Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. We'll continue
our study in this wonderful book. Now, Peter has come to Caesarea
via Joppa. Before that, he was in Lydda,
where he healed a man, and then He went to Joppa, and he raised
Dorcas from the dead. And as he's in Joppa, at the
house of Simon the Tanner, again, someone who he's not even supposed
to be with, because a tanner deals with dead animals. And the Jews were forbidden by
the law to be anywhere near anyone who dealt with dead animals.
So it shows you how the Lord's working on Peter, isn't it? And
all of a sudden, he receives a vision from God, telling him
that three men are coming. Three men are coming, and you're
to go with them. These three men were Gentiles. They were Gentiles. And the man
whose house he's going to is a fellow named Cornelius. Cornelius
is a Roman centurion. He's a Gentile and it was forbidden
by the law of God in the Old Testament that a Jew would even
enter into a Gentile home. But Peter's sent by God there. You know why? Sister, there's
a bunch of lost sheep over there. There's a bunch of lost sheep
over in Caesarea. One of them's a Roman centurion,
but he has faith. He trusts him. But what's he
done? We saw last week he gathered all his friends and family. And
so Peter going in, expecting to speak to Cornelius, and he
walks in, and this room is full of people. full of Gentiles. Oh my! And by God's providence
he's being led there to preach the gospel to them. Look at verse 25 of Acts chapter
10. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius
met him and fell down on his feet and worshipped him. And
what does Peter say? Don't worship me. I'm just a
preacher. I'm just a sinner saved by grace.
Do not worship me. My oh my. Now let's read. Stand
up and read together. Verses 34 to 43 of Acts chapter
10. Let's stand up again and read
this together. And we will see that the Gentiles, they were
assembled together and they're ready to hear the gospel. They're
ready to hear the good news of salvation through Christ alone,
so let's read together verses 34 again to 43. 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 you know, which
was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism of which John preached. How God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil,
for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things
which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree. 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 gave
all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins my oh my isn't that wonderful
that's what peter preached to my oh my today we'll be looking
at verses 34 to 43 and then we're going to see the results of the
preaching at the end of the message But he preaches the gospel. He
goes into a Gentile house, beloved, and he preaches the gospel to
them. Again, he's forbidden by Mosaic law to enter there, but
he knows he's not under the law anymore. He's learning, isn't
he? He's being taught that God is no respecter of persons. And
he's also being taught, we saw, that that which God calls clean,
do not call unclean. See, to the Jews, we Gentiles,
we're unclean. The Romans were unclean. The
Greeks were unclean. All the groups around, unclean.
Bunch of Gentile dogs. Aren't you glad that God sent
the gospel to the Gentile dogs? Praise his mighty name, eh? Oh
my. That the body of Christ is comprised
of both Jew and Gentile? Sinners saved by the grace of
God. And you know, he even, he even
saved some of those Scythians. The barbarians of the barbarians. The worst of the worst. Praise
God. There's hope for sinners who
come to Christ, isn't there? Oh my. It's wonderful. So he goes and he preaches the
gospel in a place where, according to the Mosaic law, he should
never be. But God sent him there, didn't he? And where God tells
us to go, we go, don't we? Right? Oh, yes, we do. My, oh,
my. And he had that vision, Peter
had that vision, and God said, what God hath cleansed, that
call not thou uncommon. Don't call what God's cleansed
common. My, oh, my. Do you know the word
jewels in the eyes of the Lord? Jewels. We mean so much to the
Lord Jesus Christ that he gave his life for us. That God himself
had to leave heaven to redeem our eternal souls. And he went
to that cross, didn't he? Scripture says his face was set
like a flint to Jerusalem, which means an unmovable stone in the
Hebrew. And he just went right to that
cross. Because he knew, he was on a mission, wasn't he? Remember, when he's going to
that cross, he's being whipped and scorched, and he looks at
those women of Jerusalem, and he says, weep not for me. You
know why he said that? He's on a mission to redeem our
souls, sister, brother. And if he doesn't go to that
cross, we'll never be redeemed. Don't weep for me. He says, weep
for yourselves. My, oh, my. My, oh, my. He's doing that which the Father
sent him to do, which is redeem a people that no man can number. And he's going to do it by the
shedding of his precious, precious blood. And we know he accomplished
it because he said, what? It is finished. It's perfect. It's perfect. I preach a salvation
already accomplished that's not dependent upon man. It's only
dependent upon one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God incarnate
in the flesh. It's a finished work. We can
rejoice in that, can't we? If we're saved by the grace of
God and by the mercy of God, if we're born again, we can rejoice
in that true fact. We're saved from how many of
our sins? All trespasses and sins. All, all. Makes my heart sing. Does it yours? It's wonderful. Last week's study, we read that
Peter had told the assembled Gentiles this. Look at verses
28 and 29. And he said unto them, He know
how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep
company or come into one of another nation. But God hath showed me
that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore,
came I unto you without gainsaying, what gainsaying there, it means
without pressure. Without pressure in the Greek,
he wasn't constrained to come, they didn't drag him there, he
came willingly. And he did so because God sent him there. God
sent him there. Without gainsaying, as soon as
I was sent for, I asked therefore, for what intent have you sent
me? Why am I here? Well, Cornelius goes on to tell
him that I had a vision, and God told me to send for you,
and that you tell me the words that I need to hear. See, Cornelius,
he was looking to the Messiah. He didn't know the Messiah had
come already. And he was looking for him. And Peter is going to
tell him who Christ is. He's Lord of all. He's Lord of
all. That's the one who saved us.
