Today we'll be looking at another of the
earliest examples of the gospel being preached. It's in Acts chapters
10 and 11. This will be the first time the gospel is preached to a
Gentile - that is, a non-Jew. Formerly the gospel was preached to the
Jews. By now the church in Jerusalem was composed about 5000 Jewish
Christians. But the apostles had yet to talk with non-Jews.
The history of the early church is written about in the book of Acts,
which was compiled by Luke who also wrote the gospel of Luk and both of
these books were written to a man named Theophilus. Now at the very
beginning of the book of Acts Luke writes,
In my
former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and
to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving
instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many
convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period
of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion,
while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not
leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you
have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few
days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." And I
previously spoke on that incident which occured at Pentecost, 40 days
after Jesus' ascension. In which the Christians received the Holy
Spirit and Peter preached his first sermon, which established the first
Christian church. It was apparently composed exclusively of Jews and
located in Jerusalem and led by Peter, James who
was the Lord's brother, and the Apostle John, all of whom were Jews.
Now there was a major weakness in that first church, a weakness due
to
cultural upbringing, a weakness apparent even in the leadership of
Peter, James and John. That
weakness was that there was an inherent prejudice that Jews had against
Gentiles. And this was a
hinderance to the spread of the gospel. For Jews avoided associating
with Gentiles. But Jesus command,
"go and make
disciples of all nations" Mt 28:19a Before they could
do that the Lord would have to deal
with this prejudice and show the believers that Jews and Gentiles have
equal status. This became a theme in many of the New Testament letters.
After the church of Jerusalem was established, one day
when Peter, having visted with a Gentile,
went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised
believers (the Jewish Christians)
criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised
men and ate with them." Peter began and explained everything to
them precisely as it had happened: "I
was in the city of Joppa praying, (by the way we read
earlier in Acts 9 that Joppa is the city where Peter had just raised a
dead woman, a woman named Dorcas, to life)
and
in
a trance I saw a vision. I saw
something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four
corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw
four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of
the air. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and
eat.’ "I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever
entered my mouth.’ (Realize that under the Law of Moses the
Jews were restricted from eating certain foods.)
"The
voice
spoke
from
heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure
that God has made clean.’
This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven
again.
What did that mean? Well of course one thing it means is that the Lord
was lifting the dietary restrictions. The Apostle Paul later writes,
"Everything God created is good, and nothing
is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving" 1Tim
4:4 and in
1Cor 8:8 "food does not
bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better
if we do."
But it was also intended to imply that Gentiles were acceptable as
candidates for the gospel message. For Peter goes on to say,
"Right then three men who had been sent to me from
Caesarea
stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no
hesitation about going with them." What had happened
was
At Caesarea there was a man named
Cornelius, a
centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.
(Realize the Israel was under occupation by the Romans. The Jews were
prejudice against Gentiles, but especially against the Romans,
especially against the Roman military presence in their country.) But
He and all
his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in
need and prayed to God regularly. One day
at about three in the
afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came
to him and said, "Cornelius!" Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What
is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your
prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering
before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who
is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house
is by the sea." When
the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his
servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He
told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
The men arrived right after Peter's vision and said,
"We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He
is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish
people. A holy angel told him
to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to
say." Then
Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day
Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went
along. The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was
expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in
reverence. But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he
said, "I am only a man myself."
Note: Just as an aside, it is not appropriate to worship
the apostles
or other saints, nor to angels. The apostle John had a vision of an
angel in Rev 19:9,10 "the angel said to
me, "Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding
supper of the Lamb!’" And he added, "These are the true words
of God." At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to
me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your
brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!"
Peter goes on to say
the Cornelius told them
how he had seen an angel
appear in his house and said, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is
called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all
your household will be saved.’
Now wait a minute. Here's this Cornelius. A good guy. He was
devout, generous, prayed regulary and this with sincerity for God so
impressed with this guy that he sends an angel to tell him,
"Your
prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering
before God." And yet that guy was not saved. For the angel tells
him, "
‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is
called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all
your household will be saved.’"
This is a good man, but he needs to be saved. Even good people need to
be saved. Furthermore notice that he has to hear a message to be saved.
People are saved by hearing and believing the message of the gospel.
That's the way God made it. The apostle Paul speaks of those who hinder
the message of the gospel. He says,
"They
displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us
from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved."
1Thess 2:15b-16a Salvation is by faith in Christ and faith comes
from hearing the message. For Paul writes,
"Everyone
who
calls
on
the
name of the Lord will be saved." How, then, can they
call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in
the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without
someone preaching to them? Rom 10:12-14 And apparently
God did not chose angels to carry the message, because here Cornelius
had an angel speaking to him but the angel did not share the gospel
with him. Instead he told him to send for Peter to preach to him a
message through which he would be saved.
So Cornelius goes on to say,
"we
are
all
here
in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has
commanded you to tell us." Then Peter began to speak: "I now
realize how true it is that God
does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who
fear him and do what is right.
Now notice the content of the gospel message here as he goes
on:
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good
news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
1. Jesus is Lord of all
You know what
has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism
that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who
were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. "We are
witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in
Jerusalem.
2. The gospel contains eyewitness testimony to Jesus
miracles which validate his message
They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him
from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not
seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—
by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
3. The gospel contains eyewitness testimony to Jesus
death by crucifixion and to his resurrection from the dead
He
commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one
whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the
prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives
forgiveness of sins through his name."
4. Jesus Christ is the judge of the living and the dead. And
as affirmed also in the Old Testament, everyone who believes in him
receives forgiveness of sins.
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all
who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with
Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured
out even on the Gentiles. Then Peter said, "Can anyone keep these
people from
being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just
as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Back in Jerusalem Peter told the Jewish Christians,
"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them
as he had come on us
at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John
baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So
if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" When
they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God,
saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto
life."
This did not completely put the issue to rest. There would still be
prejudice between Jewish and Gentile Christians, as we'll look at
further next time. But this was the beginning of the gospel going to
the ends of the earth, the message through which people are saved; the
message that Jesus is Lord of all, that his message is validated by
eyewitness testimony to the miracles he did and to his resurrection
from the dead, that he will judge the living and the dead, and everyone
who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.