Sermon Tone Analysis

Preparing the Lock (1-8)

Caesarea is sixty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem and thirty miles north of Joppa (Jaffa).

Jesus had taught Peter and the other disciples when He was ministering on earth (Mark 7:1–23).

At that time, Peter did not fully understand what Jesus was saying, but now it would all come together.

God was not simply changing Peter’s diet; He was changing His entire program!

The Jew was not “clean” and the Gentile “unclean,” but both Jew and Gentile were “unclean” before God!

This is where Philip the evangelist had settled.

centurion - commander of 100 men.

From Italy.

Cornelius was respected by God but he was not saved.

Gentile-God Fearing gentile (Gentile at the gate) hold to morality of the Jewish religion-proselyte (full follower of Judaism who kept the law and was circumcised.)

Preparing the Keyholder (9-18)

Peter had the key from Jesus to open up the kingdom to the sons of Shem (Jews), Ham (Ethiopian), and Japheth (a Roman centurion).

matt 16 18-

Peter knew that gospel was for all people but he and the rest of the Jews needed a little more convincing.

To invite gentiles into the house and later to enter Cornelius’ house went against Jewish tradition and would have meant defilement for 7 days.

Jews were to be set apart from the non-Jewish world.

The most social and entertaining gatherings of those times would have been banquets.

The dietary laws of the OT would keep a Jew from banqueting with non-Jews and would have therefore cut social ties with them.

Sheet represents the church.

It comes out of heaven from God to the earth.

It includes both clean an unclean animals representing Jews and gentiles.

It goes back up into heaven just as the church will be raptured.

Bringing the Key to the Lock (19-24)

Peter was sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and went with the gentiles.

We will not receive visions as Peter did, but God speaks to us through our sanctified desires as the Spirit stirs them inside of us.

We must also be sensitive to this leading of the Holy Spirit.

[John MacArthur feeling led to share the gospel with a traffic cop.

Went up to him, handed him a tract and began to share with him about Jesus.

The cop said, “how did you know that I was thinking my relationship with God today?”]

The Need for the Key (25-33)

Peter did not receive worship.

If he were the first pope he should have had him kiss his ring.

The Turning of the Lock (34-43)

Gospel is for everyone, Jesus was truly of God, Jesus had power over the natural world.

The gospel is learned on the basis of eye witnesses, it includes the death of Jesus on the cross, the resurrection (attested by evidence), Jesus is the judge of all men, He is the fulfillment of the OT, and through Him we have forgiveness which is activated by faith.

acts 10:

Opening the Lock (44-48)

acts 10:1-

- baptism of the HS, hear the message, believe the message, baptized in water.

- Hear the message, believe the message, baptized in water, baptized in the HS.

Caesarea is sixty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem and thirty miles north of Joppa (Jaffa).

Ethiopian - hear the message, believe the message, baptized in water, nothing

This is the natural order for salvation today

- Hear the message, believe the message, baptized by the Holy Spirit, baptized in water.

This is the natural order for salvation today

There were many “God fearers” like him in the ancient world

He was not permitted to offer sacrifices in the temple, so he presented his prayers to God as his sacrifices (Ps.

141:1–2).

In every way, he was a model of religious respectability—and yet he was not a saved man.

In many respects, John Wesley was like Cornelius.

He was a religious man, a church member, a minister, and the son of a minister.

He belonged to a “religious club” at Oxford, the purpose of which was the perfecting of the Christian life.

Wesley served as a foreign missionary, but even as he preached to others, he had no assurance of his own personal salvation.

On May 24, 1738, Wesley reluctantly attended a small meeting in London where someone was reading aloud from Martin Luther’s commentary on Romans.

“About a quarter before nine,” Wesley wrote in his journal, “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed, I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

The result was the great Wesleyan revival that not only swept many into the kingdom, but also helped transform British society through Christian social action.

why send for Peter, who was thirty miles away in Joppa, when Philip the evangelist was already in Caesarea?

(Acts 8:40) Because it was Peter, not Philip, who had been given the “keys.”

Jesus had taught Peter and the other disciples when He was ministering on earth (Mark 7:1–23).

At that time, Peter did not fully understand what Jesus was saying, but now it would all come together.

God was not simply changing Peter’s diet; He was changing His entire program!

The Jew was not “clean” and the Gentile “unclean,” but both Jew and Gentile were “unclean” before God!