Good New for All

Study Scripture: Acts 10: 34 – 47

Background Scripture: Acts 10: 1 – 48

Lesson 13       November 27, 2021

Key Verse

“Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him”

Acts 10:34-35

INTRODUCTION

Our Study will be a detailed one for it concerns the barriers to entry of some who want to enter the Kingdom of God. We unfortunately erect all kinds of barriers which make ourself appear to be superior to others. That often is what leads to the developments of cults with their rigid requirements which ignore what the Lord God is seeking from men. We pray that your personal Church heeds the stark warnings in this Lesson Study.

We all have heard and gotten excited about the promises and powerful statements of presidents, rulers, civil rights activists, television pundits, Hollywood power brokers, and popular actors and actresses about their assessment that many malignant barriers in our culture have been broken down and so we can celebrate a new day for the borders and barriers between black and white, Asian and Latinos, and first Nations people among others have been ripped apart in a major way. Many times you see crowds that are listening to these powerful speeches and promises and they are overjoyed.

Our lesson today though focuses on the work of the Holy Spirit which breaks down critically important barriers between Jews and Gentiles which man influenced by Satan and his demonic forces have erected.

There should be joy at understanding this, but sadly many have not paid sufficient attention to what God has done for this is the Ultimate Good News.

It is however alarming to consider the fact that even in these modern days when Christianity is over 2000 years old and Judaism has been around for a lot longer there has been relatively little progress in including people from a multitude of different social and economic classes, and religious backgrounds into the church of Jesus Christ though the Holy Spirit has been working for a very long time to build His congregation which would include not only Jews but also Gentiles from every corner of the world.

The fact is that there is a problem called prejudice, which has been eating away at the soul of man from the time man entered the Garden of Eden and became disobedience, like Satan challenging God’s sovereignty. Our Study will focus on the work of the Spirit in starting to erase this malignant tumor in human societies and so we will see how a prominent Apostle of Jesus Christ who had a powerful ministry dealt with this issue. But first let us define prejudice so that we can understand what people of God have always grappled with and what the Apostles of Jesus Christ also had to grapple with despite knowing the specific commandments given to Moses that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, and the explicit command of Jesus that the Gospel Good News had to be preached to every nation. So let us first define prejudice. One Dictionary tells us:

Prejudice: noun.

1. A. An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.

B. A preconceived reference or idea; bias.

2. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions.

3. Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion (or class or culture).

4. Detriment or injury caused to a person by the preconceived and unfavorable conviction of another or others—tr. Verb.

1. To cause (someone) to judge prematurely and irrationally: bias.

2. To affect injury seriously or detrimentally by some judgment or act.

(From, The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition, 1982 by Houghton Miffin C. Boston).

We must first note carefully that we are looking at a much longer story when we look at Acts 10. We will see how the officials of the early church in Jerusalem after much argument and some disagreement accepted that

“God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life”. (Acts 11:18).

It is therefore most important that we remember that God has taken the responsibility to bring people to knowledge of Christ, for it is only He who can give sight to a spiritually blind person. And remember also that the world, and that includes everyone, is blind spiritually from birth.

Today’s Lesson looks primarily at two men. The first was the Apostle Peter, a man who was willing to give his life for his Lord and be obedient to Jesus instructions to the disciples to come together in Jerusalem and await the coming of the Holy Spirit so that they will be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

When the Spirit came at Pentecost Peter clearly did not yet understand the full meaning of Jesus’s words when he said to the assembled Jews on that Feast day as he explained what was happening to the disciples:

“For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself” Acts 2:39.

He might have known that Philip had baptized an Ethiopian eunuch recorded in chapter 8, who because of his physical defect of castration would not be eligible to become a full member of the Jewish community. But we know that the eunuch was baptized

at his request without any reluctance by Philip the evangelist.

Now let us look closely at Peter’s mental state. He was spreading the Word of God directly being totally dependent on the Spirit and he had traveled extensively. He has been called to Joppa from Lydda to raise up Tabitha a woman who had done a great deal of holy works. Peter had succeeded in raising Tabitha from the dead and so we know he was coming off a big win, doing something that was unparalleled since the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth. So when Peter reached Caesarea he probably had a bit of a entourage with him and he was feeling very good about himself. That is understandable.

The Spirit had to shock him in realizing God’s plan and God’s truth.

The other key person in our Study was named Cornelius the centurion in the most elite Roman military establishment.

He was a ‘good man’, he was devout, but nevertheless, he was a pagan. The admirable difference with him however, was that he was a pagan seeking to know the true God.

Note that one sign of ‘good soil’ is that these kinds of people, such as the Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch, are seeking with a true heart to know the true God, and will be eagerly obeying the truth they already have.

There are many seekers who follow after ‘knowledge’, but they do not even obey the values that they know, or behave ethically even according to the standards of the world.

