Acts 10:1-11:18 pt. 2

All right, welcome to part two of Cornelius' conversion, found in Acts chapter 10 verse 1, all the way up through 1118. In part one, we covered how Cornelius had seen a vision of an angel who instructed him to sin for Peter, and he sent three men to Japa, about 35 miles down the coast to find Peter. Peter had received a vision from God, saying that God had now cleansed all these different animals, that were no longer distinctions. In fact, the Spirit told him to go with them in from Cornelius without making distinctions, and that's where we left off. Those three men from Cornelius have arrived where Simon Peter is staying, Simon the Tanner's house in Japa, and Peter has welcomed them into the house, and they are preparing then for the journey the next day, up to Cesarea. Cesarea is a good distance away, so they're going to start the next day, and they'll finish the journey the day after that. And so here's where the story picks up in Acts chapter 10, beginning midway through verse 23, it says this. Now, on the next day, he, that is Peter, got ready and went away with them, the them being the three people that Cornelius has sent to him, and so Peter got ready and went with the men from Cornelius, and some of the brothers from Japa accompanied him. So some fellow Christians from Japa went with them. We actually learned from chapter 11 how many there were six. So we have a total group of about ten people making this trip from Japa up to Cesarea, the three men from Cornelius, Peter himself, and six fellow Christians from Japa on this trip. Verse 24, on the following day, he entered Cesarea, so they went part of the way on day three, and then verse 24, they went the rest of the way on day four, and they entered into the city of Cesarea, and they went to Cornelius' house. Now Cornelius had been expecting them, and had called together his relatives and close friends, and so it's not just Cornelius, and Cornelius' wife, it is his relatives, whoever his extended family are in town, and even some of his closest friends. He's gathered them all together, and they're ready to hear what Peter has to say. Verse 25, "When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, and fell at his feet, and worshipped him." This is about as inappropriate of a response as he could have given Peter as he wanted, but in some sense, well, if an angel sent him, he must be like some sort of superhuman or something super awesome or great, and so he shows him homage by falling at his feet. But, verse 26, Peter helped him up, grabbed him by the hands that get up, and saying, "Stand up, I too am just a man." I'm nobody special, I'm just a human being, Peter's not in this for the accolades, he's not in this to be honored and treated this way, stand up, I too am just a man. And, verse 27, as he talked with him, he entered and found many people assembled. So, Peter goes into the house where all the people are gathered, he sees all these people assembled, and he said to them, to Cornelius and to this whole gathered group, "You yourselves know that it is forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner, and yet God has shown me that I'm not to call any person unholy or unclean." So, Peter begins by stating what he assumes all these Gentiles already know, because of their connection with Jews living in a primarily Jewish land, even though Cessary was a predominantly Gentile city, there's still was a large number of Jews there, and so he states that you yourselves know it's forbidden for a Jewish person to associate with or visit a foreigner. Now, technically the Old Testament law didn't prohibit interactions between Jews and Gentiles, and yet as customs developed, it became sort of social taboo. The assumption was that any interaction in some sense would defile you. Some Jewish groups took this so far, such as the Essenes, that after any time they had any interaction with a Gentile, they would go and bathe and go through a ritual cleansing ceremony, because they wanted to rid themselves of whatever ritual defilement they might have had. Some Jews were more loose with this and didn't have those sorts of qualms with it, but by and large it seems like the Jews kept their distance from the Gentiles. In fact, eating out of Gentile plates or bowls or eating Gentile foods that you know was oftentimes looked down upon, in fact we'll see, that's what Peter gets in trouble with for this interaction with the Jews back in Jerusalem. And so, what he's stating is not something that the Old Testament law per se prohibited, but what Jewish application and Jewish practice in his day saw as sort of a taboo. You just don't really eat with, you don't have extended interactions with, you don't go into Gentile homes, such as this, because they are unclean. In fact, the Roman historian Tacitus actually said this, he said that the Jews stay separate in their meals and apart in their beds, and even though he was maybe overstating the case, it was largely true, that that's the way the Jews did. They just, they didn't eat with, they didn't interact with, they certainly didn't marry unclean pagan Gentiles. And so, Peter starts there, you yourselves know that it's taboo for me, it's contrary to our customs for me, to be here with you, to come and associate with you. And yet, God has shown me that I'm not to call any person unholy or unclean. Notice that, that's really important. What's the lesson from the vision of the sheet with the unclean animals? Well, it's not just about the unclean food laws, it's also and primarily about what those food laws represented. Those food laws were a way of symbolizing