Acts 10:17-48 The Divine Blueprint of Salvation (Part 2)

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Pastor Steve Cooley, Acts 10:17-48 The Divine Blueprint of Salvation (Part 2)

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Classic: Three Imputations (Part 3)

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Good morning.
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I want to invite you to take your Bibles and open them to Acts chapter 10.
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As we conclude Acts chapter 10 this morning, my goal is to stay ahead of Pastor Mike.
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Whatever chapter we're in, I just want to be several chapters ahead. So that's certainly not true, but it's just good to take a little bit longer chunks of texts so that we can, well, first of all, have something to preach.
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So not every verse in a narrative is necessarily preachable. But let me ask you a question, or this is actually,
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I guess this is kind of a common question that people ask when they initially get saved.
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It'll be something like this, or when they start really studying the Bible and studying theology, they'll say something like,
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Pastor, can I ask you a question? How do I know if I'm one of the elect?
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How do I know if God chose me? What's the answer to that?
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How do I know if before the foundations of the world,
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God set his affections on me? How do you know?
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Well, in part, it's because you believe, right?
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When you start studying texts like Romans 8, 29 and 30, when you start looking at texts like Ephesians 1 verse 4, when you start looking at texts like John 6, 37 and following, where Jesus talks about his sovereign, with the
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Father's sovereign drawing and choosing, and how he doesn't lose anyone, that question just becomes something that you become fixated or curious about.
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And the answer, oddly, is really in our text here. How do you know that you're one of the elect?
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Because you believe, and because God brought about the circumstances, possibly unique to you, in which you came to faith, in which you came to believe.
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Now think about it in the book of Acts, and I thought this was a kind of a nice way to sort of summarize where we've been so far.
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If you just think about the book of Acts, what happens on Pentecost, on together by this loud noise, and then subsequent to that,
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Peter preaches the gospel, and thousands believe. So a large crowd gathers, many believe.
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Then there was the lone man, lame since birth, outside the temple, and by chance,
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Peter and John are going to worship that evening in the temple. And they walk by him, and Peter says,
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I don't have any money, but what I do have, I'll give you. And what does he do? He cures his lameness.
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The man comes to faith. We also saw though, how the
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Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin, they would meet, they would try the apostles, put them on trial.
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They would hear the gospel, and what did they do? They steadfastly refused to believe.
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So here you have a small group. You have the sermon preached. They don't believe.
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In fact, it's likely that some of them even participated in the stoning of Stephen to death as he testified about Christ.
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Why? Why a different response to the gospel? Because the sovereign God wasn't working in them.
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Later on in Acts, we see many Samaritans who come to faith as a result of the ministry of Philip.
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But Simon Magus, Simon the magician, who's fascinated by Philip, fascinated by what he does, by the miracles that he does, he doesn't believe.
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Instead, all he wants is the power of the Holy Spirit. He wants to be able to add it to his repertoire of magic.
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Wants to be able to take that power and use it. Doesn't know the Holy Spirit's a person. What does
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Peter say? May your silver perish with you. Ethiopian eunuch,
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I can speak. Out in the desert, isolated on the road, just reading.
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What happens? Holy Spirit directs Philip to go out and meet him, to evangelize him.
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Unique circumstances. And that eunuch comes to believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Then we had the case of Saul. Saul wasn't reading the scriptures.
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Saul had, not only is it fair to say he was an unlikely convert, he was the greatest enemy of the gospel, the greatest enemy of Christ.
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And there was no human being that preached to him. Instead, he had a divine visitation, the resurrected
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Jesus himself, blinding him on the road to Damascus. So large crowds, small crowds, individuals, people who are indifferent to the gospel, people who are opposed to it, people who are maybe intrigued by it.
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All these different responses. Why? Because the
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Holy Spirit goes where he wills. He causes whom he wills to be born again.
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Because the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation.
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That's why the gospel works, the
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Holy Spirit works, and whom he chooses, he brings to life.
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So let's go to our text this morning in Acts chapter 10, and we're going to see the sovereign working of God in the lives of Cornelius, his friends and his family.
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As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is
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Lord of all. You yourselves know what happened through all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed in verse 38, how
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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.
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And we are witnesses of all that he did in both the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
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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.
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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.