One writer makes one related truth abundantly and unmistakably clear:

“You see, the test of whether a man is really obeying the truth and doing good is to offer him Christ. If that man is good, in the sense that God recognizes, then he will eagerly receive Christ. If he is only a respectable sinner, trying to appear good, he will reject the offer of grace….Jesus Christ is the crisis of human history, and God ultimately weighs everyone in relationship to him.”

There is another extremely important matter to be considered as it is directly relevant to people who consider themselves to be followers of Christ. This one concerns the prejudices of persons already in the body of Christ. God had to speak to the Apostle Peter from Heaven; to force him to confront his prejudices, to learn what he did not already know, to make him realize that even though he had already been speaking for God, there was still much to learn about the plan and purposes of God which plan incidentally, had already been spoken of in Scripture.

When we consider the later statement of Peter on this matter of prejudice it is to be noted that nowhere in Scripture was it commanded that a Jew must not associate with Gentiles. There was however a command not to intermarry with them and to engage in idolatrous worship with them for that was dangerous and destructive to their relationship with the God of Israel. The no-association practise which developed however came from their manmade tradition which made Jews antagonistic to their role of bringing Gentiles to their God.

The call to be inclusive therefore was not then and is not now a call to adopt pagan practises or engage in pagan worship and their demonic rituals, for the God of Israel and Christians is not the same as the gods of the pagans and the god of the modern deviationists and cult movements.

We might clearly consider this story as involving the healing of Peter.

It should be pointed out that the events of Chapter 10 and the section we study now has been stretched by manmade tradition to give approval to eat any kind of food, something Peter’s vision did not teach him for he clearly stated the truth his vision intended to teach him. Neither did his vision tell him to associate freely and without caution with unbelievers if he did not intend to carry the message of the Gospel to them under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Peter’s argument with the Lord at the vision of the sheet does not indicate he was rude or rebellious to the Lord’s instruction or he was making a blunder. The vision was intended to teach him the great lesson and some truth that the Gospel was now to go to the Gentiles, and that Gentiles were being received on the same grounds that Jewish people were being received. He saw its meaning very quickly.

He certainly was no fool and was not rebellious to his Lord.

Also related to this is the need for believers to dwell in unity if the Church is to fulfill its calling and represent Christ in the world.

We must be clear that the Scriptures do not speak about an external, organized, arranged union of believers, put together on the assumption that this kind of ecumenical union can bring about the numbers necessary to influence society and to change the world.

But this is really a manufactured unity, a semblance of unity. This is constructed out of human effort. It is an attempt to replace the true unity given by God to His people. We can call this “The Spirit of Unity”.

The unity spoken of by Scripture is something spiritual and godly, produced by God and maintained by God. It is “Unity of the Spirit”, and in this unity there is a body that is more than an organization, for its members share one mutual life. 

This is totally different from the “Spirit of Unity”. Truth cannot have fellowship with error.

The Apostle Paul has defined this Scriptural “Unity” for us in Ephesians 4:4-6:

“There is one body, and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

This seven-fold unity is altogether around the three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit.

In the collection of verses to be studied, an early glance indicates a new phase of the Christian church, specifically, the opening of the door of faith to the Gentiles on a large scale.  In times past when Gentiles were preached to and they believed, they might have been circumcised, baptized, and become proselytes to the Jewish religion, i.e. completely become part of the Jewish culture and life. 

The Gospel of Christ had before this incident not been actively aimed at Gentiles.  The gospel would have primarily been preached to Jews, and then to the Samaritans. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus had laid out how His Church would be built, and accordingly the disciples had faithfully laboured in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. Now it was God’s time to bring salvation to the Gentiles.

THE LOCATION OF OUR LESSON EVENT

Joppa was a city built 30 miles away by Herod the Great and named after Augustus Caesar.  Caesarea at the time was considered a chief seaport of Palestine and the Roman capital along with being the military headquarters.

In this incident when the Gospel is first said to have gone out to a Gentile household, we are told about a man by the name of Cornelius.  He was a centurion and leader of one section or one hundred men in the collection of special troops for Rome, called the Italian band.  This regiment consisted of all native Romans or Italians and would be especially loyal to Rome. This cohort or regiment was comprised of six hundred men, and probably served as the bodyguard to the Roman procurator who reside there, as well as storm troopers to deal with the fractious Jewish population. The records tell us that there were only thirty- two such Italian regiments in the Roman empire, so we know that Cornelius was one of the leaders in the most elite structure of the powerful and feared Roman army.

The door had been opened by Jesus to a group of fishermen to spread the gospel.  Now that same door is opening to another group of individuals, Gentiles, through a centurion.  Both occupations are different in many respects, but both fishermen and soldiers were tough-minded men, especially suited to spread the Gospel when they made up their minds that that Gospel was what they had always been seeking.

