1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,960 So this morning's readings taken from Acts chapter 10 and can be 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:11,320 found on page 1103 in the Pew Bibles at Caesarea there was a 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:17,160 man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,760 Regiment. He and all his family were 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,240 devout and God fearing. He gave generously to those in 6 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:27,880 need and prayed to God regularly. 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,840 One day at about 3:00 in the afternoon, he had a vision. 8 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,280 He distinctly saw an Angel of God who came to him and said, 9 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,880 Cornelius. Cornelius stared at him in fear. 10 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:45,320 What is it, Lord? He asked. 11 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,200 The Angel answered. Your prayers and gifts to the 12 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:54,480 poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 13 00:00:55,240 --> 00:01:00,640 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon, who is 14 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,200 called Peter. He is staying with Simon the 15 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,880 Tanner, whose house is by the sea. 16 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,880 When the Angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two 17 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,720 of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his 18 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,800 attendants. He told them everything that had 19 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:25,080 happened and sent them to Joppa about noon the following day. 20 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:29,040 As they went on their journey and approaching the city, Peter 21 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:33,440 went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted 22 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:37,840 something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell 23 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,880 into a trance. He saw heaven opened and 24 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,200 something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its 25 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,880 four corners. It contained all kinds of four 26 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,160 footed animals as well as reptiles and birds. 27 00:01:54,400 --> 00:02:00,360 Then a voice told him, Get up, Peter, kill and eat. 28 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,920 Surely not, Lord, Peter replied. I have never eaten anything 29 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,919 impure or unclean. The voice spoke to him a second 30 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,800 time. Do not call anything impure that 31 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:19,160 God has made clean. This happened three times and 32 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,560 immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. 33 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,320 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the 34 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,920 men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon's house was and 35 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:34,920 stopped at the gate. They called out asking if Simon, 36 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:37,880 who was known as Peter, was staying there. 37 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,880 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit 38 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:48,280 said to him, Simon, three men are looking for you, so get up 39 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:51,720 and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, 40 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,440 for I have sent them. Peter went down and said to the 41 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:00,720 men, I'm the one you are looking for, why have you come? 42 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,560 The men replied, We have come from Cornelius the centurion. 43 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:11,040 He is a righteous and God fearing man who is respected by 44 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:15,320 all the Jewish people. A holy Angel told him to ask you 45 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,480 to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say. 46 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:25,840 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. 47 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,680 The next day Peter started out with them and some of the 48 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:35,040 believers from Joppa went along. The following day he arrived in 49 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,520 Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and 50 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,280 had called together his relatives and close friends. 51 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,480 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at 52 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,600 his feet in reverence, but Peter made him get up. 53 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,800 Stand up, he said, I am only a man myself. 54 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,920 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large 55 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,560 gathering of people. He said to them, You're well 56 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:06,040 aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or 57 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:10,400 visit a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call 58 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:15,520 anyone impure or unclean. So when I said when I was sent 59 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,040 for, I came without raising any objection. 60 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,920 May I ask why you sent for me? Cornelius answered. 61 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:26,240 Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour. 62 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,040 At 3:00 in the afternoon, suddenly a man in shining 63 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:34,280 clothes stood before me and said, Cornelius, God has heard 64 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:37,280 your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 65 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:40,920 Send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. 66 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:43,960 He is a guest in the home of Simon the Tanner, who lives by 67 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,040 the sea. So I sent for you immediately, 68 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,920 and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the 69 00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:53,720 presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has 70 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:57,960 commanded you to tell us. Then Peter began to speak. 