We're not saved by some mere man, because mere men can't save
each other, can they? They can't even save ourselves.
We're saved by God incarnate in the flesh. The Lord Jesus
Christ. My oh my. Look at this in verses 34 and
35. Let's read that again. 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. Look at that. Look at the words
in verse 34. We see that God is no respecter
of persons. Well, one might ask, what does
this mean? Well, the passage plainly asserts the freeness
and sovereignty of God in grace. He bestows it upon whomever he
pleases. Right? Out of every nation, all
throughout humankind. All throughout humankind. Mankind. Look at it says, but in every
nation. You guys are American. You who are believers are believers
out of this nation. Anne and I are from Canada. We're
two believers that are plucked out of Canada. Isn't that amazing? And we know many others all over
the world who the Lord saved. So God's grace is indiscriminate
in the sense that He's chosen the people out of all nations. And it's discriminant in the sense that only His people
are saved. Isn't that wonderful? So it doesn't matter what our
standing is in life. It doesn't matter where we came
from, right? It's all based, if you're saved
and I'm saved, it's all based upon the free and sovereign grace
of God in Christ. Yeah, it's wonderful. You know,
when I was in religion, man, it was all about me. Remember sister, we talked about
that. People pressure us all the time and stuff. Now we just,
what a blessing, what freedom we have in Christ. What freedom
we have. It's absolutely incredible, we've
been set free. Look at this, but in every nation
he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with
him. So what these words mean when
it says he's no respecter of persons, This doesn't mean that
God treats all men alike in providence and grace. It doesn't mean that.
What's being brought forth here is that God's grace is his own.
It's his. He can give it to whomever he
pleases. Right? Whomever he pleases. My oh my. It's all according
to his sovereign will and pleasure. Why are we saved? We say, why
me, Lord? Because it pleased God to do
so. I'm still in awe of that, are
you? I'm still in awe that it pleased God to save me. It's amazing. Let's never get
over that. But God's grace is distinguishing
grace as well, though. It's His own. He dispenses it
all according to His sovereign will and pleasure. And God does distinguish between
men in election, in redemption, in providence, and in effectual
calling. Listen to the words of the Master.
For many are called, but few are chosen. There's a general call, right?
It goes out. Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. It goes out to the whole world.
