewish proselyte. He
was devout. He feared God. He gave alms. He prayed. But you know what? Religious people need to be saved
too. Doesn't matter who they are and
what they worship and how they worship. Religious people need
to be saved too. And the Lord came to Cornelius
and mentioned his name. You see, religious people, the
Bible says not many mighty are saved, but some are. He didn't
say none would be. Not many noble, but some are. He didn't say none would be.
Not many rich, but he said some are. With men, it's impossible. With God, all things are possible. These religious people needed
to be saved. He was a man that was known by
name. I know my sheep, the Lord Jesus
said. I know them by name. And because
he knew his name, a couple of things happened here. Number
one, he sees a vision. And number two, he hears the
voice of God. Proverbs 20 verse 12 says, the
hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord had made them both.
He heard the Lord. He had this vision. And he had this seeing eye. And
when he heard the Lord, when he heard the Lord's voice, when
he was given this vision, he feared. Isaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up on his throne. And what happened to him? He
fell down, afraid, and said, woe is me, for I'm undone. I've
got a problem with me. And when you see Jesus Christ
as he really is, you see your problem. You see your sin. You see what you're really like.
It's not the sinning that so much is the problem. The problem
is that you are a sinner before a holy God. And there's nothing
you can do about it. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's none that doeth good.
There's none that are righteous. There's none that seek after
God. There's none that understand. This is God's Word. I had the
opportunity to tell a young lady that here last week. She was telling me how good she
was. And it was just getting all over
me. And I said, you know what? The Bible says there is none
good, no, not one. And I'm just going to believe
what God says. Well, I know the Bible says that.
But you know what I was trying to say. You know, we get these
answers all the time, don't we? He was a religious man. He was
a man who was lacking. He was lacking in salvation.
He was lacking so much so that God said to him, you go find
Peter. And he'll tell you what you ought
to do. You've got a lack in your life. You've got a need in your
life. You've got a want in your life. You've got something there
that's needed. And the only person that's going
to help you is the one that I chose, and that's Peter. He's going
to be your preacher. Sin for Peter. He'll tell you
what you ought to do. Could any man be saved any other
way? According to Romans chapter 10, It's by the God sent preacher. It's the one that God sends to
preach the gospel. The Philippian jailer said, sirs,
what must I do to be saved? believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. He had heard the singing. He
had heard the testimony of Paul and Silas. He had seen them beaten
for the cause of Jesus Christ. And they were calling him Lord
and they were worshipping him for whom they were beaten and
thrown in jail. And the earthquake came and he
sprang in To see what was happening with
the prisoners, he was going to take a sword and kill himself.
Paul said, Do thyself no harm. Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
He had been hearing the gospel. And Paul said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. The same one we believe on. And
thou shalt be saved. The same one you've been hearing
about. And thou shalt be saved. Here is a man that when God said,
go get Peter, He'll tell you what to do. Here's a man that
said, I'll go get Peter. He obeyed the voice of the Lord.
The Lord says, follow me, and we follow. The Lord says, look
to me, and we look. The Lord says, come to me, and
we come. The Lord said to Zacchaeus, come
down. What'd he do? He came down. He
said to Lazarus, come forth. And what'd he do? He came right
out of the grave. We do what our master tells us
to do. This man obeyed the voice of
the Lord. Now we have a God-chosen man, but now we have a God-chosen
preacher. God chose this preacher. Look
in verse nine. We'll read down a few verses
here. On the morrow, as they went on
their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon
the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, and he became very
hungry and would have eaten. But while they made ready, he
fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel
descending unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the
four corners and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner
of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping
things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him,
Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. But Peter said, not so, Lord,
for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And
the voice spake unto him again the second time, what God hath
cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice,
and the vessel was received up into heaven. Now while Peter
doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should
mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made
inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate. and called
and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged
there. While Peter thought on the vision,
the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore,
and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I
have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men
which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold,
I am he whom you seek. What is the cause wherefore ye
are come? And they said, Cornelius the
centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good
report among all the nations of the Jews, was worn from God
by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear
words. of thee. Then called he them
in, and lodged them. And on the morrow, Peter went
away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied them."
God chose the preacher, but God had to do something to him first. Had to straighten out his mind.