71 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:03,600 I now realize how true it is that God does not show 72 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:08,120 favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears 73 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:12,320 Him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to 74 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,200 the people of Israel announcing good news of peace through Jesus 75 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,520 Christ, who is God, Lord of all. You know what has happened 76 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:22,920 throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee 77 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,520 after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus 78 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,920 of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went 79 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:32,400 around doing good and healing all who were under the power of 80 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:34,440 the devil. Because God was with him. 81 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:37,840 We are witnesses of everything He did in the country of the 82 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:41,200 Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him 83 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:45,160 in a on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third 84 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:49,800 day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the 85 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,680 people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen by us who 86 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,000 ate and drank with Him. After He rose in the dead, He 87 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,640 commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is 88 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,640 the one whom God appointed as Judge of the living in the dead. 89 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:08,040 All the prophets testify about Him, that everyone who believes 90 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:11,520 in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name. 91 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:16,640 While Peter was speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on, 92 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,640 only heard the message. The circumcised believers who 93 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,560 had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the 94 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,080 Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles, for they heard 95 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,120 them speaking in tongues and praising God. 96 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,960 Then Peter said, surely no one can stand in the way of their 97 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:38,160 being baptized with water. They have received the Holy 98 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,680 Spirit just as we have. So we ordered that they be 99 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:45,520 baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and then they asked 100 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,040 Peter to stay with them for a few days. 101 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:51,560 It's quite good actually. When you come to a bit of 102 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,720 scripture like this, actually any bit of the Bible, it can be 103 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,360 really helpful to just ask the question, if I had to, what is 104 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:04,200 the tune or the melody I would have playing as this bit of 105 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,960 Scripture is read out. I didn't ask musicians to play 106 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,320 and choose that tune, but actually it's a, it's a useful 107 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,280 question to ask what's the, what's the tune, the soundtrack, 108 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:15,760 the feel of this bit of the Bible? 109 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,960 How are we meant to feel when we have it read out? 110 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,800 So is it a passage encouraging us with the love of Jesus? 111 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,720 Is it gently leading us to him? Is the soundtrack sort of quite, 112 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,880 quite warm and comforting? Is it a passage that exposes our 113 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:33,800 need of forgiveness? Is it is it quite, quite 114 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,840 stirring, quite quite difficult music to expose us, maybe even 115 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:40,360 sad or mournful? Is the passage calling us to 116 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,120 action to get up and start serving God in the world? 117 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,160 Is it the sort of music you've had playing in the gym? 118 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,960 As you can see from my physique, I go there a lot and maybe it's 119 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,720 things that I know the rocky theme chin I would sort of have 120 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:53,840 if I'm really want eye of the tiger or something like that. 121 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:58,440 But what is the tune or melody of this bit of scripture? 122 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:02,600 And I want to suggest that the the soundtrack to Acts chapter 123 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:06,080 10 is 1 of astounding joy and celebration. 124 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:08,200 Again, we can read bits of the Bible or maybe with the same 125 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:10,520 sort of tone of voice, but actually the the feel here is 126 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,840 one of just celebration like Vandal's Hallelujah course 127 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,960 Messiah or celebrate come on good times. 128 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:19,080 That's Rakul and the gang. I got that wrong. 129 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,480 Celebrate good times. Come on, let's celebrate 1980 130 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,440 very good song or whatever song gets you in the mood to 131 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,960 celebrate. But it's this is a red letter 132 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,840 day in the history of the early church. 133 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:36,400 It is a key moment in salvation history and look as he records 134 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:40,520 this for us just goes into all the detail lovingly telling you 135 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:43,720 it's like we have a proud parent who wants to tell you everything 136 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,600 about their child. And I see the detail here is 137 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:52,360 about Luke celebrating what God has done through Jesus in the 138 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:53,760 world. Because this is the moment when 139 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:57,480 the Apostle Peter and and with him the whole early church have 140 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,280 their eyes finally opened by the living God to his saving 141 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,040 purposes for the whole of humanity. 142 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,920 Like the message of Acts 10 is that God is bringing people from 143 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,920 every nation together into the church simply through faith in 144 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,640 Jesus. Is that God can make anyone and 145 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:20,920 everyone clean through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus 146 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:25,400 in our place. This is a huge message in the 147 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:27,640 book of Acts because up to this point we might forget it 148 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,040 sometimes, but the early church was made-up to chapter 10, 149 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,400 almost entirely of Jewish believers. 150 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,080 Now, these Jewish believers came from all over the Roman Empire. 151 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,400 They would have spoken different languages, they had different 152 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,680 traditions. But up to this point in the book 153 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:45,000 of Acts, if you were a follower of Jesus, you were almost 154 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,640 certainly a Jewish believer first. 155 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:50,720 You could either trace your ancestry back to ancient Israel, 156 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,800 but that's whether you were Jewish or Samaritan, or you were 157 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,480 a Gentile who had converted to Judaism. 