Even the Gentiles

Introduction

Last week we continued our study of Acts by looking at the preaching of the Gospel to the Samaritans. Remember Jesus was the one who first even considered the possibility that the rebellious and idolatrous half of Israel would even have a chance of salvation, but when Jesus met the woman at the well, He made it obvious that the promise was for them too so the fact that the Gospel was preached to them was not surprising at all. What was surprising is how it came to them. The gospel came to them as a result of the persecution of the church that occurred right after the stoning of Stephen, and it came from the mouth of another waiter- Philip.

As Christians, we must see persecution as an opportunity to shine for God. Philip had this example of Stephen. Quite an example, Stephen, his fellow waiter, had been murdered for preaching the Gospel, but rather than folding and going home to hide from the mobs, Philip simply takes the message on the road and moves mightily.

God has great things for us to do. And in fact, He has done great things in our midst. We committed ourselves to not be shy about sharing with people what we know! You never know when you’re going to touch off a firestorm of revival in our community. All it takes is one faithful man or woman of God ready to do whatever God asks of him.

All things clean

This we pick up the story, and we go back to the apostles in Jerusalem. Well before then some other things happen, we see the murderous Saul knocked off his high horse—literally. He goes to Brother Ananias for healing—that much we talked about previously. But here’s a juicy nugget that I noticed recently, and I got a chuckle out of it and I think you may too.

Acts 9:23–25 NKJV

Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.

Paul becomes such a pain to the other Jews; they have to get him out of town. It seems as though Brother Paul has not learned how to preach the Word of God convincingly and in a way that will bring people to repentance rather than to massive rioting. And there is a point that I need to make here. The Gospel should never be rude and annoying. It should convict, and some people will surely dislike that, but we should never be know-it-alls and preach in such a way as we hinder the Gospel. Some may say, well you’re making an awfully big assumption based off of one passage pastor.

Fair enough, let’s take a look at what happens when he goes to Jerusalem.

Acts 9:27–29 NKJV

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him.

Are we seeing a pattern here? This is starting to become quite a problem for the church. How do I know that? Well look at what the pastoral decision was concerning Paul.

Acts 9:30 NKJV

When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.

There it is! Pretty amazing isn’t it? Their solution was the same—send Brother Paul away.

Some may say that when you preach the Gospel you have to ruffle some feathers. To that I would say, I agree but look more closely at what the scripture says Paul was doing. It says he was disputing with them.

He was trying to convince them through logic an intellect to become Christians. He was arguing with them. That will never get anyone into the Kingdom of God. But this is the part that I found amusing. Look at what happens when they send Paul away:

Acts 9:31 NKJV

Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

Paul was such a polemic and annoying personality that the church literally had to kick him out of Jerusalem in order to have peace and in order to grow.

I have shared with you before about the so called “Mall Preacher” at the U of A who would go out and try to get people saved by preaching hellfire and brimstone and getting into arguments with the students. He had no success, and in fact, he was ridiculed and made it harder for other Christians.

So here’s the church enjoying a degree of peace and growth. Now we pick up the story with Peter.

Acts 10:1–8 NKJV

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Here we have Cornelius. He is a devout man. A Gentile—specifically a Roman centurion, it seems as though this man, though not a Jew, had the law of God written upon his heart.

Romans 2:12–16 NKJV

For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

So what this is saying is that the centurion, while devout still had need of a savior. See, we all have the law of God written in our hearts, and we can choose to live by it or live against it. In this case, the centurion lived by it as much as possible, but still came up short when it came to being righteous enough to escape eternal torment.

In fact, the word is very clear that there is no one who can live up to the righteous standards of the law of God; neither the written law as given to Moses, nor the law written upon the hearts of the gentiles. There was just no way that the people could live up to the demands of the law:

Romans 3:21–23 NKJV

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

But Cornelius was pious and righteous enough to attract the attention of God. So much so that God chose him to be the first fruits of the Gentiles that would someday receive the Gospel.

The Great Bacon Dilemma

Now that things are squared away with Cornelius, God has another bit of business to work out, this is what I like to call “The Great Bacon Dilemma.” You see, while the new Christians had a fantastic understanding of the love of God, they were still Jews—raised up from the time they were children. Even the Samaritans observed the mosaic law to a degree, but now we’re talking gentiles. They are not only foreigners, they eat bacon! What?

