Well good morning to everyone. It's a beautiful day, beautiful morning to go out early this morning and had some nice cool mornings and sunny days, no bugs. We often complain about the weather so let's praise the Lord for such good weather lately. 

We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 10 this morning and we come to a very interesting passage in Acts 10 this morning. We're gonna do something very rare and that is take this whole chapter as a unit and cover the entire passage in one message. Normally we do one, two, three, four, five verses but this is kind of one story that hangs together and tells a very important story about a man named Cornelius who was a Gentile in Caesarea and he is significant chiefly because he was a Gentile, a Gentile who was seeking to know the truth and to worship God. 

And what we're going to see in our text this morning in this historical account of the salvation of Cornelius and his household is an illustration of the progression of God's salvation plan. We're going to see a fulfillment of Jesus' words in Acts 1:8. I'd like for you to turn back to Acts chapter 1 at verse 8 and just look at that verse with me as we begin. Jesus said to his disciples, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." 

Now I want you to remember that this verse gave us an outline for the book of Acts. We have seen Peter and John bring the message of the cross, of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection to Jerusalem filling the whole city with their doctrine. We've seen the gospel spread out into Judea and Samaria in the course of our study in Acts especially in chapter 8. And now my brothers and sisters we're going to see that gospel truth, that power unto salvation for those who will believe, move toward the ends of the earth as it spreads to the Gentiles beginning with Cornelius. 

I believe that one of the most misunderstood and under preached truths in the Word of God is the distinction between the old and the new covenants and what this means to us concerning our salvation and our Christian life. To not understand the drastic change that came about when Jesus lifted that cup and instituted the new covenant in his blood is to not understand the Christian life, the glorious truth of Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

The institution of the new covenant changed many things moving from the old covenant law system of Judaism that was wholly external to an internal recreation of regeneration through faith in Jesus alone in a pre-fulfillment of those promises that we've looked at so many times in Ezekiel 36 and Jeremiah 31 of a new heart and a new spirit and the Holy Spirit coming to permanently indwell and empower us. 

And one of the greatest changes, the most astounding to the early church disciples, is found in the chapter before us. It was an illustration of the ending of the old covenant with its law restrictions meant to set apart and divide a special people, Israel, and the beginning of the revealing of a great mystery of one new man in Christ in the church, Jew and Gentile, one in Christ through faith alone in him. It's hard for us to really wrap our minds around to understand the gravity of what was going on here, but Peter was living it and he was beginning to understand God's plan, God's salvation plan for all men in Christ. 

It was not that God had not always intended to save every man who was willing to come to him. In fact, he had set apart Israel for this very purpose, to be a light to the world, to be a city on a hill, to draw all men to himself. But they had twisted and perverted the grace that God had shown them in choosing them to be his own special people and had made salvation an exclusive thing, forbidding the Gentiles to come in. 

Now in the progression of God's plan in the fulfillment of so many prophecies and promises, we see God working out his will to bring salvation to the Gentiles. Now in a new covenant way in the church age through the witness of the believers as they go out into the world with the saving message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Well, we're gonna work our way through the chapter in pieces. We're starting with verses 1 to 8. Acts 10 verse 1: "There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, 'Cornelius.' When he observed him, he was afraid and said, 'What is it, Lord?' So he said to him, 'Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa and send for Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon a Tanner whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.' And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa." 

Well I've given you five points this morning on your outline for our text. First we're going to see a willing heart. Second, a drastic change. Third, a faithful servant. Fourth, the salient message. And fifth, a common salvation. 

Well first in our text we see a willing heart in the person of Cornelius. This is so fascinating to see. Cornelius it says was a God-fearing man. What does that mean that he was God-fearing? He was a Gentile. He was not a Jew. He was not saved because we will see Peter say that he came to speak the truth so that Cornelius and his household shall be saved. But it says that he feared God. The Gentiles from the perspective of the Jews were divided into three groups. There were kind of the regular pagan Gentiles that were not associated in any way or interested in the God of Israel. And then there were the proselytes who had come to faith in Jehovah God and had been circumcised and converted to Judaism. But in the middle there were those such as Cornelius who were called God-fearers. They were people who knew about the God of Israel, who worshipped him. And here's the important part, were seeking to know God. 

In Acts 17:26 Paul is speaking to some Gentile pagans in Athens and he makes this amazing statement: "...and he has made, God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us for in him we live and move and have our being." 

The Bible teaches a principle that God has revealed himself to all men through general revelation, through creation, through conscience. God has given light to all men and he calls on men to receive that light, that revelation, and to seek after him to worship him and grope for him that they might find him. When a man takes what light he has and he believes and he seeks then God brings him more light. Those who seek shall find. If a man has a willing heart, a desire to know the truth, if he wills to do God's will, Jesus said in John 7:17, then he will know God will bring to him the gospel and salvation. 

Unfortunately, the vast majority of men suppress, willfully hold down the truth that they have and will not seek after God. But here in our text we see a man who had a willing heart, Cornelius, and we see that in the salvation of Cornelius God is working. God is arranging all the details to bring the gospel to him. God is initiating the contact as he is giving these visions to Cornelius and to Peter. 

