Open your Bibles if you would
to Acts chapter 11 or continue our study in this wonderful book.
The name of the message is Gentile Salvation Reported. Gentile Salvation
Reported. We're going to note that some
of this will be an overview of what we've read in chapter 10
and a little bit of what we read in chapter 9 too. But Peter is
coming to the brethren in Jerusalem and he's going to give them a
report. He's going to give him a report of what has occurred
when he was in Joppa, and then when he went to Caesarea. And
remember, he went to the house of a Gentile. Oh, my. That was against the rules for
Jewish people to even enter in, for them to even enter into a
Gentile's house, let alone even be around them. But God sent him there, didn't
he? And we saw in our last two studies in this wonderful book
that God had ordained Gentiles to be saved. And what are we? What are we who believe here
today? We're a bunch of Gentiles, aren't we? Oh, aren't you glad
God ordained some Gentiles to be saved? You know, He also ordained
some folks called the Scythians. You remember me talking about
them Scythian fellas? You know who they are? They're the barbarians
of the barbarians. They're the worst of the worst.
And in Colossians, Paul tells us, barbarian, Scythian, bonder-free. Oh, and we can testify, he saved
the worst of the worst, didn't he? Right here. Every one of
us feel that way, don't we, as believers. Oh my. And we're going to see the humility
of Peter. You know, Peter often is looked
at as, oh, man, he's done this. Oh, there he goes sticking his
foot in his mouth again. But note here the humility of Peter
as he goes before the Jewish brethren who are born-again,
blood-washed saints, but they still got some grave clothes
on. They still got some grave clothes on, don't they? And we're
going to see that. And you know, even the best of
men Even the best of saints are still sinners. We're proof of
that, aren't we? I'm just a sinner saved by grace. And we all have sinful trouble. And you know we will until the
Lord takes us home. Some people, I ran into one person,
said to me one time, they said, they said, ah, ah, I never have
any trouble in my life. I said, you're professed to be
a believer. And they're like, yeah. I said, just wait. Said,
I'll never get depressed. I said, just wait. Wasn't long
after that, a few months after, something happened in her family.
Well, she was sure depressed. And that's when you just say,
you have to look to Christ. Because we all go through it.
I don't care. Somebody says, well, I don't get like that.
Well, maybe depression doesn't bother you. Maybe you get anxious.
Maybe anxiousness doesn't bother you. Maybe unbelief bothers you.
What did Peter say? Lord, help my unbelief. So we all struggle. We all struggle,
beloved. Just some people don't think
it's right to admit that. Well, our brethren did, didn't
they? Our brethren did. And we're at
best just safe sinners. Just safe sinners. So he's going
to go to the brethren at Jerusalem, and he's going to give them a
report that these Gentiles The Lord saved some of them. Let's
stand up together, we'll read Acts chapter 11, verses one to
four. We're only gonna read four verses
today. The whole message is gonna go all the way down to verse
18, but for time's sake, I just thought we could read the first
four verses together. So let's read these together.
And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that
the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter
was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision
contended with him, saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised,
and didst eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter
from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying..."
So we're going to stop there, because we're going to see what
he said to them. Now, notice that. Notice that
in verse 3. These folks, these are brethren,
but they got some grave clothes, brethren. You ever had grave clothes fall
off you? Oh, my. You'd be thinking something.
Oh, I got to do this. I got to do this. Oh, wait. I get to do this. Do
you know I get to read my Bible? I don't have to. I get to. I have a privilege of reading
my Bible. People say, well, you have to pray. I get to pray.
Do you? There's a big difference, isn't there? Now, I'm not saying
a believer won't want to pray, because they will. But it's a
privilege. It's a privilege instead of a
duty. You give men duties and you know
what they're gonna do? What happened to all of us when
mom said, don't eat the cookies that are sitting on the counter? She'd come back, there'd be a
couple missing, wouldn't there? Oh yeah, at least one. Yeah, Tom,
at least one. Oh my, my oh my. Now God's servants always will
face opposition in this world. It's a giving. God's people,
God's preachers will always face opposition. It comes from all
different places. It comes from family, it comes
from friends, it sometimes even comes within the body too sometimes,
unfortunately. But God's people will always,
always face opposition. We've learned in our study in
Philippians last week that suffering is a gift from God. Suffering
for our faith is a gift from God. My oh my. Paul said you're gonna suffer
for his sake. You're gonna. And we do as God's
people for our faith. The prophets of the Old Testament
and of the New and faithful gospel preachers throughout all the
ages have constantly been the objects of mockery, derision,
slander, and persecution. It comes with the territory,
doesn't it? It does, beloved. The message of the cross has
always been offensive to natural man. Before the Lord saved me,
I remember people coming to me and telling me about Christ,
and I did not want to hear it. I wanted nothing to do with them.
