John Samson continues his walk through Acts 10 on Today's Dividing Line

Welcome to The Dividing Line today. My name is Pastor John Sampson of King's Church in Phoenix, Arizona.

You can find my blog at effectualgrace .com and that's where I do a lot of writing.

I've also been a writer since 2005 at reformationtheology .com, which was the blog site for monogism .com.

All kinds of websites out there, monogism .com, just a great theological resource if you haven't already been made aware of it.

It's a delight to be here on The Dividing Line while Dr. White is away on a ministry trip to South Africa.

Please keep up with the latest regarding his movements, his just dramatic openings in terms of what's opened up over there for his ministry.

Any update on that, Rich? Well he posted on Facebook this morning and that was short and sweet and he basically said you know going on Facebook when you only have 200 meg of data to use till the weekend is frustrating.

It shows me how much I use at home and how often I click on links to watch something. Anyway, off to do a dialogue with an imam this morning and then to Pach, which

I guess is Pachestrum, to meet with students and faculty at NWU, which

I believe is Northwest University. He posted later on that he just recorded a cordial but pointed dialogue with Molana Ahmed Pandor and Mohamed Tavidi at the

Proclaim building in La Nasia and now on to Pachestrum and the enjoyable evening with the students there.

So I think that might be the last we hear from him until the weekend. That probably right there just ate up all of his...

Do we know how many hours ahead they are over there? What's that? Do we know how many hours ahead they are in South Africa?

I believe he would be... They're probably about sleeping now, aren't they?

Oh yeah, yeah. I believe they're nine hours ahead of us is my last recollection but I could be very wrong about that.

I think they're almost parallel with London or Frankfurt, somewhere in there on the time zone thing.

The UK is eight hours ahead right now. I think they're either eight or nine hours. But that's what's going on and we just continue to pray for him as he moves about.

Absolutely, absolutely. Last time on The Dividing Line we were trekking through Acts chapter 10 and I'd like to pick up from where we left off last time but before we do that let's just have a word of prayer, shall we?

Father, thank you for this amazing opportunity to speak of you, to delve into your word.

I pray that what is said would be a blessing to all that listen in and watch in. We pray,

Father, for all that is in your heart to be accomplished in Jesus' name. Amen, amen.

Acts chapter 10, I won't take too much time to review because the YouTube video is up and running and people can have access to that and hopefully it's been something of a blessing for you to walk through this passage with me because I have certainly been blessed studying these things.

In fact, in the church at King's Church here in Phoenix we're walking through the book of Acts and Acts chapter 10 has highlighted itself as one of the most significant chapters in the entire

New Testament because of the drama of it all. We as Gentiles are having full citizenship in the kingdom of God because not only of the cross of Christ and the resurrection but the events that took place in Acts chapter 10 when

Peter visited Cornelius' house. We talked at length last time about Peter and the keys and perhaps it was the case that in Acts chapter 2 the keys that open doors, that's what keys do, in Acts chapter 2

Peter opened the door to the Jews. It was the first Christian sermon post -resurrection of Christ and in Acts chapter 10 we have what we might call a

Gentile Pentecost. Some have called it that because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit here on the

Gentile community for the very first time and there the door to the

Gentiles was opened. I would like to just begin in Acts chapter 10 verse 34 which is the start of Peter's sermon and we'll pick it up right there.

Ladies and gentlemen this is the word of God. So Peter opened his mouth and said,

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 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.

May God add his blessing to the word of God that's been read in your ears.

Last time we talked about several components of the gospel and it's very interesting to me as you look as we look through the early preaching of the apostolic community the apostles and the suddenly

Stephen as well his sermon is marked there as is the sermon of Philip a little bit anyway he preached

Christ to them his message centered in the person of Christ that what is seen and what is dramatized and what is outlined is not certain details about the teachings of Jesus as important as they are but the person and work of Christ.

