the earth, wild beasts, creeping
things, fowls of the air. The Jews were forbidden to eat
these things. Don't turn to it, you can read
it later, but jot it down in the margin there, Leviticus 11. Different things are named, camels,
conies, swine, vultures, ravens, owls, hawks, swans, pelicans,
eagles, storks, all of these were forbidden for them to eat. And that's the reason Peter said
in verse 14, when the voice said, Rise Peter, kill and eat, Peter
said, Not so, Lord. There on the sheep before him,
these offensive, forbidden animals and fowls And he said, I've never
eaten anything that's common or unclean. And what he's doing
here is the Jews looked upon the Gentiles in just such a manner,
common and unclean. Peter would never go into a Gentile
home. He would never preach the gospel
to a Gentile. He would never have gone to visit
this Cornelius voluntarily. God had to show him. that he
should go. That's what this is all about.
And Peter said, I've never eaten anything common or unclean. And
the voice spake, God said, again the second time, what God had
cleansed, don't you call common. Another thing I want you to notice,
verse 16, and this was done three times. A law established in the Word
of God. And one that is repeated over
and over again. Let every word be established
by the mouth of two or three witnesses. Always. And that's the reason the Lord
did this three times. Three times. Three times. It was established by three witnesses. Alright then, let's begin here
at verse 24. So, on the next day, the morrow,
after these men had entered into Caesarea, Philip, or rather Peter
and the men who went with him from Joppa, on the morrow after
they had entered into Caesarea, and Cornelius waited for them,
And he'd called together his kinsmen and their friends. He'd
gone out and brought in his relatives and his friends. He wanted them
to hear what the Lord was going to reveal to him through this
man Peter. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius
met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. Now,
don't be too hasty to judge this man for what he's done here. I understand this tribute. I understand why he's doing this.
If you'll just think for a moment. This is a Gentile. This is a
man who does not know the living God. He fears God. And he does alms and offers prayer. But he's never had a revelation
of the Gospel. He doesn't know Christ. doesn't
know the gospel of God's grace, doesn't know the forgiveness
of sin. And an angel had appeared to him, an angel from heaven,
and spoke to him, and told him to send for a man down in Jopla,
a man whom he had never met or even heard of. And this man would
come and tell him what God wanted him to know. And when this man,
Peter, stood before him, Naturally, he just fell down at his feet. He was awed. He was full of fear. This man, God sent this man. God sent this man. And his natural
reaction was just to prostrate himself before this man, Peter. He was God's messenger. It was
an awesome experience, and I understand why he did it. But it was the
responsibility of the man of God to correct him. And that's
what Peter did. And every true servant of God
will not receive this type of thing, worship and adoration
and this sort of thing. And when Cornelius fell down
on his feet, Peter took him up. It was Peter's responsibility
to correct this error. And that's exactly what he did.
And never will a true servant of God accept this sort of a
claim. I know the Scripture tells us
to give honor to whom honors due, like we honor our parents.
And a husband and wife honor one another. And respect. And gratitude. And affection. But never, never do we fall at
the feet of any human being as an object of worship. Never,
never, never. And this sort of thing is the
responsibility of God's true service to correct it and actually
turn to Revelation 19. And you see this all the time in Catholicism. People kissing the rings and
bowing before the Pope and priests and other men. And this is an
abomination now. And it needs to be corrected.
We don't bow before a cross or a statue or a picture or a human
being. We worship God. Only God. And it's the place of God's servants
to correct this error. Even an angel. Look at Revelation
19.10. And the angel said, verse 9,
Revelation 19, 9, The angel said, Write, Blessed are they which
are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith
unto me, These are the true savings of God. And I fell at his feet
to worship him. Now this wasn't a pope or a priest
or a cardinal or a statue. This was an angel from heaven.
And John was tempted to worship him. And the angel said, see
thou do it not. Don't do that. I am thy fellow
servant. And of thy brethren that have
the testimony of Jesus, worship God. Worship God. And there's no lenience
on this point at all now. And some of you young people
may say, well, that's just the Catholics' way of doing it. And
I read just the other day, they say, we're not worshiping the human being or the stature.