and embodying Israel's separateness as a holy nation. But that separateness is no longer, and God now wants to bring all people into his family, and so Peter draws the conclusion. Since the food laws are now no longer considered appropriate, that God has cleansed all foods, that also means he's cleansed all people. And so, God has shown me I'm not to call any person unholy or unclean. And that's why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for, I didn't object, I didn't protest, I didn't flee like Jonah, right? He didn't, none of that, he came. So, I asked for what reason did you send for me? And Cornelius explains, verse 30, Cornelius said, four days ago, remember the travel days and all that, so it's been four days at this very hour, so we're about the hour of prayer in the afternoon, three in the afternoon. So, four days ago, to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour and behold a man stood before me in shining clothes. And he said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, your charitable gifts have been remembered before God. Therefore, send some men to Japa and invite Simon who's called Peter to come to you. He's staying at the house of Simon the Tanner by the sea. So, I sent men to you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now, then, we are all here present before God to hear everything that you have been commanded by the Lord. And so, Cornelius recounts his experience and how he sent for Peter to come at the angel's instructions. He thinks Peter for his graciousness in coming, and notice he says, and we are all here, everyone in the room, present before God. Like this is a solemn moment, we are here expectant. We are here present before the great God, the true God, the one true God of Israel. We are here before Him, and we're eager to hear everything that you've been commanded by the Lord. And so, they're ready, they're waiting. We want to know what all this means, and they want to know what Peter has to say. So, verse 34, opening his mouth, Peter said, and Peter began to preach to them. He explains Jesus to them and all of this, and here is a summary of what Peter said. I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality. Peter is putting all this together. He is recognizing that God doesn't look on the face. That's the force of partiality. That God doesn't just make these kinds of distinctions. But, in every nation, notice that, that word nation is the same word for Gentiles. So, in every nation, among all the Gentiles, the one who fears God, and does what is right, is acceptable to Him. And so, God now, at this stage in history, at this stage in God's plan of salvation and his rescue operation, because of the work of Jesus, God is now ready to welcome out of every nation, the one who fears Him and does what is right. And that doesn't mean that you're earning your salvation. That's not Peter's point. Peter's point is that it's not just anybody in all the nations who God's going to accept, but it's the one who's going to come to God in faith through Jesus Christ. And so, there is a response that is necessary on the part of the person, and here's Cornelius, obviously one who fears God, obviously one who is seeking the true God and does doing what's right, and God will welcome Him. him. That's the idea of acceptable. but God will welcome him and so he's going to preach Jesus to him. Verse 36, the word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, through Jesus the Messiah, he's the Lord of all. So that's the one who really is the Lord. Jesus Christ is the Lord of all, and he came preaching peace. This will be important not only here but throughout the New Testament. In fact, the Apostle Paul and Ephesians chapter 2 will talk about how Jesus preached peace to those near and to those far off to Jews and to Gentiles forming them together into one new family, one new humanity. And so Jesus is tearing down the barriers between not only people and God but between people and people and bringing them together into one new family. So preaching peace through Jesus, then Peter recounts some of the events that happened through Jesus' physical life there in Israel and he assumes they know about that. Probably because Cornie, this is long standing relationship with the Jewish people suggests he's been there for a long time. So he at least has some knowledge and some awareness of Jesus the Messiah. And so he says, verse 37, you yourselves know the thing that happened throughout Judea, meaning the land of the Jews, it could be limited to specifically the Roman provincial district of Judea itself, but here it seems broader because he's going to mention Galilee. So the land of the Jews throughout Judea, starting from Galilee up in the north after the baptism which John proclaimed, you know of Jesus of Nazareth, a specific city up there in Galilee, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. So this is historical knowledge. This is knowledge that Cornelius and those listening have because of living there among the Jews. This is knowledge they have of this particular kind of person. Somebody with this kind of power to do miracles was well known. Jesus had a wide ranging reputation all throughout the area. So they know this and Peter just assumes they have historical knowledge of these these real objective events that happened in the towns and cities all around them. So you know about Jesus of Nazareth and how God was with him. Peter then says we, meaning he and the apostles and those who Jesus commissioned, we are witnesses of all the things he did both in the country of the Jews and specifically