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To him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
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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
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Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles, for they were hearing them speak in tongues and extolling
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God. Then Peter declared, can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the
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Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
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Then they asked him to remain for some days. Now the section of Acts chapter 10 started with a
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Roman centurion, Cornelius, who was stationed in Caesarea. He was visited by an angel who told him to send men to find the apostle
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Peter in Joppa. And he did exactly that. Meanwhile, Peter was given a vision as these men that Cornelius sends out and they're on their way to Joppa to get
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Peter. And then Peter's given this vision. We've talked about it, about the lowering sheet and the animals that are on it and how he's pondering it right when these men get there and the
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Holy Spirit directs him to go and meet them. But what's interesting is when we think about a big picture, these two men did not know each other.
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There's really no human reason for them to ever know each other. There's nothing that would bring them together.
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They're Jew and Gentile. They're Christian and Old Testament believer.
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One man is a soldier. The other man basically a pastor.
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They live in different areas. They don't have friends in common. What could bring them together?
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What could overcome the religious and cultural differences here?
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Well, it's simple. God, because there's only one way of going to heaven through faith in Christ.
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This group of people, Cornelius, his family and his friends needed to hear the gospel and they needed to believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter was God's chosen messenger to do this.
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Now, this morning, I don't have five acts of Peter. I have five acts of the
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Lord Jesus, which he undertook to build his church. Five acts of Jesus that he undertook to build his church.
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First, Jesus served. The whole theme of the gospel of Mark, if we were going through that is what?
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Jesus as servant. See, I gave you the clue by Jesus served.
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That was nice. Jesus went about preaching the good news.
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Look at verse 36. As for the word that he sent to Israel, talking about God, sending this message into Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ.
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He is Lord of all. Now, when you see that word, word there, the fourth word in that verse, as for the word, what do you immediately think of?
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You think of the word play, maybe in John chapter one, when we talk about the logos in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was
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God. And if you thought that good for you, it's wrong, but good for you.
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This is a different Greek word and it's rhema. And here's the basic idea of what's going on here.
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It's not a word like logos. This is a message, kind of a, uh, an, an overarching story as it were.
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And so Peter is not referencing the person of Jesus Christ. He's talking about a divine verbal message that goes throughout
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Israel, throughout Jesus's entire ministry. As he's bringing in this good news of peace.
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Of course, the person proclaiming this divine officer of peace, divine offer of peace was
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Jesus himself. What does this peace look like? Well, some examples,
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Paul, after writing about justification and forgiveness of sin at the end of Romans chapter four, wrote this
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Romans five, one, he said, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have listen, peace with God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. If you are in Christ, you have peace with God.
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Why? Because you've been declared righteous. All your sins have been forgiven and you have righteousness imputed to you.
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You're on the right standing with God. Our sin made us enemies with him.
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It goes on to say in Romans chapter five. Why? We can say it this way.
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R .C. Sproul said, every sin is cosmic treason. I like to think in kind of smaller terms.
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Every sin is like a declaration of war, right? You know what
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God's standard is, and yet you violate it intentionally. It's not an accident.
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You do it willfully. The psalmist says that God is somewhat miffed by those who practice iniquity.
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What does he say? He's peeved. He's feeling a little churlish towards those who sin against him.
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No, he hates those who practice iniquity. We don't like to hear that.
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Well, how could God hate me? I'm just like everybody else. Precisely. That's the problem, isn't it?
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We did not set out to declare war on God, but we did.
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This enmity, this chasm exists. I mean, can you imagine, because we're going to talk about Judgment Day and the judge in a moment, can you imagine on Judgment Day standing before the
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Lord Jesus Christ and thinking, I've rejected him my whole life.
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He therefore rightly hates me. What can I expect to happen today?
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What can I possibly hope for? There is absolutely no hope.
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But Jesus Christ came with what? A message of peace, of reconciliation.
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That's what this rhema was. That's what this message was. Listen to Mark chapter five, verse 34.
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After Jesus heals this woman, he says, and he said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well.
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Listen, go in peace. Your faith has made you well.
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Go in peace and be healed of your disease. The healing is wonderful.
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But the peace that she now has with God is infinitely more valuable, not at war, but having a right standing with him so that one day when she enters in before the judgment throne, she'll have an advocate and a judge, one who died for her sins and loves her.
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Luke chapter two, verses 13 and 14. Familiar Christmas verses.
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I love Christmas verses. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising
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God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
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Well, how is there pleasing this God? How could he be pleased with sinful man?
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Because he made the way of reconciliation. The Lord Jesus Christ came that we might have peace with God.
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He lived a perfect life. He died a substitutionary death, and then he rose on the third day.
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Why? To redeem sinners, to redeem us, to give us that peace with God.