We're using it as a symbol of God. But we don't have any symbols
of God. We worship Him. God is spirit,
and they that worship God worship Him in spirit and truth from
the heart. Don't do it. Don't do it, and
don't ever be brought into this sort of thing. Speak out and
condemn this sort of practice. It's evil. And Peter immediately
said, don't do that. All right, stand up. Verse 27,
now, and as he talked to him, he went in and found many that
were come together. And he said unto them, How that
it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company
or come unto one of another nation. Now then, Peter was doing what
he was taught to do. You see, God put a difference
between Israel and other nations. I read you that over in Exodus
11. Let's turn over there a minute. Now this is just a fact now. This is a fact. Exodus 11 verse
7 now listen But against any of the children of Israel shall
not a dog move his tongue against man or beast That you may know
how the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
There's a difference God made a difference over in the Old
Testament. He called Abraham And of the seed of Abraham Abraham
Isaac and Jacob Right down that house in lineage, started out
with one man, the nation Israel. And it grew. When they went into
Egypt, there were 70 of them. And they grew into several million.
And God brought them out. And He said in Deuteronomy, now
listen, Deuteronomy 7, turn over there a minute. He chose Israel. Israel was, they were His people,
His nation, His people. The other nations were pagan,
heathen, idol worshippers. Israel, God revealed himself
to Israel. He spoke to Israel. He gave Israel
the prophets. All right. Deuteronomy 7, verse
6. For thou art a holy nation unto
the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that
are upon the face of the earth. Now God did that. God did it's
just so The Lord didn't set his love upon you nor choose you
because you were more in number than any people But you were
the fewest of all But because the Lord loved you and because
he would keep the oath which is sworn to your father's Abraham
Hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed
you out of the house of bondman from the hand of Pharaoh king
of Egypt And God gave to Israel the prophets, the priesthood,
the tabernacle, the worship, the mercy seat, the Holy of Holies,
the atonement, the worship of the true and living God was given
to Israel. And all these other nations were
passed by. And that's just so. Israel had
the tabernacle, the priesthood, the mercy seat, and all these
things. Now, there were a few proselytes that came from these
other nations. Even the temple had the court
of the Gentiles. And God did save some. There
was Hagar. There was Rahab. There was Ruth. God they had some proselytes
for the Gentile whom God called All right Here but Peter said
and this is just this was so in verse 28. He said, you know
God they were not allowed to marry Gentiles. They were not
allowed to socialize with them They were not allowed to take
part in their activities Israel was a separate nation And when
they'd cross over and intermarry, socialize with these pagans,
it always hurt them. They were always led away from
the true God, and God dealt with them in anger and judgment. In
verse 28, now what? You know, Peter said, how it
is an unlawful thing for a man that's a Jew to keep company
or come unto one of the other nations. But God... Oh, here's
a... You and I better be thankful
for those two words, but God. But God. You know, when Paul
wrote the letter to the Ephesian church, he said, you were Gentiles,
strangers from the covenant, aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, without hope, without God in this world, and without
Christ in this world. But God, but God, who is rich
in mercy, or His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, quickened us with Christ." Here Peter said, "...but
God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean."
Now something has happened here. Something has happened that was
prophesied, written in the Old Testament. You see, all of these Old Testament
pictures The promises and types of the Old Testament were given
to Israel. The sacrifices, the priesthood, the holy days, the
burnt offerings, the ceremonies, all of these were given to Israel
to picture the redemption that we have in Christ. Every lamb
was a picture of Christ our Lamb. Every atonement was a picture
of His sacrifice, His blood. The mercy seat is a picture of
Christ, our mercy seat. The Passover, Christ our Passover.
The priest, Christ our priest. Tabernacle, God dwelt in the
Holy of Holies. Christ's tabernacle among us
and God dwelt with us. So now that He has come and suffered
and died, all of these types are done away. All right? No more tabernacles. No more
temple. No more sacrifices. No more Passover. No more priesthood. We're a priesthood. He's our high priest. We're all
king's priests. All done away. Christ. Now this
nation, Israel, this nation is a picture of God's kingdom. This
nation, God chose them. God separated them. God told
them not to go into these other people. They're His people. His
people. They're a picture of God's kingdom,
God's church, God's sheepfold. Now then, the Lord in Christ
is calling out a people in every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue
unto heaven, of which Israel is a type. And this is true Israel now.
You follow me? And old Israel, that old nation,
has no more reference to us. Just like that Passover has no
more reference to me. Christ is my Passover. I just
study as a type of Christ, find out more about Him. That Sabbath
day has no claim on me. Christ is my rest. This tabernacle,
priesthood, mercy seat, done away. Christ is my priesthood,
my rest, my tabernacle. This nation, Israel, it is no
more as far as God's chosen people are concerned. We're God's chosen
people. We're Israel. Now, He may have
something in His providence and purpose and plan for that nation.
I don't know. That's His business. It's like
He might have something for China. I don't know. He may have something
for us more than we've had. But I don't know. But I do know. He's not a Jew which is one outwardly.
