The Spread of the Gospel to Gentiles - Part 1 (Acts 10:1-48)

Welcome & Announcements

“SOUP”erbowl Watch Party on February 12, 2023. We’re encouraging everyone to bring a homemade soup, we’ll vote on the best soup, and the winner wins a $50 gift card to Brown Dog Catering in Philipsburg. Kickoff is at 6:30pm.

Please prepare for the Lord’s Supper on February 19th, 2023.

Josh Dickson will be preaching February 26th, 2023, during the Sunday AM Service; he will also be teaching Discipleship Groups on March 5th, 2023.

Pastor Daniel will be out of town February 28th – March 1st until the evening service. In addition, Pastor Daniel and Nataliewill be out of town March 8th – 11th. In case of emergency, please contact a deacon.

Pastor Jordan Alturas of The Fellowship Church (State College, PA) will be preaching March 12th, 2023, during the Sunday AM Service.

Giving Reminder

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 71:12-16)

Our Call to Worship is Psalm 71:12-16, which continues psalm 71 with a reminder of God’s goodness and the psalmist’s need for Him to save.

Psalm 71:12–16 ESV

12 O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! 13 May my accusers be put to shame and consumed; with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt. 14 But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. 15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. 16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

Congregational Singing

Holy, Holy, Holy (48)

Praise Him! Praise Him! (94)

My Worth is not in what I Own (98)

Scripture Reading (Gen 18)

Our Scripture Reading this morning is Genesis 18, which continues the historical narrative of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Josh can you read Genesis 18 for us?

Genesis 18 ESV

1 And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. 9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10 The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” 16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” 22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Preaching of God’s Word (Acts 10:1-35)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please open it to Acts 10:1-35.

As you turn there, let me remind you of where in the text we are. Last week, we studied about multiple healings—really one healing and one resurrection—done through Peter by God as a confirmation of the message that Peter was proclaiming, which was simply the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is after we studied about the great persecutor of the church, Saul being confronted for his sins, repenting, and following Jesus. I mentioned last week that if you’ve been paying close attention to everything going on in the book of Acts, you’ve probably already picked up on this fact: that Luke is building, and he’s building up to something in particular. And in today’s passage, you’ll get a fairly significant taste of what he’s building up to before we hit the nail on the head next week.

This week’s passage introduces us to a non-Jewish man, a Gentile, who already believed in God, but didn’t know Jesus. And as we’re introduced to Cornelius we see both him and Peter having visions that lead them to meet for the purpose of Peter understanding the truth concerning non-Jewish people—that it was always part of God’s plan to provide salvation even to non-Jewish people.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into three primary parts: (1) Cornelius’ Vision (1-8), (2) Peter’s Vision (9-16), and (3) Cornelius and Peter (17-35). Now, please note, that this is only part one of two concerning the spread of the Gospel to Gentiles, so I would recommend that you take a look at vv. 36-48 at your own leisure later today. What we’ll study today and next week comes to a rather simple conclusion, Jesus saves anyone who repents, believes, and follows Him regardless of their ethnicity, which has significant application in our modern-day world today.

Prayer for Illumination

Cornelius’ Vision (1-8)

Acts 10:1–8 ESV

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” 4 And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Our text starts by introducing us to someone that we haven’t met yet and we’re given some details that are vitally important (1-2) and they fall into two categories—they tell us who he is and what he believes:

Concerning who he is:

We’re told that he is a Caesarean, which might sound like a little detail, but it’s reminding us yet again, that the Gospel is spreading. At this time, Peter is in Joppa, we know that from the context of last week as well as Cornelius’ vision, which tells us that Peter is in Joppa. This tells us that this event (Cornelius’ vision) occurred about 30-35 miles north of everything that happened with Peter in last week’s passage. Christianity is spreading.

We’re told that he is a centurion, which we can’t really contextualize that into our modern-day world, but we know that a centurion typically started as a regular soldier and then they were promoted into the rank of centurion in which they had command over 100 soldiers.

