No Distinction, Part 2 (Acts 10:30-48, Jeff Kliewer)

The Emergent Church’s Attack on Preaching

Verse-by-verse, passage-by-passage, book-by-book, through the Bible. In the early 2000s, at the turn of the 21st century, there was a movement afoot, sometimes claiming to be evangelical, but always claiming to be Christian, it was called the Emergent Church.

And the fundamental idea of the Emergent Church is that Christians have been too certain of what we believe. We have, instead of asking questions and having conversations, we've been dogmatic and certain of the things that we believe.

And the prescription of the Emergent Church was that we need to stop being so certain. We need, rather, to just have conversations. And so the Emergent Church took the idea of preaching and put it in the crosshairs.

It said, we no longer need the preaching of God's Word. Instead, let's sit around tables on Sunday mornings and have conversations. Let's do away with the pulpit. Let's do away with the pew. Let's have conversations.

The Emergent Church gained momentum and, for a while, looked like quite a formidable force in the Christian world in America. But by 2011, it was a blip on the radar. It was all but forgotten. The Emergent Church was a fad that raged around 2007, 2008.

Everybody was talking about it, but by 2011, it was forgotten. Meanwhile, John MacArthur, in 2011, preached, after 42 years, his final sermon through the New Testament. He completed preaching every verse in the New Testament.

Tim Chalies writes about this and talks about it on a video series he's doing. You can watch it on YouTube if you google Tim Chalies Great Sermons. This was the one for this week. He points out that MacArthur preached for 42 years and completed the entire New Testament.

27 books, 260 chapters, 7 ,957 verses. You know what he did after that? Started over. Kept going. You knew it. John MacArthur kept going. Here we are in 2018 and he's just pressing through, preaching the Word, preaching the Word, delivering the Bible.

Peter’s Vision and the End of Old Covenant Distinctions

Last week, we studied Acts chapter 10. An interesting thing happened there. There was a sheet that descended from heaven in the vision of Peter, and Peter was told to take and kill the animals that were present on that sheet.

And, of course, Peter said, what? No, Lord, I've never killed or eaten anything unclean. But this vision happened three times, and each time God said, do not call unclean what I have made clean. From that vision, we learned that something has changed.

There was a change of dispensations. There's a big theology word for you today. Dispensationalism. In the old covenant, under the old time, there was an economy by which God dealt with his people. Part of that economy, part of that dispensation, was that they could only eat certain foods and never eat anything unclean.

But with the descending of this sheet and with Peter's vision, God showed that at the cross, some things changed. The dietary laws of Israel no longer apply to the church. You can now kill and eat and not call anything unclean.

Moreover, the sacrificial system came to an end because you no longer need to kill animals and bulls and goats because the blood of the Son of God was put on the cross. A once-and-for-all finished sacrifice.

No more animal sacrifices. And some ceremonial laws and other laws came to completion at the cross. Well, Peter learned that in that vision. This theoretically opened the door for the Gentiles to hear the gospel because, in the Jewish economy, the Jewish understanding of things, only Jews could be saved.

The gospel was only for the Jews. In Peter's understanding, Jesus was a Jew. All the Twelve Apostles were Jews. And in order to be saved, you had to become Jewish and then trust the Jewish Messiah. But when that sheet descended, it didn't just do away with dietary laws.

The message of that was that Peter should no longer call any man unclean. That's why when he comes down from the roof and he has some visitors waiting for him at the door, he invites those Gentiles into his house because he will no longer call them unclean.

And he goes with them on this day-and-a-half journey, walking 26 miles to where Cornelius is. And when he gets there, he enters the house because now, theoretically, he understands that something has changed.

Jews can enter a Gentile home because why? God has shown him not to call any man unclean. So the vision that Peter had opened his mind to understand that no man is to be considered unclean, but that the gospel is for all, Jew and Gentile alike.

Now what we have in the text, what's going to happen next, and you can turn there, Acts chapter 10 verse 30. As Peter comes into the house, what he understood in theory, he is now going to see in living color.