To properly understand the Good News we have to go back to the very beginning when God created the things on the earth and populated it with animals and man. But things didn’t stay well for Adam and Eve for they ate the food that they were not supposed to eat and this created a rift between them and God. Their relationship with God went into a state of peril and the entire creation was affected and things spiralled downward and got really bad so that God stated that He regretted that He made people. But God called Noah and his family, put them in the Ark and saved humanity. But then that didn’t work either to stop the slide into sin. Things got so bad that God grabbed Abraham and made a Covenant with him to make him into a great nation and through him all the nations of the world and the earth would be blessed. But even that did not stop the slide into degradation by humanity and by the time of Jeremiah Israel’s history had gotten to so low a point that God forced them into exile. After that He allowed a small amount of the people of Israel to return to the Land. But things even then were not so great and people could only look for the coming of Messiah. Things had gotten to a very bad state again that there were 400 years of silence from God. Then Jesus was born.

Remember therefore that humanity has had a checkered history and kept sliding downward. Even the nation of Israel did not live up to their promise. They have forgotten the plan of God and what God had for them and the nations when they examined that extremely important promise to Abraham.

So eventually Jesus came, lived, taught died on the Cross and then was taken up into Heaven leaving behind His disciples and Apostles to spread His message.

So let us not be surprised that the history of the work of the disciples of Jesus has not really been a stellar history. The Church today is as far from God as the nation of Israel was even though they now have the teachings of the Bible and the active presence of the Holy Spirit. But that simply points us to the fact and strengthens our knowledge that God is a God of mercy and kindness and He knows how weak and frail human beings are despite their assurance of the many promises. So here is Peter.

On the day of Pentecost he spoke about the promises to Abraham but he didn’t really understand fully. So God had to teach him a lesson.

Our Study today therefore deals with the meeting of Peter and Cornelius. This meeting was extremely important for it laid the groundwork for our salvation. Just remember therefore that if there was no meeting between Peter and Cornelius we Gentiles would not have existed except God developed another way. But this was God’s plan and we should be happy about it.

The Bible only records details about Cornelius that showed he was worthy of the highest respect.  He was named as a devout man, and one that ‘feared God’ with his entire house.

This term ‘one who feared God’ was used to refer to the particular class of people who visited one of the many Jewish synagogues built by Jews in the Dispersion. These Gentiles, or “God-fearers” would go to the synagogue, listen to the readings, songs, and prayers, and since they would not be able to go the Temple, have access to priests, and participate in the sacrifices, would concentrate on worship and study of the Scriptures.

Note that Cornelius, a member of an elite Roman army unit, an Italian himself, would have grown up in a pagan culture, with all its multitude of gods and goddesses and in that culture would have been required to worship Caesar as god.

But despite the requirements of his culture and his position, he was spiritually troubled, and had come to realize that Roman paganism was empty. He had turned away from the nonsense of the world.

He was, like many of the “God-fearers”, attracted to Judaism, fascinated by this God who rescued His people and gave them good laws and sent them prophets who taught wisdom of the highest ethical and moral worth. But like the other “God-fearers” he was not a convert to Judaism, that is, a proselyte.

But he obviously had a real relationship with God. He was a hard military man, one who knew how to give and to take orders, not a person to be trifled with at all.

He was different from many men. He was devout, no idolater or worshipper of false gods. He was sincere, determined and a man of prayer. The fact that he was a Gentile didn’t lessen his fervor for serving God.

But note that though the Bible endorses him as

-A good man, a man of good character,

-One who it seems had abandoned heathenism and turned his life over to God,

-Having a good understanding about who he was (in relation to God’s will), and how he was to operate within God’s will,

-Serving the God of Israel, despite being a Roman, or Gentile,

-Acting in a manner that was admirable and commendable, as evidenced by his soldiers who followed him,

-Giving quite liberally to the people, displaying charity and one can say love or compassion to his fellow man, and specially the Jewish people, a people that he didn’t really belong to,

-In constant communication with God, always praying

He was still unregenerate, he was not yet saved, and he was not yet born again.

The Spirit of God has clearly revealed that Cornelius was an admirable person. This revelation teaches us that these characteristics are not the same as eternal life, but if they are present, they indicate that the heart is hungry and open to receive Christ. They are a prelude to eternal life.

Some today seem to think that to be acceptable to God all one needs is to be religious, sincere, live a clean, moral life, to be generous, and to pray. There are probably many people in the world today, who are upright, moral and generous, but this does not matter unless it leads to accepting Christ, for it is only in Him that there is eternal life.

Note however that those who fear God are characterized by generosity to those in need, especially to those of the household of God. Those who are mean, stingy and unhelpful should repent.

Note the answer that now comes to the question that non-Christians always ask about what happens to those who have never heard of Jesus Christ.