Based on his name, job, and rank in the job, we know that he is a Roman citizen that was high-ranking, that he lived in a Roman town, and his name was distinctly Roman.

And then in v. 2, we’re told some details concerning what he believes:

We’re told that despite being a a Roman through and through, he still believed in God to the extent that the Bible says he was devout and that he and his whole household feared God, gave alms generously, and prayed continually to God.

This is significant because you have to remember that the Roman empire was a pluralistic society—meaning, they worshiped the Roman pantheon of gods and they worshiped the emperor.

And yet, here’s a high-ranking Roman citizen living in a Roman town who didn’t worship the false gods of Rome and he didn’t worship the emperor, he worshiped Yahweh.

The issue is that he has incomplete knowledge of the truth—he believes in God but he doesn’t know Jesus, but that is about to change.

We’re then told of a vision that he’s given in vv. 3-8.

We’re told that this vision came to him during the ninth hour of the day, which is 3pm and then we’re told what exactly this vision is:

He sees clearly in his vision, “an angel of God come in and say to him, ‘Cornelius.’” The angel literally just says his name but Cornelius is utterly shocked and scared by this. V. 4, says he “started at [the angel] in terror and said, ‘What is it, Lord?’”

Before the angel tells him that Cornelius’ prayers and his alms essentially have been noticed by God—God has heard him and has been keeping track of his good works and his sacrificial giving, which by the way, this places him in direct opposition of the Jewish people, who were doing what they were supposed to do but with the wrong heart and wrong motive—Cornelius is doing it with the right heart and the right motive and God takes note of this.

So much so, that God tells him of Peter who is staying with Simon, a tanner, in Joppa.

So, Cornelius sends two of his servants and a devout (understand, a believing) soldier from among them to go to Peter and speak to him.

Again, that’s about a 30-35 mile journey and Cornelius is basing this off a vision that he has, which shows us that he genuinely does believe to the extent that when he receives a vision, he doesn’t question whether what the angel says is true, he simply trusts the angel of God.

Now, all these details may seem like they aren’t that important, but you really need to consider this in the context of first century Judaism—the Jewish people didn’t really think that the Gentile people could worship God and that’s based on their understanding of the Old Testament. In hindsight, we see that there have been non-Jewish people believing in Yahweh since the start of Israel. But again, that’s not how the Jewish people understood the truth—thus, the fact that Cornelius wasn’t Jewish and was so Roman that his name was unmistakably Roman tells us that something significant is happening.

In vv. 9-16, we transition out from Cornelius and we’re not following the three men as they journey to Joppa, instead, we see Peter and Peter has a vision. Let’s read vv. 9-16.

Peter’s Vision (9-16)

Acts 10:9–16 ESV

9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

So as the three men are traveling to Joppa, Peter is on the roof of the house of Simon the tanner, praying. By the way, don’t think of their houses like our modern-day houses—they didn’t have angled roofs on their houses, they had flat roofs that were typically utilized for different purposes.

And Peter happens to be using this rooftop for prayer at the sixth hour, which is noon.

We’re not sure how long he was praying or if he was only there for a short time, but eventually Peter gets hungry, probably because its around noon, and he goes to find food but before he can eat anything, he falls into a trance and has a vision.

And this vision plays on his understanding of the Old Testament law.

These are the details of his vision:

He sees the heavens or what we know as the sky opening up and he sees something “like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth.” We know that there’s a bit of figurative language being used here, there’s a simile just in v. 11. That there is something like a great sheet.

What exactly it was, we aren’t entirely sure nor is it the point of the passage (though some scholars have taken a significant amount of time to try and determine a symbolic meaning for something like a sheet being let down by its four corners and have deduced all sorts of unusual things).

