WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:26.960 Good morning, and go ahead and take your Bible again to Acts chapter 10. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:32.479 Acts chapter 10 and on the account of Cornelius. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:40.479 This is a pivotal chapter in the book of Acts. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:48.640 It's been called many, many different things, but probably the best term that I've come across is it's a hinge. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:54.799 Everything begins to turn on Acts chapter 10. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:57.200 The question is, why? 00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:59.119 What is it about this chapter? 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:03.600 What is it about Cornelius that makes it a hinge? 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:08.799 I'm borrowing the title for today's sermon from Willie Jennings. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:25.200 In his commentary on Acts chapter 10, he says, and I quote, in a quiet corner of the Roman Empire, in the home of a centurion, a rip in the fabric of space and time has occurred. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:33.200 As if God has taken his cosmic hands and just ripped apart space and time. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:49.760 You and I have not experienced anything as powerful and as consequential as this event in Acts chapter 10, aside from the birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:58.079 This passage has rightly been called a second Pentecost or a Gentile Pentecost within the book of Acts. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:11.280 Peter says at one point near the end of this chapter, he says, Can we not, should we withhold water for baptizing these people who received the Holy Spirit just as we have? 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:19.199 Most likely in Peter's mind, that's a reference to the Pentecost event where they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:35.680 The events that occurred in Jerusalem among Jews from many parts of the world now occur in a Gentile community, in a Gentile home on the very edge of Israel. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:38.879 So link, Luke links, there we go. 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:39.919 Luke links. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:41.919 Don't say that quickly. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:48.879 Luke links what happens in Pentecost with what happens in Cornelius's home. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.759 But what is Pentecost really about? 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:15.039 Peter tells us in Acts chapter 2, verse 21, after relating the events of Pentecost to the prophet Joel and his declaration of what God would do, Peter says, quoting Joel, he says, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:21.599 Who's left out of the word everyone? 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:28.960 That may be a simple question for you and me. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:38.479 For a first century Jew, it was, well, everyone but Jews is left out. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:41.360 It's a very controlled group. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:46.639 But here, Peter refers to that. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:56.800 Later, the apostle Paul will tell the Philippian jailer, another Gentile, believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:12.159 Those who heard the gospel from the mouth of Peter on this day in Acts chapter 10 are the products of the gospel proclamation. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:23.920 Like Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, Cornelius and his family and their guests believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:44.639 So Luke illustrates the gospel's progression, not just geographically from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and now to other parts of the world, but he's also illustrating it ethnically, moving from Jews to those not quite Jews who are called Samaritans to the Ethiopian and now to another Gentile person. 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:49.839 But Luke is also doing something else with this account. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:56.800 If we ask the question, what place does this have in the entire Bible? 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:03.279 We're asking a much bigger question and a much harder question to answer. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:14.399 Within the context of the entire Bible, Acts chapter 10 has been described as a parallel to Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:30.319 In this chapter of Acts, Luke recounts a Trinitarian act of creating a spiritual image bearer through the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:34.319 God is at work. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:36.879 He's acting. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:49.279 Now if you look carefully, you will see that Luke does not recount the act of believing. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:59.360 He only recounts the evidence of faith, not the act of believing. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:01.279 Let me break that down for a minute. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:05.920 Cornelius already possessed a kind of faith. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.399 He's called a devout man in verse 2. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.639 He's a devout man who fears God. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:17.839 And his faith was shared by those in his household. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:23.120 And it's even extended beyond that, apparently, to some of the soldiers under his command. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:28.480 But his faith is in the God of Judaism. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:32.639 So Jews called them God-fearers. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:37.120 A God fearer was not a full proselyte. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:44.879 A full proselyte was somebody who would go through the process of becoming a Jew in every way except for birth. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:51.120 Cornelius didn't fully convert to Judaism. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:07:07.839 However, he believed in the Jewish God and he upheld many of Judaism's moral expectations, but he still remained entirely Gentile, but with a special appreciation for the Jewish God and the Jewish faith. 