So we see the necessity of a willing heart in salvation and next we see a drastic change. Look at verse 9 in our text. "The next day as they went on their journey and drew near the city Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat. But while they made ready he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, 'Rise Peter, kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.' And a voice spoke to him again the second time, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.' This was done three times and the object was taken up into heaven again. 

Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate. And they called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter, was lodging there. While Peter thought about the vision the Spirit said to him, 'Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore go down and go with them doubting nothing for I have sent them.' 

Then Peter went down to the men who had been sent to him from Cornelius and said, 'Yes, I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?' And they said, 'Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear words from you.' Then he invited them in and lodged them. On the next day Peter went away with them and some brethren from Joppa accompanied him." 

Well in our culture, in our time, we know little of the divide between men based on race or religion. It's very difficult for us to really grasp the divide, the hatred that existed between Jew and Gentile in the time of Peter. We see it all the way back in the story of Jonah. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach the good news to them that they would repent and believe. And you remember how upset it made Jonah and how he ran the other way and spent some time in the Great Fish. And even after the whole city repented and turned to the Lord, Jonah was so distraught that God had done this that he wanted to die. 

This hatred and division only increased over the years and in the time of Peter there was a mutual hatred that was perhaps unrivaled between people groups. The Jews thought the Gentiles to be dogs, unclean. They would not even enter their homes lest they would be defiled. The Gentiles despised the Jews and saw them as less than slaves, a hatred for Israel that we still see in many places today. 

So when we see the message from God to Peter in his vision and later see Peter's understanding of this vision, it is astounding that God was saying that the Gentiles are not common, that they are not unclean, but that he intends to bring and is now bringing salvation to these very people through Jesus Christ. This was a really hard thing for Peter and we see that God had to give him this lesson three times using the sheet with all the various critters on it as an object lesson and Peter objects. He says, "I've never eaten anything unclean," but the Lord gets his message across to Peter. 

Now certainly there are implications here concerning dietary restrictions in the New Covenant and certainly there was a tearing down of the whole law system and now we live under grace and not under law and if you want to eat a pork chop, which I highly recommend, then you can have a pork chop, but that's not the main message of the vision. The main point, and Peter gets it here, was that no man was unclean, that Christ died for every man and all men who come to faith in him are one in Jesus. 

Acts 10:28 says, "Then he said to them, 'You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or to go into one of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.' A drastic change had come. God was now fulfilling the promise made in Acts 1:8 to take the gospel to the ends of the earth." 

I'd like to just turn to Ephesians 2:11. We've read this passage recently, but it's so clarifying as to what God's plan is and what's going on here in the church age. 

Ephesians 2:11, Paul is speaking to the Gentiles and he writes, "Therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 

And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near, for through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." 

Coming to faith in Christ eliminates all barriers between men. It seems to me that the world is trying to drive barriers between men. Satan is at work to divide people. We see that evident in our country now. But Jesus Christ unites men. He changes men. He makes them one, baptizing them into the church, placing them into the church. There's neither Jew nor Gentile, but we are all one in Christ. 

What an amazing truth. What a drastic change from the old to the new. So we see in our text a willing heart. We see a drastic change. And next we see a faithful servant. 

Look at verse 20 with me, please. "Arise, therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them." And then Peter went down and asked them what they wanted and they told him the vision Cornelius had seen. And then in verse 23 it says, "He invited them in." This was an amazing thing that he would invite these Gentiles into his home and lodge them. And then on the next day it says, "Peter went away with them." And some brethren from Joppa, some Jews, accompanied him. 

And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up saying, "Stand up, I myself am also a man." And as he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together. Then he said to them, "You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation." This had been their thinking. This had been the teaching. This had been how they'd lived. They wouldn't go into another house like that, a Gentile home. And then he says, "But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore, I came without objection. As soon as I was sent for, I asked them, 'For what reason have you sent for me?'" 

What we see in the response of Peter to the vision given to him, the command to go, is an obedient spirit. He was a faithful servant. He was willing to go whenever God sent him, to take every opportunity that God arranged. And we've seen this throughout his ministry in the book of Acts, witnessing in the temple, witnessing before the Sanhedrin when he'd been arrested and was threatened to be beaten, witnessing to the people in Lydda and Joppa, and now the first Gentiles at the house of Cornelius. 

God wanted to bring the gospel to the willing heart of Cornelius, but there had to be a faithful servant, an obedient believer who was willing to preach the message. And Peter was ready and willing, and he obeyed the call. God said, "Go," and Peter went. You know, he had major reservations about going to a Gentile home, but God showed him his plan. He explained the new covenant truth of breaking down of the law and the old covenant restrictions and the glorious truth of one man in Christ. 

And Peter scrapped all that he had known, and he obeyed God. What a witness he was, and what a message he had for Cornelius—the only message, the salient message of the cross. 

Look at verse 30 in our text. So Cornelius said, "Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon a tanner by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.' So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come, and now therefore we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded you by God." 

God got them there. God was sovereignly working to arrange all of this. They were all gathered. They were all ready. They wanted to hear the truth. And what did Peter tell them? What did he preach? He preached Jesus Christ, the salient message of the gospel. 