Now, we’re told that contained in this sheet-like object there were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air, when he’s told by a voice to “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

And already, if you’re familiar with the Old Testament Law, you know what Peter’s objection is, v. 14, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

Remind yourself of the Old Testament Law—the Jewish people were told that they could not eat certain animals. Leviticus mentions several animals that they weren’t supposed to eat—like camels, badgers, rabbit, and pigs.

Certain fish, birds, and winged creeping things were all forbidden for them to eat including the animals mentioned in v. 12, “all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air,”

And Peter’s not a fool, he knows the Old Testament Law, so when he’s told to eat these unclean animals, he responds with an “absolutely not, I’ve never eaten anything common or unclean.”

Now, we might think that Peter would be commended for taking God’s Word seriously and that God would even praise him or commend him for staying firm, but that isn’t the point of this vision and in v. 15, we see a response that’s different than we might expect.

God responds to Peter by saying, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”

We could easily read this and think that this is referring to eating clean and unclean animals and those of us today that enjoy eating food like turkey, bacon, and other creatures might think that’s the whole point but that isn’t the point of this vision.

But up to this point in the text, Peter doesn’t understand what the purpose of the vision is either—we’re told that this vision happened three times before the sheet was taken back up to heaven.

The vision itself is a bit confusing and again, it has actually very little to do with food, but Peter still doesn’t know what exactly the point of his vision is to the extent that as we continue in the text, we’re told that he’s perplexed by the meaning of the vision and its while he’s confused that he meets the men that were sent to him by Cornelius as a result of Cornelius’ vision. Look at vv. 17-35 again.

Cornelius and Peter (17-35)

Acts 10:17–35 ESV

17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” 21 And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” 22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” 23 So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. 24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.” 30 And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” 34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

In this last section of the text, which is admittedly longer than the other two sections, we’re told that Peter is still perplexed and confused about the meaning of his vision when we’re told that Cornelius’ men were standing at the gate to Simon’s house.

And they “called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there.” — Remember, that this is a time in Christian church history that there is a significant amount of persecution.

So, there’s a very real sense that Peter heard about these men (one of whom was a Roman soldier) calling out for him and immediately became fearful of what was about to happen.

I think we’d all admit that Peter would have a right to be fearful during this time especially considering the large amounts of persecution that followed the apostles in the New Testament (though, admittedly, the persecution wasn’t as strong as it was prior to Saul’s conversion).

And yet, Peter’s told by the Holy Spirit in v. 19 that “three men are looking for [him and he needs to] rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” There are two details in v. 19 that are important:

The first is that Peter’s still confused about the vision that he had already received—but even in the midst of the confusion, he obeys what the Holy Spirit tells him to do. He doesn’t really even question the Holy Spirit telling him to go speak to these men, he just goes—now, compare that to yourself. We’re told of what to do in Scripture to live faithful to the calling that He has called us (to walk in the Spirit), when you experience confusion, do you still obey what we’ve been told to do or do you use that as an excuse not to obey?

The second detail is this, the Holy Spirit is driving two people who absolutely would not have met apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. They lived in completely different places, they were in completely different fields of work, they were probably never going to actually meet; until the Holy Spirit providentially worked in both of their lives.

And Cornelius sends his men and Peter goes and speaks to them. In v. 21, we read that “Peter went down to the men and said, ‘I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?’ And they said, ‘Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.’ So he invited them in to be his guests.”

This speaks at length about Peter’s faith in God. Again, remember the fact that despite their current situation in which there is less persecution, they still live in a time period of great persecution—Peter could be absolutely fearful of the situation and yet, because the Holy Spirit told him to do all this without hesitation, he did.

He invites them in to stay overnight before leaving the next morning to go to Caesarea—they travel from Joppa to Caesarea and they actually add a few more people (its the three men sent by Cornelius, Peter, and “some of the brothers.”

They make that 30-35 mile journey before finally getting to Cornelius and of course, Cornelius is expecting them (after all, him sending the people to find Peter is the reason for Peter and the brothers to come into Caesarea.

