Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:12] Okay, so we'll be in Acts 10, 24, 48.
[00:00:17] This past week, my family and I took a trip to Colorado. We took Pastor Brad and his family and Pastor Sean took some other friends and we just got in the mountains and we did this thing that I love to do with my family.
[00:00:30] I have this rule. Maybe you've heard it, maybe I've encouraged you to practice it. We have this rule that I teach my kids. And I say, when you see something pretty slow down, sit down and look at it.
[00:00:44] And it became a game almost this week in the mountains with the kids. The kids version became. And I would encourage them to do this. I would encourage them to adopt the words, hey, pay attention.
[00:00:55] As we're out on the trails, as we're in the mountains, seeing big things, seeing little things, I would encourage them to speak to me, to speak to one another. Hey, pay attention to this. Look at the mountains. Look how large they are. Look how amazing God is. Look at the small things. Look at the flowers. Look at the rocks on the trail. Look at all of these things that God has done. Pay attention.
[00:01:17] And this morning, I kind of want us to imagine that you and I are on a trail together, reading verse by verse through this passage. And perhaps along the way, like I did with each other and our children, hiking the mountains of Colorado, I might pause and encourage you to pay attention. Hey, look. Look at this. Notice this. Don't miss this. Don't walk by this. And I want to do this because Luke is paying, is calling us to pay attention here. Pastor Sean mentioned this last week. This is the longest narrative in the book of Acts. This is the longest story we get. Right up until now. Things have been pretty brisk paced, right? Christ has ascended. The Holy Spirit has fallen. The Gospel is moving forward. God is doing things and he's doing things rapidly. And then we get to Acts, chapter 10, and Luke just kind of slows us down a little bit.
[00:02:15] Luke could have preached this whole story in one sentence last week, this week, next week in chapter 11, Luke could have said, Peter preached the Gospel to some Gentiles. They heard the Holy Spirit fell, they were saved and baptized.
[00:02:34] And sometimes in the Bible, that's all we get, right? We get the lives of entire people in two words occasionally, because there's a lot to cover. But Luke doesn't. Luke doesn't do that. He slows down. He introduces Cornelius. He tells us Cornelius has a vision.
[00:02:51] He tells us about Peter's vision. The messengers arrive. Peter travels. Cornelius tells Peter about his vision. Then Peter preaches and the Holy Spirit falls. And if that entire narrative isn't enough and detailed in chapter 11, Luke basically retells the entire story as Peter returns to Jerusalem and tells the church what has happened. Because of how amazing this is, Luke slows us down. It's as if he's grabbing us by the shoulders and saying, hey, pay attention to this. Something is happening here. Something is happening that changes how the church sees the mission of God.
[00:03:29] Something is happening here that reflects, that, shows, that reveals what God has been doing throughout all redemption history. Slow down and look at it.
[00:03:41] And here's the thing from the beginning, so you hear it, and then we'll talk about it a lot. Here's the. Here's the thing that I think Luke wants us to hear from this text.
[00:03:51] He tells us that the Gospel of Jesus is for all.
[00:03:56] It's for all. The Gospel of Jesus. It's for all.
[00:04:00] Last week, Pastor Sean taught us through the first portion of Acts 10. And he taught us that the sovereign and saving grace of God changes how we see people in the nations. If you were here, you'll remember. He said, when we see God save in his plan for the world, it changes how we. How we see nations. Right? Peter. Peter had categories in his mind. He had clean and unclean. He had Jew and Gentile. And today in our text, we see God breaking all of that down.
[00:04:34] Right? We see his heart for those who once were seen as too far off, too far gone, can't be touched by the grace of God.
[00:04:46] We'll build on what Pastor Sean taught us last week and observe how after the Gospel changes how we see people.
[00:04:54] Often in his grace, he sends us to them on mission. He doesn't allow us to stay where we are.
[00:05:02] So let's. Let's start on our way down the trail. And as we do, there's some things I want us to pay attention to on the way. First, pay attention to where God sends Peter. I think I'll have some slides.
[00:05:16] Perfect. Pay attention to where God sends Peter. Look at verse 24.
[00:05:23] Cornelius, he's waiting for Peter, but he isn't alone. Right. Verse 24. And on the following day, they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. I love this. This is amazing. Right, Cornelius? Frankly, he probably doesn't know much of what's going on. He just knows as a Gentile man, he had a vision.
[00:05:48] There was an angel.
[00:05:49] He was told to send for Peter.
