Acts 11 - Quiet Down & Glorify God

Introduction

Open your Bibles with me to Acts 11. We are going to be looking at vv. 1-18 this morning. As you turn there, and as we go along this morning, I want you to think about this question…

[INTER] Can God save whoever He wants to save or will we try to stand in His way?

[PRAYER] Before we get into the passage, let’s ask the Lord for His help.

[TS] Let’s notice three different PARTS of Acts 11:1-18…

Exposition

Part #1: The Consternation (Acts 11:1-3)

Acts 11:1–3 NASB95

1 Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him, 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

[EXP] The old saying goes, “Bad news travels fast,” but in this case it was good news that hurried along to the apostles and brethren throughout Judea. The Gentiles had received the word of God.

That word of God was the word concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and rose from the dead.

Peter was the one who preached this word about Christ to Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and all the other Gentiles who had gathered in his house.

Luke told the story of the Gentiles receiving the word of God in detail in Acts 10, and in Acts 11 Luke reemphasizes the story by telling it again only this time from the perspective of Peter.

This is an important story for Gentiles or non-Jewish people because it tells them that there is salvation available to them in Jesus Christ.

This is an important story for Jewish people because it tells them that there is salvation available to everyone in Jesus Christ.

As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:16…

Romans 1:16 NASB95

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Cornelius and the other Gentiles received the word of God about Jesus Christ in Caesarea. The news traveled throughout Judea. It reached Jerusalem before Peter did, but when Peter arrived in Jerusalem, he discovered that some of his fellow Jewish-Christians were upset with him. They couldn’t believe that he had entered the house of uncircumcised Gentiles and had even eaten with them.

These Jewish-believers had a problem with this because they had spent their whole lives hearing that fellowship with Gentiles could make you unclean because Gentiles ate foods that would make them unclean (cf. Lev. 11), and Gentiles didn’t practice the traditional Jewish hand-washings while they ate (cf. Mk. 7:5).

In the old Jewish way of thinking, eating unclean foods and with unclean hands left a person ceremonially unclean and unable to worship.

Even when Peter entered Cornelius’ house and began to speak with the Gentiles gathered, he mentioned that his associating with Gentiles was usually a problem for Jewish people. He said…

Acts 10:28 NASB95

28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean.

God had shown Peter that he should not call any man—Jew or Gentile—unholy or unclean, but the Jewish-Christians in Jerusalem had yet to learn that lesson.

Through Peter’s report, God would teach them too.

[TS] …

Part #2: The Explanation (Acts 11:4-17)

[EXP] John Stott said that it took “four successive hammer-blows (from God) before (Jewish) racial and religious prejudice (against Gentiles) was overcome.” Those hammer-blows were…

Hammer-blow #1: The Divine Revelation (4-10)

Acts 11:4–10 NASB95

4 But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me, 6 and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air. 7 “I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 “But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 “But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’ 10 “This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky.

In those verses Peter mentioned the vision from God and the voice of God.

The vision from God was of a great sheet coming down from heaven, i.e., from God.

The sheet had clean and unclean animals on it.

Peter could eat the clean animals, and he surely wanted to because he was hungry when he received this vision. But the unclean animals were forbidden according to God’s law (Lev. 11).

Then the voice of God said, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat,” (Acts 11:7).

Peter knew this was the voice of the Lord because he said in Acts 11:8, “By no means, Lord...”

Peter had never eaten anything unclean, and he didn’t plan to start then, but the voice of God repeated the command twice more.

Peter wasn’t to miss the point of this revelation from God.

Hammer-blow #2: The Divine Command (vv. 11-12)

Acts 11:11–12 NASB95

11 “And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea. 12 “The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s house.

In Acts 10 we were told that Peter was still pondering the real meaning of the vision. He knew that it wasn’t only about clean and unclean foods, but the Spirit had to help Peter connect the dots.

When Cornelius’ men arrived to ask him to come Caesarea and speak to them, the Holy Spirit commanded Peter to go with these men without a second thought.

