Sunday Sermon
Acts 10v1-48
Last week we saw the importance of good works.
We are saved by grace not by works, but we are saved for good works.
This theme continues as we enter chapter 10 and come to the story of Cornelius, a man who was known for all his good works!
But this chapter moves beyond the theme of Good Works to the greater theme of Gods acceptance of the Gentiles! This chapter opens the door for the fulfilment of the great commission and the promises of the OT, blessings of God on the whole world.
Already we have seen the acceptance of the Samaritans, the Ethiopian eunuch and the conversion of Saul who was to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. These things have all lead to this great moment in the history of the church! A great moment for us Gentiles too!
Introducation:
1) two powerful visions
a. Cornelius v3
b. Peter v10-16
2) two responses of obedience
a. Cornelius sends men to get Peter v8
b. Peter accepts the call to go v23
3) the end result: the gospel is preached, Gentiles are accepted.
Theme: no favouritism V15 & 28 & 34 key.
1) V34-35 – God’s acceptance Gen 12v3, Isa 42v1-17 & 49v8-12
- · All people on earth were to be blessed through Abraham!
Gods acceptance of the Gentiles was astonishing to the early Jewish Christians.
3 times Peter had to be told v16.
But he thinks it through and gets the point – v28 and 34-35.
App
The gospel is for everyone who wants it.
God will accept you if you want Him!
Nothing will rule you out of Gods favour if you really want Him.
Salvation and forgiveness of sins is for everyone who wants it!
Past sin, nationality, past rejection of God, nothing! If you want him now.
2) How does God accept? Through Christ: v36-43
If that is true, how can God accept anyone who wants Him?
The answer of course is through Jesus Christ.
V36 in Him there is peace, he has the right to give peace because he is Lord!
V37-43 He has proven that he is Lord through his life, death and resurrection, thus He now offers forgiveness of sins to all who believe.
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Gods acceptance of us is simply through our belief in Jesus.
Salvation is about believing in a Person. The Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe in Him because of the life he lead, the miracles he performed.
Then the death he died, and the resurrection that followed.
All these things testify to the truth: that He is the Lord, the Saviour, the Son of God.
How is it that God can accept us? Because of the greatness of Christ!
3) Proof of Gods acceptance v44, 45-48. Spirit baptism.
V44. As Peter was telling the Gentiles about this great Saviour, God gave further evidence that the Saviour was for them too.
The gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on them also.
This is now the 3rd outpouring of the Spirit.
He came on the believer on the day of Pentecost, but they were all Jews!
Then He fell on the Samaritans, chp8, they were kind of Jewish, they had the Pentateuch.
But now the Spirit falls on true Gentiles, those who had no claim on God, no heritage, no scripture, no prophetic voice!
From our point of view this holds no shock.
We know the great commission, the gospel was to be preached to all nations etc.
But from the Jewish perspective in those early days this was astonishing, v45!
Having received the baptism of the Spirit, Peter gives them water baptism.
They were divinely accepted the early church then could do nothing but accept them too.
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With God there is no prejudice, no race hatred. No favouritism.
This means that for us today, God still wants us to follow Him!
And in the following He promises the equipping – The Holy Spirit.
Because God wants us to live for him now, not just believe that we are going to heaven, but live now! And we can do that because God gives us the Holy Spirit so to live.
Being a Christian is about living a new life with God now.
Col 1v19-21
Thus far we have seen that God made the world, through Christ and for Christ.
And we have seen that in Him God holds all things together.
Then we moved to His relationship with the church: Christ is the Head of the church.
- · Last week we saw our dependency on God: v17-18.
For Revelation, that gives us knowledge to worship: that knowledge – Christ is before all,
We depend on Him for existence - he holds all together
We depend on Him as the church – he is the Head
We depend on him for resurrection – he is the firstborn from among the dead!
This week we continue to look at these great revelations about our Lord.
- · What else has God done through Christ?
1) Displayed himself for all the world to see:
in Christ we see the fullness of God v19.
This answers the question that v18 may have given rise to, why should Christ have the supremacy? For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him!
In case we are still tempted to think small things of Jesus, Paul makes clear for us what we have in Christ!
- the fullness of God. The completeness of God dwells in Christ.
That is all that it takes to be God, with nothing left out, dwells in Christ!
The full nature of God dwells in Christ.
What we see in scripture of Christ, is all a revelation of what God is.
This is of course great mystery!
For the highest heavens cannot contain God! But here in Christ we see the fullness of God.
Fullness then must point to the essential nature of God.
We do not see in Christ everything that God can do, but everything that God is.
We see the God who is love, who comes to serve rather than be served, who is kind, who cares for the outcast, the widow, the child. Who gives even at the expense of his own life.
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Thus we know God can be trusted, relied upon, loved, worshipped, obeyed etc.
And that is the great application of this truth.
Do you want to know God? Look to Christ, there He is.
Further, in our age of multi-faith, pick and mix religion we need not fear that we are missing out! Christ is the be all and end all, the Alpha and Omega, King of kings & Lord of lords.
He is the saviour and there is no other! No other person in whom the fullness of God dwells!
2) Reconciled all things to Himself: v20.
In Christ God has done his great work of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is the process of making peace between two parties.
In biblical terms the two parties are God and Man.
God has so changed us in Christ that we who were once enemies are now friends!
But the human divine relationship is not all that has been reconciled!
Here the picture is of the whole creation being reconciled in Christ.
- · And how has this reconciliation come about?
Through the precious blood of Jesus shed on the cross!
The Peace comes through His blood!
The process of reconciliation was no small matter. It was no easy thing!
The division between God and Man was not easily restored.
App:
No expense was spared for us to enjoy peace with God.
He died for me that I might live for God.
Hold this Christ before you at all times. Consider the cost of reconciliation often.
Consider this: the fullness of God is displayed in Christ, that fullness is seen most
wonderfully in His dying for us. For their God says:
“I love you this much; there is nothing that I will not give to make peace between us”!
The wonder and glory of God’s creation is awesome, but that came about so easily, just the creative command.
The wonder and glory of reconciliation is so much more awesome, when the cost of it is considered!
And how did it all come about, creation and salvation? “through Him”!! The Lord Jesus.
God is the great maker of heaven and earth, but more wonderfully he is the Great Redeemer!
With these verse the section of praise ends and Paul moves specifically to focus on the Colossians.
3) they are included in the great cosmic work of reconciliation v21.
The Colossians were enemies with God in mind and in deed. But they received reconciliation.
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The sweeping glory of these verse, the magnificent picture of Gods work in Christ, is there to make us catch our breath. To lead us to awe and praise before our God.
But then we need to apply the work of this reconciling God to ourselves.
Salvation comes to us when we see this Christ and apply him to ourselves: “my Lord and my God”.
The Creator and Sustainer of the world, the Head of the Church, the first born from among the dead, the dwelling place of God, the cosmic Reconciler – He is mine!
Surely this is too great a claim to make?
Well it may be so if it were not for the fact that me or you claiming Him as my Saviour says nothing about ourselves but simply serves to magnify His glory even more!
That we can say, “he saved even me”, goes to further His praise and glory.
- · It is a damnable false humility to think that all this is true for others but not for me.
The fact is if God can save one person in Christ, He can save all persons in Christ!
And if God has saved one person in Christ, then he can save you now, if you but bow the knee in humble adoration.
Next week we will see more of what it means to bow the knee to Christ.