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:19.680 So Cornelius and his family, and it seems as though even at least one of his soldiers possessed genuine faith. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:29.120 They believed in and lived out that faith in genuine acts of kindness and prayer to God. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:33.439 But genuine faith can still be insufficient. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:38.720 Let that sit for a minute. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:06.000 But if it was sufficient faith, he would not have needed angelic messengers to arrange a meeting with Peter to hear something that was missing. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:14.959 See, Cornelius' faith was missing something, but more particularly someone. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:22.079 In terms of faith, Cornelius was on par with the religious Jews of the time. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:26.399 He believed in the God of the religious system of the Jews. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:34.159 But like those Jews, Cornelius and those with him needed to believe in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:44.799 See, for thousands of years, the Jewish expectation, their faith was in the coming Redeemer, the promised one that God would send. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.639 That was the grounding of their faith. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:56.879 And the fabric of that expectation was ruptured with the tearing of the temple veil when Jesus died. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:00.720 And three days later rose again. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:10.000 And the command is now to believe in God's incarnated, crucified, buried, and risen Son. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:15.279 The message is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:24.799 But Luke doesn't show Cornelius or anyone in his household doing that. 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:26.960 They did. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:29.600 Of course, they did. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.000 That's a requirement for salvation. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:34.799 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:37.279 That's a requirement to be saved. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.679 And we see the results of that faith. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:44.559 The results of that faith are the Holy Spirit comes and indwells them and they are baptized. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:46.240 They follow through on that. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:50.240 They hear the gospel, the Spirit comes and they are baptized. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:58.000 But Luke doesn't tell us anything about Cornelius believing. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:01.120 He doesn't say he trusted in the message. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.440 It doesn't say that he exercised his faith. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:04.720 It doesn't tell us that. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.759 So what is Luke trying to get at? 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:18.559 But suggest to you that Luke is pointing out to us the Trinitarian work of bringing salvation to the nations. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:25.519 This is not about Cornelius coming to faith. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:27.279 That's there. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:38.480 This is about God's work of completing God's program of bringing in the nations of the world to worship him. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:44.559 Luke wants us to step back from the details and see what God did. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:51.279 Now let's remind ourselves of Luke's greater intent for a moment. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:11:03.840 You'll remember, going all the way back to the Gospel of Luke in the first four verses, and then the beginning of Acts chapter 1, Luke was writing for his friend and most likely supporter, Theophilus. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:11.840 And he told Theophilus that he wanted him to be confident about what happened in the early church. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:35.120 So he wrote him a story, a narrative of all of the events that happened, so that Theophilus could be confident in the historical recounting of events and to be able to see and to believe with certainty in what God had done to include the nations in his salvation plan. 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:40.639 And to do that, Jesus in the Gospel of Luke starts with his people. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:41.600 Right? 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:46.960 John tells us in John chapter 1 that Jesus came to his own people, but they did not receive him. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:57.440 By the end of the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul will say to the Jewish people who rejected the message of the gospel, he says, okay, that's fine. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:58.799 You're under judgment for that. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:00.960 Now I'm going to the Gentiles. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:02.799 This is the work of God. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:13.279 And this chapter in Acts chapter 10 is the hinge point at which things now start to turn drastically from the people of Israel to the rest of the world. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:21.679 And even though this is a long chapter to read, the events are quite succinct. 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:33.440 Two men are brought together through angelic visions so that Cornelius and those in his house will hear the good news of Jesus. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:37.039 That's what Acts chapter 10 is. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:41.279 From a very far high level perspective. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:43.600 Exactly that happens. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:48.240 And the genuineness of faith in Christ is confirmed through the Spirit and baptism. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:13:00.080 Now we know from other scriptures that God says that those who genuinely seek him will find him. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.960 Those who genuinely seek God will find him. 