When I preach, I preach. I don't put no shutters and doors
on it, right? Come to Christ, and you shall
be saved, the scripture says. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. And I know God's going to get
his sheep. He will get them. He won't lose
one of them. So we can preach with confidence
knowing that the results are up to God. Not up to me, not
up to you. It's all in His hands. I was
talking to a lady yesterday and she says, isn't it amazing that
five people can be sitting in the front row and the Holy Spirit
comes and saves one of them and leaves the other four behind? Isn't that amazing? That's God's
distinguishing grace. Why do you believe? Why do I
believe? because of the grace of God in
Christ. That's the only reason. We don't have any merit in ourselves,
do we? The only thing we've earned is
wrath for our sins. But praise God, that's all paid
for. Right? The wages we justly deserve is
the wrath of God. And Christ dies in the riven
place of his people. He came to save his people from
their sins. My, and he did it. Praise God,
he did it. It is finished. And remember
this, God chose Isaac and rejected Ishmael. He loved Jacob, and
he hated Esau. Someone once said to an older
preacher, he said, Grandpa, I heard you preaching, and you said that
God loved Jacob, but he hated Esau. Well, why did he hate Esau? And the old preacher, wise old
fella said, grandson, if you can ever understand how God could
love Jacob, then you have your answer. My, oh my. That's why we say,
how can God love a sinner like me? Only in Christ. Oh, rejoice,
beloved of God. It's wonderful. This salvation
is unmerited, undeserved, and it's wonderful. It's all in Christ. And here's Peter. He's going to proclaim Christ
to these folks, the only Savior of sinners. And the fact is this, too, that
God gives light and withholds light. He can save whomever He
wills, and He does. We say, why me when my whole
family's lost? Why me? It pleased God to do
so. We see a whole family where God's
grace has been bestowed on them. That's wonderful. That's absolutely
wonderful. And then others are the only
ones, and their whole family is saved. It's God's distinguishing
grace, beloved. It's all according to His mercy.
And we were objects of His love from eternity. That's almost
too much for our brains to comprehend, isn't it? But it's true. It's true. The love of God in
Christ, the eternal love of God, is what moved the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit to save a people. And remember, we're chosen in
Christ. That's a fact of the scripture
before the foundation of the world. We had nothing to do with
that. Did we have anything to do with
our first birth? Why would we think we had anything to do with
our second? Right? It's all God. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's all Him. Our great God is
no respecter of persons. Our sovereign Lord tells us,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, it's not our will, nor of him that runneth, it's not
our works, but of God that showeth mercy. If you're saved, God is showing
us mercy. if you're saved by the grace
of God. We can say along with Paul, I've obtained mercy. I've obtained it. I didn't earn
it. I didn't even deserve it. I've obtained it. Isn't it marvelous,
Brother Travis? It's wonderful, isn't it? My,
oh my. And this mercy, not based upon
our works or because of our supposed free will, God's no respecter
of persons. He shows mercy based upon Christ,
and according to his free and sovereign grace, it has nothing
to do with anything we do at all. God didn't look down through
time. That's a lie of Satan, when it says, God looked down
through time and saw who would choose him. You know what? I
was reading an old timer from the 1700s one time, and he said,
God looked down through time and saw no one would, no one,
there's none that seeketh after God. He said, that's mine, that one's
mine, that one's mine. Oh, my. Chose a people, Scripture
says, out of every generation. My, oh, my. Not everyone in our
generation is saved. But praise be to God, if you're
a born-again, blood-washed believer, give Him all the glory and honor
and praise. He's the only one deserving of it. And think of this, the Scriptures
declare, look at verse 34, in every nation he that feareth
God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. Well, people
take that and say, see, worketh righteousness, that's man's work.
That's not what that means. Because listen to what the Scripture
says about us. It says there's no fear of God
before their eyes, Romans 3.18. It says, Romans 3.10, as is written,
there's none righteous, no, not one. And Isaiah, oh my, Isaiah
6.64, or 64.6 says, but we are all as an unclean thing, and
all our righteousness are like filthy rags, they're filthy rags
before the Lord. So in the case of Cornelius,
he had true reverential fear of God. and works of righteousness
are the results of God's sovereign grace. It's just God working
in us and through us, beloved. It's that which is bought, it's
the fruit bought forth from a new heart, being born again in the
Holy Spirit of God. Again, it's all God's work. Do
you know it's called the fruit of the Spirit? It's not called
the fruit of our doings, is it? You ever try to make yourself
more joyful? You'd be miserable. I'm serious. I tried it in religion.
It doesn't work. It doesn't work. Man, I was a
landmarker, and I was caught up in that whole stuff, and I
thought, oh my. I've got to be more joyful, Wayne.
I've got to be more loving to people. You know what happens
then? No, no, you're not more loving. I'm not more loving.
I'm not more joyful. But if the Holy Spirit works
in us through the Spirit, we do become more loving. We do
become more joyful. It's a work of God, beloved.
It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
all the results are in God's hands. All the results are in
God's hands. Do we desire to love people more?
Absolutely. Do we desire to love the Savior
more? Absolutely. I think of His faithfulness.
His faithfulness to me and how unfaithful I can be. Is it so
with you? Mine. What a great God we serve. What a great Redeemer we serve.
