FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF VILLA RICA, PCA

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Peter Reports on The Inclusion of Gentiles

By

Todd W. Allen

Villa Rica 6/8/03

Acts 11: 1-18  

The Word quickly spread back to Jerusalem that

Peter had gone to the house of Cornelius. By the time he returned to Jerusalem a criticism developed against him.

I. The Criticism Against Peter Exposes The Mind-Set Of Judaism That Existed Under the Mosaic Covenant  

A. Judaism as a religious system was intended to be temporary until the coming of Christ. The book of

Hebrews makes this abundantly clear. Heb. 8:7-10 7For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8For-finding fault with them, He says,

     “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD,     WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT

     WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; 9     NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS  ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT;      FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT,     AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD.10     “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:

     I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS,    AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS.    AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

Heb. 8:12-13 12  “FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES,    AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.” 13When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.     

            The time has now come for the old covenant to disappear and Peter is the apostle God chose to commence the inclusion and calling of the Gentiles.

B. It is not surprising that Jewish believers would question Peter's action. After all, the implications of what he had done struck at the very heart of Judaism. Peter taking upon himself to lower the standards of the Mosaic covenant by eating with the uncircumcised and treating Gentiles as equals with Jews flew in the face of all Jewish tradition and training under the Mosaic covenant. This early contention against Peter was to surface again. It would become especially prominent and vicious against the apostle Paul. Actually, the stubbornness and obstinacy of the Christian Circumcision Party and Judaism in general against including the Gentiles into the Church of Christ without at least requiring circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic covenant, was what widened the rift between Paul and the Jews and which eventually sealed the doom of the entire system of Judaism. Christ had said it well -- Luke 5:36 -39  “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. 38“But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39“And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’” Luke 5:36-39.

This parable speaks to this very problem of Jews converting out of Judaism into the new and better Priesthood of Christ. It also explains why it is so difficult to win a person from a religion that he has embraced to hear the gospel and begin following Christ.

II.   Differences Between The Mosaic Covenant And The New Covenant Were Dramatically underscored By The Outpouring Of The Holy Spirit Upon The Gentiles.

1. Peter yielded his Judaism indoctrination and tradition only after he had witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the Gentiles speaking in tongues at the house of Cornelius upon the Gentiles. Acts 11:16 -17 ¹⁶“And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷“Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”    

B. We might at this time comment on the meaning of the gift of tongues. Paul says in 1 Cor. 14:21-22  ²¹In the Law it is written, “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord.  ²²So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.     

This is a reference to Isaiah 28:11, Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

It may be missed by some people that the gift of tongues was to be a witness to unbelieving Jews of the enlargement of the children of God to include all nations. As he said to Abraham, in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Gen 12:3).

The Word of God makes plain that the sign of tongues will not convince unbelieving Jews of the new covenant or as I like to characterize it, the new economy of the New Testament and the international character of the Church of God, but the sign certainly leaves them without excuse.

C. Peter's simple explanation of what had happened at the house of Cornelius silenced the criticism of the Circumcision Party, at least for the time being. v. 18.

III.  The Church Of Jesus Christ Is The Church Of The Open Door.

A. The only conclusion that can be reached from the account of Peter's vision and Cornelius' vision and the plain interpretation of them by the apostle Peter, plus the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the Gentiles, is that God is no respecter of persons and that all men are freely invited to partake of the Gospel offer without discrimination. It is God's intention to have in the family of God men from every tongue and tribe and nation of the earth. The Jews were once the only special people of God but no more. 

Later Paul explained to the Gentile believers in Ephesus: Eph. 2:11-22 ¹¹Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— ¹²remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, ¹⁵by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, ¹⁶and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. ¹⁷And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; ¹⁸for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, ²⁰having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, ²¹in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

            Eph. 3:4-6 4By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,

B. The gift of God in Christ includes the gift of the Holy Spirit and repentance unto life. Repentance is not something a person works up but something that is a corollary to belief in Christ. Faith is both turning to Christ and a turning away from sin.

C. Certainly, the Church of Christ has a mandate to take the Gospel to all men. Those whom God has cleansed we are not to call common.

 IV. LASTLY, CORNELIUS NEEDED SAVING.

We are not told in the account whether Cornelius knew he needed salvation. We are only told that he prayed to God continually, and that at the time the angel appeared to him he was in prayer (Acts 10:30). We aren't told what he was praying about. It could have been that he was concerned about his sins. All of us can look back and see that we have sinned. Even though Cornelius was trying to live a godly life now he knew that he had not been perfect. But whatever he felt about himself, and no matter what he was praying about, the angel brought him information that he needed to get in right relationship to God. The angel told him to send for Peter and that he shall speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and your entire household. 

B.    Cornelius' good life, his giving to the synagogue, his prayers, all did not make him okay with God. The Lord is not willing to justify you or me because of our efforts at being good. The righteousness of God is perfect and he is only willing to accept a perfect righteousness.

I doubt that Cornelius understood all that at the l time he had his vision. The word saved does not mean much to a person who is quietly going about his life in as clean and honest a way as he knows how. Such a person can be lulled to sleep and assume that he is okay with the Lord. Why, he can look around at a lot of people who are living dissolute and wayward lives, and comparing himself with others he can feel very good about himself. But the angel put his finger on Cornelius' problem. He needed saving, and all the things he was doing to show that he feared God were not ever going to save him.

Not only that, his household needed saving. His wife needed saving. His children needed saving, his friends and servants needed saving, the soldiers who waited on him needed saving. They were all in a lost condition. Probably if Cornelius had died before the angel had visited him his wife and children and all of his friends and neighbors would have said, he was a good man. We believe his good life earned him a place in heaven, and if we live a good life like he did we will go there too.

But no, the angel said in his message that he and his entire household needed saving. They had to hear the message Peter was going to tell them before they could be saved. They were lost, just as lost as the person living a life of utter abandonment to sin. It is not the degree of sin that a person commits that determines whether he is saved or lost. It is not whether he is living a morally upright life or not living a morally upright life, rather it is does he know and believe the saving message of the gospel that bring a person into a new and righteous relationship with God.

B. God's word does the saving. Peter came to the house of Cornelius and he told him the story of Jesus. How Jesus had come from heaven with the power of God to do many wonderful things, such as healing those oppressed by the devil, doing miracles, which no man had ever done. Then how he had been put to death on the cross and how God had raised him from the dead on the third day, and how he appeared to many disciples and ate and drank with them in his resurrection body. Peter told how Christ had commanded them to preach to the people that He was the One appointed to be the Judge of the living and the dead. This is the one God had promised by the prophets that he would send and that by him all who believe would receive forgiveness of sins.

C. Upon hearing Peter preach to them they were saved by believing the message. It was the Word of God that converted them and blessed them. It was the Word of God that had a power to communicate life and forgiveness to them. And God gave evidence to them all that he had saved them by giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he had given it to the Jews that believed.

            Peter ordered that they be baptized and when he went back to Jerusalem the word had gotten back that he had gone to the uncircumcised and eaten with them. It was not that he had preached to the Gentiles, it was the fact that he had eaten with them that disturbed them. But Peter explained from the beginning the whole experience of his vision and Cornelius' vision, and that made sense to them just as it had to Peter. And they glorified God for it, saying, well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. V 18.

God's Word of salvation is sent to men and he gives salvation to those who believe the message of Jesus Christ. There must be repentance and faith, but this is granted to those who believe.

Have you believed? Are you in the faith of Jesus? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your house.