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:18.000 And what Luke is recording for us here is how God orchestrates that event down to the very minute. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:28.080 At the time that he should be eating, because he's hungry, Peter's praying. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:40.639 And God uses those two elements, being hungry and praying, to bring this apostle Peter to his Jonah moment. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:48.480 The prophet Jonah, you'll remember, was told to take God's message of judgment to Nineveh. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:57.679 Jonah, however, was afraid that God would not exercise judgment, but instead would be merciful and gracious. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:00.399 Jonah wanted harshness. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:04.960 He was afraid that God would not be harsh. 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:10.320 And so at Joppa he got on a boat and floated away in the opposite direction from Nineveh. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:22.879 And now Peter is in Simon's house by the sea in Japan. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:37.519 And at the very moment that the delegation from Cornelius approaches the community limits of Joppa, God challenges Peter's perception of Gentiles. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:42.000 This time it isn't the horrible, terrible Nineveh. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.720 This time it's a despised Roman soldier. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:49.759 Will Peter go? 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:53.200 Or will he pull a Jonah? 00:14:55.759 --> 00:15:02.000 This is where Luke begins to show us the unfolding work of the Trinity. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:13.039 And he shows this by developing four aspects of God's work that strengthen our confidence and our faith in God's work. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:18.720 Jonah was commanded to go. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:30.000 But a divine shift in God's program now challenges Peter's cultural perceptions and convictions. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:40.080 And that challenge of Peter's cultural perceptions and convictions changes the direction of the church from Acts chapter 11 on. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:47.600 And it begins to challenge us in what we think of God. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:55.360 How might he be working in our lives to challenge our perceptions, our convictions? 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:01.360 Let's consider this unfolding of God's plan in chapter 10. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:06.559 This is the work of the Trinity, and I think this will become clearer as we go on. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:11.440 We start here this morning with the Trinity's work being culturally powerful. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:22.320 This episode in the life of the early church shows God decimating cultural obstacles. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:27.120 The first cultural barrier demolished is the most obvious. 00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:36.799 Gentiles are no longer common and unclean, but cleansed and welcomed. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:39.600 Those are Jewish terms. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:42.480 That is, the words common and unclean. 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:52.480 Those are Jewish religious terms marking the Jewish people as distinct, as set apart by God from the rest of the world. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:57.360 In that being set apart, they are sanctified, they are cleansed. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.960 So they are set apart and clean. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:04.880 The rest of the world is common and unclean. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:11.759 But Peter's rooftop experience shows this demolition's beginning. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:19.519 God presents Peter with a religious and ethical dilemma. 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:25.200 Peter's commanded to kill and eat. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:34.880 That means he has to touch unclean animals, which in the Jewish world would make Peter unclean. 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:41.599 And then he has to eat unclean animals, which would make Peter especially unclean. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:50.000 Now, Peter, of course, being Peter, says, absolutely not, Lord. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:53.279 He's not about to defile himself. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:57.920 And I love the way that Webb emphasized this in his reading. 00:17:58.160 --> 00:17:59.839 Three times this happened. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.240 Peter, kill and eat. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:04.160 Peter, kill and eat. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:05.920 Peter, kill and eat. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:12.400 And if you're familiar with the gospel accounts, you know how important three times is in the life of Peter. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:18.000 That's God's wake-up calls, like God dinging the bell right next to sleeping Peter. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:19.359 Hey, wake up, Peter. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:21.039 I'm talking to you. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:28.240 Peter knows this is a divine communique. 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:33.759 He's told that the Jewish food rules have been undone. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:35.920 Just like that. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:43.599 God abolished the Jewish ceremonial laws distinguishing between clean and unclean animals. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:52.640 The Jewish Christian is no longer bound to those ceremonial requirements. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:56.160 God dismantled those Jewish distinctions. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:11.279 They were appropriate to mark Israel as set apart and distinct before Christ, but now God's people is including all ethnicities, making that distinction needless. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.920 Now you would think that after three times Peter would wake up. 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:23.599 But Luke tells us that Peter didn't quite get it. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:29.359 He was uncertain about what it all meant. 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:39.920 But it becomes clear to him that the food elements were minor details. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:48.880 Because God was using the minor details to point to something much more significant, to a more incredible work of God. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:58.160 God declared that Gentiles, non-Jews, were no longer to be considered common and unclean. 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:01.200 Why? 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:15.119 Because in Christ, even Gentiles become God's people through the cleansing of Christ's blood leading to forgiveness. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:17.839 Look at chapter 10, verse 28. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:33.359 Peter arrives in Caesarea and he says to the gathered group, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation. 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:35.440 Let's clarify that. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:43.200 That's because they were still in control of the situation. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:54.240 They could control what foods were eaten, what was brought into the home, what wasn't brought into the home, but it was absolutely not kosher for a Jew to go into a Gentile's home. 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:58.880 That was horrendous. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:13.200 This is unlawful, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:15.359 Now look back at verse 15. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:17.599 And the voice came to him a second time. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:19.759 This is why he's on the rooftop in Joppa. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:23.759 What God has made clean, do not call common. 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:32.799 I really don't like to point out when our English translations leave something out, but I think it's important from time to time. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:40.400 Luke wrote a word here, a pronoun that doesn't get included in our English translations very much. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:44.240 And that's the pronoun you in verse 15. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:46.880 It's there for emphasis. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:54.480 Peter, what God has called common, you do not call common. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:22:01.839 Peter, what God has called unclean, you do not, I'm sorry, what God has called clean, you do not call Call unclean. 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:10.480 God has specifically narrowed his focus to Peter, and he's saying, Peter, you need to change. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:17.039 Peter needs to change because Peter's the representative of the whole apostolic community. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:19.279 Peter's the representative of the whole church. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:28.720 He's leading a group of believers to a Gentile area, and Peter needs to make sure that Peter has the right attitude before Peter goes and carries out God's command. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:32.000 And so now we get to Caesarea in verse 28. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:37.359 God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:39.920 By the time he gets there, he gets the message. 00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:45.680 God is doing a work, and Peter has to get on board. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.599 So unlike Jonah, Peter immediately obeys. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:23:05.680 He not only goes to Caesarea, a primarily Gentile town, but he goes to the Gentile town, he goes into a Roman's house and he eats a meal with Gentile people. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:11.039 That would immediately result in exclusion from the Jewish community. 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:12.720 He's unclean. 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:15.599 He has taken a step too far. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:21.119 But God has demolished the barrier. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:23.920 And so Peter obeys. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:29.759 Friends, the gospel demolishes cultural barriers. 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:47.440 It doesn't remove cultural distinctions, but it removes all objections for disciples who are hesitant about reaching across cultural barriers to lead people to Christ by taking the gospel to them. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:52.160 But there's a second cultural barrier dismantled here. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:24:00.559 It's less obvious, and that is the dismantling of the perception of Caesar. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:08.160 It's surprising how political Peter is. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:11.519 But it's subtle. 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:18.720 You see, Roman emperors were deified, beginning with Julius Caesar in 42 BC. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:22.160 That means that they were declared to be gods. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:26.079 Most often it was a post-mortem declaration. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:34.720 So after they died, people came together and decided, hey, they were a god because of this, that, and the other reason, and so they begin to worship the dead Caesar. 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:43.599 By 37 or 40 AD, things began to change. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:49.599 Julius Caesar was the first deified Caesar. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:56.640 His descendant, Caesar Augustus, was the first Caesar worshipped as the son of God. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:12.400 And by about 37 to 40 AD, less than a decade after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, and perhaps pretty close to the time frame of Acts 10, Emperor Caligula demanded worship of his subjects as a living God. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:18.720 And Cornelius serves that Caesar. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:42.079 Cornelius is a leader of soldiers under a Caesar who expects to be viewed not just as king, not just as emperor, but as Lord, as the sovereign, as God. 