Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00013B
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00:01 Welcome back to Books of the Book.
00:03 Well Mark, just before the break we were looking in Acts chapter 00:08 10 at this wonderful story of Cornelius coming to an 00:13 understanding of the need to get more light because God sent 00:18 him a message saying you need to connect with Peter and Peter 00:22 will give you information that is going to bless you. So in 00:26 order to do that God had to help bring down some barriers with 00:30 Peter so he gives him a vision to help him understand that God 00:34 was not calling any man common or unclean. We're going to pick 00:39 up here with that statement in verse 28 where Peter is speaking 00:43 to this group, Cornelius and those that Cornelius had sent 00:47 for. In verse 28 it says, Then he said to them, You know how 00:51 unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to 00:55 one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not 00:58 call any man common or unclean. Therefore, I came without 01:02 objection as soon as I was sent for. I asked then, For what 01:06 reason have you sent for me. So Peter simply says, Okay now the 01:10 barrier has been removed, I'm here, what would you like me to 01:14 share with you. Then Cornelius begins to explain what happened. 01:18 He was fasting and praying and he received revelation that he 01:22 should connect with Peter. Then in verse 33 he says, So I sent 01:25 to you immediately and you have done well to come. Now therefore 01:29 we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded 01:34 you by God. So Peter the floor is yours. So verse 34, Peter 01:38 opens his mouth and says, In truth I perceive that God shows 01:44 no partiality, but in every nation whoever fears him and 01:49 works righteousness is accepted by him. Wow! What a powerful and 01:54 transcendent truth that if only our world had accepted... 01:58 You know if you look back through the history of our world 02:03 all the examples of oppression, of discrimination, of certain 02:08 classes being favored over others. But this passage is 02:12 powerful. In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 02:17 There are no favorites with God. We are inclined sometimes 02:21 without even thinking, subconsciously to look upon 02:24 some with more favor than others even if it's by outward 02:28 appearance or whatever the case might be, God understands and 02:32 sees and knows everything and with God there is no partiality. 02:36 I think when he says here in verse 35, In every nation 02:40 whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by 02:44 him. This is a word of encouragement to Cornelius 02:46 because Cornelius is one of those who though he wasn't a 02:50 part of the Jewish nation, he feared God and he did have 02:54 righteous works and he therefore is accepted by God. This is a 02:59 beautiful passage. But I think with every truth there are 03:03 ditches on both sides and while there are some who would fall 03:07 down the problematic view of discrimination or oppression, 03:11 there is the other view which says well because of that we 03:16 should really view no one with respect or have a sense of 03:20 respect for authority because we are really all equal. 03:24 But remember that equality with God is not the same of having 03:27 equal functions or roles. Even in heaven the angels have 03:33 different functions and roles. We understand that Gabriel has 03:39 great authority in terms of his breadth of job description if 03:44 you will. Perhaps that's not the case with other angles and yet 03:48 they work as wheel within a wheel, all are equally important 03:51 all are equally valued but they have different roles. I think 03:55 back to the story in the Old Testament of Korah who believed 03:59 that Moses was taking too much upon himself and thought that 04:03 any one of he and his kinsmen could perform the work of the 04:08 priest that Aaron was performing and yet God made it very clear 04:13 that that wasn't the case. That there was a position that he had 04:18 placed certain ones in and everyone was to honor that. 04:21 So giving honor and respect to those who God places in 04:25 different positions doesn't mean that you're showing partiality 04:28 and we need to be careful not to try to take upon ourselves 04:32 the sense as Korah did and try to usurp authority but rather 04:35 have respect for it. Right. So when Cornelius heard 04:40 that God shows no partiality we don't hear him saying to Peter 04:43 well listen hey I'm a centurion I've got at least as much 04:46 responsibility as you ever had as a fisherman and I ought to be 04:50 an apostle. We don't see that. So he was content to be in a 04:53 role as a layperson. Role I say but understand he had full 04:58 equality with the apostles which was what Peter taught. Peter 05:02 goes on here then to teach in verse 36 as he's sharing here 05:07 the message that he came with, The word which God sent to the 05:11 children of Israel preaching peace through Jesus Christ. 05:14 He is Lord of all. That word you know which was proclaimed 05:18 throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism 05:22 which John preached how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with 05:26 the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and 05:29 healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with 05:33 him. There's a lot to be said here, but you know here's Jesus 05:37 who was just crucified and evidently Cornelius knew enough 05:41 about this experience of Jesus because Peter says, That word 05:46 you know. He says he went about doing good. It's hard to imagine 05:51 that somebody... let's see, he was just put to death, what was 05:55 he guilty of? Oh well, he went about doing good and healing 05:59 those who were oppressed. So Peter shares this and then he 06:03 says in verse 39, of course, he says this word you know so 06:06 there's some acquaintance with the person of Jesus that 06:10 Cornelius had. But verse 39 says And we are witnesses of all 06:14 these things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in 06:18 Jerusalem who they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God 06:22 raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all 06:27 the people but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us 06:31 who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. So again 06:35 Peter is capitalizing on the true meaning of the word witness 06:40 We were there, we saw, we experienced and we are telling 06:43 you that what you heard of Jesus is all true. 06:46 We're testifying and bearing witness of that. And he goes on 06:49 to say verse 42, And he commanded us to preach to the 06:57 people and to testify that it is he who is ordained by God to 07:01 judge of the living and the dead To him all the prophets bear 07:04 witness that through his name whoever believes in his name 07:07 will receive remission of sins. And this happened to be 07:10 Cornelius. He was believing in the name of Jesus. So Peter also 07:13 ties in scripture here. All the prophets agree with what I'm 07:15 telling you, we are eye witnesses and this is what the 07:18 scripture has taught. It's not some new teaching. 