My, oh, my. So he had this, Cornelius had
this reverential fear. It's the fear of the Lord. It's
not a slavish fear. It's a fear of the Lord is reverent.
He's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And that's being
bought forth by a new heart. How did that come about? By the
power of God, the Holy Spirit. We're born again. We're new creatures
in Christ now. And let us always remember that
our fear of him in working righteousness, which is works which God has
ordained, Ephesians 2.10, that we should walk in. They have
nothing to do with our salvation. People take this verse and say,
see, see, you got to work for your salvation. No, you don't.
It's done. The work is finished. These are
works that God has ordained us to walk in, and they're produced
in us by the Holy Spirit of God. And you know what? We don't even
know when we're doing them. Remember the great day of judgment?
When did we do these things, Lord? Well, when your brother
was in prison, or when your brother was in the hospital, or sister
in the hospital, you went and visited them. Give them a cup of cold
water. Now don't go giving a cup of
cold water going, I'm going to get a reward for this. That doesn't
work that way. Oh my, but isn't that amazing?
It's amazing. And give all the glory to the
Lord. Give Him all the glory. And these, again, these works
of righteousness have absolutely nothing to do as a ground of
our acceptance with God. The only way we are accepted
by God is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. That's it. That's it. And it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Look at verses 36 to 38. Let's
read that now. The word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ. Look at
that. The world is looking for peace.
The world makes peace treaties, and they get broken, don't they?
Because men are sinners. This peace is peace with God.
And who is it by? Jesus Christ, sister. Amen. It's
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this. I love this statement. He is,
is. He is. He is. There's no debate
in it. There's no doubt. He is Lord
of all. Someone starts going off and
saying stuff about what's going on in this world. Just say, you
know what? My king is Lord of all. And he's got it in his hands.
I don't have to worry about it. I'll tell you, you pillow your
head at night with that, it's so wonderful. You pillow your head at night
in the sovereignty of God, knowing he's in full control. Knowing
he's in full control. Now, as Brother Joe Terrell said,
the hardest thing for us to do is just enter into the rest of
Christ, isn't it? Just to say, I'm going to rest in you. Because
we're, I'll tell you what, I struggle, I know you struggle all the time,
don't we? But let us pillow our head on
the sovereignty of God. And he's in control. We don't
have to worry. Because the scripture declares
here, he is Lord of all. That's a statement of fact. That
word, I say, you know, which was published throughout all
Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John
preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that
were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. Take note
of the wonderful God-honoring declaration here made by Peter
in verse 36. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. What a God-honoring declaration. He is Lord of all. He's God.
He's not a mere man. He's God. He's God. This is the heart of the gospel.
Jesus Christ our Lord, in Him we're sanctified, in Him we're
redeemed, in Him we're justified so that we can stand in the presence
of God. All because of His precious redeeming
blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins, is there? So Christ, the Lamb
of God, the perfect, spotless, sinless Lamb of God, sheds His
blood in the room and place of ungodly sinners. sinners chosen
in him from before the foundation of the world. Now, did we know we were God's
elect before he saved us? We had no clue. And we still
don't fully grasp the understanding of that, do we? But we are. My, oh my. Jesus Christ is Lord
of all. What a statement. That's what
He is. That's our Savior. Our Savior.
Think of this. Think of this. The one who keeps
us from falling is Lord of all. The one who saved us is Lord
of all. The one whom we will one day
see face to face is Lord of all. He was king when He was in glory.
He was king when He was upon this earth. And beloved, He's
king right now and will be all through eternity. He's the King
of kings and the Lord of lords. And Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Hallelujah. My oh my. And you know, Peter preached
the same message the day of Pentecost when he said, Therefore let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same
Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ, Lord and the
Messiah, Lord and the Anointed One. My oh my. Remember what happened? Three
thousand of their hearts were pricked, wasn't it? My, pricked
the Holy Spirit of God, pricked the hearts of about 3,000 souls
who were delivered from the power of darkness and translated into
the kingdom of God's dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, all by
the regenerating power of God, the Holy Spirit. And the gift of sovereign grace,
by the gift of sovereign grace, they were given faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and translated into his eternal kingdom.