158 00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:59,720 You've been circumcised. You're now observing the Law of 159 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,400 Moses. Before this bit of Acts, Acts 160 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,440 chapter 10, the early church was an exclusively Jewish movement 161 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,720 of men, women and children following Jesus. 162 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,240 But from this point onwards of the conversion of this Roman 163 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:19,320 centurion Cornelius, the message of Jesus finally breaks into the 164 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:23,600 Gentile world. You no longer had to be Jewish 165 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,800 to belong to the early church. All that mattered was simple 166 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:31,200 faith in the saving work of Jesus. 167 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:35,520 Jewish people and non Jewish people could now be one through 168 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:39,720 their shared faith in Jesus. It's a huge moment in the 169 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:43,720 history of the church. So actually Luke spends a lot of 170 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,000 time in it. Actually, he actually records 171 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,360 this moment for us twice. We've got chapter 10. 172 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:50,200 We're looking at this week, next week. 173 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:53,160 Chapter 11 kind of goes over this event again. 174 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:55,280 He also refers to it in chapter 15. 175 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,080 He's determined that his readers do not miss the significance of 176 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,760 what is going on when Peter went into the home of the Romans, 177 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,720 Cornelius and shared the good news of Jesus with him. 178 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,080 It's even possible that Luke, the writer of Acts, was himself 179 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:16,280 a Gentile believer from a non Jewish family and background. 180 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,960 If that is the case, this is deeply personal for Luke. 181 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,680 He's saying this is the moment that people like me are fully 182 00:11:22,680 --> 00:11:25,520 welcomed into the Church of Jesus. 183 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:29,480 And it's a fairly long passage. We're going to try and speed 184 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:31,920 through it before we pause at the end to think through what it 185 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,000 all means for us today. So First things first, we need 186 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,760 to meet this Gentile believer, Cornelius. 187 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,760 That's verses 1 to 8. And according to verse one, 188 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,120 Cornelius lives in Caesarea. That was the capital of 1st 189 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,840 century Judea, the official seat of the Roman government. 190 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:51,400 It's an important place and he is an important man. 191 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:53,600 We learned that he's a Roman centurion. 192 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,440 He's a high-ranking soldier, part of the Roman army that was 193 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:01,880 occupying Judea at this time. And we need to see actually 194 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:05,640 really clearly Luke wants to show us Cornelius is a real 195 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:08,360 person. If you look over verses 1 to 8, 196 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,160 again, there's loads of verses that have the feel of an 197 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,680 eyewitness account. So verse 3, the Angel appeared 198 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:16,880 to Cornelius about 3:00 in the afternoon. 199 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,240 Luke wants us to know the time of day this happened. 200 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:23,120 Cornelius distinctly saw the Angel. 201 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,360 Look, it is the number of servants sent by Cornelius to 202 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,920 invite Peter into his home. And see, there's actually a 203 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,280 strong argument that every time an actual name is used in the 204 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,160 Gospels or in the book of Acts, there's a strong possibility 205 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,680 this was someone that the writer spoke to to get their account. 206 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,280 This was an eyewitness Luke has spoken to. 207 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:48,120 Cornelius may have been one of those eyewitnesses. 208 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,400 He would have been well known to the early Christians in Luke's 209 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:53,680 day. Maybe Cornelius was still alive 210 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:56,160 when this bit of Acts was written. 211 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:58,720 He might have been well known. They might even have cheered 212 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,560 when Cornelius name appeared. Cornelius, it's you. 213 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:04,640 You're in Acts. This is a big deal for the early 214 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:07,640 church. And Cornelius was a member of 215 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,000 the early church. He joins at the end of this 216 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:15,920 passage through faith in Jesus. So he's a centurion. 217 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,560 He's a real person. We're told he's a God fearer 218 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,160 along with his whole family. So Cornelius is Roman, but he is 219 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:24,760 drawn to faith in the God of Israel. 220 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,400 He may be being brought up with a pantheon of gods the ancient 221 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:30,560 Rome worshiped. But when Cornelius heard about 222 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:33,760 the God of ancient Israel, he wanted to know more. 223 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,600 It sounds like he would have gone along to the synagogue 224 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:38,400 occasionally. He would have heard the Hebrew 225 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:42,880 scriptures taught. But crucially, Cornelius was not 226 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:46,320 a convert to Judaism. He wasn't circumcised. 227 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,400 He didn't observe the Law of Moses or the additional laws the 228 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:51,600 Jewish religious leaders instilled. 229 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:56,120 And so actually, at bottom, Cornelius is unclean. 230 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,880 He is unclean in the eyes of Jewish believers. 231 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,840 Without God intervening here, Peter and his fellow Jewish 232 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:09,960 Christians would never have gone into Cornelius home and shared 233 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:12,600 the gospel with him. Cornelius was unclean, an 234 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:16,120 outsider, excluded from the people of God. 235 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:23,280 Until that is, the living God breaks in to Cornelius life. 236 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:26,760 Again, we need to see here when we read over this bit of Acts, 237 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,600 there's little big names featuring the Apostle Peter, 238 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,040 Cornelius, the first fully Gentile convert in Acts. 239 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:37,240 But throughout this passage, we need to see God is taking the 240 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:40,520 lead. The living God is leading his 241 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,520 people on mission here. God speaks to Cornelius through 242 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:46,240 an Angel, tells him to send for Peter. 