Peter if anyone Peter could have just elaborated on things that no one else would probably know maybe

James and John might know some of those things but even so there were things that Peter would have known about the

Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ that others would not have known because of his close connection with him. Jesus had his 70 he had his 12 but even amongst the 12 there seemed to be

Peter James and John who were especially close to the master and he could have brought all of that out he could have given many details we would never have known unless he told us but his message was specific about Jesus and what he did in his ministry his doing good we talked about that last time he was the only one who did good in that sense because there are none that do good

Romans chapter 3 makes clear man of his natural disposition in his natural unregenerate state is unable to please

God but the testimony of Christ was booming from heaven even at the baptism this is my beloved son in whom

I am well pleased Jesus did good and that's very important as an aspect of the gospel

Jesus not only died for our sins but he lived for our righteousness he lived an absolutely righteous life never having to say sorry once I could imagine that being difficult for those around him and in fact

James the half -brother of Jesus believed in his messiah his brother half -brother after the resurrection and I don't know

I could only speculate but it's hard to get around people who are absolutely perfect I remember being in classrooms where there was always one usually a girl who aced the test and made everyone else look bad and I could imagine

Mary and Joseph saying to all the other people in the family all the other half -brothers and sisters and anyone else there can't you be more like him can't you be more like Jesus Yeshua and after a while that might get a little old but Jesus lived a perfect life and that is a miracle that's an absolutely supernatural thing that we often overlook because we're so used to the idea of Jesus being sinless but think about that he never had to say sorry once to God he was the perfect lamb of God and Jesus death certainly atones for sin but his life is what is credited to the believers account the moment he puts his faith in Christ 2nd

Corinthians 521 I'm sure you know the passage he God made him Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us or the sin offering for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him on the cross

Jesus was treated as if he lived my life and at the cross

God now treats the believer treats me as if I lived Jesus life justification is a powerful biblical word and for many a year it meant to many people just as if I'd justified just as if I'd never sinned but it means that and far more than that it means just as if I'd always obey the righteousness that we have is absolutely perfect because it's not ours it's

Christ's he is our righteousness Jesus did good a couple of the components we saw last time was the fact that God does not show favoritism we saw that in the opening words of the preaching of Peter here truly

I understand that God shows no partiality God will save any kind of person whoever whosoever shall call upon the name of the

Lord shall be saved divine election doesn't negate the whosoever's of the

Bible we can say to everyone whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved election simply tells us who in fact will do so do you remember in Acts chapter 13 verse 48 it tells us and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed we're not in the kingdom because of being elected so much as the election tells us who will come to Christ we are put in right standing in God's sight by coming to Christ divine election just simply tells us that God knows who they are ahead of time his sheep hear his voice and Jesus knew who his sheep were and he knew who were not his sheep and he said in a number of different places

John chapter 10 being one of them you don't believe because you are not my sheep very very interesting second component we saw last time was that Jesus is

Lord it's a little phrase he is Lord of all he's not merely a life enhancement coach a stress reliever a peace and peace bringer although he is the prince of peace he's that and he's more than that he's

Lord he's not a mood enricher a success guru or financial planner he's

Lord of all now Jesus can tell us stuff tell us things that are very and immensely helpful and doing things

God's way is always the best thing to do and there are always positive results for following Christ but at times following Christ means a denial of earthly riches it's a denial of the short -term success that many would offer in our day as gurus in the health realm or in the financial realm it's not a quick get rich quick scheme to follow

Jesus it's oftentimes the fact we have to let goods and this mortal life also as martin luther penned in that famous hymn based on psalm 46 he is lord of all the lordship of Jesus is not an option for more committed

Christians you know you may have heard this I made Jesus savior in 19 something 1972 1986 whatever year it might have been but I made him lord last week that's certainly not a biblical idea concept whatsoever because at first entry point into the kingdom we make

Jesus lord and by the way we don't make him lord in other words he wasn't lord before we made him the lord of our lives no he already is lord we're just acknowledging his lordship he is the king of kings whether you and I believe in him or not he is the lord of lords whether you and I acknowledge that or not and one day we're told

Philippians 2 tells us every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is lord so Romans 10 9 tells us if you confess with your mouth

Jesus is lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved it's the entry point in the of God so there was no prejudice

God's favor is extended to all and that's why I'm in the kingdom

God's had mercy on this Gentile and he's had mercy on so many millions of Gentiles and acts 10 is just an historic account of what took place to tell us how in fact he did exactly that as we walk through the passage there are other things to to point out there are other things to highlight

I love the fact that Peter is very clear and if you look at Acts chapter 2 he wasn't mumbling and fumbling around trying to think of something it's as if God the

Holy Spirit made it so clear to Peter this is what you've got to say this is what you've got to present to the people he says this so as he preaches he is lord of all you yourselves know what happened throughout 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 we've talked a little about Jesus and his life and his ministry of healing