[00:05:52] And he probably has some inkling that, okay, perhaps the Lord is going to Speak to me.
[00:05:59] Perhaps the Lord is going to teach me. Perhaps the Lord is going to do something. And whatever that is, whatever the Lord has for me today, dude, I want my family to hear this, all my friends to hear this. I want the people that I love to hear this. So he fills the house. He says, everybody, come on over. Friends and relatives, come on. Peter's coming. The Lord's going to have a word.
[00:06:21] Not in my notes. This is a. This is a fairly.
[00:06:24] This is a good example for us as to why we could and should and might consider inviting our friends to church, right? This. This is not evangelism, inviting your friends to church. But. But it is a place where hopefully the Lord speaks to you.
[00:06:40] How beautiful would it be for us to adopt a posture of man? I. I think I'm going to hear from the Lord today because his Word is going to be open and taught, and I want the people I love to hear from the Lord as well.
[00:06:53] Then in verse 26, Peter walks in, right? This is significant for Peter. Peter is a Jew. Cornelius is a Gentile.
[00:07:05] There could be no larger separation in the ancient people between Jew and Gentile. And not just a Gentile, but a Roman centurion, right? This is deeper than just two dudes who grew up in a different neighborhood.
[00:07:22] This is vastly different.
[00:07:24] I've lived in Fort Worth by the grace of God since 2011. I've been here 15 years.
[00:07:29] Since, yeah, Fort Worth is great. Since then, I've felt our budding rivalry with the city of Dallas. It's way deeper than that, right? Last week, I was with friends, dear friends, at dinner, and someone from their family walks in, and he's.
[00:07:46] He's wearing a Houston Astros hat, right? I grew up in Chicago. Brought my kids to Wrigley for the first time a couple months ago. Lifelong Cubs fan. I could barely stand to be in the same room as this dude, right?
[00:07:59] If you're an Astros fan, I love you and I'm so glad you're here.
[00:08:03] Let's be friends.
[00:08:05] This is way deeper. This is way deeper than that. This divide between Jews and Gentiles, orders of magnitude. As a Jew, Peter grew up in a world of stark distinction between the Jew and the nations. And this was reinforced by generations of tradition and separation, socially, religiously, politically, and more. Right? And now God sends Peter directly to the house of a Gentile.
[00:08:37] Peter is the first to draw this to attention. Look at verse 26 with me.
[00:08:43] Peter says, you yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of Another nation.
[00:08:55] But God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
[00:09:04] Look what Peter learned from the vision in Pastor Sean's text last week. Go read the text again. Listen to Pastor Sean's sermon. Incredible.
[00:09:13] God gives Peter a vision of a sheet being lowered with animals and tells Peter to come and eat. And due to the food laws that Pastor Sean taught about last week, Peter. Peter says, no, I can't. I can't. And then the Lord begins to teach him. But what we just learned, Peter learned is that God was showing Peter animals, but Peter was. He was learning about people, right?
[00:09:38] Peter might have just learned, hey, this is.
[00:09:41] This is what I can eat.
[00:09:44] And instead, God teaches him, hey, this. This is who you can eat with.
[00:09:49] This is who you can. Welcome. Look at the work that I'm doing.
[00:09:54] Then in verse 29, Peter says an amazing sentence. He says, so when I was sent for, I came without objection. Everyone just down in my notes, say that with me. Say without objection.
[00:10:11] Without objection. This is amazing. Stop. Pay attention.
[00:10:15] Listen to Peter's words. He doesn't, like Cornelius doesn't. Peter doesn't understand everything that God is doing.
[00:10:22] He doesn't see God's plan. He doesn't yet, in his finite body and frame, know what the Lord is going to do. He doesn't understand all of the theological implications yet. But. But he obeys, right? God said. God said, go. And Peter said, yes. And he came without objection. So to me, as I was studying and reading this. This verse, I came without objection. It reminded me, at least in my life, and perhaps yours are the same of.
[00:10:57] There's kind of two different types of obedience for me sometimes, right? There's a type where I feel at the crossroads of something, and I just ask the Lord, lord, would you make it clear to me what you're doing? I just want to know. This is a really hard decision.
[00:11:11] I'm praying a lot, but I'm an engineer. I don't have all the data.
[00:11:16] I would like the data. Lord, you made me an engineer. You know this.
[00:11:21] And so if you could just give me a little bit more, I'd feel really good before I feel comfortable obeying.