243 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,360 God speaks to Peter through a vision, tells him to go to 244 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:51,800 Cornelius's house. God sends his spirit on 245 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,320 Cornelius and his friends to confirm they are now trusting in 246 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,520 Jesus and part of the early church. 247 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:01,640 The living Godfather, Son and Holy Spirit is taking the lead 248 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,080 here. We need to see that to really 249 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:08,600 get what's going on. So first of all, God speaks to 250 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,160 Cornelius verses 1 to 8. He sends an Angel that's 251 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:15,600 literally a messenger from heaven to speak to Cornelius and 252 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,040 to tell him to send for Peter. See, the living God wants 253 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:23,160 Cornelius in his church. He wants Cornelius to hear the 254 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:26,560 good news of Jesus and find new life through faith in him. 255 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:28,920 I think it's a striking here, right? 256 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,480 The way through Acts and maybe here particularly, we see our 257 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:36,200 God is a missionary God. He wants people in his church. 258 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,520 He takes the lead. He leads his people on mission, 259 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,320 and that is good news. If you're a follower of Jesus 260 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,520 here today, God wants to lead you, lead us on mission to 261 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:53,240 people he wants in his church. And amazingly here we learned 262 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,880 that that the God speaks to Cunelius through the visit of an 263 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,400 Angel and a vision. And it's really exciting to know 264 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,840 that actually Fast forward to today, God still speaks through 265 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:06,840 angels and visions today. There are plenty of reports 266 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:10,200 around the world of people dreaming of angels, dreaming of 267 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:14,640 Jesus himself, and being drawn to faith in Jesus through those 268 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:18,280 dreams and visions. According to mission agencies, 269 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,240 many of these visions take place in countries that are closed to 270 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,320 the gospel. Muslim countries like Iran that 271 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,680 we prayed for, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, where people like 272 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:34,040 Cornelius, God fearing people, need to hear the good news of 273 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,160 Jesus. And as with Cornelius here, 274 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:39,480 these visions form part of a process. 275 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,800 They don't do the whole work. Cornelius's vision leads him to 276 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,880 call for Peter to hear the gospel from him. 277 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,280 And and similarly today, when people have these visions, 278 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:51,520 dreams of Jesus, actually further down the line, they 279 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,560 still need God's people to explain the gospel to them. 280 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,120 They need God's Word to lead them to Jesus through the power 281 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,560 of the Spirit. But it's a reminder God is still 282 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,040 reaching out to people that maybe even human believers can't 283 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:09,520 reach out to, and he's wanting them in his church. 284 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,839 He uses a wide variety of methods, including angelic 285 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:17,839 visions to accomplish his goal. So Cornelius calls to the 286 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:21,040 servants and a devout soldier, he sends them to Joppa to find 287 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:22,359 the man the Angel told him about. 288 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:25,440 Verse 9 again, look at the eyewitness detail here about 289 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,760 noon the following day. Looks like he's slowing down. 290 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:30,560 This is exactly when it happened as Cornelius his men were on 291 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,360 their journey and approaching the city. 292 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,200 So it's about a 30 to 40 mile walk from Joppa. 293 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,440 From Caesarea to Joppa it's about a day's journey and as 294 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,160 they enter Joppa, Peter decides to go up on the roof. 295 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:46,680 Peter went up on the roof to pray. 296 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,720 Verse 9, if you were here last week, we saw Peter in Joppa 297 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,320 continuing the ministry of Jesus, healing the sick, raising 298 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:57,960 the dead. Peter clearly is a messenger of 299 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,640 Jesus with Jesus authority on earth. 300 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:05,160 And so Peter as an apostle is able to lead the early church 301 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:10,480 into this next phase of mission. And God speaks to Peter here. 302 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,680 We're told Peter's hungry, waiting for lunch. 303 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:17,720 He falls into a trance and he sees a vision from God that 304 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:21,440 would transform the church and change the course of history. 305 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:26,560 Verse 11 and 12, Peter saw heaven opened and something like 306 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:30,400 a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 307 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,240 It contained all kinds of four footed animals as well as 308 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:39,600 reptiles and birds. It's such an astonishing vision, 309 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:41,480 it's really hard for us to visualize it. 310 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,920 This is kind of the best picture I could find online. 311 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,880 But actually in a sense it's just mind blowing to try and 312 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:48,800 picture what this vision is about. 313 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:51,720 A large sheep from heaven full of all kinds of four footed 314 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:53,120 animals. Some of them would have been 315 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:56,040 clean for Peter, some of them being kosher foods for him. 316 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,520 Others would have been unclean, forbidden for Peter to eat. 317 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:04,000 And in verse 13 a voice told him, get up Peter, kill and eat. 318 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:05,680 Surely not lowered. Peter replied. 