So the first message that Peter preached after the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ included this glorious truth. Jesus Christ
is Lord of all. My, let us sound that forth through
our pulpits. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He's not up there. Now, if Christ
is Lord of all, let me ask you this. If Christ is Lord of all,
is he up there wringing his hands going, oh, please let me save
you? Hey, is he doing that? Absolutely not. He's Lord of
all. He reigns with power. And that
power was exercised in the saving of our souls, in the redeeming
of our souls, in the regenerating of our souls, beloved. The same
power that raised Christ from the grave was the same power
that raised us from our dead natural state. What a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's Lord of all. He's Lord of
all, beloved. My, oh, my. In every message
Peter preached until our Lord delivered him from this present
evil world and took him to glory, every message Peter preached
had that God-honoring truth in it. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Lord of all. You don't hear that
much anymore, do you, out in the world and in religion? Man's up here and God's down
here wringing his hands. But see, from the scriptures,
God's up here and man's down here wringing his hands. Remember
what that publican said? Oh, God, be merciful to me, a
sinner. Just be merciful. Remember what the thief said?
Lord, just remember me. Remember that Philippian jailer?
What must I do to be saved? Well, there's nothing you can
do to be saved. Paul says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. My, oh my. And any preacher sent from God
will include this wonderful truth. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. And we must also, coupled with
the fact that Christ is Lord of all, we must also proclaim
that his work is absolutely finished. It's done. Perfect sin-atoning
work was done by the Lord Jesus Christ in the room and place
of his people on Calvary's cross as the great substitute of sinners. My. He laid down His life for
us, beloved. He shed His precious blood for
us, and He obtained eternal salvation for us by the giving of His life and
the shedding of His precious blood. And this glorious gospel
of salvation through Christ alone is what God uses, is what God
uses to speak to the hearts of His chosen, born-again, blood-washed
people. That's what He uses. And when God, the Holy Spirit,
makes that gospel effectual, like I was saying about the five
people sitting there, and God reveals Christ to one, and they're
born again. Oh my. The results are always the same.
They give all the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. They give
all the honor to the Lord Jesus Christ. They give all the praise
to the Lord Jesus Christ. My, oh my. And we call upon the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? That's who we call
upon. Romans 10, 13 to 15 says, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Have you
called upon the name of the Lord? Have you come to Christ? Is the only Redeemer of sinners,
of me the sinner? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? How can one call upon Christ
when they've not believed on him? Well, they can't. And how shall they believe on
him of whom they've not heard? How can you believe on someone
if you never heard about him? Do you know there's lots of people
now, lots of kids, who've never heard about Christ? My, oh, my. Raised in homes where
they have no care for God. A friend of mine met a little
girl. My buddy took his sister, who's
visiting from Carolina, to a zoo. And there was a donkey in there.
And there was this little girl there. And he said, do you know
who rode on one of those animals? She said, I have no clue. No clue. He says, Jesus wrote
on one of those. She had no idea. She'd never
heard that before. Never heard it. Isn't that amazing? So there's
people out there who've never heard the gospel. Well, we were
there, weren't we? I was there. I heard a false gospel. But then
when the Lord revealed himself to me, my oh my, it was totally
different, wasn't it? When you hear the true gospel,
My. Paul said this, writing on the
divine inspiration to the Galatian church, remember the Galatian
church got caught up with the Judaizers and they were saying
you have to be circumcised to be saved. He said this, this
only would I learn of you. Received you the spirit by the
works of the law, by the doing of the law, or by the hearing
of faith. Well, that turned him into pretzels,
didn't it? Well, by the hearing of faith. We can't be justified by the
law, the scripture says. It's impossible. But see, those
false teachers had crept into the churches in Galatia, and
they had started spreading their poison. Salvation by works. And Paul said this. by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. This only will I learn of you,
received you by the Spirit by works of the law or by the hearing
of the law, or by the hearing of faith? By the hearing of faith,
praise God. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. He
saved us. My, oh my. So here we come to
Peter and Cornelius. Peter sent again to the home
of Cornelius. And look at verse 37 and 38. That word, I say, you know, which
was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, and went about
doing good and healing, all that were oppressed of the devil,
for God was with him. Now we see that it was ordained
by God that the gospel would be preached to Israel first.