Jews were forbidden by God to eat pork and therefore because the gentiles ate pork- as well as committed various other abominations, they were not even allowed to go into the home of a gentile. But God had just instructed Cornelius to send a delegation to Peter so that they could hear the gospel. But the problem was they were having some veal parmesan that day and well, Peter knew that wasn’t kosher, so God had to clear up the great bacon dilemma once and for all!

Acts 10:9–16 NKJV

The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.

Of course this is not all about giving me bacon 2000 years later, though I’d like to think that He knew how great it would be. No, this is about the barrier between God and man being forever bridged by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus Himself told the disciples what God’s heart was. Had they been really listening, they would have been expecting the whole gentiles getting saved thing.

John 3:14–17 NKJV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

So for whom did God come? That’s right, everyone. The will of God is that every last living creature on earth be saved. Not just the elect, not just people who have been predestined to salvation, not just 144,000 random people that have been given a magic stone with their name on it. EVERYONE, WHOEVER calls on the name of the Lord. But see, the will of God is not always done here on earth. He gave us free will to choose our own fate, and as much as it grieves Him if we choose death, He gives us every opportunity to relent and if we will not then His will for us has been thwarted, but not because He has damned us to hell out of anger, but because we were too stubborn to take the lifeline He prepared for us, and instead we drown in a fiery sea of our own tragic misgivings and in an ocean of our own tears.

Pastor Worship

So the men sent by Cornelius show up at the place where Peter was staying, and tell Peter the story, Peter says all right, let’s do it but let’s get some sleep first, then we’ll go back. So they get back to Caesarea, and Cornelius tells Peter what had happened. Notice the greeting that Peter gets:

Acts 10:24–26 NKJV

And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I myself am also a man.”

Remember, the Romans considered Caesar to be a God amongst men, so it was very common for them to want to worship another man—especially a man of religious authority. Peter would have none of that.

This would not be the last time this happened. In fact, it gets kind of comical later when others try to do the same thing to Paul. But the key here is that Peter was all about giving glory to Jesus, not getting some for himself. While it is true that there was a fear and respect that the Jerusalem church paid to the apostles, there was a clear delineation that the apostles constantly made. I am not God, I am not a god, I am just a man. I have known churches where the pastor is almost revered like a god. I can recall one in particular—A former Foursquare Church, where the pastor had this ornate robe that he wore and had an actual entourage that he went around with. There was one man whose job it was to hold the Pastor’s Bible! That is not how we should be treating anyone Jesus is the one mediator between God and man.

Free at Last

Let’s skip down and see what happens:

Acts 10:34–48 NKJV

Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.

Right in the middle of his message, God just drops a big 2000 dove called the Holy Spirit! Can you imagine that? I would love to be in the middle of a message when God just randomly decides to show up and pour out His power. If there were any doubts that God intended for the gentiles to be saved, this erased it. In fact notice what Paul says in verse 47, “can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit as we have?”

So first God says bacon is OK, then He shows up in a great manifestation of power! What is God doing? Why is He giving the gentiles a chance at this point? Well it goes back to the beginning. God originally wanted an entire race of people that would serve Him. Not just one or two—He wanted the whole world to live and reign with Him. That was the whole point behind Adam and Eve, but they blew it. They transgressed and brought sin into the world. Do you think for a minute that God would not try to redeem all of creation?

Romans 8:22 NKJV

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Conclusion

Peter took the Gospel to the last group of people yet to be touched by the Word of God. The gentiles represented the most unclean of all the people of the earth. They were unclean because of their diet, because of their lifestyle and because of their heart. But most importantly they were unclean because they had been born that way.

God came to the earth to restore that which was lost due to the sinfulness of man. The whole earth—all of creation is desperate for that salvation. The entire planet is desperate to be put back into correct order. It is a job Peter started, Paul would take over (after a lengthy absence—God had to get him to stop being such a quarreling scoundrel), and that you and I have been charged with continuing.

We are to take the good news of Jesus to the world in which we live. Don’t presume that people know already, be willing to take it and let me caution you of this. DO NOT make the mistake of saying there is no way that this person or that person can ever receive salvation. Do not call unclean that which the Lord has made clean. You never know when the person whom you’ve written off is another Cornelius.

Let’s Pray

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV

“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’