Acts 10

Do you be seated and turn to Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

! Acts chapter 10.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

I've struggled somewhat in putting this sermon together.

!

In fact finders there are no questions under the third point.

And there's a reason for that which will probably become apparent when we get to the third point.

Acts 10.

The humble brag.

Bittersweet.

Clearly confused.

A deafening silence.

What are they?

What are they?

Oxymorons.

Oxymorons.

A humble brag.

Bittersweet.

Clearly confused.

Deafening silence.

Never lord.

Look at verse 14.

I think that's the verse that cracks open the chapter.

Peter said,

By no means lord.

Never lord.

Never lord.

It's one of the things that is repeated three times in the New Testament.

By the same guy.

Peter says,

Never lord.

Do you remember?

Jesus speaks in Caesarea Philippi.

He tells his disciples that he is going to be handed over, mocked, crucified.

He will die in Jerusalem.

And Peter says to him,

Never lord.

That's not going to happen.

Jesus says to him,

Get behind me, Satan.

Just a little bit further.

I'm on.

They're in the upper room the night before Jesus' death.

And Jesus astonishingly takes a towel, wraps it around him.

And he starts to wash the stinking feet of his disciples.

And Jesus stoops to wash Peter's feet.

And that is too much for Peter.

And he says,

Never lord.

He says,

You'll never wash my feet.

And Jesus says,

If I don't wash your feet,

I won't wash any part of you.

I've got to wash all of you.

And here it is again.

Acts 10, verse 14.

Acts 10:14

Peter says,

No lord.

Never lord.

I've never eaten anything clean or common.

First of all, Peter says no to the cross.

And then he says,

I think no to conversion.

In the upper room.

And here he's saying no to the Great Commission.

Acts 10, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,

is about to jump into another culture,

into another world,

this cultural divide from Jews to Gentiles.

And Peter is saying,

Surely not, Lord.

If God had let Peter get away with that in Acts 10,

then you and I wouldn't be here today.

Because this is where the gospel leaps out of the,

a cocoon of Judaism,

into the big wide world.

It's rightly referred to as the Gentile Pentecost.

Gentile means non-Jew.

And it's such an important event that it's repeated three times.

This morning I've kind of seen the number three everywhere in this passage and in Acts.

I don't know why.

So if you know why three comes up so often,

I'd love to know why.

But this account is repeated three times.

It's in chapter 10 and chapter 11.

And then again in chapter 15.

And the story unfolds actually in three movements.

So there are three V's.

These are the points I've stolen from someone else.

There is a vision.

And there are visitors.

And then there's a VIP.

It took a vision to change Peter's mind.

Two visions.

One vision at three o'clock in the afternoon for Cornelius.

He had a vision.

And an angel tells Peter Cornelius to send for Peter.

Peter's 30 miles down the road in a place called Joppa.

And so there's two visions.

If you look at chapter 10 and verse 9.

And we're told that Simon Peter is staying in the house of Simon the Tanner.

In a place called Joppa.

It's midday, boiling hot.

It tells us that lunch is being prepared.

And there is Peter on the flat roof.

He's surrounded by animal skins on the roof.

Because Simon's house is a tanner.

Simon is a tanner.

They're being stretched out to dry.

The smell of lunch is wafting up the stairs.

Joppa's on the harbour.

And so there are sails flapping in the breeze.

And as Peter prays, he dozes.

And as he dozes, he prays.

And God seems to use all these external stimuli in Peter's subconscious.

And he sees, doesn't he, a vast sail.

He sees a vast sheet being lowered down from heaven by its four corners.

It's full of creepy crawlies.

And all the unclean animals from the book of Leviticus are there.

And the vision comes with sound, doesn't it?

Verse 13.

And there came a voice to him saying, rise Peter, kill and eat.

But Peter said, by no means.

Rise Peter, kill and eat.

It's the death knell to veganism and vegetarianism.

Peter says, I've never eaten anything unclean.