Oh, I need a lot of that. I need a lot of that for God
to straighten out my mind so that I can see clearly what God
wants me to see. He was a Jew. Now the Jews don't
go into Gentile houses, nor do the Jews bring in and lodge Gentiles
in their houses. They had Gentile courts. If a Gentile came by and needed
lodging, they would certainly lodge them, but they had a court
outside, a porch or a little place outside. That's where the
Gentile stayed because they could not be defiled. The Lord gave
him a vision while he was praying. Gave him a vision. He saw heaven
open and then he saw all manner of beasts. As we get to it, I
get ahead of myself here, but as we get to it, that's what
all us gendiles are, all manner of beasts. That's what all Jews
are, all manner of beasts. We're these creeping things,
the four-footed, the wild beasts, the creeping things, and the
fowls of the air. That's what we are. Peter saw that and the voice
said, arise Peter, kill and eat. And Peter said, can you imagine?
Gotta remember Peter and all of his, he's like me. He's one of those fellows that
has a motto, open mouth, insert foot. It was always running his
mouth when he should have been listening, however, From all
of those ways that he run his mouth, we learned lessons, didn't
we? And don't we? And Peter says, nah, not me. I'm not going to touch those
things. Those are common. Those are unclean. A Jew can't
do any of those things. It's written in the law. God says, whatever I have cleansed. Notice that's past tense. Whatever
I have cleansed, don't you call common and unclean. I cleansed
it. I've got a man, the Lord is telling
Peter, I've got a man I want you to talk to. I want you to
preach the word to him. You see, the Lord is making this
effectual for Cornelius. It's going to happen. The grace
of our Lord, what God has cleansed, And it was done three times.
And lo and behold, the very next verse says, and three men came
to the door. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit was telling him this truth, and this truth
was happening right at his door. Three men, Gentiles, were standing
at his door for Cornelius. You see, God had sovereignly
prepared this preacher. And all God's preachers are sovereignly
prepared. God prepares them. God works in their heart. God
works in their mind. God works in their study of the
scripture. God works as he tells them the
truth of his grace. I'm he who you seek, he said.
What's your cause? Well, the cause is, God said,
Cornelius is lacking. He's got all these good qualities,
but he's still lacking. And the Lord humbled the preacher. He breaks through our religious
preconceived barriers. He breaks through our barriers
when, have you ever heard somebody say, well, I don't know if the
Lord could ever save that person. Or have you ever thought that? It doesn't matter who they are. If they're one of God's children,
if they're one of God's people, they're going to be saved. God
will make sure of that. He'll make them willing in the
day of His power. His sheep are out there and He's
going to bring His sheep. His word, He's going to bring
them to His Word, or He's gonna bring the preacher to them with
the Word. One or the other, He's gonna
get to them. There's a God-chosen man, a God-chosen
preacher, and then there's a God-chosen congregation. Look at it with
me in verse 24. And the morrow after they entered
into Caesarea and Cornelius waited for them and had called together
his kinsmen and near friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius
met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter
took him up saying, stand up, I myself also am a man. And as he talked with them, he
went in and found many that were come together. And he said unto
them, you know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that
is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another nation. But
God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without
gain, saying, As soon as I was sent for, I asked therefore,
For what intent ye have sent for me? And Cornelius said, Four
days ago, I was fasting until this hour. And at the ninth hour,
I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright
clothing and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard. Thy alms
are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send, therefore,
to Joppa and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is
lodged in the house of one Simon of Tanner by the seaside, who,
when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately, therefore,
I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come.
Now, therefore, are we all here present before God to hear all
things that are commanded thee of God. What a captive audience. All right there. Cornelius' household,
family, kinsmen, friends, maybe even some of his soldiers, it
doesn't say here, but they were all gathered together there.
And here comes Peter with his entourage, which was some of
the brethren from Joppa went with him and they're getting,
getting together there. And, uh, uh, God has gathered. Did you notice it was four days? Four days? From the time that
God spoke to Cornelius to the time that there was the gathering
and Peter was ready to preach to them, it took four days. God's salvation is going to happen. It may take four days. It may
take four months. It may take 40 years. It may
take 60 years like me. It may take longer for some.