[00:11:28] And then there's an obedience like Peter that trusts God and follows before we fully understand what he's doing, that. That hears God, that feels a pulling. And we say, lord, I don't. I don't understand everything that you're doing yet, but I understand what you've asked me to do.
[00:11:52] Peter came without objection. And it made me wonder and reflect on my own life. How much of my Christian life is like this?
[00:12:02] How often do I feel God moving me to go or to speak or to give, to stay or walk and speak to one of you to tell someone about Jesus?
[00:12:16] And I reflected on my own life and thought about how often when I feel these poles I'm slowed or I'm gated out of a posture of me that says God, I'd like to just know a little more.
[00:12:28] I'd like to understand a little more.
[00:12:32] What if we simply obeyed?
[00:12:35] What if we simply obeyed? Peter doesn't know that he's about to witness one of the greatest moments of redemptive history.
[00:12:43] He just knows that God told him to go. So he goes. And I want quickly to honor one of my best friends, Pastor Sean, because in the last four days, I've seen the Lord call him to share the word of God, the person of Jesus, the work of the Gospel, with another.
[00:13:00] And in those instances, and I know in both of those instances, Sean was kind of like, I don't know, that kind of just. That person's just standing here at the garden, or I just jumped in the car with this guy at the Uber. I don't know what I'm going to say. I don't know how the words I'm going to speak are going to land.
[00:13:20] But he obeyed. This is what I pray for us. It's what I pray for myself.
[00:13:25] In verses 30 through 33, Cornelius tells Peter what happened. He tells Peter about his vision and sending for Peter. And then in verse 33, we get another incredible sentence.
[00:13:40] Cornelius says, this can read it at the end of verse 33, says, I sent for you at once. You've been kind enough to come. And then he says, now, therefore, we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. Isn't that a beautiful picture?
[00:14:04] What if that were us on Sundays when we gathered?
[00:14:08] Right? What if this was our posture when we gathered? We're not here for advice or to check a box or just so our kids can have friends or because it feels like the right thing and we're trying to do right things.
[00:14:20] What if you and I came in Sunday by Sunday, by Sunday and said, lord, we actually think you're with us.
[00:14:28] We actually think you're here, you're in our midst. We think we get to be with you. We think your word is going to be opened and by your spirit, you're going to command us.
[00:14:38] Wouldn't that be amazing?
[00:14:40] Let's do that.
[00:14:42] Let's do that today.
[00:14:44] So as we move forward, let's pay attention because Peter is going to tell us what Christianity is actually about.
[00:14:52] Number two, pay attention to what Peter says about Jesus.
[00:14:59] The most important words that you and I, or anyone by the way, has of their mouth are the words we say about Jesus.
[00:15:08] Look at verse 34.
[00:15:10] And Peter says, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality. This is amazing coming from Peter.
[00:15:20] We're going to get to what Peter means in a second. But let's really quick talk about what, what Peter doesn't mean, right? Peter's. Peter's not saying that everyone is automatically saved.
[00:15:31] Peter is not saying that every religion leads to God.
[00:15:35] Peter's not saying that God just kind of looks down at humanity and he thinks, you know what? I think they're all okay.
[00:15:45] I think sin is not that big of a deal.
[00:15:48] That's not what no partiality means. And we can be assured of this because as soon as Peter says that God shows no partiality, he starts preaching about Jesus, right? Look at, look at the next, the next verse.
[00:16:06] As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ.
[00:16:15] And then the parenthetical says, he is Lord of all.
[00:16:20] That's it.
[00:16:21] He's Lord of all, right? Not just Israel, not just religious people, not just one ethnicity or country or race or thought.
[00:16:31] He's Lord of all.
[00:16:33] Amen. You can say Amen. That's good news. That's the best news I got. It's the best news I got today. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. This is what Paul preaches in Romans 10 when he says in verse 12, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
[00:17:01] So after this amazing declaration, Peter tells the Gentiles about the person of Jesus, his ministry, his life, his work, his death, his resurrection, his witnesses, that one day he'll act as judge for the living and the dead and that he provides forgiveness of sins through his name. The Gentiles want to know why the Lord instructed them to call Peter, if this ever happens to you, maybe preach the gospel, right? I don't know what the Lord's doing. You don't know what the Lord's doing. But if anyone ever says, the Lord told me to call you, I don't know, maybe preach the gospel and see what the Lord does. That's what Peter does. He gives them Jesus, right? He gives them Jesus.
[00:17:53] As I was discussing this text with Pastor Brad, he brought to my attention. He called me. He said, pay attention. He brought to my mind this beautiful thing that Luke writes in verse 38 that Peter preaches. He says, God.