And what you're asking me to do is not right.

Look at verse 14.

Surely not, Lord.

I've never eaten anything that's common or unclean.

And then, what happens?

A voice came from heaven a second time.

What God's made clean, do not call common.

It's happened three times.

Three times, Peter protests.

Three times, God lowers the sheet.

Three times, God says, don't call unclean what God calls clean.

Now, let me apply this for a minute.

What's going on?

It's pretty obvious, I think, when you think about this.

Peter is being dealt with, isn't he, by God.

And his prejudices are being dealt with.

I don't know what your prejudices are.

We don't see them in ourselves, do we?

I'm not the one with an accent.

You are the ones, all of you, with accents.

None of us like to think of ourselves as prejudiced.

It's like the man who said, I'm not xenophobic.

That's a horrible Greek word.

That's another joke I've stolen.

We always, we don't realise to be how prejudiced we are.

If God were to deal with you this morning,

and lower a sheet down from the ceiling,

what would be on that sheet?

What are the no-nos?

What are the taboos?

So for this bigoted, racially prejudiced Jews,

it's a smorgasbord, isn't it, of unclean animals.

But what would it be for you?

What would it be for me?

A mullet?

Lamb biryani?

An iPad?

Nose ring?

Facial tattoos?

A business suit?

A burka?

Who are you prejudiced against?

Which people do you, I'm instinctively, shy away from?

When you're walking through Ealing?

Goths?

Immigrants?

Boomers?

The working class?

The well-dressed chattering classes?

Yuppies?

Nerds?

Roadmen?

Punks?

Geeks?

It's a good thing, isn't it?

I'm not out of touch.

And those words probably,

they don't mean anything to you,

but there are lots of different tribes

out there in our city.

Let me put it to you another way.

Who are we not going to with the gospel?

Who's not here this morning?

Who's not in our church on a Sunday morning

or a Sunday evening?

I read this week that Presbyterian churches in the US,

which are a little bit different,

but Presbyterian churches in the US

are often perceived as middle class,

white, affluent, intellectual,

and culturally elitist.

And isn't that something to be proud of?

And it's not just us Presbyterians, is it?

Last summertime I was on sabbatical

and went to lots of different churches

around the city.

And there are ethnic churches

which make very clear that their church

is confined to a certain language

and a certain skin colour.

There are class-bound churches

that make it clear

that only a certain class of people

are welcome through their doors.

There are churches for geriatrics,

which do not expect anyone to turn up

under the age of 65,

by the way they run their meetings.

And there are churches

where if you're over 25,

you're made to feel old

and that you don't fit in there

and you're whispered to

that maybe the morning service

is a little bit better for you.

There are racist churches.

There are tribal churches.

There are sexist churches.

And Peter's vision challenges all of that.

Yes, salvation is of the Jews.

Yes, God may have sent the gospel

to Israel first,

but he intends it for everyone.

And God sees this world

in glorious technicolour.

A tapestry of races, tribes,

and groups that are all made

after his own image.

And he rejoices in every one of them

without exception.

And they all need to hear

the gospel of the Lord Jesus.

They all need the saviour of the world.

They all need the gospel,

every tribe and tongue.

And the challenge for us as God's people

is, well, what are we going to do about it?

All these people around us.

And so here is,

if I can put it like this,

the first hammer blow

to Peter's prejudice.

It's the vision of the sheet.

Three times it comes down.

And then a remarkable coincidence.

Look at verse 17.

There's a knock on the door.

And just while Peter is thinking about this,

about what it all means,

there's a knock on the door.

And the second point is,

Peter, you've got visitors.

And three visitors turn up on the doorstep.

Look at verse 17.

Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed,

I think that's an understatement

as to what the vision that he'd seen might mean.

Behold, the men were sent by Cornelius,

having made inquiry for Simon's house,

stood at the gate.

Peter's still thinking about the vision.

And they say to him,

well, there's three men at the gate looking for you.

