Open To All — Acts 10:23b–48 - video Dailymotion

Medical Lake Community Church

Please enjoy this message delivered by Pastor Mark Hudson.  🙏 Pray With Us: https://medicallake.church/pray ✉️ Check In: https://medicallake.church/checkin 🔗 Next Steps: https://medicallake.church/next-steps  #mlcc #church #churchonline

Transcript

00:00So whether you and I are speaking to a king or to a president or someone that we would consider

00:06lower on the social economic scales, a street sweeper or a person who cleans out sewers,

00:12it makes no difference. God is not a God of partiality. He doesn't say, well, just because

00:19you're higher on the economic scale, you're more valuable than a person that's lower on the

00:22economic scale. God is not a God of partiality. He's commanded us to preach the gospel to all

00:29nations, all people. You and I have a problem of being partial. And I know we don't like it,

00:36but sometimes we are. When that person with the 47 studs on their face walks up to you,

00:41you automatically have a response. I'm not quite sure yours is. But we have a tendency to put people

00:46in categories and say, well, you're more valuable because you're this, and you're less valuable

00:50because of this. And that's not the way God looks at people. God is not a God of partiality. He doesn't

00:55say, well, you're better than you, so therefore I'm going to treat you differently than I'm going to

00:58treat you. God does not do that. And he wants us to take the message to all nations, not just those

01:02people we think deserve it, but all nations, regardless of the color of the skin, their

01:07background, their nationality, their ethnicity. God wants us to take the gospel to all with the

01:13courage to do that and not to show partiality. David Walls was talking about a story of a Peter

01:19Cartwright. He was a 19th century circuit riding preacher. And he came to a church to preach one

01:25Sunday. He was also known as a very uncompromising man. So one Sunday morning, he was at a church to

01:30preach, and he was told that General Andrew Jackson was in the church service and that he ought to,

01:37he warned not to say anything out of line because General Jackson was there. So when Cartwright stood

01:45to preach, he said, I understand that Andrew Jackson is here. I have been requested to be guarded in my

01:50remarks. Andrew Jackson will go to hell if he doesn't repent. Whoa! He didn't show any partiality

01:58to General. And you know what Jackson said afterwards? General Jackson shook hands with

02:03Peter Cartwright and said, sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could whip the world.

02:09It's a danger of showing partiality. And that's what Peter is learning. He's learning that those that we

02:14call Gentiles, the opposite of the Jews, the Jews received the revelation of God. They received the

02:18ceremonial laws, the dietary restrictions, the commands under the old covenant, and that they

02:24were somehow better than everyone else. And that they couldn't interact with anyone that wasn't of

02:29this Jewish background, that any Gentile could actually cause them to be unclean. So therefore,

02:34they don't want to associate with anyone of the nations. But that's not what God actually intended

02:40ever. Yes, he chose Israel to give us, give us the revelation. It came through the prophets of

02:46Israel. He chose Israel to bring the Messiah into the world. But he always wanted the nations to know

02:52about him, not just Jews. And Peter's coming to an understanding. He's starting to learn slowly

02:59that what God has made clean, he's not supposed to call uncommon at all. Don't show partiality. And now

03:07he's going to be, he's going to actually end up in the house of a Gentile. And most likely he's going to

03:12eat with them at the end of the story. So we're in chapter 10. We're going to finish out the rest of

03:17chapter 10. It was a great, it was a great account, but we couldn't handle it in one Sunday. So we'll

03:22pick up in verse number 23b. And what we're going to see is that God is using Peter to open the door

03:27to the Gentiles, that which he had always desired by preaching the gospel to Cornelius, who himself was

03:34a Gentile. Peter's going to open, remember the keys of the kingdom have given to Peter, that he's the one

03:39that's going to open the door to the Gentiles. And this is exactly right. You kind of say, well,

03:43wait a second, the Ethiopian eunuch, he was a Gentile. That's true. He got saved. He went back

03:48to his homeland and you never heard of him again. In this case, we've got the issue of Gentiles among

03:53the Jews and they're going to have to figure out how we're going to deal with these Gentiles that seem

03:58to be coming into this new group called the church of both Jews and Gentiles. How do we handle these

04:03Gentiles? Peter's learning. He's learning. The man who came from Cornelius spent

04:09the night with actually Simon the Tanner, his house, spent the night with Peter. He likely

04:14ate with them. They get up the next morning. They're heading off to Caesarea. That's where

04:17we find ourselves in the story. Verse 23b, the next day he rose and went away with them. Remember

04:24the spirit said, go with them. And some of the brothers from Joppa to accompany him. We'll find

04:29out later, six of them go. And on the following day, they entered Caesarea. So they've traveled

04:34and we're going to find out Cornelius said it was four days earlier. So Cornelius was expecting

04:38them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius

04:45met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up saying, stand up,

04:50I too am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered.