Of course, just like anyone who is excitedly waiting to see someone important, he’s gathered together all his friends and relatives so that they all can meet him and hear the words that he said.

And in a combination of excitement and really what we could say is a misunderstanding of the truth, when Cornelius sees Peter, he “met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.”

Of course, we know that this isn’t appropriate but remember that Cornelius is a Roman citizen with a Roman name and a Roman job. He’s very much used to the idea that when you meet someone like Peter, you ought to bow down and worship them, but we know and Peter knows that worship should ever be directed at and for God through Jesus Christ.

So Peter responds to the worship of Cornelius toward himself with, “stand up; I too am a man” or in other words, don’t worship me! I’m a man too! And then he talks with Cornelius when he notices all the people that Cornelius brought to meet Peter.

And of course, Peter remembers the Law and he speaks to Cornelius about the rough situation that Cornelius has brought Peter into, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation.”

BUT, Peter is starting to connect the dots of his vision, and he continues that sentence with, “but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection.”

Peter is starting to understand the vision that was given to him by God and he’s starting to connect the dots—again, his vision wasn’t about food and now he’s starting to understand that it wasn’t about food, it was and is all about people.

So, Peter asks Cornelius for the reasoning behind summoning him.

And in the last six verses for this morning, we see what the reason is.

Cornelius explains everything that led up to that moment where Peter and Cornelius meet—that he had received a vision in which he was told that his prayers had been heard and his alms had been remembered by God.

He’s told of a man named Simon who is called Peter lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea; and he’s told in his vision to send for him.

So, he did—he sent for Peter at once and Peter has been kind enough to come.

But that isn’t the main message, we still have yet to hear the main message, so he asks Peter, to speak all that God had commanded him to speak, v. 33, “we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.” What was the point of all that had happened—all that had led to this moment? It’s two-fold but we’ll only be look at the first part today, we’ll look at the second point next week.

The first point of all that had happened is found in the last two verses for this week, “So Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

The first point was for the Jewish believers to see and to learn that God really doesn’t care about ethnicity, He cares about heart and He’s concerned with whether people genuinely believe and follow Him.

Which, again, remember the Jewish people, they regularly looked down on and talked down on those who were of other ethnicities (they were God’s chosen people, everyone else wasn’t).

But God shows no partiality and He isn’t a respecter of persons, He doesn’t show favoritism

Patrick Schreiner, “Peter starts by stating the truth he has learned. Negatively, God does not show favoritism (Deut 10:17-19) . . . By favoritism he means God’s partiality for Jews or Gentiles. Both are equal in his sight . . . God does not discriminate based on ethnic background. He lifts his face to those who bow to him. God has shown full hospitality to Gentiles, and Peter must do the same.”

He goes on to say that Peter already knew Gentiles could be saved, but what he learns here is that Gentiles aren’t unclean.

The second point is found in vv. 36-48, which we’ll get to next week, but let me give you a bit of a spoiler, it involves the proclamation of the Gospel and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for Gentiles.

What was the point of the visions and the providential working of the Holy Spirit to get Peter and Cornelius to meet each other and speak to each other? Why did this all happen?

So that the Jewish believers understood that there is no more difference between Jewish and Gentile believers concerning salvation and position.

And so that the Gospel could be proclaimed and so that the record of the Holy Spirit falling upon the Gentiles could be written.

Which brings us this morning to our application and the best way for us to understand our application is by taking this passage all in one section. Is this passage about visions? Is it about looking and waiting for the Holy Spirit to tell us to do something? Or is this passage about the Gospel going out to people from every ethnicity—let me suggest that it’s the last one and our entire application is built on this premise.

Application

Though there is a lot going on in Acts 10:1-48, the reality is that the whole premise or the whole point of the text is actually rather simple.

Our tendency is to get caught up in all the minute details like the visions and the information about Cornelius and what exactly Peter’s vision was like when the reality is that the whole point to us in vv. 34-35, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

The question then is how do we contextualize this in our current modern-day culture?