He's going to see something happen in person that will confirm the vision, but add flesh to it. It will be amazing. In fact, at the end of this text today, we'll see that the Jewish believers that traveled with Peter, their jaws are just dropping.

They cannot believe what they're seeing. It shatters the paradigm of Jew versus Gentile, the dogs out there versus the Jews who are here inside the family of God. That paradigm is about to be destroyed by what we see in the text today.

Cornelius Is Prepared, But He Still Needs Preaching

But the last point before we dive in that I'm trying to stress today, Cornelius was already being drawn by God. He was drawn to do good works, to give alms, and to worship the true God of Israel. He was already a monotheist, not worshiping the pagan gods of Rome and the Pantheon.

Cornelius was already being drawn, yet something was still missing. He was good in comparison to others, but something was still missing, and the thing that he needed was preaching. He needed a preacher.

How could he believe unless he heard? And how can he hear unless someone preaches? And how can someone preach unless someone is sent? Why? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word. Peter was sent by God to preach the good news of Jesus Christ, and so Cornelius is enlivened.

He comes alive. What was missing? The Holy Spirit indwelling him. A relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. Salvation. Regeneration. The indwelling of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit.

Everything that he truly needed for life and godliness was in Jesus Christ, and he had become moral. He had become monotheistic, but he still needed what mattered most. He needed Christ. He needed Jesus, and that's what Peter has to bring, and that's what we get to eat from every week as we gather on Sunday morning from this banquet of God's Word, and that's what we get to feast on all week long as each of us opens and preach the gospel to ourselves through the reading of his Word.

We need preaching. So Acts chapter 10 verse 30 and following. We've reviewed the story, so here we have it. Peter is entering a Gentile's home because by a vision he's been shown not to think of Gentiles as unclean.

Verse 30 to 33, and Cornelius said, four days ago about this hour I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.

Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner by the sea. So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.

Wouldn't you love it if evangelism was always that easy? I find that most people are very resistant to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, there's one study I read that it takes about 30 times sharing the gospel before someone will be receptive in America.

I don't know if that's exactly true or not, but it kind of resonates with me. You got to share the gospel about 30 times before somebody wants to listen. Initiating these conversations, but here the ground has been prepared.

There's been some tilling of the soil to make it open and ready for the seed. That last phrase in verse 33, now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear. Their ears are open. What is the needful thing?

What is most needed? All that you have been commanded by the Lord. What's needed is the Word of God. What God has told Peter to deliver, the Word. He is there as a herald to declare the very words of God.

All that you have been commanded by the Lord. This is the importance of preaching. This is why preaching is needful. There is probably the most magnified declaration in the New Testament that I can find is in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 1.

In verse 2, we're very familiar with that charge where Paul tells Timothy, what? Preach the Word. But turn with me briefly to chapter 4 verse 1, 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 1. I know of no other place in the New Testament where a command is preceded by five clauses to intensify what's about to be said.

2nd Timothy chapter 4. At the end of chapter 3, we have that famous verse 316, all scripture is God-breathed, profitable for rebuke and training, correcting and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

So we're talking about the scripture here, the teaching of God's Word. But look at chapter 4 verse 1. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the Word.

First of all, he says, I charge you. That's strong language to begin with. This is laying something at Timothy's feet that he is commanded to do. It is not a mere suggestion, it is a charge. You are commissioned unto this, Timothy.

I charge you, but not just that, it's in the presence of God. I charge you in the presence of the Creator of all things, the Almighty One, Timothy. You are charged in the name of God, and not only so, and of Christ Jesus.

Now when you got two members of the Trinity involved in this, you recognize this is getting really serious here. And of Jesus Christ, of Christ Jesus. What Jesus are we talking about? The judge of the living and the dead.

That will come up again in Acts chapter 10. The one who will judge the world. Some will stand before him, clothed in their own righteousness, and discover that that righteousness is filthy rags in the sight of the judge.

They think they're a good person, they think that their religion is enough, and they'll discover that it's not. That even their righteous deeds are like filthy rags in the sight of this judge. But there is an imputed righteousness, a given righteousness, that he gives to those who believe in him, and they will live forever in his presence.