He's a Jew which is one inwardly. And I do know we're not children
of Abraham by natural genealogy. We're children of Abraham by
faith. You see what I'm saying? And that's what Peter has finally
almost dawned on him. He slid back over there in the
book of Galatians. He backslid, John, didn't he?
He went back to the... But he said, God has showed me. God has shown me. God has shown
me. And that's when God showed me
I should not call any man common or unclean. If he'd have been a diligent
student of the Old Testament Scriptures, and he was, I'm sure,
a serious student, but there's a lot he didn't know, God promised
the Messiah a people from every nation, didn't He? He said, you
call a nation that knew thee not, nations that knew not thee
shall run to thee. He says that. And then when John
saw the great multitude which no man can number, he said they
were there from every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto
heaven. And John wrote in his book, 1 John, he said, he's the
propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the
world, people of every nation. But Peter said, that's where
I'm coming from, Cornelius. Verse 29, Therefore I came to
you without gainsaying, right in your margin, without objection,
without hesitation. That's what that word gainsaying,
I came without objection. I came without hesitation. That's
what God told him, Ronnie. Go doubt nothing. Because I sent
those fellows, you go with them. For as soon as I was sent for,
I asked therefore, what intent have you sent for me? Why did
you send for me? All right, Cornelius in the next
verses repeats his story. Let's look at it. Cornelius said
four days ago, I was fasting until this hour. At the ninth
hour, I prayed in my house and I said, behold, and behold, I
prayed in my house and behold, a man. stood before me in bright
clothing." We know it was an angel. And he said, Cornelius,
your prayer is heard, and your arms are had in remembrance in
the sight of God. This man, we already found out,
was a man who had a tender heart and a tender spirit. He was kind
to the people of Israel. God was already dealing with
him. I've preached on this so many times, it's grace before
grace. This man hadn't even had the gospel revealed to him, but
there was gospel work going on in his heart. That's obvious
to me. There's a gospel where a man doesn't just not know Christ
here and know Him the next day. There's a work of grace. There's
prevenient grace. There's preparing grace. There's awakening grace. God was dealing with him. That's
evident. You know that, and I do too.
And he said, Cornelius, Send therefore, verse 32, to Joppa,
and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodged
in a house of one Simon of Tanner by the seaside, who, when he
cometh, shall speak unto thee." Now then, why didn't the angel
just preach the gospel to him? Why all this hullabaloo? Why
send for Peter? Why didn't the angel just tell
him Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners? He was buried
and rose again. He's your Savior. Trust Him.
I don't have all the answers to that. But I just know all
the way through this book, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's His way. I know
that God has chosen men to preach the Gospel. Peter to Cornelius. He sent Ananias to Saul of Tarsus. He sent Philip to the Eunuchs.
He sent Paul to Lydia. And everybody whom He saved,
He'll send somebody to tell them about Christ Jesus. Preach the
gospel to them. That's just so. How shall they
hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except
they be sent? Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Listen to this. Verse 17, 18. 1 Corinthians 1, 17. God, for Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom
or words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross It's to them who are perishing,
foolishness. It always has been, always will
be. But unto us which are saved, it's the power of God. What's
the power of God? The gospel is. It's not the preaching. It's what's preached. It's what's
preached. The gospel. I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. All right, look at verse 21.
Same chapter, 1 Corinthians 1. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Men do not know God.
Cornelius didn't know God. But it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Not the preaching of
angels, preaching of men. But the Jews require a sign,
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. unto the Jews a stumbling block,
unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God." All right, verse, back to our
text, Acts 10, verse 33. All right, here's the people,
here are the people, and here's God's preacher, and God's determined. to use that preacher to reveal
the gospel to his people that they might believe on Christ.
And here's the way it ought to be when that is the case. Verse 33, Immediately therefore
I sent, I sent to thee, I sent for thee. That's the first thing. Man has a desire to hear the
gospel. So he comes where the gospels preach. I sent for thee."
Second thing, and he said, you did well that you've come to
preach to me. I sent for you, and you've come
to preach to me. Thirdly, watch it now, now therefore
are we all here present before God, in the sight of God. Kind of describes what takes
place when we meet here, different times we meet here. You came to hear the preacher.
The preacher was sent by God to preach to you, and here we
are in the presence of God. And why are we here? All right,
listen. To hear. We're here to hear all things. All things. Paul said, I've kept
back nothing profitable to you. I've not shunned or declared
to you all the counsel of God. Whatever you've got to say, Listen,
here's the next thing that's commanded thee of God. Don't
want to hear your ideas. I don't want to hear your thoughts,
however sentimental or reasonable. We sent for you, and you did
well to come. Now here we are in the sight
of God, and we want to hear everything that He commanded you to pray.