Was it so for you? Now, some of you may have been
raised in church, and you heard the gospel, but it had no effect
on you. Right, sister? Yeah. Until one
day, the time of love, you're born again by the Holy Spirit
of God, regenerated, just like that. Now, it's the greatest
news you've ever heard. It's the best news you've ever
heard. And you want to be around God's people, you want to hear
the preaching of Christ, I'll tell you what, up until I was
33, I wanted nothing to do. And then when the Lord saved
me, oh my. Tell me more about the one who
died for me and bled for me and saved my eternal soul. Tell me
more about him! Oh my. Don't tell me stories
and all those things. Tell me about Christ! Tell me about Christ. The God-man. God incarnate in the flesh, sent
by the Father to save his people from their sins. And the scripture
says of the Messiah, who is Jesus Christ, he shall not fail. And he cries it victoriously. It is finished. I preach the
work already done, beloved. It's finished. It was finished
2,000 years ago. We just by faith look, look to Christ. And even
that faith is given to us. It's a gift of God. Not of works,
lest any man should boast. Christ did it all. He did it
all. And now, why do we desire to
live a life for Christ? Because he saved our souls. Right? And sinners though we are, yet
we still desire to serve him, don't we? Do you know we're a
bunch of clay pots with holes in them? That's what we are. My oh my. But you know we're vessels of
honor. Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. That's absolutely
incredible. So the doctrine of God's free
and sovereign grace in Christ, in him alone, by his perfect,
finished work, is absolutely hated by man and hated by religionists. How do I know that? I was a religionist. First time someone told me about
election, I went up and down them one side and down the other
side. What in the world are you even talking about? And you know
what the fella did? This was amazing. You know what
the fella did? This guy was amazing. He goes to his older associate
pastor and he says, this fella must have had a stack of Spurgeon
sermons this high, right? And he goes, start giving Wayne
a sermon a week by Spurgeon. Well, I didn't believe the doctrines
of grace then. I believed I had prayed a prayer and saved myself.
And I started reading these sermons. And Spurgeon now, I'll tell you
what, Spurgeon was a masterful preacher. But he centered on
one thing, Christ and Him crucified. That was the model of his ministry.
We preach Christ and Him crucified. And I started reading these things
and God started changing my heart. Showing me the truth, revealing
to me the truth. The night before Vicki and I get married, I said,
you know God chooses people. I'm surprised she still married
me. My oh my. But now she loves the
same Christ I love, the same doctrines I love and embrace.
Yo, Spurgeon said, people call it Calvinism. You know what that
is? I love what Spurgeon said. He said, that's just a nickname
for Christianity. It's just biblical truth. I don't
believe everything Calvin did, and he baptized babies. Do we
believe that? No, we believe in believer's
baptism. Can I still have fellowship with
someone who believes the same gospel as I do, but they may
not baptize folks the same way I do? You know what, I'm gonna
shock you. Yes, I can. It's the gospel. That's what's
most important. Do we believe in Christ and Him
crucified plus absolutely nothing? Are we trusting in the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and absolutely nothing? So Peter's
gonna give our brethren a report that the Gentiles are saved by
the same precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as they are. But there were some racial precedents
there, wasn't there? Jews hated Gentiles. And this
was a Roman soldier. This was a centurion. He went
to a centurion's house. Oh my goodness, he went to a
Roman's house. Ah, but there was a purpose to
it, wasn't it? He was sent there by God. And a whole bunch of
folks, the Lord opened their hearts up and gave them faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So we expect opposition
from God's enemies. But in our text from verses 1
to 18, Peter's standing amidst brethren. He's not standing amidst
unsafe folks. He's standing amidst born-again,
blood-washed saints. But they still have some grave
clothes from their Jewish religion. My, oh, my. Now, he can handle
opposition from the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Judaizers.
That just comes natural. They're just false teachers. He expected that, but this must
have been astonishing for him. It must have been painful for
him to think that here he is, he's going to go report on Gentiles
being saved to his own brethren, and he's going to face opposition.
We saw that in verse 3. And he was led to go to Cornelius's
house, wasn't he, by the Holy Spirit of God. He was led to
go there. And why did he go there? To tell
him how to have a better life? No, he went there to tell him
about Christ. That's why he went there, to tell him about the
one who can save a soul. The only one who can save sinners. Oh my. And by the power of God
the Holy Spirit and the grace of God in Christ shown to them,
they believed the message. And you know they had the same
faith we have. You know that? One faith, right? One spirit. One Savior. Oh my. And they heard about the substitute.
who died for sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ, how he was sent
by God to come to this sin-cursed world and to save his people
from their sins. And his name is Jesus. Oh my, and they believed and
they were baptized by Peter in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when the Jewish believers heard what Peter had done, instead
of rejoicing in God's grace, they got hopping mad. They almost sound like Pharisees
here. We know they're not. You see,
even believers can get upset, can't we, about wrong things
sometimes. We need to keep our eyes focused
upon Christ. We see all this stuff going on
in our world. Keep our eyes on Christ. I have to keep doing
that. I'd pull out what hair I had
left if I didn't, right? Keep our eyes, the government
is what? Upon his shoulders, amen. He
rules and reigns. He's the sovereign king right
now, right now. He's never abdicated his throne.