[00:18:15] God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
[00:18:22] He went about doing good.
[00:18:27] Such an easy sentence to pass, right? He went about doing good. But how, how beautiful is this?
[00:18:35] The sick encountered Jesus and. Or healed. In Mark 2, the hungry encountered Jesus when we're fed. In Matthew 14, the ashamed encountered Jesus and were given mercy. In John 8, those who had been overlooked were seen by Jesus.
[00:18:50] The children were welcomed Jesus. Jesus went around and he did good.
[00:18:56] It's amazing what, What a sentence. And I. I wonder for the Christian, if we, if we follow Jesus, some version of this sentence went about doing good. That. That should be increasingly true of us, right?
[00:19:13] It should be increasingly true of us. Not that we save anyone, not that we are Jesus, but that perhaps our. Our homes look different, our workplaces look different, our children look different.
[00:19:28] That our church and our community, it experiences goodness in a way because we were there, right? That. That we. That you and I, that we become people following Jesus, going about doing good.
[00:19:44] I do want to be really clear that what this, what this doesn't mean is that Jesus. Jesus just came to be a moral example, right? It's not just a list of rules and laws. Jesus came, he lived and did good. Jesus did good. You know what you should do? What you should do, sky, you should try really, really hard to be good. Be perfect, just like Jesus.
[00:20:13] That's not the gospel.
[00:20:15] That's not it.
[00:20:18] Look at verse 39.
[00:20:20] Peter keeps going.
[00:20:22] He says they put him to death by hanging him on a tree. There's the cross.
[00:20:30] There's the cross. And then in verse 40, but God raised him on the third day.
[00:20:37] There's the resurrection, right? Jesus lived and he died. And then Peter tells us that Jesus appeared to witnesses.
[00:20:47] Peter isn't telling us the gospel as good ideas or philosophy or as a moral code. He's not telling us advice.
[00:20:58] He's presenting to us historical reality.
[00:21:02] He says, this happened. These are events. Jesus was crushed. Jesus was buried. Jesus was physically raised from the dead because death couldn't hold him.
[00:21:15] Peter makes his appeal. He says, we saw him, we ate with him, we walked with him. He was real. He rose. And then Peter says something in verse 42 that I think makes us more and more uncomfortable each day Peter preaches, and he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the Living and the dead.
[00:21:47] This is a harrowing reality for you and me. Jesus is. He's a savior.
[00:21:54] He's also a judge. Right? Paul tells us in Romans 14 that you and me and everyone we know will give an account for all that we've done, good or evil.
[00:22:06] This is. This is harrowing.
[00:22:11] Pay attention to this.
[00:22:13] What this means for you and for me is that the primary problem of our life, of your life, is not that you're not happy enough.
[00:22:22] The primary problem of your life is not that you're not fulfilled enough.
[00:22:26] The primary problem with your life isn't that you need more friends or more community or you need to do better. This is the problem. The problem is that you and me were sinners and we're going to stand for before God.
[00:22:38] That's a problem.
[00:22:41] It's a problem because we've sinned. I've sinned, you've sinned. We've all sinned.
[00:22:47] We're sinners. And we're going to stand before the most holy being who has ever existed, God.
[00:22:53] It's a problem.
[00:23:00] Terrible news for you and I.
[00:23:04] We've sinned against him. We rail against his rule. We worship the good things that he's given us.
[00:23:10] Scripture says that the wages, the punishment of all of this, by the way, is. Is death.
[00:23:17] Because God is holy and demands perfection to be in his presence. And you and I can't do it. We must die.
[00:23:25] Is bad news. That's terrible news.
[00:23:28] Here's the good news.
[00:23:31] The good news is that the judge, Jesus, the one to whom we'll give an account, the Judge is also our Savior.
[00:23:41] The judge put on flesh.
[00:23:44] Jesus lived perfectly when we couldn't. He died the death that we deserved. Right on his cross. Jesus bore the judgment that we deserve.
[00:23:55] He was died and he was raised. Death is defeated. Sin is paid for. Christ is victorious.
[00:24:01] Amen.
[00:24:02] You can say Amen. It's the best news I got. I got nothing else for you.
[00:24:09] Here we go.
[00:24:10] Now listen to verse 43. Right, pay. Pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention. If you've missed. If you've missed everything this morning, pay attention to this. Because Peter preaches, everyone who believes in him being Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[00:24:30] Let's go.