When a man believes that God exists, and is obedient to the light that he already has, God being responsible and faithful, will always give that seeker, that person, more light, and lead that person to the place where he will find Jesus. This is what happened in the case of Cornelius. 

Cornelius was a wise and disciplined man and he kept up his stated times of prayer. It was during one such time that he had a vision, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The Text does not indicate that he was in any special trance, induced or otherwise by special means, or that he was dreaming, but indicates that he was completely awake, and that in this vision, he was himself, interacting with an angel sent from God, with a message for him.

History records it was customary for devout individuals to be at prayer at this time, because in the Temple the great evening sacrifice was being offered. He was focused on worshipping God at the same time as the other saints, while others were engaged in business and their own conversation.

It was during this time of prayer that the angel of God came in to him, and called out his name.  Usually when someone wishes you to be at ease they call your name especially to engage in conversation.  The angel would seem to be extending this consideration to Cornelius.

 When Cornelius looked on the angel his response was typical.  He was afraid.  Most people (devout men or women) serving God, when they meet up with angels, they have this reaction.  Some even fall to the ground and are unable to move without the angel giving them some kind of assurance that all is well.  By the response of Cornelius, he was at this point.

Cornelius’ ears were tuned to God, and when the angel appeared and spoke to him, he responded with a healthy fear and respect for the person who was before him.  Clearly, Cornelius was able to recognize that this was no ordinary person before him.  Joshua (Joshua 5:14) and Samuel (I Samuel 3:10) echoed similar responses to angels, which had messages for them.  All were ready to hear the voice of the messenger.

This hardened soldier was hoping to hear from God, as should all believers, and he responded in instant obedience and humbly answered, beautifully and without reservation.

The angel responded by alleviating his fears that a pronouncement of doom was destined for him.  The angel told him that his prayers and alms have come up to God, and that God had taken favorable notice. Cornelius heard the message about what the gospel entailed and strove to fulfill it.  His actions were not borne out of a desire to be praised, but to please a God that even some of whom the message was originally intended for did not serve.  To that end he prayed and gave openly and willingly to those in need, regardless of faith, creed or citizenship. His actions were those of a man full of faith.

So God assured him that he was indeed walking well in the light that he already had, and that his spiritual offerings had been graciously accepted by God, and had been a blessing to those who had received his help. God thereby made it clear to Cornelius that he knew his name and his heart; that it was known that he honestly had been seeking God and his constant hunger for God and for his righteousness.

Certainly we know from this that God is very aware of those who fear him, and His eyes go to and fro throughout the earth to prove himself strong on behalf of those who seek him.

God knows all those who must be saved. We know, as Hebrews 11:6 tells us:

“ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Cornelius was drawing near to God, and God was drawing near to him, and his reward was eternal life.

No man or woman on earth therefore needs to fear that God will not hear his or her cry. So we call on men, and encourage them to call on God with an honest heart, for when they do, God will hear and draw near to them. 

Let us be careful to learn to see those who are showing the signs that they are drawing near to God. We must never allow prejudice of any sort to blind our eyes. We must ask God to cure our blindness, so that we can see them. When we see them we must witness to them and draw them close to us, not rejecting them because they do not look, smell, dress, behave, or seem to be like us. God knows their heart.

When we see them we must take them toward the truth that we have, and not send them away to be part of those who do not accept the full gospel of God. We cannot afford to have them trapped into error. Our fellowship is one of truth, and we must draw those to that light that we have.

Angels are not commissioned to preach the gospel, men and women like us are the ones commissioned to witness. So the angel instructed Cornelius to send men to fetch Peter, who would witness to him about the ways of salvation. We note the fact that the Gospel of Jesus is great and honourable, and only beings like angels can show the great honour that belongs to this Gospel. The honour of carrying this Gospel to the world is placed on the shoulders of all the saints, the small and the ‘great’, without exception. The ever-faithful angels are there to help and direct us and the faithful and willing witnesses for God should prepare to carry the Gospel at the direction of God.

The directions of the angel were clear and specific. It would not be too difficult to find the house or place of business of a man whose occupation was tanning hides. a understanding man, and would not despise him a Gentile. Peter was God’s chosen instrument and he would give him all the instructions that God wanted his believers to have. Such was the critical nature of apostolic instruction.

The angel no sooner departed that the disciplined, eager, and happy Cornelius sent two of his most trusted household servants, and his right-hand man, a soldier, to go and fetch Peter. Cornelius did not delay or dispute. There was immediate obedience.

Note the nature of his servants. He had surrounded himself with those whose hearts were also turned toward God. He could tell them everything that had happened, and they too responded in obedience.

So how would Peter respond to a new unpleasant but serious assignment? God began to speak to Peter himself, to prepare him for his great task. His preparation was recorded in 10:9-20.