So there's some lessons for us here. There's several important
lessons for us. Let's read verses one to three
again. And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that
the Gentiles had received the word of God. Now you think right
there, when we hear the Lord say something, we praise God,
hallelujah, what a blessing, our Lord is so good. Right? Look at this. And when Peter
was come up, They that were of the circumcision contended with
him. They argued with him. They were upset, saying, Thou
wentest in, I could just hear this too, they didn't say this
very nice. Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, those uncircumcised
Gentile dogs, and didst eat with them. You
didn't even eat with them. How could you eat that unclean
food? Number one, they don't even know what he ate, right? There's an old saying, and you
notice this, news got to him, news got to these brethren before
Peter even got there. How'd that happen? There's an
old saying, Gene Harmon said, he said, bad news will travel
around the world. Well, good news is still putting
on his shoes. That's true, isn't it? We see that in today's instant
media. My oh my. The Gentiles receiving
the word of God, that is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
should have been good news to those believing Jews in Judea.
But we see instead they're offended by what they heard. You notice
something? Take note of this, beloved. Gentiles
have been saved. Right? They should be rejoicing. But who's their eyes on? It's
not on Christ, is it? It's not on the fact that the
Lord saved those Gentiles. It's on Peter. See what happens
to us when we get our eyes off Christ? And we get our eyes on
one another? I heard a story one time by a
church where that all these folks were starting to get on each
other. Looking, oh, that person's doing this, they're such a sinner.
Oh, that person's doing that, they're such a sinner. And then, so much so
that even the preacher got carried away with it, and none of them
are looking to Christ. Because if we look to Christ,
you know what'll happen? We'll find out what we saw in Philippians
chapter two, verse three. We will esteem others better
than ourselves. We'll lift up our brethren. where,
say, there are sinners just like I am. I'm not going to poke holes
in someone else's boat when mine's full of holes. Right? My, oh, my. My, oh, my. Look at this. And
when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision
contended with him, thou wentest in to men uncircumcised and didest
eat with them. So they got their eyes on the
wrong place. They got their eyes on Peter instead of Christ. They
got their eyes on Peter instead of rejoicing at the Gentiles.
Gentiles are being saved? That was so foreign to the Jew. Because all the oracles of God
were for them and everybody else was left in darkness. But they didn't realize that
the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnated in the flesh,
has a people. of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation, beloved." Isn't that wonderful? Oh, my. So why are they offended? Well,
because they're still prejudiced against the Gentiles. That's
why. They're still filled with enmity
against those from the Gentile nations. But watch what the Lord
does. And we'll see a big change in
them by the time we hit the verse 18. Because Peter's gonna tell
them what happened. And the Holy Spirit's gonna get
a hold of those words like he does. It's a mystery, somewhere
between my mouth and you receiving them in your hearts, the Holy
Spirit takes them and blesses you with them. That's amazing.
He blessed me in my study and then he's gonna bless you with
the words too. That's absolutely incredible. But they're still
filled with enmity. They need to grow in grace, don't
they? We all need to grow in grace. That's why I always say,
let us always have teachable spirits. Right? Let us always be ready to learn.
When we're going through things, let us say, Lord, what are you
teaching me here? Right? When we come to a service to
hear the gospel, Lord, I'm ready to learn. Speak to my heart,
please. Tell me more about my King. Oh
my. And he only speaks to us through
his word, doesn't he? He only speaks to us through
his word. So they need to grow in the grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, just like all of us.
And Peter and those believing Jews who went with him from Joppa
were ordained instruments of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
are going to be used to bring growth in the lives of these
brethren at Jerusalem. And after the, I remember, appointed
experience with Cornelius, because it was appointed by God, God
sent him there, right? Everyone who's here today was
appointed by God to be here right now, today. Isn't that amazing? After the appointed experience,
Peter and those believing Jews who were with him, They grew
in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
remember how shocked even the Jews who were believers who had
come with Peter from Jabba, they were shocked when they heard
the Gentiles speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Now somebody bought forth, they
might have been speaking in Hebrew because the Jews understood what
they were saying. I don't know, I'm not gonna speculate,
but all I know is they heard him glorifying God. And we know
tongues is not gibberish, it's a known language in the Greek.
The underlying Greek word is known language. My oh my. So they'd been blessed with the
honor of sharing the blessed truths of the God-saving grace
and seeing it being poured out upon the Gentiles. And now they
went with Peter, they go with Peter to tell the other saints
at Jerusalem about what they saw. And it's a good thing that
they went with him. And that's all by God, God's
ordained all that as well. My, oh my. So marvel at what's
said here before us. The love of God was shed abroad
in Peter's heart by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. He'd
experienced the patience and the long suffering of God in
his own life, right? Peter, do you love me? You ever
notice that when Peter, the Lord didn't say, he's not like, wow,
let me get my whip out and all that. Do you know that God God
never disciplines his children in anger. When I was in religion,
I always used to think, well, God's angry with me. He's not
angry with those who are washed in his precious blood. He's not
angry with us. You ever think of that? Our fathers
would discipline us sometimes in anger, but God will never
discipline. You know how he disciplines us? In love, with an everlasting
love. Isn't that amazing? And Peter
being disciplined, hadn't he? By love. Peter, do you love me?