in Jerusalem. They also put him to death. Notice they, he keeps it real generic, right? He's not like when he's preaching to the Jewish leaders in Acts chapter three, four and five, how he holds them directly accountable. Cornelius isn't part of that. Cornelius is a God fear, right? He's not one of the Jewish leaders who called for his death. So he just keeps it generic. They they Jews, they the Roman leaders, they those of power. They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he should be revealed not to all the people, but to witnesses who have been chosen beforehand by God. That is to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. And so he summarizes the crucial events, how not only Jesus' ministry, but Jesus' execution, how he was put to death on the cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and how that led to appearances, how he appeared to people and not just like as a phantom, not just as a vision, but he appeared to people in a physical sort of way that they ate with him to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And so their witnesses, not just of Jesus in general, but specifically of his resurrection. And that was the commission they were given clear back in Acts chapter one by Jesus himself to be witnesses of the resurrection. And so that's where Peter culminates in. The focal point here is not just on Jesus' ministry, not just on Jesus' healing power, not even just on the cross, but on the resurrection. It's the resurrection that brings all that together and indeed confirms that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one, the very Son of God that he is who he said he is. And so we're witnesses of that fact, Peter says. Verse 42, "And he ordered us," Peter and the apostles, "to preach to the people and to testify solemnly that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead." And so we as witnesses were commanded by God to explain to the people that Jesus is God's appointed one. He's the one that's truly in charge. He's judge. He's the ruler of the living and the dead. He's the judge of the living and the dead. He's the one that's in charge. And all the prophets testify of him that through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness and sins. And that phrase, all the prophets probably is just kind of a general sense of the entire Old Testament story, but even more specifically, specific passages that point to this. Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 33 and Jeremiah 31, right? And some of these passages in the prophets that look forward to the days of the Messiah that in those days, God was going to grant forgiveness of sins through this one who died and rose again. Well, that's Jesus, Peter says. And so everyone who believes in him, who puts their faith in him, will receive the forgiveness of sins. Whatever sins they have done will be forgiven them. Well, Peter is preaching to Cornelius and his friends and his family all gathered there. And here's what happens in the middle of Peter's message. While Peter was still speaking these words, like Peter's still explaining all these things, while Peter's still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. And so God, through his Spirit, interrupts Peter's message and pours out his Spirit immediately upon Cornelius and his household as they're listening to the message, presumably because they believe. They heard the message and they're nodding their head and they're like, yes, we believe this. This is what we've always hoped for, right? And so they believe the Spirit is poured out of on all those who are listening to the message immediately. And all of the Jewish believers who had come with Peter were amazed. And so you have the brothers from Chapa who came with Peter and they're amazed. This was totally unexpected. Like the Spirit of God with visible manifestation, we're going to get that here very shortly, what that manifestation is. But it was visible, it was obvious. They couldn't deny it. God poured a Spirit out upon these Gentiles, uncircumcised Gentiles, just as he had upon Jews and it was completely unexpected. And so all of the Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles and so they're surprised, they're awestruck. And this is important that they're there so they can kind of be witnesses with Peter of what actually happened and how God arranged all this and God made this happen. And so they stand there amazed that God had poured out his Spirit upon the Gentiles as well. And how did they know that God had poured out his Spirit upon the Gentiles? Verse 46, for they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. That is, speaking in languages they had not learned. That's the idea when it says speaking in tongues, speaking in foreign tongues is the idea. They were speaking in foreign language, maybe Hebrew and Arabic. These are Romans and they're Gentiles. They knew Greek, they knew Latin, they probably didn't know Arabic or Hebrew and here they are speaking in foreign languages that they had not learned, exalting God, praising God for his great work and through Jesus, for his mercy and extending forgiveness of sins to them. And so the Spirit has poured out those standing there all of a sudden begin to recognize they're speaking our language. They hear them speaking in foreign languages, praising God and so Peter responded. Surely, knowing can refuse the water for these to be baptized to have received the Holy Spirit as we did, can he? And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and then they asked him to stay on for a few days. And so here is the culmination of the whole