He had a task to do, just as he had been given tasks to witness to the Jews, then the Samaritans and now to the Gentiles.

We can wonder if Peter would have gone with these Gentile messengers from a battle hardened soldier devoted to Rome, a nationalist like Cornelius, if the Spirit had not so prepared him for that mission.

God had prepared Peter by using him to help bring the half-Jews, the Samaritans into the church. He had made him willing to lodge with the ceremonially unclean Simon the Tanner. Peter would have remembered the experience of another devout Jew named Jonah who had been instructed to go and witness to the horribly cruel Gentile men of Nineveh and who had instead taken a ship to Joppa to escape doing what God wanted him to do.

Peter had been perplexed about the meaning of the vision, but now he knew that it was not really about food, as he later stated, but about accepting the commission to witness directly to Gentiles.

It was not then difficult for him to invite the Gentile messengers to stay overnight in the house, contrary to Jewish custom and tradition. He was ready to entertain them as friends.

He obeyed the voice of the Spirit

“Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing for I have sent them”.

The lesson for us is clear.

Notice Peter’s exercise of wisdom. He did not go alone to meet Cornelius for this kind of meeting was something that was unheard of in the Jewish community. This meeting could destroy Peter’s reputation and split the still Jewish church in two. The fact that the Holy Spirit was directing Peter on a certain part would not be sufficient to persuade everyone in the early church.

The next morning Peter and the Gentile messengers and six of the Jewish brethren (Acts 11:12) walked the 32 miles to Caesarea. Watch this incredible scene. One writer explains that this was an extraordinary walk by two natural enemies

“The Jews hated the Romans because they had to live under an occupying army, pay taxes to Caesar, carry their bags if commanded, suffer cruel treatment daily, fight continually to keep their temple and Jerusalem fee of Roman idols and symbols, and watch many of their brothers suffer the cruel punishment of being publicly beaten and crucified.

The Jews looked on the Romans as less than animals, and so unclean that if they touched one in the street they would be considered unclean themselves and would have to ruch home and wash.

And no Jew would be found in the home of a Gentile, let alone a Roman soldier. Nor would a Jew be found praying with Gentiles in the temple because of the “middle wall of partition”; Gentiles faced the threat of death if they sought to cross it in order to enter the Jewish section…

The Jews thought they were God’s favoured people because they had descended from Abraham..

But on the other side of the coin, the Romans couldn’t stand the arrogant Jews and their religious sensitivity, their religious laws, and the crowds at the times of feasts in Jerusalem which could turn into a riot in a minute.

So in the midst tense social and religious climate, two natural enemies were about to meet”.

Cornelius along with his relatives and friends waited expectantly.

As Peter entered the house Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped. This was unheard of. It was unreal. No one would dream of a Roman doing that to anyone. But it showed the deep spiritual hunger of Cornelius and his faith in the words of the angel of God.

This must have shocked Peter but to his credit he immediately told the obviously intensely spiritually hungry Cornelius who clearly had a lot to learn about the true God, that he should stand up for he Peter was only a man. Peter helped the man stand up on his feet.

Note at this point that God’s grace, which some called common grace, operates as the Spirit speaks to all men to convict all of sin, righteousness, and the judgment. God sends His grace, including His rain, on the just and on the unjust.

Cornelius was a man of admirable character and practise and he would put many of us to shame by how he behaved. But note that he was not saved though he knew that there was a God, feared God, prayed constantly, and was generous in helping others, developing a great reputation for well doing. He was seeking to know the LORD and the Spirit was working on him, but he was not saved despite what he had been doing all along. The Spirit had to put in his heart a longing to know God and then act to take him to salvation.

Remember therefore that simply because you are a lovely person in looks and in your deeds, and are experiencing material blessing and status, that does not mean you are saved. You might appear to be “good” by human standards but that is not enough. In the case of Cornelius it is recorded in chapter 11:14 the angel told Cornelius that he should send for Peter

“Who shall tell thee words, whereby you and your house shall be saved”.

The point at which Cornelius and his house and friends would be saved would now come shortly as the Spirit had prepared their hearts.

We pray that the Spirit will similarly prepare your hearts for without that work there can be no salvation.

Peter now clearly had the task of showing Cornelius that there was a great difference between men, even if they were God’s messengers, and God Himself. He entered the room and saw the assembled group of Cornelius’ relatives and friends and showed them that it was his God that had sent him to speak to them about Him.

He reminded the group that Jewish custom had forbidden him to be with them, but that God had showed him that he should not regard any man as common or unclean. God had showed him that this Jewish tradition was not backed up by Scripture.

God had spoken to him about that matter and therefore without any argument or delay he had come to the Cornelius house to find out what he could do for that company.

In Verses 30-32. Cornelius explained to Peter, the 6 Jewish companions of Peter, and the rest of the group, that he had been fasting, and praying at the ninth hour and a man in bright clothing appeared, stood before him, and told him his prayers had been heard by God, and that his alms giving had been recognized by God as something of substance and importance.