Feed my sheep. Three times. You know why? Because
three times he denied the Lord. My, oh, my. So he experienced
the long suffering of God in his life, and he manifests that
patience now, that long suffering with others in the preaching
of the gospel. And he trusted that as he preached
the gospel, that God would give the increase. Because only God
can give the increase, no one else. No one else. Look at verse four. He's heading
up to Jerusalem and he's rehearsing. He's rehearsed the matter. You
know what the word rehearsed means in the Greek? It just means
step-by-step testimony. So he's just going through what
he's going to say. He's going over, okay, I'm gonna tell him
this, I'm gonna tell him this, I'm gonna tell him this, step-by-step.
Look at verse four. But Peter rehearsed the matter
from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying, So he's going to give them a
step-by-step result of what occurred and how the grace of God has
been shown to the Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel.
And Peter and the other Jews who accompanied him to Cornelius'
house were eyewitnesses of those things. They saw it happen. That which had occurred, which
again shows the wisdom of God in sending them along with Peter.
So that Peter's not standing in front of our brethren by himself. But you know, I didn't realize
this until we're gonna see it. There were six of them. Six brethren that had went with
him. My oh my. Let's read verses, verses five
to 17 of Acts chapter 11. He's gonna give them a step-by-step
testimony of what happened here. I was in the city of Joppa praying,
and in a trance, I saw a vision. Now, remember why he was in Joppa?
He raised Dorcas from the dead. And before that, he was in Lydda,
and there was a paralytic man who had been healed. And before that, he had went
through the cities and towns of Galilee, preaching the gospel,
and ended up all the way to Joppa. Well, there's a reason he's in
Joppa. Because he's going to get called
over to where Cornelius lives in Caesarea. So these men, they had accompanied
him. Look at this. I was in the city
of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. A certain vessel
descended, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by
four corners, and it came even to me. Upon the which I had fastened
mine eyes, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth,
wild beasts, creeping things, and fowls of the air. I heard
a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter, slay and eat. Now remember,
the Jews were only allowed to eat certain things, according to the Jewish dietary
law. But I said, No, not so, Lord. Oh, my. Oh my, is that not all of us
by nature? We're just a bunch of Peters,
aren't we? Oh my. For nothing common and unclean
hath at any time entered my mouth, I have not partook in their wickedness. We're all a bunch of sinners,
quarried from the same quarry of humanity. Oh my. But the voice answered
again from heaven, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common. And this was done three times,
and all were drawn up again unto heaven. And behold, immediately
there were three men already come unto the house where I was,
sent from Caesarea unto me. Now remember, he's in the house
of Simon the Tanner, a man who deals with dead animals. They
never said anything about that, did they? That news must not
have traveled yet. Because a Jew was not allowed
to go near someone who was a Tanner. Dealing with dead animals was
against Jewish law. Oh my. My, oh my. And it says here, And the Spirit
bade me go with them. Look at this, nothing doubting. Don't doubt, you're to go with
these men. Without doubting. Now these are
Gentile men. One of them is a soldier that
is under Cornelius, a Roman soldier. And the other ones are his servants. Moreover, the six brethren accompanied
me, and we entered into the man's house. This is Cornelius's house. And he showed us how he'd seen
an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, send
men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, look
at this, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy
house shall be saved. You think he went there and told
them 50 ways to become a better Christian? Or as we talk about selling a
book? Nope. None of that stuff. He's there
for one reason. Beloved, he's there for one reason.
He's there to preach Christ. That's all he's there to do. He's there to preach. He's been
sent by God to preach Christ. And remember he walked in there
thinking he was just going to talk to Cornelius and the whole
room was full? Cornelius invited a whole bunch
of his friends as well and his family, got them all gathered
together. You got to hear these words. You got to hear these
words. Oh my. And as I began to speak,
the Holy Ghost fell on them. As on us at the beginning. Now
look at that. Same spirit. Then remembered
I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized
with water, but she shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
You must be born again. You must be. You must be. For as much then as God gave
them the like gift as he did us, look at that, Eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord who believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ What was I that I could withstand God? Oh? My you talk about a knockout
punch But he's not mean it to be that way he's just setting
it before who am I to say to God I ain't going there God told
me to go there you all might not like it, but he told me to
go there I See, they got some grave clothes,
beloved. Remember, Lazarus came out of the tomb, and the Lord
said, go take grave clothes off him. You know, preaching the
gospel, our grave clothes start dropping when we hear the gospel.
Our legalistic grave clothes start falling off. Oh, my. Now, a few things I'd
like to mention here that we didn't consider in previous studies.
Look in verse 12. It says, and the Spirit made
me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren
accompanied me. So now we see there's six brethren
with him. We didn't know the number before, but there's six
brethren. Oh, my. Could you imagine the
eyes of those prejudiced Jews as they were looking at Peter,
and he says that, and all of a sudden they start looking?