This is the judge of all, and finally by his appearing and his kingdom, the judge has come once and died to atone for the sins of those who believe in him. He's coming a second time to bring his kingdom, and now the charge in chapter 4 verse 2.

Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Paul commissions Timothy to preach, and so turn back with me to Acts chapter 10. The first thing I want you to see in our passage today is the importance of speaking the Word of God, whether it be in the pulpit on a Sunday morning, that this would be our gathering cry.

This is what brings us together to hear the Word. The preaching and the hearing of God's Word is central to the worship of God's people, or in your life as you're raising your kids and you recognize that you, Father, are a priest over your home.

To preach to your children and to tell them the excellencies of Jesus Christ, to raise them up in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord, and grandparents, same thing, and friends, to speak of the one who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The Gospel Must Be Preached to Every Nation

In verses 30 to 33, Cornelius, by the world standards, is doing fine. He is a great man, he is a centurion, he commands soldiers and they go and do what he says, and he has wealth and he has righteousness in a comparative sense.

He is good and moral, he gives. He would be sponsoring one of these kids through Compassion International. He's doing all that, but he's missing the most needful thing. Yet he eagerly, prepared by the Spirit, asks Peter to speak.

So, verse 34, 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. Now this verse has been a stumbling block for many a Christian.

Many people have read that and assumed that what Peter is saying is that if you're simply good you will be acceptable to God, regardless of your religion, regardless of what you think about God. It's just a matter of doing good and God will accept you.

Nothing could be further from the truth. What you have here is Peter teaching that God does not show favoritism of one ethnicity over another. Peter is saying Gentiles are welcomed to worship the Lamb before his throne, just like the Jews are.

That's the thrust here. Truly I understand that God shows no partiality. This Gentile, this Roman soldier, is not excluded because of his race, because of his ethnicity, I should say. But in every nation, from all, from Ponta to Ethnae, from every ethnic group, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

And at this point, brothers, sisters, it's important that we have good, strong, systematic theology because as we know what the Scripture teaches as a whole, we recognize that there is no person on this planet who fits the bill apart from grace.

There is none that fears God according to Romans 3 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but that beginning comes by grace. The reason Cornelius was fearing God is because God had been tilling the soil of his heart to change him and make him ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is nothing of Cornelius's self-righteousness here. This is grace that has prepared the way to make him ready for the obedience of faith, Romans 1 5. So verse 36, as for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news, preaching is often caruso, which means to herald.

But here, this is from the gospel, from where we get evangel, euangelizo. I gave it to you in your notes. It means to proclaim the good news, to preach the good news. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, notice this parenthetical here.

It has to do with the larger framework of what's happening in the text. He is Lord of all. By that, Peter is saying Jesus is not just the God of the Jews, he's the God of the Gentiles as well. The God of all creation.

Reminds me of Colossians 1 15 to 20. Who is this Jesus? He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things. And in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Here, Peter is declaring that Jesus is Lord of all.

The kurios, the Lord. And that refers to God. God the Father is Lord of all. He's the creator of all. Here, Jesus is lifted up to that highest place, given the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, whether Jew or Gentile.

Verse 37 and 38, you yourselves know what happened through 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. So this is interesting. Peter says to Cornelius, you know this. Well, how does he know that? How does he know that Jesus went about doing good and healing those who are oppressed by the devil?

Well, the reputation of Jesus has preceded him. Here in Caesarea, that's a part of Israel. And the news about how Jesus had cast out demons and healed people all over the place had been spread far and wide.

It had reached Caesarea, and even a Gentile soldier, not a Jew, has heard this much about Jesus. Guys, wherever you go out preaching in America, the reputation of Jesus precedes him. People have heard the name.

People know that he was a and that he taught, that he's a prophet. Many people have a positive view of Jesus Christ, even if they don't like the church and they don't like Christians. We might not be the most popular people in America today, evangelical Christians, but they'll say, but we like Jesus.

We like Jesus, we just don't like Christians. The reputation of Jesus precedes him, but the message of the gospel is more than a miracle worker, more than a prophet, more than a great teacher. A clear and concise gospel message is needed.