He therefore should send to Joppa, go to the specific house by the seaside owned by Simon the tanner, and there Simon Peter would be found. He should be brought to Caesarea to speak the words of God to them.

The Lord had sent Peter. The angel had instructed Cornelius to send for Peter. Peter had come and that was well done.

Cornelius pointed out that his party was now present before God to hear all the things that God had commanded them.

What then are we to speak? What did Peter speak?

The Cornelius party was not there to hear a man speak, to make friends with him, to hear him say things to increase their self-esteem, to make some personality adjustment, or say only what he felt. They wanted to hear what God had to say.

THE TEXT

Verses 34-35. In this first preaching about Jesus to a Gentile audience Peter first makes it clear that he has learned that God does not show partiality and he will receive any person from any race, social class or background for it does not make any difference to God for He is impartial. God is not going to provide more to one rather than to another and God does not care whether you’re capitalist or communist or socialist for He will accept all that come to faith in Him and surrendered to His leading. Whatever is offensive to God in any culture must be jettisoned.

It is to be noted that Peter is talking to Gentiles because the Gospel had been generally restricted to Jewish people who believed, for the early church was a Jewish church and not a Gentile Christian church. So this in a sense is the day of Pentecost for Gentiles.

In the original day of Pentecost most of those who responded to the promise of the Gospel were Jewish people. Most of the Jewish nation had not responded to the message of Jesus but now the Gospel is to go out to Gentiles to fulfill Abraham’s promise, for the promise to Abraham was that his name would be great, he would have a land, and that the Gentiles will be saved and receive the promises of Messiah.

It is important to know that Peter’s message is really a recital of facts

We must however not fool our self when Peter says that in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God that that is all God will ask of a person. This simply means that God looks at you and recognizes what you have on your heart and you are receptive in your attitudes. A person including Cornelius still needed a lot more. For even though we are attracted to God without Christ we’re still unregenerate and have no life in our heart. You still need redemption and salvation and you need Christ for that. Yet you are acceptable to God because when you turn to God it means that you are repentant and that is what God wants from everyone. So when you come to God with a humble heart the door will be opened to you to learn about the truth about Jesus Christ. That is the first part of the Good News, the Gospel.

Verse 36. But Peter made it clear that God had sent the word of salvation through Israel and so the preaching of the Good News of peace and grace was through Jesus Christ a member of the Jewish community. Jesus Christ was from Israel and is Lord of all and that is why this was done.

Peter therefore went back to the incarnation which was the event of the coming of Christ. Jesus came as a man but He did not come primarily to display His deity but to show us how God behaves and how man should behave the way that God intended him to behave when he was indwelt by God. His incarnation meant that God was reaching out to man in his weakness, his failure, and sinfulness to restore him because he had lost the Spirit of God.

Verse 37. The stress here is that Jesus is Lord. This runs completely counter to the Roman sense of superiority which they thought gave them the right to do whatever they wanted with nations including Israel. Cornelius and the other ones there knew very well what had happened in Judea.

They very well knew when Jesus came, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John the Baptist preached. The Roman overlords were not ignorant about Jesus and what He did.

Verse 38. They like everyone else knew that God the Father had anointed Jesus of Nazareth. He would have power. When He came He openly before witnesses dealt with the lostness and the disaffections of a world that had no hope and He set people free and took them out of the bondage that plagued fallen humanity

Jesus went about doing good during His messianic ministry and He did both physical and spiritual good. His ministry was to do good to people who were lost so when people came to Him and asked Him Lord please save me, which meant that they wanted Him to do good for them, Jesus worked and His work benefited them.

All those that were oppressed by Satan and the world were freed because Jesus operated in the power of God the Father.

Verse 39. The disciples and Apostles were witnesses of all that Jesus did through the land of Israel and Jerusalem. But instead of recognizing Him for the benefits He brought them they as predicted repaid His good works by hanging Him.

Crucifixion was the most horrible way to put somebody to death and Jesus was killed by this most shameful means possible. Cicero, the Roman orator commented about Crucifixion : “The cross is so terrible that it should not be mentioned in polite company”.

The Romans as well as the Jews knew very well that Jesus was not a criminal. Pilate the Roman governor testified to that. But in the sight of God Jesus didn’t die as a common criminal because Jesus was made to be sin for us though He knew no sin so that we can become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus died in such a way that He redeemed us from the curse of the law for the law had said, “Cursed is anyone that hangs on a tree”’.

Clearly then Jesus died on the Cross as an accursed sacrifice because He was dying for us, substituting for us since the curse was on us because of our continuous sinning.

Verse 40. But those people thought that they had gotten rid of Jesus even though they could not thwart the plan of God. God raised Him and gave Him authority.