There's seven of them saying the same thing. There's not just
one. Well, they're supposed to listen
when there's two witnesses, aren't they? Well, they got seven of
them in front of them, including Peter. He's the seventh one. All seven of these men had witnessed
the saving grace of God in the lives of the Gentiles. Who would
dare deny that these believing Gentiles were complete in Christ?
Who would dare deny that? when witnessed by seven men who
were willing to testify to the other Jews who believed that
they had visually seen what had occurred. But they still had hate in their
hearts toward the Gentiles. God's got to teach them something,
doesn't he? Oh my. That's why I always say
there's no room in the body of Christ for prejudice, for racism,
for any of that stuff. There's no room. Out of every
tongue, every nation, God saves a people. My oh my. And who would deny, who would
deny that those Gentiles are now perfect in the sight of God
even though they're sinners? You know how we can say that?
Because you're complete in Christ. Yeah, listen to this. When Christ
died on the cross, were all your sins future? Hmm. I tell people, Christ died for
my sins, past, present, and future. Well, how could they be future?
Because every single one of my sins was future. when Christ
died on the cross, and he cried, it is finished. Praise his mighty name. The work
of redemption is done. Now, I didn't experience that
until I was born again by the Holy Spirit of God. But he already
bought and paid for me 2,000 years ago, and if you're a believer,
he did the same for you. Again, I preach a finished work. I don't preach something that,
it's in no way dependent upon man at all. If it is, it's not
grace. Spurgeon said grace is either
all of grace or it's not grace at all. Right? My oh my. It's wonderful to be able to
proclaim a work already done. So who would dare deny that these
believing Jews or believing Gentiles were made perfect in the sight
of God by the supreme sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
died as our substitute, didn't he? His righteousness is given
to us. And the believers now clothed
in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. Even though we're
still sinners, God says to marvel at this, beloved. God says, your
sins and iniquities, I remember no more. My. Now there's some sins that we
have that are only between God and us, isn't there? We all got
them. Even those are washed in blood.
Give them to the Lord and leave them at the cross. Walk in freedom
and liberty in Christ. My, oh my. And look at verse 14. Who shall tell thee words whereby
thou and all thy house shall be saved? These holy inspired words, just
another confirmation that it's God who delivers his chosen blood-bought
people from the power of darkness. How? Through the preaching of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why it's so important
to preach Christ. modern religion, you go to a
service, they have 45 minutes of so-called worship, 15 minutes
of a message, and another 45 minutes of modern worship. How
do I know? I was there. The key must be the message. It must be paramount, right? The first time I got here, I
remember a missionary, you guys know him, Jean-Claude, told me,
always remember that Christ gets the preeminence. In your servitude, in your preaching,
he must, he must, he must be preeminent in all things. And
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. How
shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall he preach unless
he be sent? Right? My, oh, my. Now look at verses 15 to 17. Peter continues his discourse
to the believing Jews. He says, and as I began to speak,
the Holy Ghost fell on them. as on us at the beginning. Same
thing that happened to us happened to them. Then remember I, the
word of the Lord, how that he had said, John indeed baptized
with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much
then as God gave them the like gifts as he did unto us, who
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand
God? Can any man withstand God? No
one. No one. So Peter's telling those
believing Jews, Jerusalem, that Cornelius and those in his household
had received the same gift of speaking gospel truths in languages
that they'd not been taught, which is the true tongue in the
scriptures. My, oh, my. And he said then
that he'd witnessed the power of God the Holy Spirit falling
on the elect Gentiles when he said, then remembered I the word
of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water,
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. This just confirms
what we looked at in our study in chapter 10. Again, the meaning
of the vision that Peter saw while he was on the housetop
of Simon the Tanner in Joppa. was revealed to him that what
men call common, if God's cleansed it, it's not common anymore. I'm looking at people being cleansed
by the blood of Christ. My, oh my. Anything innocent
deserve that? Absolutely nothing. Anything
innocent merited? Absolutely nothing. We get what
we don't deserve. And we don't get what we deserve.