04:55Now he's thinking, okay, I got this one Gentile I have to deal with, these two servants and this

04:59orderly from the centurion. Okay, I've got those four people I have to deal with. He goes in

05:04and it's full of Gentiles. Now what do you do? But Peter lifted him up and said, he went

05:14in and found many persons and he said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for

05:18a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation. But God has shown me that

05:24I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection.

05:29I asked them why you sent for me. He doesn't even know at this point. Cornelius knows the

05:36angel toward Cornelius. He doesn't even know why he's there yet. He figures something's

05:41going to happen, but he still doesn't. Why did you send for me? Cornelius said four days

05:45ago about this hour, I was praying in my house. So it's about three o'clock in the afternoon

05:49at the ninth hour. And behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius,

05:54your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore

06:00to Joppa and ask for Simon, who was called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon,

06:04a tanner by the sea. So I sent for you at once and you have been kind enough to come.

06:10Now, therefore, we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded

06:15by the Lord. Okay. Now that's why he's going to come. That's why he's supposed to be there.

06:19So Peter goes with 600 Jewish believers. Now remember in a court of law, you only need two

06:26witnesses. He's got six and he's going to need them in chapter 11 because the other Jews or believers

06:32do not understand why he went into the house of a Gentile and ate with them because they don't get

06:36it yet like he does. So he has three times the number of witnesses that he needs. Cornelius was so

06:43convinced that God was going to do something great. He invited some relatives and close friends.

06:48He was convinced. In fact, we're going to read a passage here in a second that God had told him,

06:52listen, call for him. He's going to talk to you how you can be saved in all of your household.

06:57He was so excited about the message. He said, I've got to tell my friends and I've got to tell my

07:01relatives. I got to invite everyone to come into my house to hear this message of salvation.

07:06He was excited. That's the first thing I thought about is Cornelius invited people.

07:13He didn't just think about himself, not even just the people in his house or his wife,

07:18his children or his other servants. He didn't think about just them. He thought about other

07:22people that needed to hear that message as well. He invited them. Now, I don't know how it is with

07:28you if you feel comfortable inviting people into your home and talking about Jesus. You can always

07:34invite them to come to a church service with you. Now, I know coming to the home and it's how they

07:38did it here, but coming to a church service is vitally important as well. And I promise you,

07:43as long as the Lord is with me and guiding me, which he never will forsake me or leave me,

07:47I will preach the gospel message. So if you bring someone, if you invite someone to church,

07:52they're going to hear from the word of God, the gospel message. I promise. But he was inviting

07:57someone to come. That is a great attitude. He knew something special was going to happen.

08:03And you know, wouldn't it be great? You bring a friend to church, a gospel message, and all of a

08:08that day they bow their knee and repent of their sins and accept Christ as their Savior. Do you

08:12know how great that would be? That's what's going to happen here. And not only that, if Peter was

08:18coming to your home, who would you invite? I heard everyone. That's a good one. Hope you have a

08:25big, someone said that in the first service too. I hope you have a big house. I mean, think about

08:30who would you, who would you say immediately pops in your mind? Oh man, that person needs to hear the

08:33gospel. And that person needs to hear the gospel. That person needs it. I mean, who would you invite?