Right? He came unto his own, his own
received him not. Preached to them first. That's bought forth
in verses 45 to 47, look at this. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting, oh no, turn over, I'm reading
the wrong chapter. Go to verse, chapter 13, I'm
sorry. Chapter 13, I got way, my tongue
moved faster than my mind there. Acts chapter 13. Verses 45 to 47. But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy and spake against those things which
were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blasphemy. Then Paul and
Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word
of God should first have been spoken to you, speaking to Jews.
But seeing he put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy
of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have sent thee to be a light to the Gentiles,
that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. So
then we see, in verse 36, Paul enters into the sermon,
Acts 36, or Acts chapter 10, I'm all messed up today, Acts
chapter 10, verse 36, we see Peter enters into his sermon. This is a preface or an introduction. He's gearing up the preach to
them, but he starts off with Christ right away. That's where
we have to start off. He starts off with Christ right
away. The doctrine of the gospel is
all about Christ. It's all him. And he's gonna
bring forth the fact that it pleased God by his infinite wisdom
and grace to send the gospel first to the people of Israel.
by the ministry of the apostles. Look at this, verse 36. That
word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching
peace by Jesus Christ, he's Lord of all. So there's where the
gospel's first sent. It's first sent to the Israelites. And the word spoken of in verse
36 is the word of God, of which God is the author. And Christ
is the sum and substance. Remember, whenever it says in
the scriptures that they read from the scriptures, that's not
the New Testament. They didn't have it. They're
preaching Christ from the Old Testament. So as the dispensationalists
say, when I was a dispensationalist, they said, well, the Old Testament's
for the Jews and the New Testament's for the Gentile, or for the church. That's a lie from the pit of
hell. because our brothers preach Christ
from the Old Testament. And Christ is the sum and substance
of the whole word, isn't he? Yes, he is. Oh, my. And over in Ephesians, Paul preached
that Christ is our peace. The word was sent because the
apostle and the apostles were sent with it by Christ, right?
To preach the gospel. It was ordained by our king. And it was sent into several
cities in Judea. And they were proclaiming that
Christ is the Messiah. He's God. He's the sent one. My oh my. So in verse 36 is proof
of our King's deity when Peter declares he is Lord of all. He's
God. He's God. And note in the text there, God's
the author of this piece. Preaching peace by Jesus Christ.
Peace doesn't come by us humans. The author of this peace, the
author of peace with God is God. My oh my. And he's the one who
brings it about too, isn't he? God the Son. We have peace with
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Holy Spirit gives
us peace in our hearts. We can't claim nothing, can we?
Except our sin. Oh my. And then we hear preaching
and it gives us peace. It gives us joy, it gives us
rest. My, over in Ephesians, Paul taught
that Christ is our peace. Remember he said the middle wall
of partition's been broken down between Jew and Gentile. Christ
is our peace now with God. Next we're going to see what
Peter tells Cornelius and his household, that they were not
ignorant. And note here, note here, that word had gotten around
of who Christ is. They knew who he was. They didn't
know he was the Messiah, but they had heard of him. Because
remember, he's a Roman centurion, over 100, 100 soldiers, and he's
stationed in Caesarea. So word had gotten there about
this fellow named Jesus Christ. How do we know that? Well, look
what it says here in verse 37 and 38. That word, I say ye know,
which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached. Look at that. I say
ye know. They'd heard of him. They didn't
know him in a saving way, but they knew of him. Word had spread. How God, look at this, verse
38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, he's the Messiah, with
the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with
him. Not only was he God in the flesh,
but God's with him. Remember, in him dwelt all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, right? Scripture declares. I don't understand that, do you?
But the Scripture says it, and I believe it. I can't explain
that one to you. I know about the hypostatic union,
which is just why they call it that. It's just God became man,
and he's fully man, and he's fully God. Right? That's what
he is. He's the God-man. My, oh, my. So they've heard about Christ.
They've heard about him. Oh my. And Peter says he's anointed
with the Holy Ghost and with power. Power. And he went about
doing good. He didn't cause a rebellion.