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:49.519 Later, Christians would be martyred for refusing to offer sacrifices to emperors. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:26:09.359 Now, in that setting, Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, the Word of God and fleshed, wrapped in flesh, was born, lived, and displayed his majestic glory and power, and then he was crucified by Rome as the king of the Jews. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:24.079 But this small group of Christians proclaimed him as risen, saying, death could not hold this king. 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:27.839 So put yourself in Peter's sandals. 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:34.160 You're on your way, that's a fairly short journey, about a day and a half or so. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:39.759 You're on your way to the capital of the Roman province, named after the Lord Caesar. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:41.599 Caesarea. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:56.559 You will speak to a Roman centurion, a leader within Caesar's army who is called to obey Caesar's orders and to worship him as a god. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:04.720 How do you speak about Jesus in that situation? 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:08.480 Carefully? 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:12.079 Maybe discreetly? 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:17.920 Maybe you try to win him over as a friend first so that you can do this friendship kind of evangelism. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:23.680 Take a look at how Peter spoke of Jesus in verse 36. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:41.599 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news, gospel of peace, through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:53.680 Implicitly, that's an in-your-face declaration to Caesar's centurion that Caesar was not the one to be worshipped and obeyed. 00:27:53.839 --> 00:27:55.039 Jesus is Lord. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:57.680 He is the incarnation of the Jewish God. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:01.519 It is a demand for allegiance to Jesus and him alone. 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:11.039 It is a call for this centurion to cast aside any thoughts that he may have about Caesar and to give all his allegiance to Jesus who is the Christ. 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:17.599 Dismantling cultural barriers. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:25.359 Now the first Jewish believers were already wrestling with changes in their faith. 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:31.039 First was the acknowledgement that Jesus was the promised Messiah. 00:28:31.359 --> 00:28:35.680 And not just the Messiah, but Emmanuel. 00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:38.079 God with us. 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:49.279 And so at this point in time, there's a kind of separation occurring between these disciples and the rest of their non-believing Jewish brothers and sisters. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:54.000 But the exact nature of that separation is in flux. 00:28:54.160 --> 00:28:55.599 It's changing. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:18.240 And now you throw into that mud pit that these Jewish disciples of Jesus are being pushed to accept Gentile believers as one of their own with no distinction. 00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:27.599 Taken together, the work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are shown to be culturally transforming. 00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:38.559 The fabric of Jewish space and time has been ripped, and the Trinitarian God did it with power, with witnesses, and with proof. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:43.680 That shows us that the Trinity's work is spiritually transformational. 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:52.559 You see, Luke recounts these events to ground the inclusion of Gentiles in God's people. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:01.039 That action is all done by the persons of the Godhead. 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:10.480 The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all act to bring Gentiles into God's presence without a temple and without becoming Jews. 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:20.000 Let me quickly cover two primary spiritual transformations here: one in Peter and one in the Gentiles. 00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:34.079 Peter and his believing Jewish friends who are with him are spiritually transformed in the change of their belief about the Gentiles. 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:40.160 Peter is suddenly, suddenly convinced that God's work is not limited to Israel. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:45.359 That's why he says that everyone can come. 00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:50.319 God's people now includes non-Jews. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:55.359 God makes believing Gentiles clean. 00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:00.400 That would have staggered Peter and the Jews with him. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:05.519 The long-ingrained cultural distinctions were demolished. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:12.720 That's part of the reason why this story gets repeated two more times in the book of Acts. 00:31:14.079 --> 00:31:16.160 To help solidify it. 00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:26.799 The Jewish Christians had to transform their beliefs about Gentiles, and it wasn't a quick or straightforward process. 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:34.640 I mean, even later, the Apostle Paul had to challenge Peter about his actions, saying, you're not acting appropriately here. 00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:40.000 This was a hard concept for them to grasp. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:44.640 But there's another spiritual transformation, and that's in the Gentiles. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:50.319 Cornelius is all excited about this, and so he gets everybody that he can think of together. 00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:56.000 It's not just his family, it's his household servants who take care of the business of the house. 00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:59.359 Even apparently a soldier or two is present. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:11.599 There's a significant gathering of people who seem to share his faith in the Jewish God, and they're anticipating something unique from Peter's visit. 