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Reading Acts 10:36-43 where the Apostle Peter preaches in the household of Cornelius and gives them a very simple presentation of the gospel, that they believe and are saved. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Peter comes into the house of Cornelius and he gives a very simple gospel. It takes like a minute and a half for him to preach what he shares, but it is enough for the people to believe in Jesus and so be saved when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the Word of Christ that we may press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to Acts chapter 10 and the household of Cornelius where the Apostle Peter is about to preach the gospel to the Gentiles who are gathered there. Let me begin reading here in verse 34 and go through verse 43.
Hear the word of the Lord. And opening his mouth, Peter said, You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how 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 the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a tree. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he appear not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead.
And he commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly to bear witness that this is the one who has been designated by God as judge of the living and the dead. Of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.
And this is purely a sermon proclaiming justification by faith. We are saved by no other way but faith alone in Jesus Christ, no works required. That does not mean that works won't happen or that a person who has faith won't demonstrate works.
We certainly must show and demonstrate with our lives that we have been changed by Christ. But to be justified, we do nothing, God does all. We simply believe and are saved. And that is exactly what Peter proclaims here in this sermon to the Gentiles.
Little bit different than what we saw in the first sermon that he preached at Pentecost in Acts chapter two. Now that doesn't mean that it's a different gospel. It is the same gospel. The presentation is just a little bit different.
In that sermon that Peter preached at Pentecost, there was a lot more scripture, a lot more Old Testament references. We don't have anything of that here in this sermon that Peter preaches to these Gentiles.
But he does call to their attention witnesses and what they've already known about Jesus Christ. Peter just sums it up for him. Now as we look at this particular sermon together, and we are going to understand justification by faith as it is proclaimed in this sermon, we have this divided up into three parts.
Now the first part we really already looked at yesterday, and that's verses 34 and 35. This is the opening of this message where Peter proclaims that God accepts people from every nation. He is seeing for himself now that God is bringing Jews and Gentiles to himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
And this opens the door for Peter to proclaim the gospel to these Gentiles gathered in the household of Cornelius. The next part of the sermon goes from 36 to 41. And this is where Peter summarizes the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, essential elements to any gospel presentation.
But he doesn't have to convince the people there that these things happen. They actually already know this. And it's possible that Peter knows that they know, because remember he came there to the household of Cornelius with the servants that Cornelius sent to retrieve Peter.
So they have therefore told Peter, here's what we know. Here's what Cornelius knows. Here's what we've talked about. And we're asking you to come and talk to us because an angel appeared to Cornelius and said that you were going to come speak to us.
Well, at least Peter didn't know that until Cornelius said so, but this is Peter's understanding now coming into this household is they have already heard these things about Christ. So Peter just summarizes everything that they have heard and connects the dots for them and points to Jesus as the one whom God had sent.
And then finally, you have the call to respond. And that's in verses 42 to 43, forgiveness and judgment will be through Christ. Judgment will be upon those who do not turn to him. Forgiveness will be for all who believe on his name.
Through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. As said in verse 43, there's our brief outline. So verses 34 to 35, which we looked at yesterday, Jesus Christ, life, death, and resurrection in verses 36 to 41, and then forgiveness and judgment through Jesus in verses 42 to 43.
And one of the things that Peter calls to three times in this sermon, one of the things he references three times, and you see it in all three points, he makes a reference to witnesses and that he is among those witnesses.
So first of all, in verses 34 to 35, where Peter acknowledges that God is accepting people from every nation, Jew and Gentile, he says, I most truly comprehend now that God is not one to show partiality.
So he stands as witness to this. The things that he has, the other things that he's been witness to, that he's going to talk about, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and then also bearing witness to the testimony of the gospel that's going out to the world.
This is another thing that Peter can mark on his resume. I am also a witness to the fact that God is calling all people to himself from all nations through the hearing of the gospel. So that's in verses 34 to 35.
We have this first statement of being a witness to the work that God is doing at this particular time in redemptive history. So now verse 36, and this is the part where Peter goes through a brief presentation of the gospel of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Verse 36, as for the word, which he sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. Now that statement in verse 36 is a declaration that Jesus is God.
That is exactly what that means. I think that we kind of muddy the line between Lord and God a lot. I mean, even evangelical Christians who would acknowledge that Jesus is God, I think that we still have that tendency to say, well, Lord is kind of a lesser word.