08:38He says, I got to invite my close relatives. I got to invite my friends because they need to hear

08:42this message. This is really important. So Cornelius bows down at Peter's feet in a sense

08:48of word. It was more of a, like you bow before a king, but the word is worship, bow before. And Peter

08:53goes, listen, stand up. I'm just a man too. Don't do that. I'm just like you. I'm not special. I'm just

08:59like you. Stand up. Peter again, doesn't know why he's been called yet. The angel told Cornelius why

09:06Peter would come, but the Holy Spirit didn't tell Peter why he was supposed to be there. We find out

09:10in chapter 11, what the angel said to Cornelius. Chapter 11, we read this. And he, Peter speaking,

09:16Cornelius told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, send a job and bring Simon,

09:23who was called Peter. He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all

09:28your household. So he knew why Peter was coming. Peter at this point still doesn't really know why he's

09:32coming at. What's he supposed to do here? So after briefly talking to Cornelius, they go inside and

09:38this house is full of all the Gentiles. There's not just one or two, man. There's lots of them there.

09:45So he explained to them, listen, I have learned, I'm learning, he should say, that what God has made

09:51clean, I can't call common. So I used to think down on you Gentiles, but I can't think that way anymore.

09:56God is changing the way I think, and I can't show partiality because God doesn't show partiality.

10:00So he kind of explained to him some of the things that he's learned, the knowledge that he's gained

10:04that God has given to him. So from the time of the original vision of the sheet coming down,

10:10he's starting to grasp what this is all about. He started to understand, you know, maybe we Jews

10:16got this wrong. Maybe we ought to have been taking the message of the revelation of God out to the

10:21nations to begin with. What have we done? He's beginning to understand now. He's beginning to see it.

10:27So God has shown himself to be no respecter of persons, so Peter must not either.

10:33God shows no partiality. And that phrase, no partiality, it's an interesting phrase. John

10:39Pohlhill said, no partiality means to lift up the face. The idiom lifting a face pictures God as an

10:47Oriental monarch lifting the face of a petitioner. To lift the petitioner's face is to receive him or her

10:53with favor. He doesn't show partiality. He doesn't say, oh, look, you're on a socioeconomic class.

10:58You're down here. No, he comes along to each one of us and he lifts our chin up and says, look me

11:02running. I want to tell you something. I've got a message for you. He lifts our face. He shows us

11:08favor. That's the word grace in Christ. But Peter says, no, no, it's unlawful for Jews to go enter in

11:16the house of a Gentile. It's unlawful to do that. You know, I have found nowhere in the Old Testament

11:21where it says Jews cannot interact with Gentiles. I've not seen that anywhere. There's nowhere in

11:27the Old Testament that says you cannot interact with Gentiles. The problem was that in their mind

11:33was Gentiles were unclean. And I'm holy to the Lord, separated to God, separated from the world

11:41and separated to God. So if I hang around people who are unclean, I'll be unclean myself. So let's just,

11:47it's easier just to stay away from them. And they had forgotten. That's not what God intended.

11:53That actually went beyond what the law said. The law never said you couldn't interact with a Gentile.

11:57In fact, when we get to the final verse we're going to look at today, we're going to see that

12:01even in the Psalms, it talks about Jews interacting with Gentiles in worship. So it was from the beginning

12:06that way. Here's the thing. Israel was called to be holy. Holy means separated from something

12:14and separated to something else. So we're separated from the world, the world's way of thinking,

12:19the world's philosophy, and separated to God. That's the word holy. So that makes sense. Israel

12:25was separated to be holy. That was their, their problem was this. They never learned to be in the

12:32world, but not of the world. They felt if I go into the world, somehow I'm going to be unclean. I can't go

12:39into the world because it would touch me and make me unclean. They have forgotten what Jesus talked about

12:43of being in the world, living in this world, but not being of the world, not thinking like the world,

12:48not behaving like the world. And Israel had a hard time doing that. It was just easier to stay away.

12:54That's why some people in the early first century, some guy crawled up on a pole, a 30 foot high pole

13:00because he wanted to separate himself from society and live 30 years on the pole. He forgot you need

13:06to be in the world, but not of the world. Jesus said this in John 17, but now I am coming to you

13:14and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given

13:21them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. In other words, we may be

13:26living in this world, but the world, we're not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not ask

13:32that you take them out of the world, but you keep them from the evil one. So as you and I go into

13:36the world with the gospel message, his prayer is protect them from the evil one that would cause

13:42harm. They are not of the world, just as I'm not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word

13:49is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. We are supposed to

13:56be in the world with the gospel message, but we're not supposed to be of the world. Israel had forgotten

14:01that. Sometimes we kind of forget that too. We're all comfortable around ourselves here in church,