We've obtained mercy, beloved, in Christ. Mercy, God's mercy. My, oh my, what God hath cleansed,
that call not thou common. So now those words are being
revealed to Peter. Peter witnessed his believing
Gentiles being baptized with the Holy Ghost. And then he understood
the meaning of the vision. He now understood by the enlightening
power of God the Holy Spirit that God had cleansed those Gentiles,
how? With the precious, precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he did it. Peter now understood by the enlightening
power of God the Holy Spirit that they were trusting in the
same perfect, spotless Lamb of God as He was. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the sent one, the Messiah, sent to save His people from
their sins. And they were rejoicing. And
Peter and his Jewish companions had heard the Gentiles praising
God. They were idol worshipers an
hour before. And by the power of God, the
Holy Spirit, they're born again. And now they're praising and
worshiping God, the one true living God. That's a miracle
of grace, isn't it? Oh my. That all comes about by
God's power. And they manifest true saving
faith, how? By declaring that Christ is God. And they learned, as they grew
in grace, they would learn that Jesus Christ had represented
a particular people. He didn't die for all the world,
but he died for his people. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Remember, he looked at some of
those Pharisees in John 10, he said, you're not my sheep. Ooh,
my, my, oh, my. Praise God if you're a sheep
of God. Oh my, oh my, it's wonderful. What a gift. What a gift. And Peter, by declaring that
Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption for them by the supreme
sacrifice of himself, and they believed by the grace of God,
didn't they? They believed, just like we Gentiles believe, by
the grace of God, by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And again, Jesus Christ our Lord,
he's a sovereign monarch. He's not up there twisting his
hands. You know, people make God out like he can't save anyone
unless they let him. Be amazed that God showed us
mercy. Because if he hadn't chosen us,
we'd never choose him. Be amazed, be in awe that God
saves sinners such as we. And then what did Peter do? Well,
he baptized those believing Gentiles, didn't he? And then he ate with
them. I imagine, oh, I imagine they
had a feast like they'd never had before. Because they were
emperor worshipers, number one, because the Romans worshiped
the emperor as God. And then they had all these other
gods and all these other different gods. And now they're worshiping
the one true living God. And I bet you they're so excited,
beloved. And they said, stay with us, stay with us. And he
did, he stayed with them for a few days. Oh my. And I ask you this, would he
have baptized them if he hadn't witnessed the power of God in
their lives? Would he have baptized them if he hadn't heard them
confess Christ? No, he wouldn't have. He wouldn't have. Not at
all. Now when someone comes to us
and saying, Saying they want to be baptized, we'd like to
hear their profession of faith, right? Tell me. Tell me. And if they say, well,
God saved my soul, well, hallelujah. I don't have a thousand questions
for them. Some churches, they got a thousand questions. Do
you believe this? Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Do
you believe this? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Has
he saved your soul? By the time we talked about that,
didn't we? He said, he saved my soul, by the way. Praise God. That's all we need to know, isn't
it? That's all we need to know. Now, some people say, well, some
people make false professions. Yeah, that's true. That's true. But if someone comes up to me,
genuinely wants to be baptized, let's go in the water. Do you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember the eunuch? Philip said,
do you believe? He says, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Well, let's go in the water,
man. Here we go. Oh, my. Men complicate things
so much, don't we? My, oh, my. And rejoice, beloved of God,
because He that has begun a good work in us will finish it. It's
not up to us. People say, well, I got to do
this and I got to do that to add to what God's done. No, no,
no, no, no, no. Just walk in love and faith,
trust in the Savior each day, looking to Him amidst this world
of woe. We will not want to do things
that that are not good for us, but we're still sinners, aren't
we? But what happens when we when we start to wander? We get
real convicted real fast, don't we? And what does that do? Takes
us right back to Christ. Look into Him. The hope of our
salvation. the hope of our salvation. Spurgeon
said every backslidden Christian that's alive when the Lord comes
back, and I mean born again once, he's gonna take them all home
too. Doesn't give us an excuse to go off and do whatever we
want. We're not antinomians at all. No, we're not. But God is so gracious. He that
hath begun a work in you, good work. We'll finish it, amen,
sister. Because it's His work, isn't
it? It's not ours. Amen, brother,
it's not ours. Yeah, that's right. Oh my. Absolutely nothing, not even
our own sinful weakness in the flesh, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God. Ever think of that? Absolutely
nothing not even our own sinful weakness in the flesh So able
so be able to separate us from the love of God Which is in Christ
Jesus and the reason being because it's in Christ It's not in our
doings In that wonderful what a wonderful message of grace
I Someone might say, well, why?
Well, because Jesus Christ himself, who is the all-powerful, risen,
exalted God-man, the sovereign of the universe, the surety of
his blessed people, is able to save them to the uttermost, that
come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. He's able to save to the uttermost. I don't care how black your sin
is. Someone listen to this on the internet later. I don't care
how black your sin is. I don't care. Don't care what you've done.
He's able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through him,
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
You know he's never turned away a sinner that's come to him?
Never. We can all put our hands up and
go, we're proof, aren't we? We know our sin. We know our
sinfulness. Oh my, but he's able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God by him, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God's given us true saving
faith. If he's given us true saving
faith, then our eternal hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ and
him alone. If your hope is not in the Lord Jesus Christ and
him alone, then you don't have saving faith. Saving faith is having hope in
Christ. You know, God gives us faith,
right? But that faith has one object.
And think of this, even the Old Testament saints, they look to
the Messiah, right? We look back to the Messiah dying on the cross.
Both are looking to Christ. Oh my, the one object of God-given
faith. My, oh my. And you know what
the scripture says? He has by himself purged our
sins. And we've been sanctified and
perfected forever. Now someone says, well, you believe
in that sinless perfection? No, I don't believe in sinless
perfection. Because we're a bunch of sinners. But I believe clothed
in the righteousness of Christ that the believer is perfect
in God's sight. Wow, that's amazing, isn't it?