[00:24:32] Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[00:24:39] That's the gospel.
[00:24:41] That's it. You don't have to be good enough. You don't have to get your life in order enough. You don't have to repair things. You don't have to have the right family or have Grown up in church, you can still be learning. You can have done the really, really terrible things.
[00:24:55] Everyone, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. Now you might be thinking, Pastor Matt, last week, Pastor Sean taught us that God in His sovereignty, moves through the act of salvation. Don't you believe that?
[00:25:15] Yes.
[00:25:17] Don't you believe that Ephesians teaches us and other places that God predestines those to salvation who he saves? To which I'll emphatically say yes. And pastorally, I will say to you and like, what's that mean for you?
[00:25:37] You're not God. You don't know the mind of God. Both of these things are true. That the gospel invitation is open to all and that God single handedly, sovereignly acts in the act of salvation. We can see that tension in our text, in this story. God sovereignly prepares Peter.
[00:25:58] He sovereignly prepares Cornelius. He sovereignly brings them together.
[00:26:03] Peter obeys, Peter preaches, the Holy Spirit falls.
[00:26:08] We can see that both of these things are true. They're difficult. But for you and I, the invitation as Christians is preach without discrimination.
[00:26:20] The person of Jesus is open to all who believe.
[00:26:27] If you haven't yet acknowledged Jesus as your Lord of your moments, of your days, you can do this today. And we'd love to talk to you know this, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[00:26:46] Okay, number three, pay attention to how long God has been planning this. I want to take a quick step back here out of our text and think about the biblical narrative as a whole. Because if we don't have some of the context that Pastor Sean preached to us last week, it might kind of seem like God is changing his plans a little bit.
[00:27:07] Might seem like he's. He's changed his mind.
[00:27:11] For centuries, the nation of Israel was God's covenant people.
[00:27:17] Now Gentiles are being brought in.
[00:27:21] So what's happening? Did God change His plan? And in one sense, what's happening at Cornelius's house is a new work of God. But in another sense, if we look at the entire Bible, we see that this was God's plan the entire time.
[00:27:38] In Genesis 12, God establishes a covenant with Abraham and makes a promise to one man and a particular family.
[00:27:47] He says, God speaking to Abraham, I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great so that you will be a blessing.
[00:27:58] This sounds solely particular to one man, but listen to the end of the promise. God says, I will bless those who bless you.
[00:28:06] And in him who dishonors, I will curse you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
[00:28:14] So God promises one man.
[00:28:16] One man. But through that one man, his plan has always been to bless all people, all families of the earth, without distinction.
[00:28:26] The story keeps moving through the Old Testament, and God establishes another covenant with King David.
[00:28:32] 1st Chronicles 17 God promises, David, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
[00:28:43] He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
[00:28:50] It's amazing, right? This is what. This is what Jacob in Genesis 49 prophesies when he says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah.
[00:29:00] It's amazing.
[00:29:02] It's amazing.
[00:29:04] A king is coming, a son of David, whose throne God will establish. Again, this is a particular promise to a particular man and a particular people. But listen to the way the Psalms describe the reign of God's King.
[00:29:23] Psalm 28 it says, Ask of me, and I'll make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.
[00:29:33] Psalm 72:11 says, May all kings fall down before him.
[00:29:39] Psalm 72:17, Just a couple verses later, says, may his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May people be blessed in him. All nations call him blessed.
[00:29:55] It's the threat from Abraham to David. Psalms, the prophets, they all point to the fact that God's plan has been for the nations from the beginning. And then, with God's promise on the move, Jesus comes. He steps into the scene.
[00:30:15] Son of Abraham, son of David, the promised king. He's doing good. He's crucified, buried and risen again. Amen.
[00:30:26] And before he ascends, he tells his disciples that there'll be witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, into the end of the earth. Acts 10. Our text this morning is not Plan B, brothers and sisters. It's not God thinking, o maybe, maybe the Israelite plan wasn't going so good, and let's try the Gentiles instead, right? That's not what's happening here.
[00:30:51] God is doing what he's always promised. The promise to Abraham was always moving to the nations. The king promised to David was always going to rule the nations.
[00:31:01] And now we have Peter and he's in a Gentile's house, and he's watching these long promises of God come to fruition before his eyes. And Peter, he's barely finished speaking, and God does something incredible.
[00:31:18] Number four. Pay attention to what God does.
[00:31:22] Pay attention to what God does. Verse 44. While Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell On all who heard the word, right?