14:06but we forget that we have to actually go into the world and shine your light. Thank you. Exactly

14:13what we're talking about here, but not being of the world. Israel had forgot that. It's easier not to go

14:20into the world. It's easier not to be tainted by the world, so I just stay away from them. However,

14:25a person cannot be a witness without going into the world. Mark 16, Jesus said, and he said to

14:31them, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Peter is learning

14:36this now. He's learning. Again, we hear about the initial visitation of the angel to make it certain

14:42that God is the initiator and director of all the events. It wasn't Peter's idea. It wasn't

14:48Cornelius' idea. God is directing all of this. He's moving it. He's making sure that Cornelius gets the

14:53right message from Peter. So he's aligning the story. In the moment, even if Peter does not know why

15:00he's there, one thing is certain. God has brought them together.

15:05I think about that. You and I come in contact with people in our sphere of influence all the time.

15:10We interact with people all the time. Do we ever ask the question, hey, did God actually bring me

15:18together with that person for a reason? Did God send me to that person because they needed to hear the

15:23gospel message? Or did God send me to that person because they needed someone to pray for them? Or did God

15:27send me to that person because they needed encouragement to continue on in the faith?

15:32Did God bring me together? I mean, we never really think about that. Every interaction we have, we can

15:37kind of think, did God bring me together with this person for a reason? And what is that reason?

15:42Like I said, sometimes I get distracted.

15:46Cornelius mentioned that they were gathered together in the presence of the Lord. It sounds like a worship

15:49service. I mean, that's just the terminology of a worship service. So he's going to preach now. He's going to

15:55preach a sermon, but it's to Gentiles. So he doesn't change the content of the sermon, but he changes

15:59the way he addresses the Gentiles because they don't have a Jewish background. So the content remains

16:04the same, but the way he addresses it, kind of like Paul on Mars Hill, he addresses those people

16:08differently than he addresses the Jews. So the content remains the same, but the message is different

16:13the way he presents it. So look at verses 34. So Peter opened his mouth. Okay, now he's kind of

16:19figured out what's going on here. Okay, I'm supposed to talk about Jesus. I'm a witness of Jesus.

16:23Now I'm going to tell you what I know. Truly, I understand that God shows no partiality,

16:29but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

16:34As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, and then

16:40he is Lord of all. You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee

16:46after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit

16:52and with power. And he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,

16:56for God was with him. And we are witnesses. We saw it of all that he did, both in the country of the

17:02Jews and in Jerusalem. And they put him to death by hanging him on a tree, a cursed criminal. But God

17:09raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people, but to us who have been chosen

17:15by God as witnesses who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us

17:21to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living

17:26and the dead. To him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness

17:32of sins through his name. He's just preaching away. He's having a great, I'm going to find out here in

17:38just a second what happens. Now, don't get ahead of me if you know the story, all right?

17:41Know what happens. So he's preaching away and he's got content. Jesus Christ, anointed by God,

17:48the Son of God. From the baptism of John, we followed him. We saw all the miracles he did,

17:53testifying that he truly was who he was. And we ate with him after he rose from the dead and all of

17:58this stuff. This is the one. He begins the message with the universality of the gospel. He says it's for

18:06all nations. God shows no partiality. We have in the past as Jews and we've got to stop that.

18:13We can't show partiality any longer. It's a universal message. Romans 2,

18:20there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also

18:24the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also

18:30the Greek, or God shows no partiality. It's a universal message. No one is to be excluded.

18:37That person with the 47 piercings on their face and tattoos, they're not to be excluded.

18:44We can't be, we can't show partiality. We can't say, oh yeah, I can't take the message to you

18:48because you're so unlike me. No, it's a universal message to all nations. God's grace was already at

18:56work in Cornelius's life. And you say, how do you know that? Because of the good deeds that he was

19:00already doing. God's grace is at work in his life and it's being manifested by the deeds he has

19:04already done, giving alms to the poor, worshiping God. Since Jesus is Lord of all, that's what the

19:12text says. He's not just Lord of the Jews, he's Lord of all, all peoples, Jews and Gentiles, all peoples.