This was no fake but an actual event. Peter said he was one of the witnesses who saw Him after Jesus rose from the dead so he knew that this was not some ghost or purely spiritual appearance. Jesus ate and drank with him after He was risen from the dead so Jesus clearly was there physically for only a body can eat and drink.

Jesus could not be defeated by men for God’s power was far greater than man’s and so Jesus broke the barriers of death. That Peter said was the good news of the Gospel. One writer tells the significance of this resurrection:

“Jesus Christ is the answer to death in every form, whatever it may be. Everything which creates hopelessness and despair in human life must yield to the power of this mighty Son of God”.

Another writer tells us what this resurrection also means:

“God raised him up on the third day and showed him openly. What an important point that is! That authenticates all that he did. It authenticates all that he said and every other claim, not consonant with the claims of Jesus Christ is thereby proved to be false. And anyone who follows after the leaders of today, who deny the teaching of the New Testament, have no ultimate authority for what they are following. Follow the Word of God. Follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He is have been authenticated by his resurrection from the dead”.

Verse 41. Jesus appeared not to unbelievers but to a certain group of people who God wanted as witnesses. These witnesses ate and drank with Jesus after He rose from the dead.

We should know that it’s quite natural that Jesus would appear to believers for unbelievers would not admit to the resurrection. The gospel writers tell us that even after the resurrection some of Jesus’ disciples did not believe that it was He that was risen from the dead. They doubted. We therefore know for a fact that there are unbelievers who will never change. These unbelievers have no intent to change and nothing will convince these unbelievers to change even if one arose from the dead and confronted them. They had even seen the power of Jesus and the good that He had done but that did not matter to them.

Verse 42. Peter continued his message pointing out that Jesus had commanded them to preach to the people pointing out to them that He was the messianic King and He had sovereign authority over all life. The Father had given Him the power to carry out judgment.

So one has to be careful to recognize that one cannot ignore God’s wrath. We know about the grace of God but we also know about the wrath of God which will come to all unbelievers.

Jesus notes as well no one will escape His judgment.

The good news had to go out to all men everywhere. The demand was it be preached to every living person that He was not dead but is alive and available to intercede for all men everywhere. He has ultimate control and is the only one that can solve the ultimate crisis. One writer warns:

“There is not one of us here this morning who ultimately is not going to confront Jesus Christ. He stands at the end of every path down which men go, and he waits there as the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. Therefore the most important question you will ever face in life is, “what do you do with Jesus of Nazareth? What have you done with him?”

Verse 43. This verse is aimed squarely at the Roman overlords. Peter is telling the centurion from the elite band, the band that was most loyal to Rome, that though they might not appreciate this fully everything that Jesus did was predicted by the prophets. Long before Jesus came to earth the prophets told what He would be like and what He would do and they wrote down everything. They wrote that the only way one could find forgiveness of sins was by believing in Jesus.

That was the great and glorious stress of the Gospel, the Good News that men had been given a way to be forgiven of their sins. Jesus came to provide and accomplish an atonement for each person and to give His life a ransom for many.

Never forget therefore that the Son of Man died for the ungodly and bore our sins in His own body. He is the propitiation for the sins of the world. So the apostle John could say later that he saw a Lamb as it had been slain.

So do not talk about Jesus Christ without talking about His atoning work for that is what Peter was preaching when he spoke about men receiving remission of sins.

Verses 44 to 48. Peter would undoubtedly have continued with a longer sermon just that he had given on the day of Pentecost. But the Holy Spirit knew the lines and hearts of the people standing in front of him and that was enough for God. The Spirit is always ahead of us and He proved that He was also well ahead of Peter working in the lives of Cornelius and his own house and friends long before Peter turned up. The Spirit was working to break down barriers long before Peter came.

So our big God acted while Peter was yet speaking the sermon that he probably had been putting together in his mind before he even reached Cornelius and after he met him, The Holy Spirit fell on the crowd and individuals suddenly broke out speaking in tongues and you can be sure the meeting was in an uproar.

Those of the circumcision, namely, the Jews that come with Peter from the church in Joppa, were astonished because the Gentiles were obviously experiencing the same thing that happened on the day of Pentecost when Jewish believers came to Christ.

The Gentiles drawn from the Army and their families which clearly would have been drawn from different parts of the Empire under the leadership of Cornelius spoke in tongues and magnified God.

Note that Jewish believers are present in Acts 5 and Acts 10 when the Spirit came on the Samaritans who were not even considered to be fully Jewish people. Now the Spirit came on the Romans who were not remotely close to being Jewish.

The eunuch requested baptism from Philip but now Peter asked the rhetorical question which could only be answered in one way, that is,  whether there was any way they could withhold water for baptism for these people who had received the Holy Spirit just as the Jews had done on the day of Pentecost.