00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:19.680 And Peter doesn't say much, at least in Luke's record. 00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:24.079 But just like that, they're transformed. 00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:32.400 In an instant, they are spiritually transformed from God-fearing Gentiles to disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:34.400 It's instantaneous. 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:41.279 The connection between God's promises and the fulfillment of those promises of Jesus occurs and they believe. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:44.640 But remember, Luke doesn't tell us that they believed. 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:47.920 They did, of course. 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:51.599 That's required for salvation. 00:32:52.160 --> 00:33:03.519 But Luke is taking a step back and emphasizing what God is doing because it's going to take God to move the salvation in Jesus Christ from the Jews to the world. 00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:16.720 Notice how Luke includes God the Father in verse 34, and God the Son in verse 36, and God the Spirit in verse 38. 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:19.039 All of that is in Peter's speaking. 00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:22.400 Similarly, the Trinity is at work in converting these Gentiles. 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:30.559 The Spirit appears in verses 44, 45, 47, the Father in verse 46, God the Son in verse 48. 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:37.119 This is a Trinitarian rebirth, a divine recreation of people into the image of Christ the Lord. 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:43.599 This is the new birth that John spoke of in John chapter 3 when he recorded Jesus speaking to Nicodemus. 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:46.400 You must be born again or born from above. 00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:50.400 That's what Luke is recording for the Gentiles. 00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:54.400 For the Gentiles. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:10.159 My brain wouldn't work. 00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:11.280 I'm sorry. 00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:16.000 Ecclesiastically refers to the church. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:20.880 Ecclesia is a term in the New Testament that means a gathering or an assembly of people. 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:26.480 In the New Testament, it's applied primarily to disciples, to followers of Jesus. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:32.000 So at this point in God's program, the church is still in its infancy. 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:33.599 It's not very old. 00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:38.960 It's growing in numbers, it's expanding geographically, it's expanding ethnically. 00:34:39.199 --> 00:35:01.039 But that kind of growth and expansion naturally brings with it all kinds of problems, especially for a faith with a distinct Jewish background, to consider what the Jewish leaders were thinking. 00:35:01.679 --> 00:35:08.480 The Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin, who mostly wanted Christianity squashed. 00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:14.159 They had to have been asking questions like is this new thing that's going on? 00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:16.320 Is it a sect of Judaism? 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:19.280 Or is it something new altogether? 00:35:19.599 --> 00:35:21.599 Is it a new religion? 00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:25.840 If it's a sect of Judaism, is it Orthodox? 00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:28.719 Is it in line with what we believe? 00:35:29.440 --> 00:35:31.599 Or must it be eliminated? 00:35:33.679 --> 00:35:36.639 Does this group follow the Jewish law? 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:39.519 Are they lawkeepers? 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:42.719 Who belongs to this group? 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:44.320 How do you join this group? 00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:46.960 What is necessary for belonging to this group? 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:50.159 And of course, all the other questions will inform that one. 00:35:50.960 --> 00:36:01.039 You then add to those questions the demolishing of barriers, and tension is poured on, piled on to those kinds of questions. 00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:08.480 So it would have been incredibly difficult for a Jewish Christian to accept a Samaritan as an equal in the faith. 00:36:10.800 --> 00:36:21.840 But it was groundbreaking, rather, earth-shattering, cosmically rendering work to include Gentiles as co-heirs in Christ with Jews. 00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:23.760 That was unheard of. 00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:29.360 But God made it happen. 00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:37.519 But how does a Jewish group welcome a Gentile as an equal? 00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:48.559 This isn't bringing someone into your club or rejecting someone from your club. 00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:54.400 It's far more than dismantling a clique of people within a faith organization. 00:36:54.880 --> 00:37:06.000 And when you add the Roman soldier component to a Jewish faith component, you get closer to the notion of uniting a Jew and a Nazi soldier as spiritual siblings. 00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:16.880 Maybe that is what finally touches our innermost being as to what God is doing. 00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:22.480 This is something that would not happen by human accomplishment. 00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:28.320 God is creating his people. 00:37:30.079 --> 00:37:32.800 And it's destroying barriers. 00:37:33.920 --> 00:37:40.159 We don't fully grasp the shock of this event until we feel how astounding it is. 00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:43.679 And God did it. 00:37:44.559 --> 00:37:48.000 God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. 00:37:48.639 --> 00:37:51.440 Peter could not defy this act. 00:37:52.239 --> 00:38:00.719 And so Luke establishes this event with historical clarity so that the early church from this point on cannot ignore it. 00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:02.480 That's where witnesses enter in. 00:38:02.559 --> 00:38:06.400 In verse 36, Peter reminds these Gentiles of the Jewish events. 