Nothing else. Guess what? He commanded you
to pray. So here he goes, here's Peter's
sermon. Alright, let's look at it. Then,
Peter opened his mouth. And he said, of a truth I perceive,
God's no respecter of persons. What does that mean? It means
this. God does not accept a value of
person because he's a Jew or a Gentile. Because he's a male. or because he's strong, or because
he's intelligent, or because he's rich, or because he's outwardly
moral, or because of any outward appearance. God is no respecter
of a man's person, position, power, learning, knowledge, so
forth and so on. Anything by nature doesn't attract
God. or cause him to love or show
mercy to any man. Nothing about me, nothing in
me, nothing I do would cause God to show favor to me. But, verse 35, in every nation,
he that fears God. Now that's an inward work of
grace. That's a work of grace. How can a man fear God who does
not know God? You see, God reveals Himself.
God put that fear in there. God put that love in there. God
put that grace in there. This man Cornelius, to whom Peter
preached the Gospel, who believed that Gospel, who was saved by
that Gospel, had a work of grace and a work of God already in
him. That's right. Now turn with me
to 1 Samuel. Here's what we have right here.
1 Samuel 16. Jesse had a house full of boys
1st Samuel 16 I Never can remember how many boys he had but there's
a bunch of them Six seven or something. It's there somewhere.
But anyway They were gonna anoint a king We know who God's gonna
anoint he's gonna anoint David But Samuel didn't know, Jesse
didn't know, David didn't know, and the boys didn't know. We
know because we're on this side of it. If we'd have been there,
we wouldn't have known either. If we'd have been just as blind
as Samuel, we'd have picked the wrong one. So when the first
boy came there, verse 6 of 1 Samuel 16, came to pass, when they would
come, he looked on aloud. And he said, surely the Lord's
anointed. He was impressed. Samuel was
impressed by this young man. And the Lord said, Samuel, look
not on his countenance. Look not on the height of his
stature. You might add a lot of other
things. Look not on his handsomeness. Look not on his strength and
power. I've refused him. For the Lord
seeth not as a man seeth, but God looketh on the outward appearance,
the Lord looketh on the heart." And you know how he called David
a man after my own heart. And that's what we're talking
about right here in Acts 10 verse 35. If you're one of God's children,
if you're one of His kings, whom He's going to anoint, one of
His king priests, A holy nation, a peculiar people, a chosen generation. He'll do a work of grace in your
heart. He'll give your heart toward God, and a desire for
God, and a need for His hand and His grace, just like He did
Cornelius. God has no respect to a person. Not humanly speaking, naturally
speaking, His genealogy or heritage. But his dad is a preacher. But he's this, that, and the
other. She's this, that. It's all a grace. It's all a
grace. He said, in every nation, every
nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness. How can
I work righteousness? In Christ. It's Christ in you.
Spirit of God in you. This man Cornelius gave alms. But Cornelius would have been
just like Herod if it wasn't for God's grace. But God's working
in him. So verse 36, watch this now. And the word which God has sent
to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ,
He Lord of all, See, these old Jews had the gospel preached
to them by their prophets. God sent the Word to Israel. He said it didn't do them any
good, because they didn't believe it. Turn over to Hebrews. Let
me show you this over in Hebrews. Chapters, what? Chapter 3 or
4? Hebrews. Chapter, yeah, 4. Hebrews 4, verse 1. Listen to
this. Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left to us
of entering into his rest. John, you preached on this a
few days ago. Any of you should seem to come short of it, for
under us was the gospel preached as well as under them. But the
word preached didn't profit them, not being mixed with faith in
them that heard it. So let's be careful now. This
faith is important. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. That's right. These fellows had
the gospel preached to them. He said, the Word, verse 36,
God sent to them. What is this Word? Well, it's
called several things in the Scripture. It's the Word of God.
He's the author. It's the Word of Christ, because
it's about Him. And He has called the Word. It's
the Word of salvation, because that's the end of it, salvation.
It's the Word of righteousness. Revealed in Christ. It's the
word of faith. Because it brings faith. It produces
faith. It's the word of peace. Peace
in the heart. Peace with God. And it's the
word of Jesus Christ preaching peace. He's Lord of all. He prayed
in John 17, Father, Thou hast given me power over all flesh. All flesh. There isn't any flesh
anywhere over which he doesn't have power. The Son quickeneth
whom He will. And verse 37, now this is interesting. In that Word, verse 36 tells
you it's the Word preaching peace by Jesus Christ. And that Word,
I say, you know, Cornelius, you know what's been going on in
Jerusalem. Do you know Caesarea? It's only about 25 miles from
Galilee. You got a map back here. You
don't turn to it now, but later on. You look where Caesarea is. He came down there to Caesarea.
