FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF VILLA RICA, PCA

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THE PARTITION WALL FALLS

Villa Rica May 25, 2003

Acts 10:23-48

As we have been studying the book of Acts we have been unfolding the history of the early church. In the scripture we have read today the time has come for the Lord to commence fulfilling His Word by the prophets that the Gentiles will come to Christ. As Isaiah wrote, Isa. 60:3 3 “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.

The NASB translates the Hebrew word Goy nations, but it may also be translated Gentiles, which means a foreign nation or a foreign people. Peter's vision and the appearance of the three foreign men summoning him to the house of Cornelius opened his eyes to the calling and cleansing of the Gentiles by the gospel. Up until this time there was no fraternization with Gentiles. Jews could neither fellowship nor socialize with Gentiles, nor could they intermarry with them. There was a wall of separation established in the Mosaic Law. The dietary law concerning clean and unclean foods was intended to teach them that there was a difference between themselves and the world at large. They were a separated people, a consecrated people. But the vision of the white sheet being let down from heaven with all sorts of animals, both clean and unclean and the command from heaven to Peter to "Kill and eat" was God's Word changing the law.

The coming of Jesus Christ changed the approach to God. It eliminated the temple sacrifices and the entire Mosaic economy of worship. The Aaronic priesthood was done away and the people of God were internationalized. Now we have a high Priest who has passed into the heavens and who lives forever to make intercession for us with the interposition of His own sacrifice on our behalf. The way into the holy of holies is made available to all who come by way of the cross of Christ.

Without the vision Peter would doubtless not have gone with the three men to the house of a Gentile.

The only Gentiles who had been admitted to the gospel privileges had first become proselytes to the Jewish religion, and these men did not belong to any synagogue. They were not proselytes.

The Samaritans who had received the gospel just before were really not classified as Gentiles. They were half-breed Jews, hybrid Jews. They had a mixed ancestry, but they could still claim to be of Jewish descent. However, that was not the case with Cornelius and his relatives and friends.

It is true that Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles but it was fitting that God should first open the eyes of Peter and prepare the way for Paul's ministry since Paul was a Johnny-come-lately and would not have the stature and standing with his fellow Jews that Peter did.

I. THE MEETING

A. This is an historic meeting between the chief apostle of the Church with the first among many millions of Gentiles to hear the gospel and find salvation in Jesus Christ. After all, Christ himself did not preach to the Gentiles directly. When the Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile came to him in Tyre and asked him to cast a demon out of her daughter he said to her, Mark 7:27   “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” indicating that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. By her persistence and careful answer she was granted her request, but it was an exception. It pointed to what was to come but until his death, burial and resurrection it was not his mission to reach the lost Gentiles. But now it is. The Lord Jesus Christ now ascended on high the gospel gate swings open wide to all lands, nations, tongues and peoples of the earth.

B. Secondly, I want you to notice that Cornelius was prepared for the arrival of Peter. He had taken steps to make sure that all of his family and friends were there as well. What a lesson for all of us in this episode. Verse 24 tells us that he had called them together and Verse 27 tells us that when Peter entered his house that he found many people assembled. Do we go to any pains to gather family and friends when preaching is expected, preaching that is from the Word of God and which declares the very same message that Peter declared that day to Cornelius and his houseful of people?

II. THE MESSAGE

A. Peter begins his message by declaring that he now knows that God is no respecter of persons, but that in every nation he, who fears him and does what is right, may come to Him. God shows no partiality. A man may

be a black in Africa, an Indian in India. a white in

Europe or anywhere else, a red man in America, a yellow

complexioned Asian from China or Hong Kong. It makes no difference to God where you come from or where you

were born, who your family was or what your station in life. All of every race, color, tongue and background

may come freely to him.

Our Lord Jesus is an equal opportunity Savior.

There's a wonderful story about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation on a young Bostonian being considered for employment. The Boston investment house could not say enough about the young man. His father they wrote was a Cabot; his mother was a Lowell. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls, Peabodys, and others of Boston's finest families. His recommendation was given without hesitation.

            Several days later, the Chicago bank sent a note saying the information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: "We are not contemplating using the young man for breeding purposes. Just for work."

Neither is God a respecter of persons but accepts those from every family, nation, and race who fears him and will work for his Kingdom. (Acts 10:34-35).  -- Kathleen Peterson, Chicago, Illinois, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 1. See: Ro 14:4, 10-13; 1 Sa 16:7

B. Then he preached Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. He is the God man who went about doing good, healing the sick, restoring sight and hearing to blind and deaf, cleansing lepers, feeding multitudes with a few loaves and fish, casting out demons, showing himself to be the heaven-sent long promised Messiah.