It would be better if he used a stronger word to say like Jesus actually is God. No, that statement of Lord is a statement that he is God because that word, which is Kyrgios in the Greek is synonymous with God.
It can be translated God. And this is the word that the Greeks would use for Caesar. When they would proclaim Caesar as God, they would call him Lord. They would call him Kyrgios. And whenever you would have like Romans who would press upon Christians to declare Caesar as Kyrgios and they would deny Caesar as Kyrgios and they would say, no, Jesus is Kyrgios.
That was a statement that Jesus is God. Caesar is not. Jesus is. And the Christians would be persecuted for this. So again, I think we tend to we tend to reduce Lord down to some lesser word. But Peter is proclaiming before these Gentiles that Jesus Christ is God when he says that he is Lord of all.
Now we've seen this word used elsewhere in this chapter to mean something other than God. Remember that Cornelius addressed the angel and said, what is it, Lord? Even though the angel is not God, the angel is an angel.
And I said before, it could be that Cornelius is just mixed up because he doesn't yet know Christ. It could be that. But we've seen elsewhere in the book of Acts that Lord is used in a lesser sense, just as a title of respect rather than a proclamation of someone being God.
So it can be rendered that way. We have to consider it in context. Peter is proclaiming here that Jesus Christ is Lord, God of all. The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, talking about God, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.
If he is exalted above all and he rules over all and everything belongs to him, then who else could he be but God? That is the context of making this statement that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. And when we read in Philippians chapter two, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
That is the declaration that Jesus Christ is Yahweh. He is God. And that's what Peter is making sure the people in Cornelius's household understand right here. Jesus Christ is God sent from God. And we go on in verse 37, you yourselves know the thing which happened through all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism, which John proclaimed.
So he's going through like, I mean, this is a summary of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that we're getting right here in this short little sermonette that Peter is giving regarding the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and what he did, especially concerning his death and his resurrection.
But we start in Judea with Galilee after the baptism of John. That's where all the gospels begin. Of course, Matthew starts with his birth. Luke begins with an announcement to Zechariah and then the birth of Jesus.
We even have a little excursus with Jesus as a 12-year-old preaching in the temple. So a couple of the gospels begin a little bit different, but essentially the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry starts at the baptism of John.
That's the way Mark starts. That's the way the gospel of John starts with the baptism by John the Baptist of Jesus and the pronouncement from heaven, the voice of the father saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Peter is presenting this as though the Gentiles that are gathered there in Cornelius' house already know this. You know, Peter goes on, verse 38, so he says, you know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power.
So that again is a testament to the Holy Spirit descending upon him at his baptism. And then the power that he demonstrated throughout his ministry of being able to do incredible signs and wonders, healing the sick, raising the dead, restoring sight to the blind, the ability to hear to the deaf, the speech to the mute, casting out demons, as Peter goes on to say, how 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 these things. There's that, that call to himself being a witness to this again. We are witnesses of all this that he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a tree.
Now consider the gospel summary that the apostle Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 15, verses three and four. I delivered to you what was of first importance, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.
You know that gospel summary, right? These are the things of first importance, as Paul says again in 1 Corinthians 15. Now he goes on from there to say, after he rose from the dead, that he appeared, he appeared to many and Paul names the ones to whom he appeared.
Peter is doing that same sort of gospel presentation here. It's a little bit longer, but then also testifying to those that Jesus appeared to. And the first person that he can appeal to is himself because he was with Jesus in his earthly ministry and saw him crucified and risen again.
Now, Peter was not at the cross, but he knows that he was killed. John was there. He saw it. Peter knows that he died. He knows that he was being crucified. And that's why Peter and the other apostles ran and hid.
They know that Jesus was buried in a tomb, but then the women come and tell him that the tomb is empty. Jesus' body isn't there and it baffles all of them. So we are witnesses of all of this. We're witnesses to what he did in Jerusalem and even that he was put to death by being hanged on a tree.
And verse 40, God raised him up on the third day and granted that he appear. As we talked about at the beginning of Acts in Acts chapter one, after Jesus' resurrection and between that and his ascension into heaven, there's 40 days.
For 40 days, Jesus was appearing with his disciples and teaching them before he ascended back to the father and was seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And as Paul testifies to again in first Corinthians chapter 15, more than 500 brothers saw Jesus at one time among all the people that Jesus appeared to in that period of a little more than a month that he was continuing to teach even after he rose from the dead.
His resurrection was well verified by many, many people, probably even more than a thousand because that statement in first Corinthians 15, that he appeared to more than 500 brothers. That was an appearance that he made at one time.