It's called imputed righteousness. The old timers, I like to read,
they called it alien righteousness, because it ain't our righteousness.
It comes from another. It comes from the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's glorious. Again, we still desire to live
a holy life. We still desire to serve our
King, right? But that's because of what he's
done for us. and the love of God, the agape love of God that's
been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. We've been saved by the blood
of Christ, and we have absolutely nothing to fear. I had a fellow
yesterday tell me, because I believe what I believe, preaching Christ
alone, he said, well, you're lost. I said, really? He said, you better be careful.
You're close to judgment. And I said, you know what? There
is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. You
know what that word means, condemnation in the Greek? Judgment. Oh, let that sink in for us,
eh? There's no judgment, Brother Tom, in Christ. We'll never be judged by God
again, never. You know why? Because all our
sins were judged in our substitute. When the wrath of God was poured
out upon Christ, all the wrath of God that was due each one
of us, and think of the millions of sins, billions of sins we
commit in a lifetime, Christ paid it all. Remember what the Lord told Moses?
When I see the blood, what? I'll pass over you. We're covered in the blood of
Christ, beloved, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. What great
rejoicing we can do to know that all our sins are forgiven, past,
present, and future. We have nothing to fear about
death anymore, do we? Because death is just a doorway
to see our Savior. We don't know how the Lord's
gonna take us out, and that leaves us kind of a little, we all,
you know, if we're all honest, we'd just like to die in our
sleep, wouldn't we? But we don't get to choose that.
But we all have a date when the Lord's gonna take us home. My,
oh my. But that's just the doorway to
see our King. Right now we see through a glass darkly, but then
face to face, oh my, what a Savior. And we don't have to fear the
day of judgment, the great day of judgment, because our sins
have already been judged in Christ, who bore our sins in his body
on the tree. We've already been purchased
by our great substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we need
not fear God's coming wrath either. We don't need to fear that, because
the wrath of God against us was extinguished by Christ. So much
so, I heard one theologian one time say, he said, the wrath
of God against us has been so, so extinguished that you know
when there's a fire and there's like little wisps of smoke coming
up still for days, right? For days, there's none of that. Gone. Gone, gone, gone, covered
under the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we don't
need to fear God to come in wrath because Christ died in our room
and place. We've been delivered from the
wrath to come. So rejoice you who are in Christ and praise
his name for his perfect sin atoning work. It's a perfect
work. There's nothing to be added to
it, there's nothing to be taken away. And he did that in our room and
place. He obtained eternal redemption for us, given us life. eternal
life, delivering us from the power of darkness into the glorious
light of the kingdom of God's dear Son. God did that for us.
In all the darkness we were in. Look at verse 18 now. Here comes
the reaction. Now Peter just put before him,
basically, who am I to stand against God? Look at this. This is wonderful. When they
heard these things, now, we're going to see, they grew in grace,
beloved. When they heard these things, they held their peace.
See, their mouths have been sealed. Right? They can't say anything
about it. If they do, then they're speaking against God. And now
look what they did. Now we see the growth in grace.
Look what they did. And glorified God. saying, then hath God also to
the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. He's given them repentance. He's given them faith and repentance.
And remember, faith and repentance is like a piece of paper, right?
On one side is faith, on the other side is repentance. When
God gives us the gift of faith, we also receive the gift of repentance. Did you repent before the Lord
saved you? Only when we got in trouble, right? And then it was
gone really quick after that, but it wasn't true repentance.
It was just like, I'm going through this and I just, please God,
get me out of this. Right? Oh my, oh my, oh my. But true
repentance is turning away from ourselves and turning to God.
And who turns us? Yeah, God does that, doesn't
he? God turns us. We don't turn ourselves. We keep
going the way we were. Again, who sought out the lost
sheep? The shepherd, amen. The shepherd
sought out the lost sheep. The lost sheep, he wasn't looking
for the shepherd, was he? He's maybe bleating because he's
lost. Maybe not, maybe he's out eating green grass. Thinks it's
good grass. Meanwhile, there's a cliff there.
My, oh my, and the shepherd seeks him out. Are you a sheep of God? The shepherd sought you out.
Praises mighty name and name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He
seeks his sheep. Oh my. Ephesians 3 verse 6 says
that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers
of his promise in Christ by the gospel. So the Gentiles, God
didn't go to plan B when the Jewish nation rejected Christ,
no. I used to say that. Oh God went
to plan B. No he didn't. It was always part
of his plan to save Gentiles. Chosen Gentiles. Right? Oh my. Now will God have a revival
occur in Israel? I sure hope so. I sure hope he
has a revival too in Egypt. Right? Saudi Arabia. In all the
nations of the world, don't we? That's what we hope, right? Oh
God, save your people. Save your people. There are people
out of every kindred, tongue, and nation. So they glorified God. Now the
Jewish brethren are glorifying God over the news. They've been
taught by the Holy Spirit of God that salvation was by God's
sovereign grace and given to whomever he pleases, Jew and
Gentile. And they have one Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. One Savior. They understood that
God was the one who had granted unto them repentance unto life.