[00:31:33] Peter's not even finished. And God's like, thanks, brother, I got this from here.
[00:31:37] I've got it from here, right?
[00:31:40] Peter's still speaking. And the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles. And in verse 45, the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed.
[00:31:54] Why?
[00:31:56] Why were they amazed? Because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
[00:32:04] It's amazing. They were astonished. They were amazed. Not, not because they didn't believe in the Holy Spirit. They had received the Holy spirit in Acts 2 at Pentecost. They knew that God could do these things.
[00:32:15] They were just amazed at who he was doing them with. Now, I don't, I don't think, I don't think that the, the early Jewish Christians had a category to understand that they might be standing shoulder by shoulder as covenant full family members with those outside the nation of Israel.
[00:32:36] I think this seemed as an impossibility.
[00:32:40] I think they likely thought, God can't do this, God won't save them.
[00:32:45] Or at very least God's been very clear, he's not going to send me to them. Our entire history, God has been telling me, don't go to the nations.
[00:32:54] I think this seemed like an impossibility to them.
[00:33:00] Look at Peter's Response in verse 47.
[00:33:04] Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
[00:33:14] It's amazing.
[00:33:16] It's incredible, right? Listen to those last four words, just as we have.
[00:33:25] This isn't probationary Christianity.
[00:33:28] This isn't a Gentile light version.
[00:33:31] This isn't right. This isn't the, the real Christians over here and the Gentiles over here, they're, they are brought in the same Lord, the same forgiveness, the same Spirit, the same baptism, the same family.
[00:33:45] They're brought in.
[00:33:47] This becomes so important to Peter that as he's recalling these events to the church in Jerusalem in Acts 11, he says, if then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was I that I could stand in God's way?
[00:34:07] That's the question.
[00:34:09] Who was I?
[00:34:10] God has said, my mercy extends. God has said, these people, they're, they're mine. They're not too far gone.
[00:34:21] Who can stand in his way?
[00:34:25] And so pay, pay attention to, to this. Because particularly unless you have Jewish heritage, this particular passage is really, really for you.
[00:34:37] Unless, unless you have some Jewish ancestry, which would be cool, that'd be amazing. But unless you do, we are the Gentiles, brothers and sisters, right? Like, this is the story of our inclusion once, you and me and our children, we were too far off. And God said, no, they're. They're mine, actually.
[00:34:57] Right? This is the story of God's gospel. Leaving Jerusalem, through Samaria and Judea, and throughout all of the world, the gospel crossing not just generations, not just thousands of miles, but centuries.
[00:35:16] And then somewhere, right, somewhere along the way, someone told someone who told someone who told someone who told someone who told you about the good news of Jesus.
[00:35:29] This is the story of our redemption. It's amazing.
[00:35:34] Here we are, we're Gentiles in Fort Worth, Texas, talking smack about Dallas, gathering weekly to worship the Jewish king, worshiping the God of Abraham. Because Jesus is not just the Lord of the Jews, he's the Lord of all. Amen. Let's go. I think I wrote let's go in my notes because I knew I was going to say it there. I did.
[00:35:58] Let's go.
[00:35:59] We were brought in with grace.
[00:36:04] Lastly, pay attention to everyone.
[00:36:07] The word everyone.
[00:36:09] Not like, air quote, sarcastic everyone. But the Word is what I mean by those.
[00:36:13] Okay?
[00:36:15] Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[00:36:22] Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. So, first Christian, I have two questions for you. If you're a Christian in the room, I have two questions. Questions. First question is this.
[00:36:36] Who might you think that the Lord can't save?
[00:36:43] Maybe. Hopefully you wouldn't use those words. You've seen God save. You know God saves. You read your Bible. You've seen him do things like this. Perhaps he's saved those around you. But. But maybe in. In your life, is there someone in your family that you've prayed for for 20 years, that. That perhaps you think.
[00:37:05] I don't think. I don't think the Lord is going to save them.
[00:37:10] Maybe someone whose lifestyle seems too far out of reach. Maybe someone whose politics make you angry.
[00:37:17] Certainly you've already blocked them on Facebook.
[00:37:20] Maybe someone who has mocked your faith or hurt you.
[00:37:24] Maybe somewhere along the way, you stopped seeing them as someone that God might save.
[00:37:31] Friends, everyone.
[00:37:34] And then everyone.
[00:37:36] Cornelius, he wasn't like a strong candidate to be in the room, right? He was a gentile. He was a Roman centurion.