And that was just in reference to the brothers who knows how many women were there and other women who would have witnessed him. The women that saw him at the tomb, Mary Magdalene, for example, they aren't, they aren't mentioned.
They aren't named in first Corinthians 15. So Paul is just laying out certain persons that to this day are still alive and you can still go and talk to them and they will testify to you that all that they saw and witnessed after Jesus' resurrection.
And so Peter is making that same sort of appeal here to eyewitness testimony and he himself saw it. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he appear. Verse 41, not to all people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God.
That is to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. So Peter's saying we were there. We even ate and drank with him. So we know it was not a ghost. It was not some vision. We weren't dreaming because apparitions and spirits can't do things like this.
They can't eat food and drink, drink. And that's what we were doing with Jesus after he rose from the dead. So it was his body that came out of the tomb and we were with and heard from him after his death and his resurrection.
And we were granted by God to be part of this. So this is why, again, the angel appears to Cornelius and tells him to summon Peter. Peter has a vision from God that he should go along with Cornelius' servants and he comes into the house and is sharing the gospel with them.
And it was God's plan that the witnesses that he appointed would be the witness who would stand there in their midst and proclaim the gospel to them like this. And Peter goes on to say, well, okay, so not to all people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God.
Remember Jesus saying in John 15, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. And then verse 42, and he commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly to bear witness that this is the one, capital O-N-E, who has been designated by God as judge of the living and the dead.
When we get to Paul's sermon at the Areopagus in Acts chapter 17, we're going to see a very similar presentation about Christ because Paul will say God has shown by whom he will judge the world by raising him from the dead.
And Peter is saying that very thing here, that God has designated that Jesus would be the judge of the living and the dead. How can you be saved? How can you have eternal life? It is only through Christ who will condemn the wicked and cast them into the place of fiery torment forever.
That is Jesus. He is the judge of the living and the dead. Again, a proclamation that he is God. We have it at the beginning and at the end of the sermon. Verse 36, again, Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.
And verse 42, he is the Lord judge of the living and the dead. Verse 43, of him, all the prophets bear witness that through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. So we had the introduction, verses 34 to 35.
We had the testimony about Jesus' ministry in verses 36 to 41. And then these last verses, 42 and 43, are the call to respond to what it is that Peter has said. He's the judge of the living and the dead.
The prophets spoke about him hundreds of years before he even came about. They bore witness that through his name, to him, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. And those who believe in him, they receive the forgiveness of sins.
So Peter is now putting it upon them who have sat there and have heard this gospel presentation, what will be your response? How will you respond to what it is that I have just told you? It's such a simple and short gospel.
How long did it take me to read through that at the very beginning of the broadcast? A minute and a half, maybe two? Very, very simple. It could have been that Peter preached longer than this. I've said that before with regards to the sermons that we have in Acts.
Even in Acts 2, where after we have the presentation that we read through at Pentecost, when the people are being baptized, it says that Peter preached many, many other things. So still on that day, at that sermon at Pentecost, Peter was preaching more than just that.
It could have been that this sermon was longer than this, but it is very easily summarized in just these 120 seconds that we've read right here. A very simple gospel. You know of Jesus. You know that he died and rose again.
God has made him the judge of the living and the dead. You want to be saved? You believe in him. Because that is the only way to receive forgiveness of sins. And friends, our gospel presentations probably need to be as simple as that as well.
But sometimes we have to bring a person to an awareness of their sin so that they will listen to the good news of the gospel and be saved. But this people right here that Peter is preached to, they get it.
And what we read in verse 44 is what we will get to in the next lesson. While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the word and they believed and are saved.
Justification by faith alone in Christ. That is the only thing that they are called to do in this sermon is believe. Believe. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Let's stop there and then we will consider what happens next in the next lesson.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this very simple gospel presentation. What a joyous reminder that you had sent your son to die on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sins to rise again from the dead for our justification so that whoever believes in him will not perish under the judgment of God that we deserve.
Judgment that is in the hand of Christ. But it is also in his hand that we would be saved by believing in him. We thank you for calling us to yourself through our hearing of the gospel with spiritual ears that we may understand it, turn from our sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and be forgiven and reconciled to God.
May we work out our salvation with fear and trembling as we read about in Philippians chapter 2. For it is you who work in us all things according to the counsel of your will. It is in Jesus name that we pray, amen.
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Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand The Text.