It's very necessary. Even for a world that has a general respect for Jesus, that general respect is not enough to save. It doesn't help them at all. In fact, in some cases it blinds people to the knowledge of the truth.

They assume because they esteem Jesus and they think Jesus is good that they're okay. But watch what follows in verses 39 to 43, and now we're into the meat of it. This is gospel. This is good news. This is what gets us excited as Christians.

I want to point out that there's five elements that Peter preaches in just so short a passage, and these five elements are essential to the gospel. Each of these are things that we need to learn and master so that we have a construct in our brain that helps us preach the gospel to others.

What are the five things? Let's read it, 39 to 43, and then we'll briefly go through them. 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.

The Person, Work, and Saving Promise of Christ

It's not only the preacher on Sunday morning that evangelizes, that does the work of the ministry. Every one of us here is called to leave today with the gospel on our heart and in our mind and eventually, hopefully at some point during this week, on our lips.

The question is, when that time comes, will you have a knowledge of the gospel that's burning inside of you that you want to share with somebody? Here's what it is. Number one, it's the person of Christ.

He is Lord of all. We preach Christ. It's about him, it's not about morality. You think you're a good person? That's filthy rags. You need him. You need Jesus. He is Lord of all, the preeminent one. He's God in flesh.

Number two, the work of Christ. Notice in the text, they put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear. The death, burial, resurrection, and subsequent appearing of Jesus Christ is the gospel message.

It's the work of Christ. He died on a cross, but on the third day he rose to life and he is alive. Jesus is alive, but why did he die? Connect verse 39 with verse 43. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.

Now anyone who believes in him receives what? Forgiveness of sins. There is a point to his being killed on a tree. He's not the hapless victim of murderous Jews. No one takes my life, says the Savior.

I give it willingly. The purpose of Jesus's dying is part and parcel of the gospel. We need to understand why he died, and here's what I've noticed. The devil hates what I'm about to say. The devil doesn't want you to hear it, and the devil doesn't want you to say it.

The purpose of the dying of Jesus is to satisfy the wrath of God. It pleased the Father to crush him, Isaiah 53. Now you have the Roman Catholic Church, EWTN writes about this on their blog. You have N .T. Wright in England.

You have Brian Zahn debating with Michael Brown. Over and over again you see the world rages against this doctrine particularly. It's called substitutionary atonement. Jesus died as a substitute on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin.

The devil hates that, and it seems very strange to me that mankind would hate this doctrine. Why would you rage against love? Why would you rage against the doctrine that says that the Father was pleased to pour out his wrath upon his Son in order that I, a guilty sinner, could go free?

And yet this doctrine is derided and hated at every corner. The only explanation I have for that is that the devil hates this doctrine, and the hatred against substitutionary atonement is demonic in nature because the Bible could not be any more clear, could it?

2nd Corinthians 5 21, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. That substitution, my sin imputed to him, his righteousness given to me, that's substitution.

1st Peter 3 says the same thing, the righteousness, his righteousness imputed to me. That's the doctrine, that's the reason for his dying. I have a question for you. Why did Jesus sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane?

Was he scared of nails? Was he scared of the crown of thorns that loomed over the horizon? Why was he sweating drops of blood before his death? I mean, think about it. When Jan Hus, the Christian martyr, was burned at the stake for preaching the gospel in Europe, he sang praises with such loud and joyful lyric that the crowds couldn't hear themselves talking.

He was crying out in joy at the top of his lungs with the smile on his face as he died. Was Jan Hus more courageous than our Savior? When Stephen was martyred back in Acts chapter 6, we saw his face look like the face of an angel.

Why is Jesus sweating drops of blood? The death of Jesus is utterly unique and completely different than any death, even the death of a martyr, even the death of a soldier fighting for his country, because in the death of Jesus, he faced and bore the wrath of his father, the wrath of God against every sin, every rebellion, every time we've cursed in our hearts and through our lips, every time we've rejected God and wanted nothing to do with his rule, we wanting to be autonomous.