00:38:06.480 --> 00:38:11.679 He says, listen, you've heard about John the Baptizer, you've heard about the events with Jesus of Nazareth. 00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:18.559 And now he asserts that Peter and maybe his Jewish companions were witnesses of all of that. 00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:23.840 They saw John, they saw Jesus, they saw his death, burial, and resurrection. 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:28.000 He declared that the risen Lord chose them as his witnesses. 00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:37.360 And now in the conversion of these Gentiles, Peter and his companions assumed the role of witnesses of God's saving work outside of the Jews. 00:38:37.679 --> 00:38:39.280 Let me go backwards. 00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:46.480 We've already seen how God converted a murderer. 00:38:47.679 --> 00:38:48.320 Saul. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:57.199 And we've already seen how the early church was scared to death of Saul coming into their gatherings. 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:06.960 Is that him? 00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:08.880 Who let him in? 00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:21.920 And it took several steps for the church to be able to recognize that a Jew who was a murderer could be welcomed in. 00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:33.360 Now we need witnesses to confirm that God has cleansed the non-Jews to welcome them in. 00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:43.119 God is demolishing barriers in a few days with two visions, and Peter's telling them about Jesus. 00:39:43.360 --> 00:39:53.519 God welcomed others into his people with Samaritans and Ethiopians, but now God is welcomed in those people. 00:39:55.119 --> 00:40:02.079 And not just those people, but Roman people, and not just Roman people, but Roman soldier people. 00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:06.320 And not just Roman soldier people, but Surians. 00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:14.800 The Father, Son, and Spirit are welcoming them, recreating them as clean images of the living God. 00:40:14.880 --> 00:40:16.960 But now the church has to adjust. 00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:23.280 And it would need witnesses to corroborate this unbelievable divine work. 00:40:24.079 --> 00:40:27.119 This is why Luke paints it as another Pentecost. 00:40:28.480 --> 00:40:37.360 To a Jew, this event tore the established fabric of culture, of space and time apart, and the church is left to pick up the pieces. 00:40:37.679 --> 00:40:48.880 So Peter and his companions, witnessing the death, burial, and resurrection, become witnesses of God's cleansing of the Gentiles to corroborate what God has done. 00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:59.679 So by having witnesses present, including an apostolic witness, God provides certainty about the direction for his church. 00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:03.920 Yeah, you include them too. 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:10.719 Finally, the Trinity's work is Christologically predominant. 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:19.760 So I've already commented that Cornelius' faith was insufficient at the beginning. 00:41:20.320 --> 00:41:23.920 He had a kind of faith, but it was not a saving faith. 00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:25.519 That's incredibly common. 00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:50.559 But Luke shows us here that the only sufficient saving faith is faith in that crucified, buried, risen Savior who is Lord of all, Jesus the Messiah. 00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:57.679 And so Peter brings the word of Israel to them. 00:41:58.079 --> 00:42:06.159 Going back to his arrival in Caesarea, he opens his mouth in verse 34 and begins to speak. 00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:08.639 I understand God shows no partiality. 00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:16.400 Verse 36, as for the word that he sent to Israel, this is the word you need to believe. 00:42:20.400 --> 00:42:32.960 That word is that the Jewish people put Jesus to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear. 00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:41.440 And he's the judge of the living and the dead. 00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:43.599 Even your Caesars. 00:43:05.119 --> 00:43:14.800 God is stepping in and making the unclean washed, forgiven, and welcomed in. 00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:26.239 You've heard the testimony. 00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:27.760 Believe in him. 00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:35.840 No longer a group of messianic Jews, but a multi-ethnic assembly of saints called to trust in Jesus. 00:43:36.079 --> 00:43:38.800 So the message is distinctly Jewish in origin. 00:43:38.880 --> 00:43:43.519 It was sent to Israel and it centers on Jesus the Jew as the Lord of all. 00:43:45.119 --> 00:43:54.079 The Father has declared the Son, his promised Messiah, and the Spirit is involved distinctly in his life and ministry to prove who he is. 00:43:54.239 --> 00:44:00.800 And the message of the church is now Jesus is risen and he is Lord of all. 00:44:02.960 --> 00:44:23.360 The Gentile Pentecost was needed to confirm the astonishing move that God made to take people, people who were not his people, and bring them to faith in the Word of God through the preaching of the Word, so that Jesus, the Word, might be glorified and his kingdom expanded. 00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:29.920 And Luke says to all of us, you need to know that. 00:44:31.039 --> 00:44:36.239 Because it strengthens your faith and your confidence in God's work. 00:44:50.800 --> 00:45:05.519 May we learn from what Luke is saying here that you might even use us to cross a barrier, to break down some kind of barrier so that the gospel might go forward. 00:45:06.079 --> 00:45:17.360 Lord, help us not to be confused here, not to not to overlook what's primary and get focused on the barriers themselves, but the work that you are doing. 00:45:18.239 --> 00:45:24.000 That you are taking the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. 00:45:24.960 --> 00:45:27.039 Use us to be a part of that. 00:45:29.039 --> 00:45:42.239 Give us sight that sees with faith beyond borders, beyond barriers, so that we might speak of you, everyone who needs to hear. 00:45:42.559 --> 00:45:43.199 Amen. 00:45:45.119 --> 00:45:48.880 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:45:49.039 --> 00:45:55.920 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:45:56.159 --> 00:46:00.239 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.