Do you be seated and turn to Acts chapter 10.
! Acts chapter 10.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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
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.