He went about doing good. Healing the sick. Raising the
dead. My oh my. Healing all who were
oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. And they hated him. They hated him because he exposed
their hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Do you know that pharisaism isn't
mentioned in the Old Testament? It came about, I was listening
to a fellow a couple weeks ago, and he said pharisaism didn't
rise until in between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
It never existed. You don't, you read the whole
New, Old Testament, it's not mentioned. And they had went
so far away from what God had given them originally. They'd
made their own traditions, they'd made all these things, and it
was so far from the worship of God. So far gone, beloved. My, oh, my. And our Lord, again, He went
around performing miracles, gave sight to the blind, raised the
dead, And those miracles couldn't be kept secret, could they? So
word had spread around. Word had spread around. Look
at verse 39 of Acts chapter 10. 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. Now when I was younger
and living in Canada, ABC used to have what's called Eyewitness
News. Do you remember that? I don't know if it was down here,
but in Buffalo Station that we could get in Canada. Eyewitness
News, Channel 7, Eyewitness News, right? Which means someone was
an eyewitness to what happened. Notice what Peter says here?
They were witnesses. They saw the Savior. They heard
the Savior. John laid his head upon the breast
of the Savior. They were eyewitnesses of Christ. Just like we see each other,
Brother Kevin, they saw Christ. My! Face to face. Now we will one day, right? Oh my, we will. One day we're
gonna see Him face to face. But they were witnesses of Christ. They were witnesses of His miracles. They were witnesses of, my, they
saw Him feed the 5,000 people. My, they saw these things. So
He says here, 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. My, oh my. We know that's all
according to the foreknowledge of God, right? Because how could
we be saved without Christ going to the cross? My, oh my. You know, you know
what? It's my sins that made him go to that tree. It's your
sins, too, if you're a believer. Isn't that true? But praise God,
what mercy, what grace He has upon us. All our sins forgiven,
washed in the blood of Christ. So Peter and the other apostles,
they're eyewitnesses of all these things. They'd seen it. And wasn't it John that wrote,
he said, if all the things could be written down about what Christ
done, The world couldn't even contain all the books. My, oh my. What a Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord. So Peter's telling Cornelius
and those in the household that what they had heard concerning
the miracles that Jesus Christ had performed, they were true.
He was an eyewitness of them. The apostles were eyewitnesses.
They were faithful witnesses of the truth, weren't they? which
had reached the ears, we see, of the Gentiles. So when Peter
told those unbelieving Jews that had hanged Jesus Christ on a
tree that they hated Christ without a cause and that they killed
the Prince of Peace, those who heard Peter's sermon would have
known that Jesus Christ was not guilty of any of the charges
that were laid against him. Those unbelieving Jews, they
had accused him of things that were not true. And you know that
group of folks up there said, crucify him, crucify him? I'll
tell you something. We, in our natural state, would
have been yelling with them, crucify him, crucify him. All we got to do is look back
and see how we were before the Lord saved us. My, oh my. My, oh my. Now let's read verses 40 and
41. Him God raised up the third day
and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses
chosen before of God. Look at that, chosen before of
God, even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose
from the dead. So Peter not only preached the
death of God's only begotten son, he preached the resurrection
too, didn't he? Oh yes, he did. Look at that
in verse 41. After he rose from the dead.
If Christ didn't raise from the dead, then we're not justified.
Because the scripture says he's raised for our justification.
Praise God. And Peter had already declared
that Christ is Lord of all, by the power of God the Holy Spirit.
And the believing Gentiles would know that there was a glorified
God-man who was seated on his sovereign throne in heaven, ruling
over all the whole universe and everything. Lord of all would
mean the equivalent to their God who rules over all, which
was, for the Greeks, it was Zeus. And I don't know who it was for
the Romans. He would be Lord of, he's a king
of kings and Lord of, and he's far above. Those are just fake
phony idols made up by the figment of man's imagination. You know
something? You always had to do something
to please those gods. You ever notice that? You ever
notice that? Christ did everything for us
to please our great God. My, oh my. And God, God himself
sent Christ to do that. My oh my. How different the true
living God is than all the gods of man. Remember what he said? Your thoughts are not my thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways. My oh my. So he's Lord of all. Peter plainly
stated that the resurrected Christ of God showed himself openly.
Not to all people, remember? He didn't show himself to everyone,
did he? But he showed himself to his people. He showed himself
to his chosen ones. The ones he went to die for.
Oh my. Peter is a faithful witness of
the resurrected Christ of God. He told Cornelius and his household
that the ordained apostles of God not only saw Christ after
he rose from the dead, but they also ate and drank with him.
He's real. He's a human being. And beloved
of God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, came back from
the dead in the same body that he was buried in the tomb of
Joseph. He had the wounds on his hands,
didn't he? and his feet. He wasn't just a spirit, as some
foolishly believe. He told his disciples, Behold,
my hands and my feet, it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as you have seen me, Luke 24, 39.