God was testifying not only of the love of God but uh the identity of Jesus that's clear from reading especially

John's gospel where we see the seven signs of Christ we see the healings of Christ in a very dramatic way that point towards Jesus as the divine son of God we could spend much time on that but I think we've established that point clearly and then verse 39 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 on him on a tree there is no

Christian gospel without mentioning the death of Christ it's interesting that even in the

Christian jewelry around us we have crosses silver or gold crosses usually maybe bronze but crosses nonetheless and if you think about it it's highly unusual that the followers of someone would celebrate someone's death rather than their life really and when you think about it even further why would you put a cross on the neck when it really is a form of execution it's just the same as if someone put a guillotine around their neck on a silver chain if you think about it it's not a little strange why would we want to highlight the means by which the one we love died it's because of what he achieved by his death his death for sinners when we talk of the blood of Jesus it washes away all sin we have redemption through his blood

Ephesians 1 tells us the blood represents the life of the person poured out it's blood spilled in death and it's his death which is the offense of many people many people are offended when we speak of the death of Christ achieving something they think no we do things we achieve things we don't like this idea of substitutionary atonement let me say let me say this without an atonement without a substitute we're dead in our sins we have no way to please

God or be put in standing with God people say I'm not sure I relate to that too bad you better because this is the

God we deal with from Old Testament to New Testament there's blood everywhere from the sacrificial offerings of the

Old Testament to the lamb who by his blood is redeemed ransom people for God out of every tribe tongue people and nation this book is a blood -filled book and we get in because the life of the flesh is in the blood according to Leviticus 17 11 his blood represented his life his life laid down in death and Peter preached the death of Christ again

I look at what he preached and I look at what he left out he left out a lot he would get to that I'm sure as he would instruct disciples in various different forms in different Bible studies as they walk through the

Old Testament as we call it now because New Testament was still being written at this time but he focused on the person of Christ his life and his death what kind of question does the death of Christ answer what problem did

Christ death solve what did it do for men what did it do for God these are questions that the epistles more than any other place in our

Bibles explain in the gospel accounts we have a record of what actually happened there's various different times where the writer will tell us something of what

Jesus achieved by his death I remember one scripture that comes to mind he gives his life as a ransom for many and that's a component of the gospel but more often than not what we find are simply the events being described and what is interesting to me as I read passages like John chapter 19 there's a verse in there that in English takes three words to spell out what it took

Mel Gibson almost two hours to unveil in a movie three words in English they crucified him and that's it there was no elaboration why well the people of the ancient world knew what crucifixion was they didn't need a movie to see and understand what those words meant but the focus in the

New Testament as well as in the old I would say from places like Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and other places messianic

Psalms the focus is on what that death achieved rather than how long the nails were how thick the crown of thorns was on the head of Christ the stripes of Jesus on his back the whipping post incident that we read about in John those things are mentioned but just as they took him out and scourged him that was it they crucified him but passage after passage after passage in the

New Testament seeks to unveil what was happening what was happening in God's eyes as Jesus his son was being crucified he brought reconciliation he brought propitiation these are words that we need to understand if you're going to go far in your

Christian life there are certain words you need to know just as when you instruct a teenager about driving a car there are certain things they need to know they need to know what a fuel cap is what a carburetor is where the water is supposed to go where the water is never supposed to go they learn hopefully without trial and error to put gas in the gas tank and they might be sincere if they put it somewhere else but that's not going to help the running of the car oil needs to go where oil needs to go and there are certain words that we need to understand as Christians to really appreciate what the cross achieved and one of them is propitiation

I remember preaching on that theme one time and said you want to get me excited any day of the year just send me an email say the word propitiation that will rock my socks that will get me excited why because I understand what it means it means to remove wrath by means of a sacrifice and 1st

John chapter 2 tells us that Jesus propitiated the father's wrath he is our propitiation he removed wrath he actually did it and this gets us to the concept of a real atonement an atonement that actually achieved something not a potential one that Jesus kind of does most of it but it requires the flicking of the switch so that man being in control turns the atonement on for people for themselves

Jesus did everything but we have to flick the switch we have to make it relevant to us it's all potential it's there it's like the electrical company they're supplying the electrics to the home and it's all available the lines are there the the thing can happen light can come into the house electricity can be used for the benefit of those inside the walls of the house but you just have to flick the right switch or turn the cooker on or use the microwave you know you have to do something for it to have any benefit to us the cross actually achieved more than that it achieved not only the potential of propitiation removing of wrath it actually removed wrath for people for some people who everyone who will ever call on the name of the