How is that for timing?

What are the chances of that happening?

These men have set out

the day before yesterday.

And they arrive at the very moment

that Peter is still reeling in shock,

trying to think,

what does this vision mean?

Can you see the sovereignty of God?

The sovereignty of God,

that God has choreographed

the whole kind of thing.

And what appears to be a coincidence

is in fact synchronized.

There's a chorus that I used to sing

when I was a little boy.

And I do not know what lies ahead,

the way I cannot see.

Yet one stands near to be my God.

He'll show the way to me.

I know who holds the future.

And he'll guide me with his hand.

With God, things don't just happen.

Everything by him is planned.

And I think that should be a massive comfort to us,

isn't it?

That you and I do not know what lies ahead in the future,

but we know the one who holds the future.

And we know that God is absolutely sovereign.

And God can work all things together for the good of those who love him,

for those who are called according to his purpose.

And that is a huge, huge comfort, isn't it?

That there is a God who's in charge of this world.

It is our sovereign God.

And so here's another hammer blow to Peter's prejudices.

Because now he's got to do,

what's he going to do with these visitors?

Is he going to invite them in?

Remember, he's a Jew,

and they are Gentiles.

And Jews do not eat with Gentiles.

What is he going to do?

Is he going to invite them in?

Or is he going to send them away?

Will he go with them?

He could leave them standing on the doorstep.

But no, he's told to get his bags and to go with them.

In verses 19 to 20.

And while Peter's pondering the vision,

the Spirit said to him,

Behold, three men are looking for you.

Rise and go down,

and accompany them without hesitation.

For I have sent them.

Get up, go, don't hesitate.

It can easily be translated,

the hesitate word there,

it can easily be translated,

don't discriminate.

This is me, Peter, God is saying.

This is a God moment.

I sent these men,

and so he goes.

The next day they set out,

and a day later they arrive at Cornelius' house.

Look at verse 24.

Cornelius is expecting them,

and he's called together his relatives,

and his close friends.

And Peter said to them,

You're well aware,

you're well aware,

that it's against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile,

but God has shown me that I shouldn't call anything unclean.

I shouldn't call any person common or unclean.

So typical of Peter.

Every time he opens his mouth,

he puts his foot in it,

and here he goes,

Peter is no diplomat,

despite what God has shown him.

His prejudices are still showing here.

He says,

like to be honest,

Cornelius,

of course I shouldn't really be here.

Jews don't mix with Gentiles.

So what do you want?

God has told me that I should come,

and Cornelius is so gracious,

isn't he?

Look at verse 30.

Four days ago,

about this hour,

Cornelius said,

I was praying in my house at the ninth hour,

and behold,

a man stood before me in bright clothing.

He said,

Cornelius,

your prayer has been heard.

Your arms have been remembered before God's send.

Therefore,

the jopper asked for Simon,

who's called Peter.

He's lodging in the house of Simon the Tanner.

So I sent for you at once,

and you've been kind enough to come.

What a polite man.

Peter,

who's obviously very uncomfortable about being in a Gentile house,

says,

well,

you know we Jews,

we're not supposed to be here.

We're not supposed to eat with Gentiles.

But God told me,

so I better come.

Here I am.

What do you want?

Cornelius says,

it's good.

It's good of you to come.

So good.

And then he says these remarkable words.

He says,

now we are all here,

in the presence of God,

to hear all that you've been commanded by the Lord.

Look at verse 33.

And that is a summary of,

I hope,

Sunday morning and Sunday evening.

We're all here,

in the presence of God,

to hear all that you've been commanded by the Lord.

And this church is better than most.

But the trend in the UK at the moment is that,

that people are in church,

in churches like this,

on average,

about one in every three Sundays.

People are away an incredible amount.

I'm really thankful that that isn't the case here.

I know it's easy to think in London,

we've got to get away for weekends all the time.

But I think that,

that actually is a real misunderstanding of what is going on,

when the people of God gather.