The Lord Jesus Christ, Nazareth, was raised, as far as from here
to Grayson, from where this man lived. You don't reckon he heard
of Christ? I kind of believe he did. Don't you? Jerusalem. I don't know how far
Jerusalem, not very far by here to Louisa from Caesarea. And
what's been going on? Lazarus raised from the dead.
A man crucified who said he's the Son of God. And this man
Cornelius, it's got servants everywhere, and a large house,
and a man seeking after God. He didn't know about all this.
Let me show you what Paul said about that in Acts 26. Acts 26. Listen to this. Now Cornelius
didn't understand it. Just like there are folks here
in Ashland, Kentucky, that know a man named Jesus was born in
Bethlehem. Isn't that right? They just came
through Christmas season. Silent night, holy night, Virgin
Son, all that we've been seeing. They know that. But they don't
know why He came. They know a man called Jesus
crucified on a cross, but they don't know who He is or why He
died. He's a good man, they say. Too
bad He didn't live to accomplish what He came to do. That's what
one preacher said here and there. Too bad Jesus had to die. Acts 26, listen to this, verse
26. Paul talking to Festus and Agrippa. And he said, verse 25, I'm not
mad, most noble Festus. I speak the words of truth and
soberness. The king knoweth of these things
before whom I speak freely. I'm persuaded none of these things
are hidden from him. This wasn't done in a corner. You know what he's talking about?
He's talking about Christ's birth, life, and death. It wasn't done
in a corner. The noise of it was all about.
But the noise of it won't save. It's the truth of it. Listen to me. The general awareness
of the facts of the life and death of Christ is not what saves.
It's Christ Himself. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. Knowing who He is, why He came, why He died, where He
is now. Who is this man? The heart to
Christ, the Son of God. And what Peter is saying to him,
he said in verse 37, this word I know, this word I say you know,
you know, which was published throughout all Judea and began
from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. God sent
John. And John told how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Ghost. John said the Spirit of God came
down on Him like a dove, anointing Him with power when He went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed to the devil.
God was with Him. God was in Him. God was in Christ
reconciling the world. And we are witnesses of all things
which He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
And they slew Him and hanged Him on a tree. But oh, here's
the good news. God was in Him. God was with
Him. God sent Him. God anointed Him.
God ordained Him to be our Messiah, our Redeemer. God used men to
hang Him on a tree. And when they buried Him, fulfilled
all that was written of Him, God raised Him. God raised Him
up the third day. and showed Him openly. Turn to
Acts 17. Here is the importance of the
resurrection. God raised Him from the dead. You know, we put
a great deal of emphasis on the resurrection from the standpoint
of our resurrection, and we should, because He lives, we live. If
Christ be not risen, the dead rise not. But His resurrection,
is the seal and approval of God upon His sacrifice. It's like when Christ came forth
from the grave, it's saying that all that He did, all that He
accomplished, the Father accepted, and all for whom He did it, the
Father accepted. He's our High Priest. He went
into that Holy of Holies on our behalf, and when He came out,
God rent the veil in two. All right, look at Acts 17, 31.
Because God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
God hath given assurance unto all, unto all. That word means in italics, unto
all the world, unto all angels, men, and demons, unto all flesh,
men and women, all nations, in that He hath raised Him from
the dead." That's the proof of it. The evidence. God is justified. Just and justifier. He raised
Christ. Oh boy, that's so important,
verse 40. And He showed Him openly. Now watch this. Not to all the
people. Everybody didn't see Him, but those saw Him, not to
all the people, but unto witness chosen before God, unto us, even
to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead.
We ate with Him after He rose from the dead. People just read
that and think they ate with Him, drank with Him before He
died. No, after He rose from the dead.
He was a man. Glorified flesh. We ate and drank
with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us. Now watch this. He commanded
us. Here's our marching orders. To preach unto the people. To
preach to the people. That's why we preach on television,
and tapes, and books, and send missionaries. We're preaching
to all the people. All nations. Around the world. Preaching to all the people.
And we're testifying that it is He, it's Christ, to Him give
all the prophets witness. It's He which was ordained of
God to be the judge of the quick and the dead. And to Him, to
Christ, give all the prophets witness, all the Old Testament
preachers, prophets, angels, messengers. What was their witness? That through His name, whosoever
believeth in Him, shall receive remission of sins. Cornelius. Cornelius. All right, let's sing
a hymn.