19:22All who will believe the gospel message. The gospel is for all nations. You know, we talk about that

19:27and we do, and we have missionaries that we support around the world, take them to different

19:30nations. But I think we forget that it's for everyone. It's for everyone. Matthew 28, which

19:37you know this passage, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in

19:42the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all

19:47that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. He even told

19:53his apostles right there before he ascended, I want you to take it to all the nations. And

19:57they hadn't yet. They hadn't. They'd gone to the Samaritans and then the Ethiopian eunuch

20:03got saved, but he didn't come back and interact with anyone at this point. They had forgotten

20:07the nations. Don't forget. Some of you know Garrison Keillor, that his homespun way of, I can't

20:16remember what, will be gone, Lake will be gone. You probably heard that before. He points

20:22out the gospel is no respecter of persons. It differs from People magazine in this way.

20:27It couldn't care who you are. Its message is always the same. All have sinned and fall

20:33short of the glory of God. The gospel is sent into the world to comfort the afflicted and

20:38to afflict the comfortable. It's for all people. He gives a lot of time, doesn't he, to Jesus's

20:46earthly ministry, what he did on earth, his miracles and stuff. He gives a lot of time to

20:50that. And also after his resurrection, eating with them, he gives a lot of time with that

20:54too as well. If you look at the outline that he preaches here, he starts with the baptism

21:00of John and he works his way through. The gospel presentation by Peter closely parallels the

21:05book of Mark. If you look at the book of Mark, the organizational structure of the book of

21:10Mark is very similar to the sermon right here. And that is probably because Peter is the source

21:15of Mark's gospel. Peter gave Mark the information. He's the source of Mark's gospel. So it makes

21:20perfect sense. You yourselves know. They knew, but they didn't understand the significance.

21:26Why is that important he did those things? They knew it, but they just didn't know why it

21:30was important. So he reminds them, we saw it. We were there. We were eyewitnesses.

21:35I'm telling you because I saw firsthand this stuff. They took him and they hung him on

21:41a tree. You remember what that means to hang on a tree? It means to be cursed by God. The

21:49Jews looked at him as a criminal and even Pilate washed his hands of the whole thing and said,

21:53you take him and do what you want with him. Looked at him as a criminal, one who was cursed

21:57by God. How could I follow one that is a criminal cursed by God? No, it was important that he

22:04hung on the tree. If he wouldn't have hung on the tree, we wouldn't have salvation. He needed

22:09to hang on the tree. He was not a curse of God. He was blessed by God, the anointed one

22:13of God. Galatians, Paul tells him this, but the law is not a faith. Rather, the one who does

22:21them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse

22:26for us. We were cursed because we were sinners. He was not a sinner yet. He took that curse

22:33upon himself. Or it is written, cursed is everyone who was hanged on a tree so that in Christ Jesus,

22:40the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. That's you and me so that we might receive the

22:47promised spirit through faith. He is important that he hung on a tree. Richard Melnick said,

22:57God chose to appease himself by hanging on the tree. That's my commentary. Since he was the only one

23:03qualified to satisfy his nature, if justice were to be done, he had to do it. He was under no obligation

23:10to act as he did. God's sacrifice was an act of mercy. For God so loved the world that he gave his

23:21only son. Whoever believes in him, not perish, but have everlasting eternal life. He alone acted for us

23:32to appease his own wrath, poured it out on the sun so you and I don't have to experience it.

23:39The cross then represents these two aspects of God's nature, his forgiveness and his justice,

23:49and they go hand in hand. He appeased himself by the sacrifice and offers just,

23:55he offers then forgiveness to all who will believe.

24:00So after the sermon, well, actually what's unique to the sermon is he talks about Jesus after his

24:06resurrection, which is unique, and says that he is appointed to be the judge of the living and the

24:10dead. So this Jesus whom hung on a tree which you call cursed is the one who's going to judge the

24:16living and the dead. 2 Peter 4.1, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to

24:21judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom. If you're going to stand before a

24:26judge, stand before a judge acquitted, not guilty.

24:29So he's moving from coming judgment, repentance, and forgiveness in Jesus' names, and all of a sudden,

24:38sermon's over. It's done. What do you mean? Look at verse 44.

24:44While Peter was still saying these things, in the middle maybe of a sentence,

24:49the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. Cut the sermon off.