This Jesus was crucified, hanged on a cross, and on the third day God raised him from the dead. This resurrection power and life was made manifest to certain witnesses chosen by God, among whom was Peter and the other apostles.

Peter still had to learn that not only a pious, godly and devout Gentile could be saved but that the most depraved and sinful one as well.

He told how Christ had eaten and fellowshipped with them after he had risen from the dead, and that he had charged them to preach to the people that it was He who was ordained by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.

This last part may be missed in some minds. Jesus is not only the crucified and risen Savior, he is the coming Judge of all men. Peter tells Cornelius and his gathered company that all of the prophets' bear witness that through the name of Christ everyone who believes on him shall receive remission of sins.

When I hear about the death of some well-known person it is almost a jerk reaction with me to wonder if they knew the Lord. For example, when Frank Sinatra died that was my immediate reaction. When his close friend Dean Martin died I had the same reaction. My immediate thought was "Did he know the Lord? Where is he now?" Not that there was anything I or anyone else could do about it after their death. We either come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord before we die or else it is too late. We cannot receive the grace of God after we pass out of this life. As the tree falls, so it lies.

I visited my daughter Rebekah last week and lying in her yard was a huge tree that had fallen during one of the stormy days or nights. She, Darrell and Joshua had been out of town when it happened. They found out when they got home about the fallen tree. Had it fallen on her house it would have done great damage. Fortunately it fell in such a way that it did no harm. Darrell and their son Joshua used a chain saw to cut many of the branches into logs for the fireplace, but the huge trunk is still lying where it fell. So is the condition of all who die without Christ. They cannot recover lost opportunity to receive the salvation offered only in this life.

I came across this true story about Andrew Meekens, an elder in the International Evangelical Church of Addis Ababa.  He was one of those who died on November 23, 1996, when a hijacked jet ran out of fuel and crashed near the Comoros Islands.

            According to survivors of the crash, after the pilot announced he would attempt an emergency landing, Meekens stood up and spoke, calming passengers on the Ethiopian Airlines flight. Meekens then presented the gospel of Jesus Christ, and invited people to respond.

            A surviving flight attendant said that about twenty people accepted salvation, including a flight attendant who did not survive the crash.

   We preach as dying people to dying people.   -- Beacon (1/97).  Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership.

III. THE MIRACLE

A. Before Peter was even finished with his message Cornelius and the rest gathered there in the house believed in the name of Christ and were at once filled with the Holy Spirit. Think of that! By the preaching of the word and faith in the message of Jesus Christ and personal acceptance of him in your heart, you may be saved. At the point where a person hears and truly believes the message such as Peter proclaimed that day, there can be new life imparted, life empowered and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

In this instance there was a speaking in other tongues, quite possibly the Hebrew tongue that they had never learned, the tongue of the Old Testament scriptures. And by this miracle God authenticated the conversion and inclusion of the Gentiles into the Church of the living God. We may not have this same authentication today because it is not necessary to continually show that a change in the law has taken place and that the gospel has internationalized the children of God to include all nations, but the new birth is always a part of the Christian experience. One cannot be a member of the Kingdom of God without the new birth.

B. Upon seeing this evidence of the Holy Spirit coming upon these Gentiles Peter and the other brethren who were with him were amazed. They began to hear these Gentiles magnify God in tongues. From this we can know that it was a language known to them, else how could they have determined that they were magnifying God? Words came out of the mouths of these Romans which convinced the apostle Peter and the rest that indeed, a miracle of God was happening to the Gentiles the same as it had happened to the Jews. Acts 10:46-48 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, ⁴⁷“Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” ⁴⁸And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.

Here observe that the Holy Spirit came before baptism. Normally we might expect to see the evidence of the Holy Spirit coming after baptism has been administered, but that did not happen in this case. God is not limited to the order of baptism. Baptism in the case of those early Gentiles converts was administered after the fact of the evidence of the Holy Spirit filling them. We baptize both infants and adults in faith that God will include them in the covenant, the same covenant that saved Jewish believers. In the case of infants it is on the faith promise of parents to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In the case of adults on their profession of faith and promise to live as becomes the follower of Christ. Who can say that the Holy Spirit is limited to do His wonderful work of regeneration either before or after baptism? It can happen either way. But in this case it did convince Peter that baptism was in order. There was no hesitancy, as there might have been if there had not been this clear evidence of God's acceptance of the Gentiles into the Christian Church.

Let me ask you this question. Are you a believer in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord today? Have you heard the gospel and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as these first Gentile converts did? I invite you to do that right now. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time while you are in the land of the living, in possession of your faculties of body and mind. Come to the Lord today for the salvation God offers to all men, all women, all boys, all girls.

Make today the day of your salvation as it was for those early Gentile converts under the preaching of Peter. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That is his offer to all who hear and believe the gospel of his salvation.