There was a holy God in heaven storing up wrath, storing up wrath, because God and his glory must be vindicated. If he is a good God and a holy God, he must be wrathful towards the deriding of his glory.

Here we have image bearers made in the image of God and yet we are rebellious and we hate the God who made us. According to Romans 1, we exchanged the glory of God for images, created things. If God did not have wrath against the unholiness of man, he would not be worthy of worship.

The reason Jesus sweat drops of blood in the garden is because he knew that as he set his face like flint to go to the cross, he was going there and would receive in himself the penalty that we deserve.

The full wrath of God would be poured out on him. He was not afraid of nails. He was not afraid of thorns. He dreaded the wrath of God because he understood the holiness of God. That's the gospel we preach.

That's the reason why he was hung on a tree. No one takes my life, I give it willingly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The third thing, according to the Scriptures.

Do you see this in the text? Again and again when we hear about the gospel, we're told it's according to the Scriptures. First Corinthians chapter 15 verses 1 to 4, Paul says, I'm gonna tell you the most important thing that you need to hear.

The most important thing. I want to remind you of what I delivered to you as a first importance, that Christ died for our sins, substitutionary atonement, according to the Scriptures. That he was buried, that he rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared.

The gospel is according to the Scripture. Read Luke 24. Jesus stresses this point. It's over and over again, stressed in the Scriptures that the dying of Jesus fulfilled prophecy. So we see in Acts chapter 10, Peter stresses this as well.

Verse 43, to him all the prophets bear witness. This morning I was telling the teens about one of them. You guys know Daniel 9 24 to 27? Seventy-sevens are decreed for your people. To do what? To put an end of sin, to finish the transgression, to bring in everlasting righteousness.

In other words, until Jesus comes and puts an end to sin, there will be seventy-sevens. Now what on earth is seventy-sevens? I didn't plan to talk about this, by the way, so I better not go into it too in too much depth.

He says after sixty-nine sevens, so 69 seven-year periods, Messiah will be cut off. That's 483 years. 483 years from when? From the going forth and issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.

Until Messiah is cut off, there shall be sixty-two and seven sevens. That's sixty-nine sevens, 483 years. We're doing a lot of math here this morning, and we don't have time to go in in depth on it, but here's what I'll tell you.

In 444 BC, Artaxerxes gave the command to go and restore and rebuild Jerusalem. 483 years later, in 33 AD, Jesus was cut off and had nothing. The exact time of his being rejected by Israel is prophesied in Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 to 27.

Micah 5 -2 tells us that he'd be born in Bethlehem. Zechariah 9 -9, he'd ride in on a donkey. Isaiah 53 talks about all of his sufferings as a substitutionary atonement for our sins. Psalm 22 tells the details of being pierced through your hands and feet, a crown of thorns on his head, bones out of joint, tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth, surrounded by wild dogs.

The Gentiles, the soldiers mocking him, pierced through his hands and feet. We have the allusions of Genesis 22, the father Abraham sacrificing Isaac who carries the wood of his own cross up the hill, which could very well have been Golgotha, and on that hill it was provided, a substitute ram caught in the thicket.

The Passover lamb of Exodus 12. All of the prophecies of the Old Testament, 39 books completed, a 400 year period of silence, and then Jesus fulfills it all. This is part and parcel of our gospel. God foretold what he would do and that's how we know it's objectively true.

It comes from God. Let no one fight against it. It needs to be preached, not talked about. It is true. It needs to be proclaimed. It needs to be heralded, Caruso in the world. Go out as an evangelist knowing that this is true and proclaim the truth.

So we come to the fourth point. If it's good news, it's got to have a promise. It's got to be good to us. The promise of the gospel is forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Verse 43, him who believes in him receives forgiveness of sin through his name, and if your sins are forgiven you no longer have to die and depart, but the resurrection and the life brings you up with him forever, eternal life.

And finally the fifth point, now I don't want to ruffle feathers here, but I find nowhere in the Bible that talks about the unconditional love of the gospel. The gospel is not unconditional love. If the gospel were unconditional love that would mean that God in his unconditional love has no condition upon which you must respond.