24:54And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed. They were beside

25:00themselves. Why? Why? What amazed them so much? Because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out

25:06even on Gentiles. On Gentiles? On those unclean people? The Holy Spirit's poured out on them?

25:15Wow. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and unknown languages and extolling God,

25:22appraising God. It was a visible manifestation that the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit.

25:29Then Peter declared, can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have been, who have

25:34received the Holy Spirit just as we have, we Jews? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of

25:40Jesus. And they asked him to remain for some days, which means he went in and ate with them.

25:44Now, here's God's grace. The Holy Spirit acts and sealed the event even before Peter was finished

25:53preaching. Repentance and forgiveness had already taken place. Hey, if any time you feel God talking to

26:02your heart and you're going to repent and believe the gospel, you may stand up in this service and say,

26:06God has saved me and I will stop preaching for a moment. I love that. He's in the middle of

26:12preaching his sermon and all of a sudden, I got to stop because God's at work here. I wouldn't mind

26:17that at all. The believing Gentiles began speaking in unknown languages, languages they had never learned.

26:25And the Jews present go, oh, that's just like Pentecost. That's just like Pentecost. When we Jews who were

26:33believers spoke in unknown languages, 19 unknown languages on the day of Pentecost, it's just like

26:38Pentecost. But the Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit? The speaking in tongues in the book of Acts

26:45only happens three times in the whole book. Three times the day of Pentecost. So we have Jews who were

26:51already believers when the Spirit is poured out on the day of Pentecost. Here with Cornelius who were

26:56Gentiles who came to faith and the Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles and they spoke in tongues.

27:02And then in Acts 19, we have some Hellenistic non-believing Jews who come to faith in Jesus

27:08and they speak in tongues. Only three times in the book of Acts do we see speaking in tongues.

27:14These are the only three times where the speaking in unknown languages occurred.

27:18And it amazed the Jewish believers. The Gentiles? What's interesting later on when Peter recounts

27:26this event, the speaking in the unknown languages was not really that important to him.

27:30The mode of expression of the Spirit. That wasn't really important. In fact, he didn't even talk

27:35about that. He talked about the fact that the Spirit came. Acts chapter 11.

27:40As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning, at Pentecost.

27:47And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be

27:50baptized with the Holy Spirit. He doesn't even mention speaking in tongues. That wasn't the important

27:54thing. The important thing was that the Spirit has come to the Gentiles because they have believed.

27:58And this event then could be called a Gentile Pentecost.

28:02A Gentile Pentecost.

28:05So in the book of Acts, which is a tough book because it's a transitional book,

28:09and things don't happen the same way each time in the book of Acts.

28:13They aren't normative practices. They just happen and then it doesn't happen here and then it happens

28:18here and it doesn't seem to be a normative practice. Later on in the book of the New Testament,

28:22it's fleshed out what it looks like. But here in the book of Acts, the coming of the Holy Spirit

28:31is pictured after baptism. But here it's pictured before they were baptized.

28:40And sometimes in the Samaritans, they didn't speak in tongues at all.

28:43So it's not even mentioned at all with the Samaritans.

28:46So it seems like the order sometimes is a little bit different in the book of Acts.

28:49It's not always the same. That's why the book of Acts is not a normative book.

28:55There were many believing Jews that still had a problem with him going to see the Gentiles.

29:00The Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles and they're not even circumcised.

29:03They're not even real Jews. Yeah, because God has always intended for the nations to hear the gospel.

29:09He didn't baptize them. You notice that? He commanded someone else to baptize.

29:12You go baptize them. So he gave the authority. The church has the authority to baptize.

29:16And he said, you go baptize. Peter didn't even do it.

29:19They weren't baptized to be saved. They were baptized because they were saved.

29:22And the evidence that they're saved of repentance and forgiveness

29:25was that the Spirit fell on them, was poured out on them.

29:29Later, as we look at the New Testament, the normative practice seems to be,

29:32as we go through the New Testament, a person hears the word of the gospel,

29:37repents and believes the gospel message.

29:39At that moment they believe, the Holy Spirit seals them into the day of redemption.

29:44Following that, they are baptized, immersed in water.

29:47And lastly, they assemble themselves in a local assembly to grow up in the faith.

29:50That seems to be the normative practice in the book of the New Testament when we look at it.

29:57So now he stays with them.

29:59And that would imply table fellowship with the Gentiles.