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Back to our text in Acts, that Jesus is Lord of all.
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It's set apart as a parenthetical note in my text, but that he's Lord of all is vital.
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Peter's understanding of this idea was certainly expanded by his vision, right?
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Now he knows that no one is unclean, just like there's no animal that's unclean.
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There's no person that is unclean. And he understands now that the gospel is for all, not just for Jews, not just for partial
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Jews, like maybe the Ethiopian eunuch who at least would go to the temple or the
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Samaritans who are partially Jewish, but it's for all. But really, when you think about it, there's no reason that it should have taken that vision.
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What did Jesus tell Peter and the other disciples in the great commission? That all authority had been given to him.
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Why would he need authority over everyone if only the Jews were going to be saved?
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He has universal authority, every man, woman, and child. Why? Because the gospel is for all.
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Listen to John 1 verses 11 and 12. He, speaking of Jesus, came to his own and his own people did not receive him.
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Who? The Jews did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
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That rhema, that message of peace, and the prince of peace came to Israel and Israel rejected him.
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Nevertheless, the message of peace went out. Jesus not only preached the good news, he did good deeds.
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Look at verse 37. You yourselves know what was happening throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed.
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Without going into much detail here, suffice it to say that Peter was the person that Mark leaned on to write his gospel.
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And we know that several commentators noted that if you just look at this verse here, beginning from Galilee after the baptism of John, etc.,
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this is kind of an outline of the gospel of Mark. In brief, it's a short little outline of what's going on in the gospel of Mark.
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Now, we talked or I read about John the Baptist. Well, how did people respond to John the
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Baptist when he shows up, kind of, you know, with his wild clothes, eating locusts and honey and acting all crazy?
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How do they respond? Well, Mark 1 5 tells us, and all the country of Judea and all
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Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
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Well, if that's going on, these people who lived in Caesarea would have heard of it. Word got around before social media, before old media, you know, before even radio or newspapers.
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Kids, ask your parents about newspapers. Maybe ask your grandparents. How did
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Peter know that they knew? How did he know? You yourselves know.
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How did he know? Well, it seems likely that on the way from Joppa back to Caesarea, they had to talk about something.
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They couldn't talk about sports scores, so they would have talked about the vision maybe that Cornelius had.
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They would have talked about, well, what do you guys know about Jesus? Why is it that Cornelius, you know, is seeking me, these kind of things?
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But he knew that the people he was preaching to there in Cornelius' house knew about John the
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Baptist. He also here talks about the power of Jesus.
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Verse 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
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He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
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Simon Kistemacher, a scholar, said this. He said, Jesus of Nazareth, this is the name by which
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Jesus was known as he taught the crowds and healed the sick. Now, we don't typically think about that, right?
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I mean, there are a lot of us here who probably just, we either say Jesus or sometimes Jesus Christ, and it's like Christ is his last name.
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Well, no, it's not. He would have been known as Jesus of Nazareth. That's what the newspapers would have called him.
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You know, that's what he would have been called on X back in the day, you know, Jesus of Nazareth.
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That was his handle. That was his name. That was his moniker. He taught the crowds and healed the sick.
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That's what he did. And when you think about healing the sick, well, even today, if somebody could actually heal the sick, we'd think that is wonderful.
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That's fantastic news. And we would be amazed by it. But think about back then, no hospitals to speak of, right?
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No medicine to speak of. Can't go to the drugstore and get antibiotics.
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Can't go see the doctor for, you know, anything other than some, I don't even know if they were doing, if they were up to bloodletting yet.
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It was pretty basic medicine. You know, they could probably try to stop you from bleeding, but, you know, that'd be about it.
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But I thought about this and I thought, you know, we're often quick to blame Satan for the woes of the world, the woes in our own life, the difficulties that we all face, right?
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Well, from a standpoint of ideology, there's truth to that. If Satan is in control in some respects of this world, if his ideas are being employed by certain people, well, that's true enough.
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But Luke, the physician, and it's important to remember that he is a doctor, he has something else in mind because he would have seen a lot of these people.
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And Satan was particularly active during the time of Jesus, afflicting men and women physically.
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I watched this brief video yesterday about some of the effects of fentanyl and how people, if you're on it a long time, you've seen these videos, many of you have, where they're just kind of bent over and they can't stand up.
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And so they talked to a doctor and he said, what it does over time is it weakens muscles in your body and so that you're no longer able to stand upright.
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And they talked to a man about how long he'd been on fentanyl and everything and I thought, how horrifying.