319 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,200 I've never eaten anything impure or unclean. 320 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,360 The voice spoke to him a second time. 321 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:15,480 Do not call anything impure that God has made clean. 322 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,960 This happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken 323 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,240 back to heaven. I know there's so much that we 324 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,000 could say about this vision, but for our purposes this morning, I 325 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,840 want us to see it is vivid and memorable. 326 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:33,640 It's repeated 3 times so that even Peter cannot miss what God 327 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,080 is saying to him. And what is God saying? 328 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:41,520 He's saying do not call anything impure that God has made clean 329 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,040 and in case we think God's main concern is about clean and 330 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,160 unclean foods. Verse 17 the minute the vision 331 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:52,400 finishes, Cornelius's men arrive and verses 19 to 20 the Holy 332 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,200 Spirit speaks directly to Peter and tells him do not hesitate to 333 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,480 go with them for I have sent them. 334 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:03,560 This vision is primarily about people God looking for 335 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:06,320 worshippers from among the Gentiles. 336 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,000 The Holy Spirit speaks directly to Peter and commands Peter to 337 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,520 take the good news of Jesus. To this man Cornelius and his 338 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:18,240 home, how do we understand a vision like this? 339 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:23,280 Actually, I'm convinced there's a really profoundly wrong way of 340 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,880 understanding this vision that can lead actually to pride and 341 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:29,680 self righteousness on our part. It's possible for a Christian to 342 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:31,400 read this vision saying, going great. 343 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:35,800 Finally, through this vision, those backward early Christians 344 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,560 realize just how racist they'd always been, and they finally 345 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,040 come around to seeing things the way we see them. 346 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,040 That doesn't matter where you come from, that all races are 347 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:48,440 equal in God's eyes. Finally, those foolish early 348 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,440 Christians are thinking like 21st century Christians. 349 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,520 Honestly, that's a really profoundly wrong way of 350 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:57,880 understanding this vision. Because if you read it that way, 351 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:01,520 we end up looking down on Peter and the early church. 352 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,880 We feel smug about ourselves. We act if we wouldn't have 353 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,640 needed a vision like this to lead us on mission. 354 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:14,120 The truth is we need God to lead us just as much as Peter needed 355 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:17,360 God to lead him. That's your attitude presumes 356 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:20,640 that some of the values we hold dear today, values like racial 357 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,680 equality, are just obvious and self-evident, and we're very 358 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:24,960 clever to have come up with them. 359 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:29,040 But actually the value of racial equality is 1 we've inherited 360 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,720 from the Christian gospel, from the word of God. 361 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,080 It's the value we've inherited from passages like Acts chapter 362 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:37,160 10. And the fact that so many non 363 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:39,920 Christian people hold it dearly just reminds us how deeply 364 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:46,440 Christian western culture is. Peter needed God to break into 365 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:50,640 his assumptions, and we equally need God to break into our 366 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,680 assumptions. See, thanks to the saving work 367 00:21:54,680 --> 00:22:00,000 of Jesus, God can now make anyone and everyone clean and 368 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,840 acceptable to him simply through faith in Jesus. 369 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:06,920 And that's what Paul, that's what God emphasizes to Peter. 370 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:12,200 Sorry, He says, God has made clean what was once unclean. 371 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:14,360 He doesn't say, Peter, you've been completely wrong all these 372 00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:16,920 centuries, you Jewish people, there's no such thing as clean 373 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:18,600 and unclean. Everything's fine. 374 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:24,200 He says, no, don't call impure what God has made clean. 375 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,960 Those unclean and clean laws in the Old Testament point us to a 376 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:34,160 vital truth, that we are all of us naturally unclean in God's 377 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,840 eyes because of our sin and our selfishness and our refusal to 378 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:39,400 love him and love the people around us. 379 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,880 We are all unclean left to our own devices. 380 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:45,520 That's what those food laws pointed to. 381 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:49,840 And what this vision says is that God has made a significant 382 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:55,640 life altering change. He has made clean what was once 383 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,600 unclean. It took a saving work of God. 384 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,080 It took the Son of God becoming one of us, living the life we 385 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,080 could not live, dying the death we deserve to die, and rising 386 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:09,320 again to make us clean if we put our faith in him. 387 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,600 God has made us clean through faith in Jesus. 388 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,000 That's the heart of this vision, and that's the heart of the 389 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,120 message. Peter is then told to take to 390 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:24,000 Cornelius. And I love the patience of God 391 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,520 here. This vision happens three times. 392 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,880 Peter, have you got it yet? Have you got it yet? 393 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,760 Have you got it yet? We're going to hear next week 394 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:35,440 how this vision is told to the whole church in Jerusalem again, 395 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,840 because we need to grasp the implications of God's saving 396 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:44,200 purposes for the world through simple faith in Jesus. 