And they understood that by divine revelation. Now remember, Tommy
and I have talked about this, the only way we know Christ is
by divine revelation. You know that? The only reason
we know what we know by Christ is by divine revelation, and
He reveals it to us through His Word. I'm not no charismatic.
He reveals it to us through His Word. He speaks to us through
His Word. We're dead and trespassed as
a sin. He says, life. Oh my. And we're never the same. We're never the same, are we?
Life in Christ. Look unto me and be saved. All
the ends of the world. My, oh my. Look to Christ. So they've experienced his wonderful,
amazing grace in their own conversion from Judaism to Christianity.
And now they're learning God has Gentile believers too. We
never even thought that. We thought he only came for the
Jews, the Messiah only came for the Jews. Nope. Oh my. And think of this, they never
would have turned from the law of Moses as Jews. They would
have never turned from the law of Moses unless God had saved
them and they were born again by the Holy Spirit of God and
taught that Christ fulfilled the law for them. Right? They would never. And we see
that even in their first response. God granted them repentance in
their life. And by the truth of God's grace and mercy in granting
unto the Gentiles repentance unto life, which was revealed
to Peter and his traveling companions, then they came and declared it
to the church at Jerusalem. And those believing Jews, also
by divine revelation, grew in the grace and knowledge and truth
of our Savior and glorified God now. At first they were not,
see, they had their eyes in the wrong place, didn't they? They
had their eyes on Peter. Let us take our minds off our
brethren, and keep our minds on Christ, and encourage our
brethren to look to Christ too. My, oh my. And I'm not talking
about when our brothers and sisters are going through trouble. You
know I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about folks that start
nitpicking and saying, well that guy's not doing that, and that
fellow's not doing that. Meanwhile, look what you're doing.
I have a friend of mine who says, Christians should be witnessing
more, da, da, da, da, all this stuff, right? And I said, well,
what are you doing about it? Well, the church should be doing
it more. I said, what are you doing about it? Well, see, that's
a different story, isn't it? I said, I pastor a bunch of folks
who tell people about Christ all the time. They tell me that.
is the Lord opens the door, right? You don't have to make a door
yourself. Let the Lord open the door and then proclaim the wondrous
things of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all we do. And think of
this. Think of this. Spiritual growth
doesn't make a believer more complete in Christ. You ever
think of that? It does not make a believer more
righteous. Spiritual growth doesn't do that. Because we're already
righteous in Christ. We're already complete in Christ. And can anything that a person
does improve their standing in Christ? No. The Bible declares believers
complete in Christ, clothed in his righteousness. And think
upon these three points. Completeness cannot be improved
upon. It cannot be improved upon by human works. Because we're
complete in Christ. Perfection cannot be improved
upon, can it? It is finished. But yet man says,
well, you have to be baptized to be saved. No, it's finished. Well, you have to attend this
church to be saved. No, it's finished. Right? We're complete in Christ. And then perfect standing. Can
perfect standing before God be improved? How do we have, as
believers, how do we have perfect standing before God? Only through
the righteousness of Christ. Can that be improved? No. What a blessing we have, beloved.
What a salvation we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Only in Christ
can these things be true for the believer on Christ. The glorious
gospel truth must be kept before true followers of Christ. If
God has granted us repentance unto life, then we are dead and
our life is hid in Christ. Beloved of God, we can't get
any more righteous than we are in Christ. We can't get any more
complete than we are in Christ. We can't get any more perfect
than we are in Christ. But we can grow in grace. We
can grow in grace. And that's the Holy Spirit that
will have that happen, wasn't it? He teaches us the things
of Christ. And the natural man doesn't understand
it. Did you understand it before
the Lord saved you? I had no clue. Now I embrace it. My oh my. And the more we learn
about him, the more we lose, the world loses luster for us
because it's just passing away. Everything we see in this world,
everybody we see is temporal. But God is eternal. and those
he has saved will be with him for eternity. Hid with Christ denotes the secrecy
of it, because natural man doesn't understand it, but it also denotes
the safety of it. The believer is hid with Christ.
Oh, what blessed security. What blessed security. And the
more we grow in grace, the more we become aware of our union
with Christ, the more and more our minds will then be set upon
Christ. In the last interest, again,
we will have with the world and its passing, vanities, as we're
reading in Ecclesiastics. Vanity of vanities. And the result of growing in
the grace of God is we grow in the knowledge of Christ. Not
to boast, But what does it do? He must increase, and I must
decrease. And that's what happens. We see
ourselves less and less, and we see him more and more great. And then, as we grow in grace,
our hearts will be led to praise. We old rebels never praised Christ
before we were saved. You ever think of that? And here
we are now, filled with praise for the glorious things that
God in Christ has done for us. Saved my soul, justified me before
God, gave me a righteousness that's perfect, covered me in
his precious blood, so when the Lord sees us, he says, ah, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary to us.
He took it, nailing it to His cross, beloved. Everything that
was against us, blotted out. Hallelujah. What a Saviour. What a Saviour. Brother Brian,
can you close us in prayer?