Let me help with that: A few weeks ago when we studied about Saul’s conversion from Judaism to Christianity, I mentioned a handful of times that if anyone could have been considered as simply too far gone, it would’ve been Saul.

He was the self-proclaimed Pharisee of Pharisees, he was intentionally ripping families apart, he was hurting Christians, persecuting them, arresting them, and in some cases murdering them. If someone couldn’t be saved, it would’ve been him, and yet, Jesus doesn’t just save him, he utilized Saul to further the Kingdom on earth through church planting, missionary journeys, and writing quite a bit of the New Testament.

Our contextualization of this passage focused on the fact that there isn’t anyone in our lives, regardless of the sins that they commit or their current direction of life, that seems as if they’re too far gone.

Jesus can save anyone regardless of their current status in life, their current sin, or whatever is going on in their life today.

Likewise, and this is how we apply a passage like this in which we see that “God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

We would say it like this—Jesus isn’t concerned about anyone’s socio-economic background.

He does not care if a person is rich or poor—though He does mention that rich people have a harder time coming to faith.

He doesn’t care if you work a white collar or blue collar job; whether you’re an employee or employer. If you teach at a school, work in the mines, if you’re a politician or an armchair politician.

He doesn’t care what tax bracket you’re in, what type of car you drive, or your housing situation.

He really doesn’t care if you’re black, white, yellow, purple, orange, or any other color; or if you’re a US citizen or a citizen of some other country.

Jesus shows no partiality—all He is concerned about is that a person fears him and he does what is right.

And that is done through hearing the Gospel, repenting of your sins, and believing in Jesus Christ—just as the Word of God says.

Practically, then, what that means, is this. You as a Bible-believing Christian person have no right to show partiality towards anyone particularly when it comes to the proclamation of the Gospel because God isn’t a respecter of persons either.

If God is unconcerned about someone’s wealth, job, tax bracket, or skin tone, then you shouldn’t be concerned about someone’s wealth, job, tax bracket, or skin tone.

And you might think, well yes, that’s an obvious statement and I would never withhold the Gospel from someone who fit a socio-economic background different than mine, but let me ask you this, maybe you wouldn’t withhold the Gospel from someone but does their socio-economic background cause you to not proclaim the Gospel to them at all?

For instance, if you go into an urban city and you walk through the streets, is your tendency to proclaim the Gospel to the black man that you see? What about the Asian man or the Mediterranean man? Or do you have a tendency not to talk to them at all whether that’s due to fear or bigotry or unwarranted hatred?

Or, when you see someone that’s homeless, do you show them the love of Christ and tell them about Jesus, or do you cross to the other side of the street and ignore them?

When you go to work, do you clearly differentiate between the office/administrative workers and the regular workers? Do you only talk to one or the other? Or do you present the Gospel to anyone who will hear?

Do you catch what I’m saying?

In our sin and due to our sin-cursed world, we have a tendency to write off people—occasionally, we do it based on their skin-tone, their wealth, their job, or where they’re from.

But God is no respecter of persons, He shows no favoritism, and He has no partiality—all God wants is for people to fear (reverentially awe) Him and obey Him.

Thus, and here’s the application—you, as a Bible-believing Christian person cannot choose who you proclaim the Gospel to and who you don’t proclaim the Gospel to.

You have no right to make that decision, Jesus has already made the decision as to who should hear the Gospel—and He tells us the answer to that in Matthew 28.

Go unto all the world, go to every nation; we could include every tax bracket, every political party, every blue collar and white collar worker, every employee and every employer—it doesn’t matter if they’re black, white, yellow, purple, or any number of other colors.

You are to proclaim the Gospel to them regardless.

Or put another way, as we conclude—God has no concern over a person’s ethnicity or socio-economic background and neither should you. Go and proclaim the Gospel to everyone.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

By Faith (361)