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Then they talked to another man who'd been, he'd had so many back problems, he wound up in the hospital, had to have all these surgeries.
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And while he was in there, he got off fentanyl and it's changed his life. But I thought how terrible it would have been to be demonically possessed, to have these physical things happening to you and there's nothing that anybody could do until Jesus came along.
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Again, Kistemacher says, Jesus withstood Satan, cast out demons, healed the crippled and the sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead and proclaimed the gospel.
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Now we read that list and we think, oh, those are great things. Imagine, you know, you're possessed by a demon is cast out.
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You're crippled and then you're made whole. You're sick and then you're healed.
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You have leprosy, condemned, right? And all of a sudden you're clean.
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But the most important thing is that he proclaimed the gospel. Why? Because no matter what these people were delivered from physically, the most important delivery was spiritual.
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And our text says that he was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and power. The man
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Christ Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and he did many miracles that only
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God could do. Well, let's talk about the witnesses of Jesus.
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Those who saw what he did in verse 39. And we are witnesses of all that he did, both in the country of the
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Jews and in Jerusalem. And I thought, here we go.
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We said this before, but think about it. Why can't there be any apostles today? Why is it that, you know,
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Pastor Mike and others say, if somebody introduces themselves, you know, as, hi, I'm the apostle
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Steve. What should your response be? Well, it should either be, no, you're not.
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Or what's your real name? Or, you know, are we doing pretend names today? Whatever. But the reality is there can't be an apostle today.
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Why? It's right there. We are witnesses of all that he did, both in the country of the
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Jews and in Jerusalem. Peter was with Jesus daily during his ministry.
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He walked with him throughout the area of Judea and in Jerusalem. I mean, just think about the questions, you know, if, if Peter were here at a potluck, you know, what kind of questions would you ask him?
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It'd probably be like, what was it like being with Jesus? What was it like sitting down to eat with Jesus?
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What was his favorite kind of food? I mean, you know, you just ask questions like that. So that was my first point.
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And if you know anything from listening to Pastor Mike, you know that the first point is not indicative of how long the sermon is.
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Jesus tree. Now you would think if you're just following along Peter's argument, you think about all the good things that Jesus did, how he healed people, delivered them from demons.
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He went around preaching the gospel, all these good things. He was essentially their benefactor. He only did what was good for them, right?
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You would think they would honor him, even if they didn't trust him as savior, that they would at least honor him as this magnificent prophet who did all these wonderful things.
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And instead they put him to death. I'll never forget the testimony of one man who called me early in the morning.
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And he said, I evangelized him a few times over the years. And a few days after my last attempt, which seemed like it went better, but who knows, you know, he called me up and he said,
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Steve, God sent his son into the world and they killed him.
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And there was both, you know, like amazement and sorrow, and maybe even a little bit of awe in it.
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Love. And he actually was saved.
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Thank, thank the Lord for that. This man understood that every sin he'd ever committed had been paid for.
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The penalty had been paid by the fact that Jesus died on that tree.
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Looking at, we talk about this and it's in the New Testament. What does it mean that he was on a tree?
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Well, I'm going to read to you from Deuteronomy 21 verses 22 to 23, only the first part of 23.
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Listen to what the text says. This is Jewish law. And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day for a hanged man, listen, is cursed by God.
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Right? In Galatians, Paul says that cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.
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That's the idea here. Tree represented by the cross.
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Why do you have to die on a cross? Because he had to undergo the curse of God for us.
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Now, what crime did Jesus commit? We know the answer. None. He never sinned.
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He never committed any crime, let alone one punishable by death. But what happened again and again, the
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Jewish leaders accused him of blasphemy, of claiming to be God. And they finally hoodwinked the leaders that the
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Romans had appointed to rule the Jews. And then they goaded the crowd into cheering for Jesus to be crucified, not
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Barabbas, but Jesus. Jesus was the ultimate spotless
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Passover lamb, the once for all sacrifice for sin.
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So first Jesus served. Second, Jesus died. Third, Jesus rose from the grave.
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God raised Jesus. Look at verse 40, but God raised him on the third day.
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Who raised him from the grave? The father. We could go to verses that showed the son did it.
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The spirit did it. It's an act of God. The triune
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God raised Jesus, the man Christ Jesus from the grave. And there is no truth more important for us than this.
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We focus on the death of Christ, and that's great. It's super important. We need our sins paid for.
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But the resurrection of Jesus secures our hope. That's what chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians is all about.