So, beloved of God, our Savior is risen. We've not seen our risen Savior
with our physical eyes, but God commands the light to shine in
our heart out of the darkness, and we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God, and now by faith we see him, don't we? And one
day our faith will be made sight. How glorious will that be? My, oh, my. Look at Acts 10,
verse 42. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it is he, Jesus Christ,
which was ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and
the dead. Oh, my. Those who receive the
commandment from God to preach his gospel plainly declare unto
all those we preach to that Jesus Christ was ordained by God. before
time began to be the righteous judge of both the living and
the dead. This biblical truth puts forth
that the exalted God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is on equal
plane with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He's God.
The three are one. Our Lord Jesus Christ said in
John chapter 5, verses 21 to 23, said, for as the Father raises
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son of Man quickeneth
whom he will, whom he will. If you're saved, you're one of
the whom he wills. For the Father judges no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honor if not the Father which
has sent him. And those who have died or will
die in their sins will be raised from the grave on resurrection
day, and who will they stand before? The Lord Jesus Christ,
the judge of the living and the dead. And because Jesus Christ purged
all the sins of God's elect from God's sight forever by the supreme
sacrifice of himself, Peter declared this in Acts chapter 10 verse
43, look at this, to him gave all the prophets witness that
through his name whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission
of sins. Do you believe on Christ? And look at that. It's not a
doubt. Shell. I love those little hinge words,
remember? Big doors swing on little hinges, don't they? Shell. It's not a, well, maybe. Shell. And what's the clause? Whosoever
believeth in him. Christ. shall receive remission
of sins. All the Old Testament writers,
all the Old Testament sacrifices pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. My. They pointed that someone's
coming. Someone's coming. Those Old Testament
sacrifices could never take away sin. They pointed to one great
sacrifice, one great Lamb, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And whosoever believeth in him
shall receive remission of sins. Praise his mighty name. And think
of this, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered the unmitigated wrath
of God as our substitute. It was poured out upon him, beloved. The wrath that was due us was
poured out upon him. Because God's law and justice
must be satisfied, right? God can't just wink at it and
go, okay. It has to be satisfied. And there's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And the unmitigated
wrath of God is just being poured out upon him. And I like what
Spurgeon said, God pulled out his sword of justice and plunged
it into Christ instead of us. My, it is finished. Salvation is accomplished by
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? There can
be no judgment against God's people because Christ took our
judgment. Christ took our judgment. People
say, what about that judgment seat of Christ? There's no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. No judgment. I was listening
to a preacher this morning. He said, you know what? We're
standing there. We're standing. We're standing at the last day.
We're standing there, but we're washed clean in the precious
blood of Christ. There's no judgment for God's
people. No wrath of God's gonna fall upon us. None. My, oh my, oh my. And also all
that believe are justified from all things which we could not
be justified by the law of Moses. The law of Moses could not justify
us, beloved. If you trust in any works, cease
from your labors and flee to Christ. He's the only hope for
sinners. My oh my. And what was the result
of Peter preaching to the Gentiles who were assembled? Well, let's
read verses 44 to 48. This is wonderful. The Holy Spirit
falls upon the Gentiles, beloved of God. And we know all who were
ordained were saved, right? Look at this. While Peter yet
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the
word. And they of the circumcision, remember there were some that
went with him? Remember there were some believers that had
went with him from Joppa? And they of the circumcision
which believed were astonished. They were astonished. See, they
thought salvation in Christ was only for the Jews. Oh, look at,
we're a bunch of Gentiles here, aren't we? Oh, look at this. Let us praise God for this. Look
at this. And they of the circumcision which believe were astonished
as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles was also
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak
with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized? which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we. Then he commanded them to be
baptized in the name of the Lord. Oh my, this is wonderful. Then
prayed they him to tarry certain days. Oh my goodness. And how did this all come about?
By the power of our great God, our great almighty God. He gets
all the glory for what we just saw happen here. So let we who
are the redeemed of the Lord praise the name of Jesus for
his wonderful grace, his mercy, his love, which has been shed
abroad in our hearts now by the Holy Spirit of God, by the power
of God, the Holy Spirit. And you know how? All according
to the will of the Father. My, oh my, isn't that wonderful? Brother Greg, would you mind
if I asked you to pray?