Look at verse 34. "Then Peter opened his mouth." This is key, my friends. He opened his mouth. That's where it starts. He opened his mouth and he said, "'In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. That in every nation, whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all, that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him, God raised up on the third day and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to judge the living and the dead. To Him, all the prophets witnessed that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.' 

Yesterday up in Bessemer, we had Debbie's brother Joe's funeral and there was a good crowd gathered there, I don't know, maybe a couple hundred people, Harry. And most of them were not believers; in fact, most of them were not believers. Some of them were hostile towards the gospel. But it was an opportunity, my friends. Joe had asked me to preach at his funeral and he'd asked me repeatedly to make clear that he made clear to me that he wanted all of his loved ones to hear the gospel. And that's what we did. We preached Jesus with a great desire to make the message clear. 

Because you see, that's what really matters. What matters is the truth. The truth about Jesus preached to a lost and dying world so that men might believe and be saved. So many times we go to a funeral or we go to a wedding or we go to some event and we hear some nice stories and some jokes and preachers make nice. That doesn't do anyone any good. Men have to hear the truth. They have to hear the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His death in our place for our sins and salvation by faith alone in Him and what He finished on the cross. The simple, clear, salient message of Jesus and the cross, His substitutionary death and His victorious resurrection. 

Paul said, "We believe, therefore we speak." And when we speak the truth, when we preach Christ crucified and there are willing hearts before us whom God has prepared, what happens? A common salvation. Look at verse 44 in chapter 10. "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished as many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, 'Can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?' And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked Him to stay a few days."

It's really significant here that the Gentiles received salvation the same as the Jews. And we saw that before when it went to the Samaritans, that it was an identical experience, that they heard the word, they believed, the Holy Spirit fell on them, they spoke in tongues. God wanted them to understand that salvation was the same. 

First Corinthians 1:21 says, "For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." And second Corinthians 5:14, a passage you're very familiar with, "For the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And He died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ." 

And listen to this: He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That is that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

God has made us believers in Jesus Christ, His ambassadors. He has given to us the word of reconciliation, to preach the word, my friends. And when men hear that word, that truth, that message about Jesus, if they are willing, then faith comes. And even as we are speaking, just as here with Peter, the Holy Spirit does the work of salvation, of regeneration for those who believe. 

God shows no partiality; no one has an in with God, no one has any better chance than anyone else. Grace and the cross bring a level playing field for every man, for God has confined all under sin. Why? In order that he might have mercy on all. Isn't that just the best news ever? We each one, regardless of who we are, of our past, of what we have done, can hear that gospel message, can turn to Jesus in faith and have a common salvation, being placed into Christ, receiving the Holy Spirit, being one in Jesus. 

And then we are brethren. Then we are in the body together in sweet fellowship with a like precious faith, a bond thicker than blood, than family relationships, than things in this world that tie us together. We are in Christ. 

I've often thought about the slave culture of the time of the early church, not so much the slave culture we think of in the history of America, but a Greek and Roman culture where men were often indentured servants and were slaves and really composed the workforce of the economy. And they were devalued as human beings. They were like property. And yet when a slave and a master came to Christ, they could be part of the same fellowship. And it may be that a slave would be an elder in a local church and the master would be submissive to his own slave in the context of the church because there was no difference. They were one in Christ. 

What an amazing drastic change salvation brings to the life of a man, changing the very essence of who he is in his nature and making him one in Christ with every other believer. And notice in those last verses that salvation came to Cornelius and his household exactly the way it did to the Jews. No difference, no second class saints. For the Jews at Pentecost, for the Samaritans, and now for the Gentiles, salvation is exactly the same. The message is preached, willing hearts believe, and they are wonderfully saved, recreated, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. 

This is new covenant salvation and truth for every man who will believe; whosoever will may come. Isn't the grace of God wonderful? 

All sinners in need of a Savior and Jesus is that one and only Savior. What a joy and a privilege and assurance to know Him and know that He has us here in this world to go to the world and preach the gospel, to lead men to faith. And isn't it tremendous to know that it is His desire for every man to be saved? That Jesus died for every man and salvation is available to any man. 

The message of Jesus, the message of the Bible, is come. Come unto me. Jesus said, "All you who are heavy laden, come unto me, and I will give you rest. Come to me and have life," Jesus said. Just come to me, look to me, believe me. This is the message of this book. And in Revelation 22:17, the book ends by saying, "And the Spirit and the bride say come. And let him who hears say come. And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." 

Whoever desires, that's the question, my friend. Do you have a desire? Is your will to come to Him and be saved, to take freely of the water of life? If it is, then just come. Come to Jesus in faith and you will have eternal life. That is His promise to us. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful that you continually teach us and we're thankful for the book of Acts and the work you continue through your disciples. Thank you for your heart desire to save lost men, that Jesus came into the world to seek and to save the lost, Lord, and that you have sent us as your ambassadors to preach the word of reconciliation. Thank you for that message, that privilege. I just pray that you'd help us to trust you, believe you, and to see you work through our lives for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.