[00:37:47] And God was already working in Cornelius's house when Peter arrived. This is one of my favorite facts of this text. It's very clear that God is working ahead of Peter's arrival.
[00:37:58] Right? It's 2011 and I'm sitting on a hill amongst the city of Paris from a high vantage point, seeing the entire city before me. We're there for an 11 day mission trip to go preach the gospel to Muslims. And as I'm sitting on this hill and I'm praying, what gives me a vision where I see a hand, like a physical hand, moving throughout the cityscape in front of me.
[00:38:25] A hand that is sweeping and moving alleyways and streets. And it's as if the Lord was inviting me. Brother, I'm already here.
[00:38:36] My hand is at work.
[00:38:39] My hand is doing things. I am teaching. I am changing. I am.
[00:38:43] I am doing things. I'm giving dreams, I'm giving visions. Brother, just come along.
[00:38:48] I'm here. I'm doing things. We can be assured that God moves before we get there.
[00:38:58] This work is his.
[00:39:00] We don't bring God to people.
[00:39:02] God invites us into something he's already doing. Amen.
[00:39:07] So let's go.
[00:39:09] What if.
[00:39:11] What if. What if God's already at work in the person you've given up on?
[00:39:17] What if conversations are happening that you don't know about? What if convictions are stirring? What if questions are being asked and you've already given up because of your experience? What if.
[00:39:27] Don't exclude people from everyone who God has included in the invitation to the Gospel of Jesus? Pay attention to the Word, everyone.
[00:39:37] Here's another question for your consideration.
[00:39:41] Perhaps there's some people categorized in your mind that you think maybe the Lord won't save. Here's. Here's one that's maybe more challenging.
[00:39:48] Who in your life do you think the Lord might save?
[00:39:51] But he's not going to send you.
[00:39:54] My neighbor's probably pretty good. They got their friends, their family, their sphere, my co worker. We talk a little bit.
[00:40:02] Lord, certainly the Lord has closer people to them than me.
[00:40:08] I'm not needed.
[00:40:10] Peter could have stayed in Japa believing that God was gracious, but that God could use someone else, right?
[00:40:18] God says, go. And Peter says, I came without objection.
[00:40:23] What would without objection look like for you?
[00:40:27] Who is God putting in front of you? Who just kind of like keeps showing up in your life? Who sits near you?
[00:40:34] Who has the desk close by? Who are your neighbors? Who are people that you've spoken with in your acquaintances with?
[00:40:41] Maybe. Maybe your prayer is this God? Would you make me willing to go without objection?
[00:40:50] Give me eyes to see those who you see and how you see them. Give me courage to speak. And when you open the door, would I go without objection, remembering that everyone who believes in your name will be forgiven of their sins.
[00:41:06] And if you don't believe in Jesus. I want to speak directly to you for a minute.
[00:41:12] If you don't believe in Jesus, maybe you're visiting, maybe even around for a couple weeks. Maybe you're trying to figure all of this out. Maybe you don't have all the answers or know fully what you believe or where you stand. Maybe Christianity is. Is something you're investigating. Or maybe. Maybe you think you know exactly what we believe and you're just not convinced if any of those things are true. I'm so glad you're here.
[00:41:37] One word I want you to hear is everyone.
[00:41:41] And one sentence is that everyone includes you.
[00:41:45] Everyone includes you. Right? You might have.
[00:41:49] You might have your own list of.
[00:41:53] But it qualifies to be part of everyone.
[00:41:56] Maybe you think everyone is like the church people or the good people, the people who haven't done that thing that you've done, or the people who.
[00:42:05] They haven't messed everything up as bad as you have.
[00:42:10] Maybe you think God can forgive everyone. But you, you've run too far. You've spent years running from God, or you're angry with him, or. Or maybe you're simply indifferent to God. Maybe.
[00:42:25] Maybe you're here thinking, man, if these people knew this one thing about me, certainly they wouldn't think this applies to me.
[00:42:43] I don't know what you've done, but I do know what Peter says.
[00:42:48] Everyone who believes in him receives the sin, receives forgiveness of sins through his name. And everyone includes you. There's no. There's no asterisk in your Bible.
[00:42:58] There's no asterisk there, right? So come to Jesus.
[00:43:05] You're invited to clean yourself up and.
[00:43:08] I'm sorry, you're not invited to clean yourself up and come back around. You're invited to come.
[00:43:15] You're invited to him. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. Bring your sin and your questions and your failures. Bring the life you've actually lived. And trust him. You can do this today.
[00:43:28] You can do this today.