397 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:51,240 So God speaks to Cornelius, God speaks to Peter, and then God 398 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:56,000 sends Peter to Cornelius and at this particular moment in this 399 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,440 particular home in Caesarea with this particular individual 400 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,120 Cornelius, that God's saving global purposes that were there 401 00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:07,760 right from the beginning. Finally land in human history. 402 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,920 Again, Sunday Club will know this better than the rest of us. 403 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,560 The book of Genesis is all about the global saving purposes of 404 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:16,360 God. The God he made the whole earth 405 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,280 cause Abraham to follow him and he wants to bless all nations 406 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,400 through Abraham. But like human beings throughout 407 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,600 history, we we, we shrink that we twist what God says to us. 408 00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:32,120 And actually, they need this moment in Peter and Cornelius's 409 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:36,080 lives to show them that the good news of Jesus is for everyone 410 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,080 and anyone who will trust in him. 411 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,920 So look at verse 25. Peter arrives at Cornelius's 412 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,600 house and Cornelius falls at Peter's feet in reverence. 413 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:50,320 He does what a good Roman would always do with their superiors. 414 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:53,800 Right from the outset, Cornelius has a lot to learn about the 415 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:57,360 freedom that Jesus has won for us that Peter gently corrects 416 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,120 Cornelius verse 26. Stand up, He said. 417 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:04,080 I'm only a man myself. Peter discovers that Cornelius 418 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,880 has got a large gathering of people, verse 27, to come and 419 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:10,480 hear what Peter says, and Peter introduces himself by again 420 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,000 looking back to that rooftop vision. 421 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,120 Peter said to them, You're well aware it's against our law for a 422 00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:18,640 Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. 423 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:23,320 But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or 424 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:25,240 unclean. So when I was sent for, I came 425 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,720 without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me? 426 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:35,040 Cornelius describes his vision, he invites Peter to speak, and 427 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:39,640 Peter proclaims the good news of Jesus to the Gentiles. 428 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,520 And what is that message? Well, actually this is the 429 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,680 fourth sermon of Peters that we have recorded in Acts and it's 430 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:52,000 pretty much exactly the same as the ones he preaches to Jewish 431 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,040 believers. His message is all about Jesus, 432 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,280 his life, death and resurrection in our place. 433 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:02,200 And that's a key part of the message that Jewish people and 434 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,320 Gentile people are saved on the same basis. 435 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,440 Jesus saving work in coming, becoming one of us. 436 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,800 Sir Peter's message, it's about a person, Jesus Christ, who is 437 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:20,520 Lord of all verse 36, his life travelling around Judea, doing 438 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,800 good, healing all who are under the power of the devil. 439 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:28,280 His death 1st 39, they killed him by hanging him on a cross or 440 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,400 a tree. Now if you were a Roman, that 441 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,880 was a deeply shameful death. A Roman citizen like Cornelius 442 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,280 would never face that death. He wouldn't even speak of 443 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,600 crucifixion. It was shameful for Jewish 444 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,240 people. Why does Peter and the early 445 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,520 Christians keep banging on about this shameful death? 446 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,760 Because it's at the heart of how we are made clean. 447 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:51,320 Because Jesus became sin for us. He endured God's wrath for us. 448 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,680 He became a curse for us in our place so that we can be washed 449 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,320 clean. Verse 40 Peter then proclaims 450 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,760 Jesus resurrection. God raised him from the dead on 451 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,000 the third day, caused him to be seen. 452 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,080 Peter says I'm one of the witnesses and then he offers 453 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,680 Cornelius a gift. Verse 43, Everyone who believes 454 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:14,880 in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name. 455 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:17,520 How do you get that gift, Cornelius? 456 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,520 Believe in him. Believe in him. 457 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,600 Cornelius didn't have to do anything else but to put his 458 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,480 faith in Jesus, to trust completely in what Jesus has 459 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,480 done for him rather than anything that Cornelius has done 460 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,160 for Jesus. And that's what Cornelius and 461 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,280 his friends choose to do. They believe in Jesus. 462 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,120 Actually, I love the detail. Verse 44, you get the impression 463 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,160 Peter hasn't finished his message yet. 464 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,640 He's kind of just getting going while Peter was still speaking 465 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,160 these words. Verse 44, like some preachers 466 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,240 you might know, he he likes talking at length. 467 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:55,560 But here Cornelius and his friends, they've heard enough. 468 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,800 They've heard enough and they put their faith in Jesus and God 469 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,080 responds to their faith, verse 44, by sending them the Holy 470 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:08,360 Spirit. The Gentiles are welcomed into 471 00:28:08,360 --> 00:28:11,520 the church by the coming of the Spirit and through baptism. 472 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,520 Verse 44, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy 473 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:16,360 Spirit came on all who heard the message. 