Why,

why we need to be here.

That when we can't be bothered to come to church,

it's a great insult to God.

And when the king,

issued invitations to his coronation,

he did not invite people to turn up.

He told them they had to.

And so when I stand in this pulpit,

or Roman stands in this pulpit,

and we open the Bible,

God is speaking to you.

That's what we believe.

And when the Bible is preached,

God speaks.

Now, of course,

that's not as important as your birthday.

Is it?

It's not as important as

a really big Premier League game.

It's not as important as

the golf.

Now, therefore,

we are all here in the presence of God

to hear all that you have been commanded

by the Lord.

And that means,

isn't it,

when we believe that,

that we come with real expectancy,

that we come expecting God to address us,

waiting to listen to everything

the Lord has commanded you to tell us.

And so let's pause for a moment

and try and remind ourselves,

what is God teaching us

through Acts chapter 10?

Acts 10 · chapter mention

He's teaching us that the gospel

is for everybody,

not just for people

who look like you and me.

If you're not a Christian here

this morning,

you're not yet a Christian,

and we want to say

thank you for coming

and we're really pleased

to have you with us

and you might be thinking,

I'm not that sort of person.

People say to me,

I'm not the religious type.

Let me tell you,

the gospel is for you.

No one is too good

for the gospel.

Cornelius is actually

a very decent bloke,

isn't he?

He's the sort of guy

you want your daughter to marry.

He's the sort of neighbor

you'd love to have.

Look at verse 2,

he's a God-fearing man

with a social conscience.

He gives generously

to the poor, verse 2.

He prays regularly

and look what it says,

God sent him,

God answered his prayers

by sending him a missionary

to convert him.

Do you get the irony of that?

In the next chapter,

Peter has to explain

to the other apostles

verse 18 of chapter 11,

he sums it up like this,

that God has granted repentance.

A turning.

And so Cornelius

is a really nice bloke

who does good things,

but God has granted him

repentance

through eternal life.

At the Council of Jerusalem,

in chapter 15,

Peter said,

God made no distinction

between us,

the Jews,

and them,

the non-Jews.

Both of them need cleansing.

Their hearts need cleansing

by faith.

He said Cornelius

is a really nice guy,

but his heart still needed

to be cleansed.

He's a nice man,

but he needed to be made

a new man.

People say the most ridiculous things.

They say,

my grandson,

he's such a lovely boy,

really, really lovely lad,

but he's not a Christian.

He's such a lovely lad,

but he's not a Christian.

No, he's not.

Nor am I,

nor are you.

You might describe him

as a lovely boy,

but he's without God

and without hope

and he's going to hell

without the Lord Jesus.

Do you realise that?

Do you realise that good people,

good people go to hell.

Bad people go to heaven.

You've been reading

your Bible wrongly

if you don't see that.

Jesus said,

I've not come to call

the righteous,

but sinners to repentance.

And so,

don't be surprised

when you look around

this room

and you come to church

and you find a bunch

of hypocrites.

There's always room

for one more

because church

isn't for nice people,

it's for nasty people.

Nasty people

who know

that they need

to be rescued

and Cornelius

is really nice

but he knows

he needs to be saved.

And your neighbour

might be much nicer

than you are,

probably is.

But he's not a Christian

unless he's come to faith

and come to put his trust

in the Lord Jesus

and his need of salvation.

The gospel is for all,

no one is too bad

and no one is too good.

Everyone needs

to hear this gospel.

Everyone

and everywhere.

Peter learns something else

in verse 34.

The penny drops

and Peter says,

now I realise

that God doesn't show

any favouritism.

It's interesting,

Peter forgot this.

You go to the book

of Galatians

and the apostle Paul

has to call Peter

to account

because he

accuses Peter

of being out of step

with the gospel.

Peter is showing

favouritism

to the Jewish believers

and he's withdrawing

from the Gentile believers

in a place called Antioch

and the apostle Paul

has to call him out.