Without the Spirit’s command, Peter might not have gone, but because the Spirit commanded Peter went and took along some other Jewish-Christian brothers too.

Hammer-blow #3: The Divine Preparation (vv. 13-14)

Acts 11:13–14 NASB95

13 “And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; 14 and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’

When Peter reached Caesarea and spoke with Cornelius, he learned that God had directed Cornelius to send for Peter. Just as God had prepared Peter for this meeting, so God had prepared Cornelius for this meeting.

Through His angel, God had told Cornelius that Peter would speak words of salvation to him, salvation for him and his entire household.

Hammer-blow #4: The Divine Action (vv. 15-17)

Acts 11:15–17 NASB95

15 “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. 16 “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 “Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”

It wasn’t Peter that gave the Holy Spirit to Cornelius and the other Gentiles, and it wasn’t the Gentiles who took the Holy Spirit for themselves.

No, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as Peter preached because God gave the Holy Spirit to these Gentile believers just as God gave the Holy Spirit to the Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost.

This was a divine action. This was God’s doing.

Who was Peter to stand in God’s way?

[TS]…

Part #3: The Glorification (Acts 11:18)

Acts 11:18 NASB95

18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

[EXP] When Peter’s audience in Jerusalem heard what God had done among the Gentiles, they quieted down and glorified God.

F. F. Bruce said, “their criticism ceased; their worship began.” And rightly so, because “God (had) granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

This was surprising to them, but it was God’s doing, so they were no longer concerned about Peter associating with Gentiles.

This was surprising to them, but it was God’s doing, so they quieted down and gave Him the glory.

[TS]…

Illustration

The OT records many surprising instances of God saving Gentile people.

God saved a Gentile prostitute named Rahab (Josh 2ff).

When God’s people were about to enter the Promised Land after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, the first city to be conquered was Jericho and spies were sent to scope it out.

Word got out that spies were in the city and when the authorities in Jericho came looking for them, Rahab hid them on her roof but told the authorities that they ran out of the city gate. Rahab said to the spies, “…the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath,” (Josh 2:11).

When Jericho fells to the Israelites, Rahab and her family were sparred, and Rahab became a part of the people of God, even an ancestor of Jesus.

Rahab’s salvation was surprising.

Why would God save a pagan prostitute?

But Rahab’s salvation was God’s doing, so God’s people could do nothing but quieted down and give Him the glory.

God saved a Gentile named Naaman who was a Syrian general, an enemy of God’s people (2 Kgs 5).

He developed leprosy and was told by an Israelite slave girl that healing was available from the prophet Elisha in Israel.

Naaman went to Elisha and reluctantly washed in Jordan seven times as Elisha instructed.

When he was healed Naaman said that he would no longer present offerings or make sacrifice to other God, but only to YHWH. He even took some Israelite dirt with him back to Syria so he could bow before YHWH on holy ground.

Naaman’s salvation was surprising.

Why would God save an enemy general?

But Naaman’s salvation was God’s doing, so God’s people could do nothing but quiet down and give Him the glory.

God also saved a whole city of Gentiles in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh (Jon 1-4).

The prophet Jonah had to be forced by God to go Nineveh and preach repentance to the Gentiles there, but when he did, the Ninevites repented. The king of Nineveh decreed…

Jonah 3:7–9 NASB95

7 He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8 “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9 “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

When the Ninevites repented, God relented. These Ninevites were saved, but Jonah would’ve stood in God’s way because he didn’t think the Ninevites were worthy of salvation.

Their salvation wasn’t just surprising to Jonah; it was disgusting.

Why would God save violent pagans like the Ninevites?

But the salvation of the Ninevites was God’s doing, so Jonah should’ve quieted down and given God the glory.

And God saved the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4).

Nebuchadnezzar was king of the world and was very proud of it.

One night he surveyed his great city, recounted all that he had done, and gave himself the praise for it all.