474 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,200 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were 475 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,440 astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out 476 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:26,720 even on Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and 477 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:31,240 praising God again. It's, it's a celebration again, 478 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,720 in case there's any doubt for Peter and the Jewish believers. 479 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,320 God the Holy Spirit comes on Cornelius and his friends, 480 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,200 visibly, powerfully, unmistakably, just as he had 481 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:43,680 done on the day of Pentecost and Acts 2. 482 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:46,840 The Holy Spirit came on all. He heard the message. 483 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,120 Luke tells us he comes to live with them and in them in 484 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,320 response to their faith in Jesus. 485 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:56,080 And verse 46, they began speaking in tongues and praising 486 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,080 God. This is unmistakable. 487 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:04,680 God is welcoming the Gentiles into his church just in passing. 488 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:06,920 That speaking in tongues reference verse 46. 489 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,400 It seems to be different to the experience in Pentecost where 490 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,800 Peter and the other apostles were given the ability to speak 491 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,560 different human languages that others would hear. 492 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,880 This seems to be closer to the experience described in one 493 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,960 Corinthians speaking in a language given by the Holy 494 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,080 Spirit that requires the Holy Spirit to interpret it. 495 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,600 And it's important to note that that tongues don't always 496 00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:29,920 accompany someone coming to faith in Jesus. 497 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,880 In Acts, only a few moments where you hear this described 498 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:36,680 and later the Apostle Paul in the 1st letter, the Corinthians 499 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:40,000 makes it clear not every believer is given the gift of 500 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,440 speaking in tongues. That's one Corinthians 12, verse 501 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:47,040 10 and verse 30. But the gift of tongues plays a 502 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:51,640 huge part in Acts 10 because the the Jewish believers need to see 503 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:55,920 with an Eddy shadow of a doubt. Gentile believers are now washed 504 00:29:55,920 --> 00:30:01,360 clean and welcomed by God into his church on exactly the same 505 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:05,840 terms as Jewish believers. Verse 47. 506 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,880 Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with 507 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,040 water, says Peter. They have received the Holy 508 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,840 Spirit just as we have. So Peter order they be baptized 509 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:17,760 in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay 510 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:23,520 with them for a few days. This is a red letter day in the 511 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:28,760 history of the church and for every non Jewish believer in 512 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:32,520 this room, it's the day that without any shadow of a doubt 513 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:37,920 God demonstrated we are welcome in His church through simple 514 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,440 faith in Jesus. It's from this point onwards in 515 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:44,520 the book of Acts that the work of mission to the end of the 516 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:50,240 earth really begins. So as we as we prepare to leave 517 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:54,400 this passage, what difference does Act 10, Acts 10 make to us 518 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,760 as individuals and as a church family? 519 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:58,320 It's an amazing moment in church history. 520 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:00,320 What difference does it make to us today? 521 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,400 And the first thing we need to see here is that God can make 522 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:10,880 anyone and everyone clean through faith in Jesus. 523 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:15,200 It's kind of hard for us to grasp just how vast the dividing 524 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,880 wall was between Jew and Gentile in the 1st century. 525 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:20,200 Here's how the Apostle Paul puts it. 526 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,480 In Ephesians 2, he writes to merely Gentile believers. 527 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:26,920 Remember that once you were separate from Christ, excluded 528 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,440 from citizenship in Israel, foreigners, the covenants of the 529 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,920 promise, without hope and without God in the world, the 530 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,080 situation was hopeless, says Paul. 531 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:41,560 But Paul's writing in a post Acts 10 world and a few verses 532 00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:43,120 later he says this to the Ephesians. 533 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:48,760 But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been 534 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,440 brought near by the blood of Christ. 535 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,120 It's the blood of Jesus that enables this to happen. 536 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:00,960 It's the love of Jesus that welcomes us into his church. 537 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,720 Like, I don't know how you feel this morning, how clean or 538 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:11,600 unclean you may feel. Maybe you're someone who feels 539 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,520 drawn to this Jesus, just as Cornelius was. 540 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:17,720 You're intrigued by him, drawn to him, but you've never quite 541 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:24,000 put your faith in him. Acts 10 says if you do that, you 542 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,680 will receive the forgiveness of sins, God the Holy Spirit living 543 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:32,440 in you, and you will be washed clean and accepted by God. 544 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:37,360 Anyone and everyone can be made clean by God through the saving 545 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:41,360 work of Jesus. And maybe you're already a 546 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,960 follower of Jesus here Today must be one of those weeks where 547 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:50,720 you don't feel very clean. You don't feel very welcomed by 548 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,320 God. Maybe you're struggling to see 549 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:57,160 what he's doing in your life or the lives of people you know. 550 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:00,680 Maybe you died. Does God really love me? 551 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,840 And Acts 10 is here to show us that the life, death and 552 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:10,560 resurrection of Jesus reconciles us to God and brings us into 553 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:14,800 God's people. We can rejoice in the life, 554 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,840 death and resurrection of Jesus for us, not on things we do, not 555 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:21,520 anything we deserve, but what Jesus has won for us. 556 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:25,360 This chapter reminds us the power of the gospel to transform 557 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:30,000 anyone who trusts in Jesus. So we need to receive that. 558 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,800 And we need to pray for opportunities to share that same 559 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:37,360 life changing gospel with the people around us. 560 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:41,880 I'm going to be encouraged actually in Acts 10 that God 561 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:48,280 takes the lead on mission and we need to follow His lead in every 562 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:49,880 member of the Trinity is at work. 563 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:54,200 In Acts chapter 10, do we see that God the Father makes us 564 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,920 clean through the saving work of God the Son, Jesus. 