The Pilgrim Path---Acts 10: 34 – 48

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. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is LORD of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

PETER AND CORNELIUS / PART THREE

What you get from the Apostle Peter is the “good news,” in about as concise a manner as it can be delivered. You must figure the LORD of Glory has already prepared people that you are speaking to (sometimes a special occasion-- like Cornelius and his family and friends). There does not seem to be a need for lengthy theological deliberation---just practical explanation of the basics of the Gospel. This is what you have the Apostle “present” in verses 36 through 43. It is quite the seminar on evangelistic application and adaptation to the audience at hand. Peter loves the LORD---and we may gather that he loves these Gentiles whom the LORD has providentially placed before him. This was not even a five-minute Salvation series that he conveyed---but it was enough! The Holy Spirit came in power! All who become one with Jesus---reveal they are part of the Israel of God. In this instance, these new believers bring the promise of Joel 2: 28—32 to life. A repeat of Pentecost (Acts 2: 17—21) rouses the Jews that had accompanied Peter from Joppa. These Gentiles speak in tongues. What is apparent is that they needed no interpreter for what they were saying---as they praised and extolled Almighty God and His Truth. Oh, to have seen the faces of Peter---and the rest of those who came with him---when this happened! The Apostle Peter says, “Nothing can hinder these dear souls from being baptized---they are one with Us!” What a day for the Church! What a day for the Advance of the Gospel!

Red and Yellow, Black and White---they are all Precious in His sight! All need the Gospel of Peace that only the Gospel of Christ Jesus provides. There is no race that is supreme over “all” the others. We find our identity in the Savior---Jesus Christ the LORD.

From Charles Haddon Spurgeon: It may be that during a sermon two men are listening to the same truth; one of them hears as attentively as the other and remembers as much of it; the other is melted to tears or moved to solemn thoughts; but the one sees nothing in the sermon, except certain important truths well set forth; as for the other, his heart is broken within him and his soul is melted. How is this? I reply, because the mysterious Spirit of the living God goes with the truth, and that may be strong enough to make him tremble, like Felix; but this man feels the Spirit going with the truth, the Spirit causes him to pass into the state of salvation. This change takes place instantaneously. It is as miraculous a change as any miracle of which we read in Scripture. It may be mimicked, but no imitation of it can be true and real. Men may pretend to be regenerated without the Spirit but regenerated they can never be. It is a change so marvelous that the highest attempts of man can never reach it. We may reason as long as we please, but we cannot reason ourselves into regeneration; we may meditate till our hairs are gray with study, but we cannot meditate ourselves into the new birth. This is worked in us by the sovereign will of God alone.

From J. I. Packer: …our lives are in the Bible, and we do not understand them until we find them there. But the quickest and most vivid way in which such understanding comes is through being addressed by the Bible via someone for whom the Bible is alive and who knows and can articulate something of its life-changing power. This is a further reason why preaching is always needed in the church: Whenever preaching fails, understanding of Scripture in its relation to life will inevitably fail also. No congregation can be healthy without a diet of biblical preaching, and no pastor can justify himself in demoting preaching from the place of top priority among the tasks of his calling.

From Simon Kistemaker: By staying in Gentile homes, Peter and his Jewish friends demonstrate that they fully accept their hosts as equal members of the Christian Church. And thus their presence in these homes strengthens the Gentile believers.

HYMN

This is the King’s command:

That all men, everywhere,

Repent and turn away

From sin’s seductive snare;

That all who will obey,

With him shall reign for aye---

And that’s my business for my King.

This is the message that I bring,

A message angels fain would sing:

“O be ye reconciled,”

Thus saith my LORD and King

“O be ye reconciled to God.”

E.T. Cassel

Grace and Peace in Jesus, the Only Redeemer of broken and wretched souls, Pastor Jason