But God is going to save His own. And it doesn't matter how
long it's going to be. God has perfect timing for His
salvation. Four days. Gathered together. Kinsmen and friends, preachers
and associates. Not one of God's children will
perish. Not one. Our Lord has never failed,
will never fail. Not one of his children will
perish. And Peter learned this truth. Don't you call any man common
or unclean. But for the grace of God, where
would we be? Peter's ready to preach. What's
the cause? To hear all things that God has
commanded you. What does God command the preacher
to do? Preach Christ. And that's what Paul did. He
preached Christ. He preached the everlasting gospel
of Jesus Christ. He preached the Word. Peter was,
at this moment, instant in season, out of season. He was ready to
give an answer of the hope that lieth within him. He was ready
to preach to sinners, and that's all we have to preach to. One sinner to another. Preach Christ and Him crucified. That's the only way that God
will glorify the preaching of His Word. We preach Christ. We preach the Lord Jesus Christ.
Cornelius is about to have a real meeting. The vision, the hearing, and
now something's going to happen. And that brings us to another
section here. What did Peter preach? What did
he say? The God-chosen message, beginning
with verse 34. 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 possessed 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. 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. 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. What did he preach? He preached that God's no respecter
of persons. Doesn't matter whether you're high and lofty or low
and lowly. God's no respecter of persons. If you're one of God's children,
it doesn't matter who you are. He will save his own. That's why he came. He will save
his own. So he preached God's no respecter
of persons. He preached a message of peace.
Jesus Christ made peace with God. He is our peace and his
peace is a peace that passes all understanding. There was a message of peace.
There was a message of incarnation. Jesus Christ came. The mystery
of godliness. He came. He came and took on
flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. God anointed
him. He's the elect of God. He's the
Messiah. God anointed him with the Holy
Ghost, with power, with healing of all those that were oppressed
of devils. God was with him because he came
to seek and to save that which was lost. And he shall save his
people from their sins. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. God-chosen man, a God-chosen
preacher, a God-chosen message. Three other things that Peter
preached. Let me just quickly mention those. A message of resurrection. Not unto all, unto the witnesses
chosen by God. The power of the resurrection.
And he was raised for our justification. It was a message of judgment.
Jesus Christ is the judge. He's the one Lord over all. He's
the one with whom we have to do. It was a message of redemption. We're bought with a price, bought
with his blood, bought with the everlasting blood of the covenant. And then finally, the last few
verses here, verse 44, the God-chosen results. While Peter yet spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. Peter didn't get all his message
out. It stunned them all. That on
them, on these Gentiles, the Holy Ghost fell on them just
like those Jewish believers. 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. And we'll stop right there for
just a moment. They were speaking with tongue, with languages.
And you know what they were talking about? They magnified God. If the preaching doesn't magnify
God, then it's not preaching. Simple as that. When you come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, when he calls and you come, to the Lord Jesus Christ. If your heart does not magnify
Him, then you came the wrong way. They magnified God. I mean, it
just swelled up within them. They couldn't help but magnify
the Lord. Psalm 132 and verses 9 and 16
say the saints shout aloud for joy. And that's what they were doing. Now, we don't go around shouting
all the time, I know. It's an emotional kind of thing,
I guess. But sometimes we're sitting,
listening to the message of God's word as the pastor preaches to
us, and we're shouting in our heart. Thank you, Lord. Thank
you, Lord. What a blessing that word is.
And then sometimes we'll say, amen! We shout it out. We shout for joy for what God
has done. We magnify him. They magnified the Lord. And
then Peter said, verse 47, can any forbid water that these should
not be baptized? Salvation, then baptism. Baptism doesn't save. Baptism
is the answer of a good conscience. the answer of the salvation that's
within a person. Which have received the Holy
Ghost as well as we and he commanded them to be baptized. So they had a. Their baptisms
and then I want you to notice one other thing as we close. After the baptism. The last sentence. They prayed. Then prayed they
him to set tarry certain days. Peter, will you stay with us
a while? Will you preach more of this truth to us? Will you
show us more of Christ? Can we hear you again? Oh, how we magnify the Lord Jesus
Christ for his salvation. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believe. Kinsman. Friends. Cornelius. God meant. For them to be saved. It was his purpose. That's why
he came. Did he come for you? Let's pray. Thank you, our Father, for the
truth of the gospel. and that it's the person, our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, that you have
purposed. You came to seek and to save. The Spirit of God is empowering
men to preach the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord, for what you've
done. And we do magnify your name,
glorify your name. You're the one who has done it
all. We had nothing to do with it.
And we're so thankful for what you've done for our salvation,
your salvation, that you made ours. Thank you for making an
effectual in the lives of your people. In Jesus' name, amen. Good night, folks.