Now his love is agape love, which is totally different and greater than anything that this world has ever seen, but I see in my Bible a condition for entering eternal life. Verse 43, to him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes.

The condition of the gospel to have this eternal life promised in the gospel is repentance and faith. Repentance means turning away from sin and faith, turning to Christ and trusting in him to take away your sin.

So I understand what people mean when they say unconditional love because there's nothing that I can bring to this table. There's no righteousness that I have that can contribute anything, but the Bible clearly says that we must repent and believe.

The first gospel in the book of Mark when Jesus came proclaiming the good news, he said repent and believe the good news. We must turn away from sin and turn to Christ, and that's the call of the gospel.

Guys, if we leave that fifth point off when we're out preaching in the world, you might have people nodding their head to what you're saying. And guys, if you go to an evangelistic rally and the preacher leaves off repentance, you might have people walking the aisle thinking that they're exercising faith, but not a saving faith.

Saving faith involves repentance from sin and turning to Christ to trust him, to believe in him, to stand and rest in him. Preach the whole gospel, and this fifth point is vital. One must come to a personal relationship with Christ, turning away from sin and trusting him for salvation.

The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles

Well, here's the mind-blowing part for the Jews, verse 44 to 46. While Peter was still saying these things, so he's completely preached the gospel, he's given that full and clear yet concise picture of who Christ is and what he's done according to the Scriptures.

Forgiveness of sin, eternal life, repent and believe. Now, verse 44, while he's still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised, there were six guys that had come up with him on this journey.

These believing Jewish background Christians were amazed. That word is existamai. Ex means out of and stamai means stand. They were standing out of themselves, literally. They were amazed. It's like an out-of-body experience, like their mind has come out of their bodies and they're like, this is surreal.

What are they seeing? What's so amazing to them? The gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. God is giving his Holy Spirit to Gentiles as well as to them. As they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as the half-Jew Samaritans in Acts chapter 8 received the Holy Spirit, now Gentiles are included in the family of God.

Mind-blowing. They are amazed. And this tells us that the gospel is for all. We don't make ethnic distinction between anyone or distinctions of any kind. We can bring the gospel and preach it openly and boldly to every person because of this.

It blew their mind and it changed their paradigm. This is what I talked about at the beginning. In person. What Peter saw in a vision when the sheet descended, in theory he understood that God welcomed all, not just Jews, but Gentiles as well.

Now he sees it because they're speaking in tongues and they're extolling God. And Peter declares, 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. Just quickly in these verses, notice the order of how things happen. The theological term here is the ordo salutis.

We won't get into that, but notice that baptism in water comes after being indwelt by the Spirit and gifted with the Spirit. So here you have, they are amazed because the gift is poured out, they have received it, and so Peter says now they can get baptized.

So baptism is part of our sanctification, it's not what saves us. They have the Spirit, they're regenerate, they have faith before being baptized. I also wanted to note that, look, it was natural for them to go get baptized.

There's no objection on their part. The amazing part is that Peter is saying it's okay for them to get baptized. You see that? It says here they asked him to remain for some days. Well, I'm sorry, I just go back.

He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. That's the miracle of the story. Peter is now saying, yes, Gentiles can be baptized, but it's a given that if you're a believer in Christ, you would accept that command.

It's commanded by Peter. If you're a believer in Christ, the natural and right thing to do is to go be baptized in water as a first step of obedience, a first step in your sanctification. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

Preaching the Word with Conviction and Heart

They wanted to hear more of the Word to continue in the teaching. So we began this sermon by talking about John MacArthur preaching the gospel and preaching verse by verse through the entire Bible. In that 1969 sermon, he ended it this way, and I'll share the same story with you.

He said that there was once an actor who was demonstrating his amazing acting skills, and a group of an audience had come to watch, and people would call out scenes from famous movies, and he would act those out with perfect eloquence and delivering the lines and showing how he could emote and do all the things that actors do.

So finally he asked, anybody else have something you'd like me to recite? And a preacher in the back raised his hand and said, I would love for you to preach or to recite Psalm 23. Well, Psalm 23 is that famous psalm, and this actor happened to know it.