moment. The Spirit has poured out. They're speaking in unlearned languages. Peter's reaction is, man, can we keep these guys from actually being baptized into the name of Jesus the Messiah? Obviously, we can't. God wants them to be saved. He's poured out of Spirit upon them and so he orders them to be baptized in the name of Jesus. And so they take them maybe out into the ocean. Who knows? And they baptized Cornelius and all those who are there publicly declaring their allegiance to Jesus as the Messiah. And the Gentiles have now come into the family and Peter stays with them for a few days. What I think is one important observation out of this chlamactic moment here is this. The Gentiles have been given the Spirit. Peter's responses look at that. They're converted. They're saved. Hallelujah, praise God. His responses, let's finish the deal and baptize them. Because as we see in the book of Acts, every time someone comes to faith in Jesus, they immediately get baptized, usually in the same moment, usually on the exact same day as they do here. Because baptism is that public, official, visible demonstration. of their allegiance to, and their loyalty to Jesus as king. And so their conversion isn't complete until their baptism is performed. And so his immediate reaction here is, "Can anyone keep these guys from being baptized and he orders them to be baptized in the name of Jesus?" Well, after their baptism, Peter stays with them for a few days and Word begins to travel back up through Judea up to Jerusalem about what has happened here in Caesarea. And so chapter 11, verse 1 says, "Now the apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God." And so Word is traveling back to the apostles, traveling throughout the cities of Judea. And they're hearing that the Gentiles have come to faith in Jesus as well. And then Peter and those brothers from Japa with him, they head back to Jerusalem. And so verse 2, "And when Peter came to Jerusalem, the Jewish believers took issue with him," saying, "You went to uncircumcize man and ate with him." And so Word has traveled back. Some of the Jewish believers there in Jerusalem are bothered by this, disturbed and upset by this, and they confront Peter and notice specifically the problem they have. "You went to uncircumcized men." So they labeled them with the fact that they're outsiders. These men aren't pro-slives. They're not Jewish or not part of the Jewish family. And you ate with them. They don't even complain that he preached Jesus to them. It doesn't even complain that he shared the gospel with them per se. It's that you went in ate with them. You broke those social customs. You broke that taboo. You did what was contrary to customs. What Peter said was forbidden or unlawful or uncustomary. You went against that. And Peter knew that. He knew that. He had already said that to Cornelius that I could get in trouble for this. This goes against the grain. This is not the way it's supposed to be. You know how unlawful it is for me to do this. He had already said that before he preached the gospel to Cornelius and his friends. So Peter knew he could get in trouble for this. And sure enough he does. That they took issue with him over the fact that he stayed at Cornelius' house. He ate with Cornelius and his friends and his family. And not just that he shared the gospel with them. So Peter decides to just explain what happened. Verse four. Peter began and explained it linked to them in an orderly sequence what happened. So he lays it out for them. Just kind of step by step from his vantage point saying, verse five, "I was in the city of Joppa prank. And in a trance I saw a vision and object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky. And it came to where I was. And I stared at it and I was thinking about it. And I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the crawling creatures, the birds of the sky. And I also heard a voice saying to me, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." But I said, "By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth." But a voice from heaven answered a second, I'm saying, "What God has cleansed no longer consider unholy. This happened three times and then everything was drawn back up into the sky." And so Peter recounts exactly what had happened for him at length. Not only that, Luke records exactly what happened to Peter at length. And that's important. Luke could have saved space, he could have saved expense by just summarizing. But he doesn't. He records the whole thing because this is so central and so important to the story of Acts and to the movement of God and bringing all people together as one multi-ethnic family united under King Jesus. This is so important. He's going to restate it. So we realized God is the one who orchestrated this. This was God's doing. This is exactly what God wants. And so Luke records this at length. And Peter tells the story at length so that they can hear it. Well, he summarizes that, the sky, the sheet went back up into the sky and then he continues on with the story, verse 11. And behold, at that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Cesarea came to the house where you were staying. And the Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. That's the same phrase we saw in chapter 10 that probably is better translated without making distinctions. Misgivings is sort of a softened version of the word distinctions. And the Spirit said, just like what the animals don't make distinctions, don't make distinctions there, don't make distinctions with people. It was that that tipped Peter off under the whole really had