[00:43:31] Jesus Christ lived.
[00:43:33] He went about doing good. He was without sin.
[00:43:37] And though he had done nothing wrong, he hung on a tree.
[00:43:41] He died the death that we deserved.
[00:43:44] On the third day, God raised him from the dead. He's alive. He is Lord. He is Savior. He is judge.
[00:43:53] It's amazing.
[00:43:57] Forgiveness of sins is offered in the name of Jesus, not because you deserve it, not because I deserve it, or because I've earned it, but because Jesus purchased it with his blood. Amen.
[00:44:10] Jesus purchased the Salvation for sinners with his blood.
[00:44:17] So repent, turn from your sin, believe in Jesus, trust Him and receive forgiveness that you could never earn.
[00:44:28] Before we close, let's remember where we've been. We started in a Gentile's house that Peter really didn't expect to go to or to be filled with people.
[00:44:41] Don't know what he expected, but I don't know that he was expecting to preach to Gentiles. But God said, go. And Peter went without objection. When Peter arrived, he learned that God had already been moving his hand sovereignly at work. Then Peter opened his mouth and he clearly preached the person and work of Jesus.
[00:45:03] The One who is Lord of all, the one who went about doing good, the one who God raised from the dead, the one who will judge the living and the dead. The one who through his name, everyone who believes, receives forgiveness. And while Peter was still speaking, God poured out His Spirit on the Gentiles. And the Jewish believers were amazed.
[00:45:25] Peter looked around at what God had done and he. He said, how can we possibly withhold baptism?
[00:45:31] They've received the same Holy Spirit as we have.
[00:45:35] We see in this story the heart of God, from Abraham to David, the Psalms, the prophets, all pointing to the fact that in David's king, all families of the earth shall be blessed.
[00:45:51] This Jesus who sent his disciples into all ends of the earth to preach the gospel in his name.
[00:45:57] God's been teaching us all along the way. The Gospel, it's for all.
[00:46:03] The Gospel is for all.
[00:46:06] And so Luke invites us to pay attention.
[00:46:10] When you look at someone who seems far from God, pay attention.
[00:46:16] God might already be working his hand, might already be sovereignly restoring.
[00:46:24] When God puts someone in front of you who you wouldn't naturally move towards, pay attention. Maybe like Pastor Sean a few times in the last couple days, he's sending you. He's asking you to obey. He's asking you to trust him.
[00:46:39] When your heart begins seeing the world as people who God might save and people who God probably won't save, pay attention.
[00:46:50] Remember Cornelius, the non obvious candidate to receive the gospel?
[00:46:57] When you start to think that the mission belongs to somebody else. My neighbor, my co worker, they've got their people. Pay attention.
[00:47:06] Peter went without objection.
[00:47:10] When you think that you can earn your way into salvation, pay attention.
[00:47:14] You were brought in by grace.
[00:47:18] When you think again. If you don't know the Lord, if you think that God can save everyone except you hear this.
[00:47:30] Pay attention.
[00:47:32] Everyone.
[00:47:34] Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[00:47:40] Jesus Christ is Lord of all The Gospel is for all. So may our theology or our preferences or our comfort never decide that someone is out of reach. Right?
[00:47:53] Let us not decide that somebody else will go. Let us go without objection. Let us go doing good. Let us proclaim Christ crucified and risen. Let us invite sinners to believe.
[00:48:05] Let us celebrate and be astonished like the Jewish people every time the Lord does something that we think.
[00:48:14] I think that was impossible.
[00:48:16] But we celebrate.
[00:48:19] One day, a people from every tribe and people and nation will gather around the throne of Jesus. We see this in Revelation. We know this is coming. And when they do, no one will be there because they earned it. No one will be there because they deserved it, will stand there because Jesus, the son of Abraham, the son of David, the promised king, he kept his promise.
[00:48:44] He kept his promise. This was always God's plan, that you and I might have a way to him. Amen.
[00:48:51] He kept his promise. The nations have come.
[00:48:54] Those who are not his people are now his people. Sin has been forgiven. Enemies have been made. Sons and daughters, strangers have been made family.
[00:49:05] And the Gospel has done what God has always intended it to do. Thank God that's true for you and me.
[00:49:12] So pay attention.
[00:49:14] Look at what God is doing. Look at who God is sending us to. Look at the people in front of us. Look at Jesus and pay attention. Pay attention. Pay attention.
[00:49:25] Pay attention to this.
[00:49:28] Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
[00:49:37] Amen. Let's pray.