On your modern devices,

on your modem

or on your iPad

or on your iPhone,

your phone,

there is a reset button,

isn't there?

And there's times

when things go wrong

or the thing

isn't working properly

and you've got to

press the reset button.

And it's like that

in the Christian life,

isn't it?

There are times

when we've got to

press the reset button

and realign ourselves

with God's gospel.

that we're not living

in line with the Christian gospel

and so we've got to

press the reset button

and we've got to

keep challenging ourselves

and bringing our feelings

and our thinking

and our church

and the programmes

that we run in church

into line with the gospel.

The gospel is grace alone

through faith alone

in Jesus Christ alone.

It is not Jesus plus

speaking in tongues

or it's not Jesus plus

baptism by immersion

or it's not Jesus plus

being a Presbyterian.

It is Christ alone

and we've got to

keep bringing our thinking

and we're going to

again and again

back into line with that.

God gave him a vision.

God sent him on a visit

and then briefly

and lastly

look what happens next.

Verse 44.

A VIP turns up.

A VIP,

a very important person.

Verse 44.

While Peter,

while Peter

was still saying

these things,

the Holy Spirit

fell on all

who heard the word.

I'd love to be interrupted

like that.

To be able to

preach in the power

of the Holy Spirit.

I think that is

London's greatest need.

We have,

don't we,

a really impossible task

as a church family.

The huge,

huge commission

to see the city

won for the Lord

Jesus Christ.

To speak to our friends

and our family

about the Lord Jesus.

We find that terrifying.

But this glorious truth

is we're not on our own.

And there is one

who will go alongside us.

There is a comforter,

a paraclete

who the Saviour

sends to be with us.

In the next chapter,

Peter explains

the significance of this

in verses 15 to 17.

We'll look at it.

It says,

What's happening

in chapter 11

is a rerun

of Pentecost.

That kind of

one-off event.

And I remembered

the word of the Lord,

how he said,

John baptised with water,

but you will be baptised

with the Holy Spirit.

If then God

gave the same gift

to them

as he'd given to us

when we believed

in the Lord Jesus Christ,

who was I

to stand in God's way?

When they heard

these things,

they fell silent

and they glorified God

and said,

Then to the Gentiles also

God has granted

repentance

that leads to life.

So what's happening

in Acts chapter 10

Acts 10 · chapter mention

is what happened

in Pentecost

with Jews

from all over the world

is now happening

to the Gentiles.

And so it's a one-off.

And yet I want to say

there is an epidemic,

isn't there,

in my life

and in churches

all across London

of very dry

Bible talks,

which are a little bit

like comprehension exercises.

And we do want,

don't we,

the Holy Spirit

to come

through his word.

While Peter

was still saying

these things,

the Holy Spirit

fell on all

who heard the word

and believers

from among the circumcised

who'd come with Peter

were amazed

because the gift

of the Holy Spirit

was poured out

even on the Gentiles.

This is a watershed moment

in Christianity.

It is the final nail

in the coffin

of Peter's prejudice.

And since God

makes no distinction,

neither should we.

And maybe today,

you and I

need to be realigned

with the gospel of grace.

And God is saying to Peter

and he's saying to us,

there are teeming millions

out there

who've never heard

the gospel.

Peter loathes them,

but God loves them.

Peter needs

a change of heart.

I now realise,

Peter said,

it's a defining moment.

The penny drops.

The Holy Spirit

has come on the Gentiles

as he did with the Jews.

And so I wonder

for you today,

will it be a defining moment?

Maybe you're somebody here,

you're thinking about

the gospel,

but you've never

really grasped it,

you've never really

understood it,

you've never actually

been gripped by it.

Well, today is the day,

isn't it,

to call upon the Lord.

And for maybe some of us,

it's time to press

the reset button.

To recognise

that salvation

is by grace alone,

through faith alone,

in Christ alone,

to the glory of God.

Let's pray.