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What does he say? Paul says, if Jesus has not been raised, then we are of all men to be what?
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Most envied. No, most pitied. Our whole hope is based on the fact that the tomb is empty.
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The resurrection is proof that Jesus is who he says and who he said he was.
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If he's still in the grave, he's no different than Buddha, Muhammad, Joseph Smith, or any number of false teachers.
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But he has been raised. Romans 1 .4 says that he was declared to be the son of God in power by the resurrection.
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There is no gospel, and there is no gospel preaching without the resurrection. And I, you know,
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I've done this myself, so I'll just reiterate it. If you don't preach the gospel, or if you don't preach the resurrection, you haven't preached the gospel.
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And you say, well, how's that? Because that's what our hope is based on. If he's in the grave, no hope.
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God provided evidence of the resurrection. Look at verse, again, the second half of 40, and made him to appear.
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God made Jesus to appear after the people. That's coming one day.
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He's going to appear to all people. But to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
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Again, we have this concept of witnesses, eyewitnesses. Why? Because truth is confirmed under Jewish law by two or three witnesses.
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Well, how about 12 witnesses who spent every day with him? The idea that Jesus served was known far and wide, but his resurrection was less well known.
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Why? Because the most who ever saw him was 500 at a time. And he only ate and drank and spent extensive time during those 40 days after the resurrection with his disciples, with his inner circle.
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But these men were pre -appointed. They were chosen beforehand, as it were.
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It's a unique, I put that in from the NAS because I really liked how it was said, chosen beforehand by God.
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It's a unique verb, and it's in the perfect tense, which means it's a once, one -time action with ongoing results.
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We are meant to understand the sovereignty of God here. Before eternity began, God chose them.
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God chose them to be witnesses for the Son of God. They would testify of his resurrection.
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So Jesus served, Jesus died, Jesus rose from the grave. And then number four,
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Jesus appointed witnesses. Kind of keeping the same theme along, they're chosen beforehand.
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And look at verse 42, these apostles, 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.
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I mean, first of all, just think about this. If you're a witness and they were witnesses, can you be quiet?
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Can you be silent? What good is a witness who doesn't say anything? No good.
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Well, at the end of Matthew, we have the great commission. At the beginning of Acts, we have his command that Jesus command to be his witnesses in Jerusalem and in all
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Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And Peter now understands that when
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Jesus commanded them to preach to the people, that people meant all people, not just the
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Jews, not even the lowly Samaritans, but to everyone everywhere.
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And here, Peter also speaks of Jesus as judge. He testifies that they're supposed to talk about Jesus as the appointed one, appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.
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Well, again, this is a perfect participle when it says he's appointed. He's appointed forever to be the judge.
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He's the only judge. Now, that means a few things.
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One is, it means that he is deity, that he's God, but it also means that there's no hope outside of him.
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As I said earlier, can you imagine standing before the judge you've rejected, that you've scoffed, that you've mocked, that you've denied, and then expecting him to give you grace on that day.
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It's too late. There's time and that time is now. Now, he also noted or notes,
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Peter does in verse 43, that the Old Testament prophets testified of Jesus.
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Verse 43, to him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
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Now, did the Old Testament prophets all speak of Jesus? Did they all speak of forgiveness of sins through him?
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Well, they all pointed to him. If you recall what Jesus said on the road to Emmaus, he said,
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O foolish ones, it's low of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the
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Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted them or to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.
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So the OT, the Old Testament points to his suffering and what he would accomplish.
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And we know that from passages like Isaiah 53. I won't read all these, just some highlights from Isaiah 53, that Jesus brought us peace, that he bore the iniquity of us all, that his soul makes an offering for guilt, that he will make many to be accounted righteous, and he will bear their iniquities.
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And then in Jeremiah, I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.
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I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.
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The Old Testament all the time is pointing us forward to a day of absolute forgiveness.
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That day is in Christ Jesus. So Jesus served,
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Jesus died, Jesus rose from the grave, Jesus appointed witnesses, both in the
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Old Testament and the New Testament, and Jesus sent the
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Holy Spirit. In fact, many commentators call what we're about to see here, and I like this, the
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Gentile Pentecost, right? Like in Acts 2, there's the Pentecost in Jerusalem with the
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Jews. Well, here we have the Gentile Pentecost, because here's Peter preaching his sermon.