30:02But that's not a problem anymore for Peter.

30:06It's not a problem.

30:07He's not going to show partiality any longer.

30:09He's not going to do it.

30:11F. Stagg wrote,

30:12Another obstacle has been overcome in the ever-widening scope of Christian mission.

30:17The barrier of national and racial particularism and separatism,

30:21the barrier of prejudice that looks down on others as unclean is now broken.

30:27The Jews are not to look at the Gentiles any longer as unclean, unworthy of the gospel message.

30:34God has desired from the beginning for all nations to worship him.

30:38Israel forgot this and did not take God's word to the Gentile world.

30:42They didn't go into the world because they were afraid they would become of it.

30:46Listen to what Paul said to the Roman Christians about this very thing,

30:49that God had desired the nations to know him from the beginning, not just the Jews.

30:54Romans 15, he's speaking about to the Gentiles there in the church of Rome.

31:02For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised, that's the Jews,

31:06to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.

31:11So he came into the world through the Jewish ethnicity, through the Jews,

31:17came into the world and promises were given through the patriarchs of the Messiah who was going to come.

31:22He came to fulfill those promises.

31:25And then verse 9 says,

31:28In order, in order that, why?

31:30In order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

31:34As it is written,

31:36Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.

31:40This is a faithful Jew among the Gentiles.

31:44You have to go out among the Gentiles to praise God among the Gentiles.

31:49That's what God intended.

31:50And again, the second passage out of the Old Testament,

31:54Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.

31:58And the third, again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

32:01and let all the peoples extol him.

32:03These are from the Old Testament prophets and the Psalms and the law.

32:08And again, Isaiah says,

32:09The root of Jesse will come,

32:10even he who arises to rule the Gentiles,

32:14and him will the Gentiles hope.

32:16And he picks up verse 13,

32:18May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing,

32:21so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

32:25These four Old Testament passages show us God desired the nations to know him

32:30from the beginning, not just the Jews.

32:34And the first one is the Psalm of David,

32:36a righteous Jew praising God among the Gentiles,

32:40in the midst of the Gentiles.

32:42So that's the Psalm of David.

32:43The second one comes from the law,

32:45the song of Moses under the law,

32:47and that's the Gentiles rejoicing with righteous Jews.

32:51So the Gentiles are among the righteous Jews rejoicing.

32:55The third one is the unknown author in the Psalms.

32:58The Gentiles are to praise and exalt the Lord themselves,

33:01not with the Jews, but themselves.

33:03And the last one is from Isaiah the prophet,

33:06and the Gentiles hope in the Messiah.

33:08So what do we see here?

33:09The law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms,

33:12the entire witness of the totality of the Old Testament

33:14pointed to the fact that God wanted the Gentiles to know him as well.

33:19And they had forgotten.

33:21It's easy for us to forget that God wants all to know.

33:25We'll all get saved?

33:26No, we know that.

33:27But he wants all to know.

33:29We take that message no matter what they look like,

33:33how they smell, what they dress like.

33:35It makes no difference.

33:37God desires for all nations to hear the gospel.

33:40The goal of his revelation in Christ was to bring together in one body,

33:44both Jews and Gentiles,

33:45the new covenant people of God.

33:48We cannot show partiality.

33:51What God has made clean,

33:52we cannot call common.

33:54Let's pray.

33:55Father, thank you.

33:56What a tremendous event that the Gentiles now hear the gospel.

34:01And we're going to see with Paul and Barnabas

34:04that you're going to send them out to start churches all over the Gentile world.

34:08Now we can see the gospel moving to the Gentiles from this point forward.

34:13And we thank you because that message came from us because it went to the Gentile world.

34:18And we as Gentiles heard that message and we thank you for that.

34:22Father, help us not to adopt the view of the world that puts people in boxes and categories

34:28and says you're more valuable than you.

34:31Help us to break out of that.

34:34It is a human philosophy.

34:36It is not from you.

34:37You don't show partiality.

34:39I pray that you would allow us not to show partiality as well.

34:45Whom you have welcomed, we will welcome.

34:47And so I thank you, Father, that you're doing a great work.

34:51Thank you that you let us be part of it.

34:53We pray in Jesus' name.

34:54Amen.

Open To All — Acts 10:23b–48

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