Lord we could call them the elect of God who are scattered throughout the world according to the book of John this is the world as we understand it the world represents so many different things even in the gospel of John the word world is is spoken of in many different tenses and in terms of many different meanings and it's the context even though it's one greek word cosmos usually that is spoken of we know what it means by the context of the word the word the word world can mean the world as in the planet it can mean world as in the universal uh general public everybody in the world but more often it means something different that's a it's a word study in itself but propitiation took place and Jesus removed the wrath due to us did he remove it for everyone well if he did everyone would be saved no one would be under the punishment of God in hell and that has led some to the errant doctrine of universalism the idea that everybody will be saved because Jesus made propitiation for everybody right well he didn't he laid his life down for the sheep he gave himself for the church he gave himself for the church in a way he did not for the united nations mcdonald's burger king all these other organizations he gave himself for a specific people you remember the angel spoke to joseph about the birth of Jesus and said you shall call his name

Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins as Dr.

White once said well did he did he do that I believe he did I believe he saved his people there on the cross and he bought the faith and the repentance of his people and provides it as a gift and that's why the the concept of repentance and faith are key to understand what we would call reform theology biblical teaching reform theology

I believe is just a simple way of talking about what the bible actually teaches repentance is a gift

God grants repentance he gives it hmm not only does faith call upon Christ but it loves

Christ the heart that expresses faith loves Christ and holds on to him through good times and bad times

I appreciate the fact that faith is a gift oh thank you so much excellent fresh from the sea

I appreciate the fact that faith is more than the ability to believe now hear this faith is actually a grabbing hold of Christ a lunging and the trusting in Christ and God gives faith as a gift

Ephesians chapter 2 8 and 9 tells us that it's the grace it's the salvation and the faith all of this is the gift of God in the origin of the world and it's the all the proceeding clause is in view when it says this is not of yourselves it is the gift of God the grace the salvation the faith all of it the gift of God Philippians 1 29 it's been given you to believe do you appreciate that I believe

Jesus at the cross bought the repentance and faith of his people and now provides it as a gift to the people of God Jesus made real atonement rather than potential atonement study words like atonement redemption reconciliation propitiation expiation these are concepts that just adorn the cross they refer to a real redemption for real people revelation 5 9

I've referred to it he ransomed he redeemed people for God out of every tribe tongue people and nation this is the book of revelation talking about the theme of heaven as they recognize what the cross achieved and they look back and say by his death he ransomed people not everybody without exception but everybody without distinction there'll be all kinds of people around the throne out of every tribe tongue people and nation some people have the idea well if that's true wouldn't that stunt evangelism it's the exact opposite it's this concept knowing that Jesus has his sheep in every tribe tongue people and nation that really in history you could trace it all out caused people to leave the confines of their own security and go to foreign lands because they said we need to go round up the sheep

Jesus already has them the book of revelation chapter 5 tells us that he's got a people out there let's go round up operation round up really started the missions movement of the church historically that's the case i'd like to give you a quote that i came across by george mcleod it's quoted by a man called richard c halverson he says this i simply argue that the cross should be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church i'm recovering the claim that jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles but on a cross between two thieves on the town's garbage heap at a crossroad so cosmopolitan they had to write his title in hebrew and latin and greek at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse and soldiers gamble because that is where he died and that is what he died for and that is what he died about that is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen ought to be about i love that quote cross is god's answer not only for the human race in terms of his love for them but also as a vindication of his own righteousness and holiness he didn't just wink at sin but punish severely on the cross as his son suffered the punishment of all those who would ever believe it's an amazing story of grace oswald chambers said this all of heaven is interested in the cross of christ hell afraid of it while men are the only ones to ignore its meaning kind of profound so in any gospel presentation there'll be the message of the death of christ but also the resurrection of christ it says in verse 39 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 so it goes on god raised him on the third day his resurrection was a vindication of all that jesus said or claimed to be i believe it's revelation excuse me romans chapter one and verse four where it says he was declared to be the son of god with power by the resurrection that was god's vindication of jesus we're going to move on for the sake of time we could spend much time on the resurrection of christ but recognize it's a vital component we saw it in acts 2 we're seeing it again here in peter's sermon in acts 10.