In that moment, God humbled him and kept humbling him for the next seven years and Nebuchadnezzar thought and lived like a beast of the field.

He ate grass like cattle.

His hair became so matted by the elements that it was like feathers.

His nails grew so long that they were like the talons.

But at the end of that period, Nebuchadnezzar looked to heaven and his reason was restored. He said…

Daniel 4:37 NASB95

37 “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”

Nebuchadnezzar’s salvation was surprising.

Why would God save an pagan king like Nebuchadnezzar?

But Nebuchadnezzar’s salvation was God’s doing, so God’s people could do nothing but quiet down and give Him the glory.

[TS]…

Application

God always planned to save Gentiles from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue along with His people, the Jewish people.

When God called Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, He said to him, “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed,” (Gen. 12:3).

Through Abraham and his descendants, the promised Savior, Jesus, came.

He obeyed the law of God perfectly.

No Jew or Gentile had ever done that, but Jesus fulfilled the law for all Jews and Gentiles who believe.

He died on a Roman cross sacrificially.

All Jews and Gentiles fall short of God’s glory and deserve death as a result, but Jesus died for all Jews and Gentiles who believe.

He rose from a borrowed tomb victoriously.

Without Jesus every Jew and Gentile lives under the curse of sin and death, but Jesus’ death and resurrection broke the curse for all Jews and Gentiles who believe.

It might surprise us when God saves someone that we consider beyond saving, but let me tell you how God saves everyone that He saves: He saves us by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ, His Son.

As Acts 11:1 shows, He causes us to receive the word of God (Acts 11:1)

Acts 11:1 NASB95

1 Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

As I said earlier, the word of God in this verse refers to word about Christ, the Gospel, the good news-message of God’s saving grace in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:17 says…

Romans 10:17 NASB95

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

If you have been saved like Cornelius and the other Gentiles in Acts 10, it is because God caused you to receive the word of Christ, the Gospel message.

[TS] He causes us to receive the word of God, and…

As Acts 11:16 says, He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:16).

Acts 11:16 NASB95

16 “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

To be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to be immersed in Jesus, to be spiritually joined with Jesus in His death and resurrection, so that His death counts as the payment for our sin and His resurrection guarantees our righteous standing before God.

No human being can baptize you with the Holy Spirit. You cannot baptize yourself with the Holy Spirit.

Only God baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

If you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit like Cornelius and the other Gentiles in Acts 10, it is because God baptized you with the Holy Spirit.

[TS] He causes us to receive the word of God, He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, and…

As Acts 11:18 says, He grants to us the repentance that leads to life (Acts 11:18).

Acts 11:18 NASB95

18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

What is the repentance that leads to life? It turning away from unbelief to belief; it’s turning away from rejecting Jesus as your Savior and turning to receiving Him as your Savior.

This is what Jesus preached in Mark 1:15, saying…

Mark 1:15 NASB95

15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

But here in Acts 11, we see clearly that God has to grant this repentance.

Every human being is responsible to repent of unbelief and believe on Jesus for salvation, but ultimately God has to grant that repentance.

If you have been granted the repentance that leads to life like Cornelius and the other Gentiles in Acts 10, it is because God granted you that repentance.

[TS]…

Conclusion

Now, if God caused you to receive His word about Christ, if He baptized with His Holy Spirit, and if He granted you the repentance that leads to life, who deserves the glory?

God deserves the glory!

So quiet down and give Him the glory!

Maybe you didn’t think you were savable, but He saved you through faith in His Son, Jesus, anyway.

If so, quiet down, and give Him the glory.

Maybe God has surprised you by saving some other people you didn’t think were savable.

If so, quiet down, and give Him the glory.

Let us learn like Peter and like those he reported to in Jerusalem that we should not call any person common or unclean (Acts 10:28).

God can save anyone!

He can save any Jew!

He can save any Gentile!

And He saves everyone that He saves through faith in His Son, Jesus!