565 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:00,920 And God, the Holy Spirit confirms that by coming and 566 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,720 making His home with everyone who trusts in Jesus. 567 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:09,000 We are on mission with the risen Jesus. 568 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,520 The living God is with us. He wants to lead us on mission. 569 00:34:12,639 --> 00:34:14,960 So the question is the invitation, the challenge? 570 00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:19,679 Are we listening to God's lead? Are we asking God, show me 571 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,040 individually, show us corporately, who are the people 572 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:27,440 you want us to proclaim Jesus to through our lives and through 573 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,440 our words? Do we believe that God wants to 574 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:32,760 save people even more than we do? 575 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:37,560 And he is fully able to lead us on mission as we humble 576 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:41,360 ourselves before him, as we ask him to lead us. 577 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:46,120 Our God's a missionary God. He loves people from every 578 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:50,880 nation under heaven. And he wants to call each one of 579 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:56,600 us to play our part in making disciples for Jesus individually 580 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,320 in the places we're in each week, corporately, in this part 581 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:02,160 of Leicester, this Clarendon Park area. 582 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:06,440 Who are the people we are being called to proclaim Jesus to? 583 00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:12,640 I think the big reason why this is a celebration passage is we 584 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,760 get to rejoice that we are all one in Christ. 585 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,080 We're not alone in living for Jesus. 586 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,680 God is with us and we are with each other. 587 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:27,120 Again, if this has been a challenging week for you, if 588 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:30,120 things are hard in life at the moment, if things feel uncertain 589 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:35,480 and complex, remember that God has not left you alone to walk 590 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:37,520 through this world. He has welcomed you into the 591 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:42,040 family of His people. You have Christians around you 592 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:45,840 who will pray for you. You're called to love you. 593 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,040 And often we don't quite know what that looks like. 594 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,600 But we are one in Christ. That's what Acts 10 tells us. 595 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,920 And because of what Jesus has done, we want to love one 596 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,200 another the way He first loved us. 597 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,600 The church is open to everyone and anyone who puts their faith 598 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,720 in Jesus. And when we do that, we are 599 00:36:06,720 --> 00:36:09,040 united to each other, united to God. 600 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:15,320 But united to each other, God has made us clean through Jesus. 601 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,040 God is leading us on mission through Jesus. 602 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:23,800 And God calls us to love one another and spur one another on 603 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,280 in our mission for Jesus in this world. 604 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,040 Acts 10 is a passage full of joy. 605 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:36,280 We get to benefit from that joy not because we deserve it, but 606 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:40,480 because God has made us clean through the saving work of 607 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:43,960 Jesus. Let's pray together. 608 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:55,150 Let's, let's pray. Father God, we thank you that 609 00:36:55,150 --> 00:37:00,390 you are not content to have your people without us in it. 610 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:06,080 That, Lord, your love for the world far surpasses the love we 611 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:08,680 have even for the people around us. 612 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:12,640 That, Lord, you are a missionary God, committed to calling people 613 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:15,920 into relationship with yourself through the saving work of 614 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:18,680 Jesus. Father, we thank you that 615 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:22,200 because of Jesus saving work, Your Holy Spirit comes and lives 616 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:27,680 in US and equips and empowers us to live for you, to serve you, 617 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,960 and to love and serve each other as we depend on you. 618 00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:34,920 Thank you that one day, if we are trusting in Jesus, we will 619 00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:38,360 meet Cornelius and rejoice that we've heard his story. 620 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:43,440 We will meet Peter and rejoice that he was used by you in this 621 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:46,440 moment. And we pray that in that moment, 622 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:50,880 when we are with your people in the new creation, you might 623 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:54,920 bring to mind ways you've called us to play our part in your 624 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:57,400 mission. You will bring to mind ways you 625 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:02,000 used us in all our imperfections and frailty to be witnesses for 626 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:08,000 Jesus in this world, to build your church because you love to 627 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:12,680 gather people from every nation through faith in your Son Jesus. 628 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,240 Show us the part you'd have us play today in the days to come. 629 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:19,640 Show us that individually. Show us that corporately. 630 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:23,200 And thank you so much that because of Jesus, we are now 631 00:38:23,240 --> 00:38:26,840 welcome to call you Father and to take our place among your 632 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:29,400 people. We thank you Father, for your 633 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:34,040 deep love for us in Jesus name, Amen.