07:20 And Cornelius salvation has come to your house. So it's powerful 07:24 here. Another thing that I want to touch on is in this discourse 07:29 Peter gives he says that the word, in verse 36, which God 07:33 sent to the children of Israel preaching peace through Jesus 07:37 Christ. He is Lord of all. Preaching peace. It's important 07:40 to note that this is a keynote in scripture that we find. 07:44 Like for example in the New Testament letters of the 07:48 apostles, often times they begin the letter by talking about 07:53 grace and peace to you from God. I think of the angels when they 07:58 came and proclaimed the birth of Jesus. They said, Glory to 08:01 God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. 08:04 In other words, peace from God. Paul says in Romans chapter 5 08:08 that having been justified by faith we have peace with God and 08:11 we have to keep this in mind that the absence of peace with 08:14 God does not come because God is fighting against man but 08:18 humanity has been arrayed against the will of God and so 08:21 when we're proclaiming peace through Jesus, Jesus is an 08:24 ambassador of peace to come to this earth and say, God is not 08:28 fighting against you but God is imploring you to stop fighting 08:31 against him and to accept his will in your life. So Peter 08:35 brings this message of peace to Cornelius and says God has not 08:40 excluded you, Cornelius. If you're willing to open your 08:42 heart to him you're accounted as one of his and so we see then 08:47 a response in the following verses. 08:49 This is a powerful passage. I mean he appeals to the fact that 08:53 they were witnesses chosen by God. They saw all these things. 08:58 And he appeals to the scripture and how the prophets bear 09:02 witness to the same thing. Then as they're hearing this word 09:06 being preached it says in verse 44, While Peter was still 09:10 speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who 09:14 heard the word. Now the first thing we note here is there was 09:17 a previous passage we read where when they laid hands upon, I 09:21 believe it was the believers in Samaria, that they received the 09:25 Holy Spirit and Simon the sorcerer thought that maybe he 09:28 could pay for that. But here we find that they received the Holy 09:32 Spirit, but there was no laying on of hands. The reason I'm 09:36 bringing this up is because sometimes we see a description 09:39 of something in the Bible such as them laying on hands and we 09:42 think, Oh, that's how you receive the Holy Spirit and we 09:44 just want to go and mimic that. But remember there are passages 09:48 such as narratives we see here in the book of Acts that are 09:51 descriptive but are not necessarily prescriptive. 09:53 They are not prescribing what we should do but they're 09:56 describing what happened. Here we see a different description 09:59 in which there was no laying on of hands. We need to understand 10:02 that laying hands on someone is not how you confer the Holy 10:05 Spirit to someone and this makes that very clear because it 10:09 wasn't necessary for the Holy Spirit to come. In verse 45 it 10:12 says, And those of the circumcision who believed were 10:14 astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the 10:18 Holy Spirit had been poured out on the gentiles also, for they 10:22 heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Now here's 10:25 another example of speaking in tongues coming. But remember 10:30 what we've said, the clearest description of the speaking in 10:33 tongues in the New Testament is found in Acts chapter 2 where 10:37 they spoke these languages that could be easily understood, or 10:40 could be understood by those who were from that land that the 10:44 tongue was referring to. But here it says they heard them 10:47 speak with tongues and magnify God. So we get a little hint as 10:51 well that they must have been able to understand what was 10:53 being said or else they wouldn't have known that they were 10:56 magnifying God. But then it says Peter answered and he said, Can 11:00 anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized. And he 11:03 commanded in verse 48, Them to be baptized in the name of the 11:07 Lord and asked them to stay a few days. So a wonderful 11:09 experience. The Holy Spirit comes. Where there's preaching 11:12 the Holy Spirit, a deep conversion and then this big 11:16 baptism. You would think that would be a very exciting day in 11:20 the life of the church. But that's not exactly how the 11:23 response came in chapter 11. No. In chapter 11 it says, Now 11:26 the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the 11:29 gentiles had also received the word of God and when Peter came 11:32 up to Jerusalem those of the circumcision contended with him. 11:35 So they were upset with him and Peter goes and tells the story 11:39 of how this thing worked out and when we go ahead to verse 15 it 11:43 says Peter still talking here, And as I began to speak the 11:47 Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning and 11:49 they remembered the word of the Lord how he said, John indeed 11:52 baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy 11:55 Spirit. If, therefore, God gave them the same gift as he gave 11:58 us when we believed on the Lord Jesus, who was I that I could 12:00 withstand God. And of course, then the church glorified God 12:03 and praised God because they saw his hand in it. 12:05 That's right. You know, as we're looking at this we have to 12:09 remember that just because the Holy Spirit was poured out on 12:13 the gentiles that wasn't the only evidence that God was 12:17 granting life to the gentiles. Peter had received prophetic 12:21 vision to come to that understanding. So we have to 12:24 remember that not only were there the miracles but the word 12:27 or prophetic inspiration always testified to this truth. 12:31 Well we're out of time once again so we look forward to 12:35 seeing you next time on Books of the Book. |
Revised 2014-12-17