to put the pieces together. And so go with them. These six brothers, so the men from Joppa are with Peter as he's explaining all of this, these six brothers also went with me and guess what? They can now serve as witnesses as to what happened and we entered the man's house. And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house saying, "Send some men to Joppa and have Simon who's called Peter brought here and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household." And so he recounts what happened to Cornelius in Cesarea that led to him sending them into Peter and how this again was a God's instigation. He saw an angel that said this and this is how you're going to be saved. And then he tells what happened further. And as I was began to speak, like the Spirit interrupted my servant. Like, what am I supposed to do about that? And the Holy, notice this, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as he did upon us at the beginning. That's a really important statement. The Holy Spirit fell on them. That is the Gentiles just as he did upon us. That is the apostles in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost. In other words, we just skipped over 10 years of church history to say, "What happened to Cornelius? The only thing that it compares to." The Spirit falling suddenly, dramatically, and then speaking in unlearned languages. Like, that was just like what happened to us back there on the day of Pentecost. And he jumps over them with the previous 10 years of church history to say, "It was like this." And that's significant that the Spirit was poured out on Cornelius just like it was on Peter and the apostles way back at the very beginning 10 years prior. And Peter then says in verse 16, "And I remember." This is something new. I remember the word of the Lord how he used to say, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." You can actually find Jesus saying that in Acts chapter 1. It echoes what we see in Luke, Luke chapter 3, that this is important, right? Like, this was something that was central, that John baptized with water, but there was going to be a baptism that went beyond just water and included the Holy Spirit. And now the Spirit has been poured out upon them. Therefore, here's the conclusion Peter draws, verse 17, "If God gave them the Gentiles, the same gift of the Holy Spirit in the same way as he gave to us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" There's Peter's conclusion stated as a question. If Jesus, if God gave them the same gift as he gave to us Jews, us apostles, who was I that I could stand in God's way? Well, when they heard this, verse 18, they quieted down. That is, they ceased objecting. They got rid of their objections, and they glorified God saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life." And so, God has opened the door. Through Peter, he's opened the door to the Gentiles and granted them the repentance unto life, to real life, lasting life, eternal life, the kind of life that begins now and goes on forever and has a quality of eternity about it, because God has given them the repentance that leads to life. And there you have it. There's the story of Cornelius's conversion and his family and his friends. It's the welcoming of the first Gentiles into the new family of Jesus. And as we went through this episode, it took us two recordings because it's such a long account. But what's so important about it is to realize that God is the one who orchestrated this, an angel visited Cornelius and sent him to Peter. God gave Peter a vision of this sheet, and then the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter saying, "Go with these men." Not only that, you have God pouring out his spirit on Cornelius and his family and friends in the middle of Peter's sermon, and they're speaking in languages they haven't learned. It's like a Gentile Pentecost, if you will. In so many ways, God is the main character in the episode. Yes, Cornelius is central. Yes, Peter is important, but God is the one orchestrating the whole thing. He's in charge from start to finish. And so the point of this section of this story is obvious. It's really there in the final verse of the story, and that's this. God wants the Gentiles to be saved. God wants the Gentiles to be part of his family. God's the one who granted to them the repentance that leads to life. And all of this reminds us that the new family of Jesus is a family of people from different races, and different ethnicities, and different backgrounds, and different cultures, different languages all brought together. under one head, King Jesus, and so in Christ we are reconciled together as one new family and God no longer shows any kind of partiality. If anyone is in Christ he's part of the family and you get into Christ by believing in Jesus and you embody that belief by being baptized into Jesus and it's being in Jesus knits us together as one new family and God is the one who made this happen. God is the one who wants it to be this way. As I like to say it the church is both a demolition zone and a construction site. A demolition zone in the sense of we're tearing down hostilities and tensions and barriers and walls that divide us and it's a construction site in the sense that we're building one new humanity united together in Jesus and so we're building bridges and we're building connections and we're building relationships with people who are all very different from us because God is building a new family made up of people from every language and nation and tribe and tongue a new family united together under one King Jesus himself.