CONCLUSION

It is important to note what makes you secure spiritual blessings. Chapter 10 disproves that water baptism does that. These people have not even been baptized yet and yet they had received the spiritual blessing of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Cornelius, his house, and his friends had repented, and repentance included belief. It included a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism therefore should be encouraged when you face unbelievers who have accepted that kind of commitment found in Cornelius for it is a testimony to the blessing that had occurred.

We also have to note that baptism follows the leading of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit says you must be baptized you should be baptized. If the Holy Spirit says you should not be baptized do not be baptized.

But we know from Scripture that when you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and your sins have been cleansed and thereby forgiven you are to be baptized.

Note that baptism immediately is the best time. It is only our foolishness and our feeling that big baptism events are valuable makes us put off baptism to make a big show of it. People might feel they should be baptized when they see others being baptized but it must only be when the Holy Spirit and not the flesh leads.

It is very important for one who comes to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be baptized immediately. Remember that after baptism there is much growth to be done and the Holy Spirit will lead that process.

The Spirit saw no need for Peter to finish his sermon. There was no need for them to put away the request for water baptism for the baptism of the Holy Spirit had already been done.

So let us learn from Peter and his experience. When you face unbelievers just tell them what God has done for your main job is to recount the actions of God. When they hear what God has done they can say nothing more and they will be silenced.

Remember therefore that faith rests on what God has done. Remind yourself and others around you about the activity of God for it is on that your faith must rest.

You now can be the instrumentality used by God to bring His word to “Good”, “Half-Good” or “Bad” or “Half-Bad” persons so that they will be saved.

The issue of allegiance to Christ as opposed to allegiance to the gods of this world requires that we make the choice to speak the Word of God to others so that the right choices will be made.

Peter’s sermon was most interesting and it had many truths about how God regards man. God is not partial. He requires holiness from all. God does not respect persons. Your family background, your colour, your education, your intellectual achievements or lack thereof, your beauty and strength or you lack of beauty or strength is not the critical factor for God’s salvation.

He seeks those whose heart is turned to Him, Those in every nation that fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.

As Peter was speaking the Holy Spirit fell on those Gentiles present Salvation had come.

It was God’s time to remove the middle wall of partition between two enemies. Peter would be taught that God was ready to bring Gentiles directly into His congregation.

What about you? If the Spirit sent you to an AIDS centre, a prison, a Rescue Mission, a Homeless Shelter, a Drug Centre, or on the streets where there are throwaway homeless people and likely homeless immigrants or refugees would you be so uncomfortable and would it be so distasteful that you would not go?

Now if the Spirit sent you to a glitzy Hollywood like event, an a glamorous political event filled with powerful people would you go or would you be afraid?

Put yourself in the position of Peter and make your choice, fully understanding the implications of your choice. Are you like the prophet Jonah or are you like the Apostle Peter?

Note however that these were obedient and devout Gentiles, not Gentiles who were not themselves prepared to obey the commandments of God. Those with hearts and ears turned to God must be welcomed, and brought to Him.

This does not give permission to unite with those who are not willing to follow the light.

But here we see God acting to remove prejudice from the hearts of believers.

We can define “prejudice” as

“An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.”

Prejudice is not what God wants in the hearts of believers. It is a sin. Unfortunately, the professing Christian church has been plagued with this sin for many centuries, and it still continues.

We can only do what is right if the Spirit leads us.

Let that be our motto. Let us like Peter meditate on the issues with which we are faced, and not jump to our own interpretations and conclusions, which will invariable miss the true meaning of the Spirit’s instructions.

Peter was perplexed, and he thought deeply and the Spirit led him to the proper interpretation. It was made clear to him that people of God are not to be considered as common or unclean.

It would be much better for those who want to apply Peter’s vision as giving them permission to eat whatever they want to eat,

to instead focus on the “no prejudice to other men of God”

A teaching of the vision:

But alas, that error-laden interpretation is easier to follow and to maintain, than the correct teaching. Men are quite willing to eat what they want even though the command of God warns against that. But they will always refuse to accept God’s children, even if God has commanded that that is what should be done.

Note that God will do His work in His time. His providence cannot be overridden.

He knows all His sheep by name.

Encourage those you meet to call on God for mercy, for He will surely guide. Do everything to assure those you might never meet to understand that if they follow the light they have, and seek after God with all their heart, God will bring them more light and lead them to the truth that is in Jesus Christ.

The messengers of God, the angels, are always ready to help the people of God. They know His voice, and will respond to Him when He calls.

Those who do not hear and obey the voice of God might not really be His. Isaiah in chapter 8 9-22 warns the people of God that there are powerful enticers in the world, who seek to turn the people away from their true God.

Let us be careful of strange interpretations that resist the interpretation that the Apostle Peter put on his vision. Isaiah 8:20 warns

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”