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And what happens? The Holy Spirit interrupts. Look at verse 44. While Peter was still saying these things, in other words, while he was still preaching, the
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Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. Seems that he might have even been going to go on to some
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Old Testament texts, but instead the Old Testament, or the Holy Spirit, the
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Old Testament fell on him, sure. And so did the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, verse 17 and 18, and verse 33, the
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Holy Spirit is said to be poured out on the crowd at Pentecost. When Peter and John went to Samaria to follow up on what
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Philip had done there, the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit when the apostles laid hands on them.
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And now the Holy Spirit fell on all who were in Cornelius' home in Caesarea.
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Well, what does that mean? Well, in Acts 2, and in Samaria, and here, there were manifestations of the
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Spirit, of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 45. And the believers from among the circumcised, in other words, these were
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Jewish believers who'd come with Peter, all six of them, right? So they outnumbered the group that came to retrieve
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Peter. They saw that the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the
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Gentiles, even on these Gentiles who were listening. And the
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Holy Spirit glorifies the Son and the Father. Look at verse 46. For they were hearing them, these
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Jewish believers who'd accompanied Peter, heard these Gentiles speaking in tongues and extolling
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God. Now, what does that mean? Does it mean they were babbling like incoherent idiots, like we see on TV?
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No, that isn't what it means at all. What they were hearing was amazing to them.
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Why? Because they knew that these Gentiles did not know these languages, but they also knew what they were doing, which was praising
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God. And were they just like, praise God, praise God, praise God? No. The amazing part was that they were believing on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. They were recounting the goodness of God in sending Jesus Christ.
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Praising Christ, praising God. And it shocked their minds because they also, like Peter, could not believe that anything good could come out of these
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Gentiles. After all, they were non -kosher. They were unclean. They were heathens.
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But by the power of the Holy Spirit, they had come to faith in Christ. Commentator Waters says this, he says, this gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ breaks down all conceivable barriers to spiritual unity and fellowship in the church.
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We share the same Savior, receive the same spirit and the same baptism and stand on the same foundation.
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We're all equal in Christ. And this is kind of the exclamation point on all that.
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And as evidence here, we continue in verse 46. We see the seal of the spirit. Peter asks a question.
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He says, then Peter declared, can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the
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Holy Spirit just as we have? In other words, we've seen now these
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Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit just like we have. We hear them talking. We understand what's going on.
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They believe God has caused them to believe in Jesus Christ.
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It kind of reminded me of, you know, when you're at a wedding, old fashioned wedding, and the pastor says, you know, is there anyone here?
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Is there anyone here who has a reason why this man and this woman should not be joined in holy matrimony? That's what
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Peter is saying. You know, it's kind of a rhetorical thing because if somebody stood up in the back of the wedding and said, yes, I do, we'd all be shocked, right?
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He doesn't anticipate any objection that there is none. In fact, I rather suspect there was a moment of quiet, right?
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When they're listening to him. And then maybe even some cheering like we do at our baptisms.
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People are excited that these Gentiles have come to faith in Christ. So we've seen
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Peter's question and then his command in verse 48, and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
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Then they asked him to remain for some days. They come to faith, they're baptized.
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And then as a result of that, they asked Peter to stay for some days. Now, in conclusion, two men,
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Cornelius and Peter, one had walked with Jesus during his ministry and had often failed to trust him.
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The other had only heard of Jesus of Nazareth through the grapevine, as it were. But God sovereignly brings them together, this house in Caesarea, so that Cornelius, his family, and his friends might believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. God not only chooses the elect before the foundation of the world,
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He also plans the circumstances of their salvation, the how, the who, the where, and the when.
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How they would hear the gospel, who would present the gospel, where would this take place and at what time.
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Now, from our perspective, this all seems unlikely. A Roman centurion in Caesarea coming to faith.
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But from God's perspective, nothing is too difficult for God.
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He can move in the hearts of thousands on Pentecost. He can heal a lame man outside the temple, drawing him to Christ.
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He can open up the hearts of the Samaritans who hated the Jews to a
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Jewish preacher. He can bring a Jewish preacher to the desert at just the right time to meet an
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Ethiopian eunuch. And he can take the most ardent opponent of Christ and make him the most fervent messenger of Christ.
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So I guess my question for you, you have loved ones who don't know
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Christ, you have friends who don't know Christ. Why is it that we despair?
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And why do we hesitate to preach Christ? Because here's the message.
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I think it runs throughout the book of Acts. Our God is mighty to save.
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Let's pray. Father, thank you for this illustration of your power to draw those you have chosen from before the foundations of the world to faith in Christ.
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We have every reason to hope and no reason whatsoever for despair.