WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.800 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.760 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.680 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.760 types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:22.159 Let's pray. Father, Father, your Word sometimes is very un-Canadian, and we're Canadians, and we 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:29.200 have problems when your Word is very un-Canadian. We want to be Canadians, and we want to follow Jesus. 00:01:29.899 --> 00:01:39.340 So Father, we ask that you help us to fall in love and be enchanted with the beauty of what your Word 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:45.799 is going to say to us this morning, that we can live as confident Canadians, but even more importantly, 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:52.399 that we can have a great confidence in Jesus and in the gospel, and in your great love for us. And we ask 00:01:52.399 --> 00:01:57.939 these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:00.939 --> 00:02:07.060 And once again, this isn't a vain moment. I am starting my timer, or I might preach for three hours. No, I wouldn't. 00:02:07.060 --> 00:02:14.319 That won't happen. You might have gathered from my prayer, if you were listening to my prayer, that the 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:20.659 topic we're going to look at, basically what happens is, the Bible text today is one of the texts that 00:02:20.659 --> 00:02:26.480 says that Jesus is the only way to God. There you go. You fall asleep for the rest of the sermon. That's 00:02:26.480 --> 00:02:34.180 what the text says. Jesus is the only way to God. And if you're here sort of as a bit of a seeker, 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:36.840 trying to figure out whether you're going to stop being a Christian, whether you're going to become 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:43.560 a Christian, if you're online and you're sort of curious about things, as we all know, saying that 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:50.480 Jesus is the only way to God is very un-Canadian. And what you need to know, if you're sort of trying 00:02:50.480 --> 00:02:56.800 to figure out what Christianity is, that a lot of Canadian Christians are uncomfortable with this 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:01.020 idea. It doesn't say we're going to deny it, but that we're uncomfortable with it. And that's 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:08.100 because it's so un-Canadian. So we're going to look at this text together. We're going to walk 00:03:08.100 --> 00:03:15.160 towards it. And just one of the things I want you to know is that I don't sort of think down, 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:19.920 I don't sort of sit down in a coffee shop and think of what 10 sermons can I do over the next 10 00:03:19.920 --> 00:03:25.379 weeks that are really controversial. And I'll pick those texts and I'll just do those controversial 00:03:25.379 --> 00:03:30.640 texts. One of the things that we do, which is unusual in Ottawa, is that we preach through books of 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:36.779 the Bible. And I just sort of have to handle the text as it comes. So this is like a really good 00:03:36.779 --> 00:03:40.419 way. I mean, this is actually in our private life we should be reading the Bible. And it's really good 00:03:40.419 --> 00:03:44.279 for those trying to figure out the Christian faith. I'm not going to hide anything from you. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:49.739 You know, this is just what the Bible says. We're going to look at it. We're going to walk towards it. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:55.579 And even though it's very un-Canadian, I hope I'm able to show you by the end of the sermon that 00:03:55.580 --> 00:04:03.060 this is something that we Christians should be enchanted by and just see the profound beauty 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:10.439 and coherence of this doctrine. So let's look. We're going through Acts, the book of Acts, 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:18.280 and it's going to be Acts chapter 10 this morning. And just as we're turning to it in Acts chapter 10, 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.980 if you don't have a Bible of your own, the text most of the time, I think, if not always, 00:04:21.980 --> 00:04:26.620 will be up on the screen. It's really good to have your own Bibles. It's good to have paper Bibles 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:32.400 as well in the market if you want. And as I've said before, Acts, the book of Acts is an eyewitness, 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:39.580 a history of the first 30 some odd years of the Jesus movement. And it's written by a fellow who's 00:04:39.580 --> 00:04:44.439 an eyewitness for some of the events and everything else is based on eyewitness testimony written when 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:53.759 eyewitnesses are alive. And so this is, and what's just happened before this is that there have been 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:59.860 a couple of very significant conversions in the early history, the early history of the Christian 00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:06.360 faith. And a lot of Christians just are unhappy about this doctrine. So that's just, we cry inwardly 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:12.399 when, outwardly when we have to talk about it. So if you can hear, there's a kid crying, missing his daddy. 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:17.659 One other thing, by the way, you know, one of the things that we should pray for, we should pray 00:05:17.659 --> 00:05:22.659 for certain types of problems. A lot of people think you should pray that you don't have any 00:05:22.659 --> 00:05:27.179 problems. We should pray for problems. One problem to have is too many kids. Like, wouldn't that be a 00:05:27.179 --> 00:05:33.039 nice problem to have? Disrupting things? Like, that's what we should pray for, certain types of 00:05:33.039 --> 00:05:37.599 problems. Anyway, back to the text. So let's look at this. There's been a couple of conversions. There's 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:43.200 been some significant miracles, which I talked about last week. And here's how the story goes. 00:05:44.060 --> 00:05:52.379 At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort. 00:05:53.960 --> 00:06:00.020 A devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:05.680 and prayed continually to God. Now just sort of pause here for a couple of things to help you figure out, 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:10.240 you know, what's going on here. Here's a couple of things that are going on. The first thing that you 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:17.199 need to know is that this story is going to take place primarily in Caesarea. And Caesarea is a pagan 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:22.579 center. It's not a Jewish center. And it's, in a sense, the capital for what we would now call the 00:06:22.579 --> 00:06:28.139 Middle East. It's the capital city. It's where the Roman governor lives and administers the affairs. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:35.100 That's what Caesarea is. So it's a pagan community. Cornelius is a pagan name back then, a Roman name. 00:06:35.100 --> 00:06:41.260 So he's a Roman citizen, almost definitely, and a pagan. And he's a centurion. And that means he has, 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:46.900 in some ways, here's where the gap goes. Centurion is a very significant position because 00:06:46.900 --> 00:06:51.800 he's looking after about 100 men. And, you know, it's all right for generals, or I mean, 00:06:51.820 --> 00:06:56.480 they didn't call them generals, but for people way up to make these decisions. But it's centurions, 00:06:56.600 --> 00:07:01.500 the guys on the ground, that are actually enforcing things. Rome is an occupying power, 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:06.300 from the Jewish perspective, pagans who've conquered the promised land. And it's guys like 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:12.699 the centurions that actually enforce things, right? The other thing about him is he's roughly the, 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:17.660 in the Roman world back then, it's like a lot of places in the world today, there's very little, 00:07:17.779 --> 00:07:23.160 a very small middle class. So there's a small number of very wealthy people. And there's a very, 00:07:23.300 --> 00:07:29.300 very large number of people who are quite poor, living hand to mouth. And there's a very small 00:07:29.300 --> 00:07:35.060 middle class, and Cornelius would be part of that small middle class. And to figure out sort of a 00:07:35.060 --> 00:07:39.660 bit of an analogy is not perfect, but I don't know what the average salary of a corporal is in the 00:07:39.660 --> 00:07:46.800 Canadian Armed Forces. But if you took that salary and multiplied it by five, that's how much the 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:53.900 centurion makes. In a world at that time, where a corporal's pay would have been viewed as very, 00:07:53.899 --> 00:08:00.099 very well paid. So he's a man of substance. He's part of the occupying power. And he'd be part of 00:08:00.099 --> 00:08:06.179 that power that he would be seeing Jewish people face to face all the time and enforcing things. 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:12.039 The other thing about him is that for some reason, we never find out the reason why, he's become 00:08:12.039 --> 00:08:19.199 enchanted or infatuated with Yahweh, with the Jewish God, and has started to pray to the Jewish God, 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:24.939 and to be kind to the Jewish people. But he's still a pagan, as we're going to see later on. He's still 00:08:24.939 --> 00:08:31.199 very much a pagan. And it's really important for us to understand that in the pagan world, the Jews 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:37.860 and then the Christians were exceptionally weird. Because everybody who's anybody, anybody with half 00:08:37.860 --> 00:08:43.439 a brain, anybody who knows anything would know that there are many gods. That's just obvious. It's as 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:50.120 obvious as the sun rising, the wind blowing, that you drink water. It's just obvious to all levels 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:55.180 of intellectuals and priests, for everybody except this small number of Jews and Christians, that 00:08:55.180 --> 00:09:01.420 there are many gods. So it might very well be that Cornelius has become a bit enchanted with Yahweh, 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:06.020 so he prays to Yahweh. But it also wouldn't at all be wrong that the next day he would pray to some 00:09:06.020 --> 00:09:12.460 Roman god or goddess. That's who he is. And so will the story continue? So this is who he is, 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:19.900 verse 3. About the ninth hour of the day, Cornelius clearly saw a vision, in a vision, 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:28.720 an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And Cornelius stared at the angel in terror and said, 00:09:28.980 --> 00:09:34.700 what is it, Lord? And the angel said to him, your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial 00:09:34.700 --> 00:09:41.360 before God, and now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:48.019 Simon, a tanner whose house is by the sea. And when the angel spoke to him and had departed, 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:52.740 he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him. 00:09:53.180 --> 00:09:59.019 And having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. Now just sort of pause here for a second 00:09:59.019 --> 00:10:07.360 as well. So one of the things, there's lots that's going on in this story, and what you're going to see 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:13.600 is that visions and angels play an important role in it. If you go back and listen to my sermon last 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:18.600 week, or listen to some of my earlier sermons, I've defended the idea of the miracle, miraculous. 00:10:18.980 --> 00:10:23.639 I don't have time to do that today. You're just going to have to, you know, take it for what it's 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:29.220 worth for the moment. But I do want to emphasize, though, that everything in this story is trying 00:10:29.220 --> 00:10:34.940 to communicate that this is what actually happened. In fact, actually, if you go back and look at it, 00:10:34.940 --> 00:10:40.700 I talked about this at length last week, but Cornelius is mentioned, where he lives is mentioned, 00:10:40.860 --> 00:10:46.820 his rank is mentioned, his regiment is mentioned, you know, Simon is mentioned by name. In fact, 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:51.320 you're going to see in a moment that just from the mere description of Simon, who has another name, 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:55.580 and Simon the tanner, the soldiers are going to be able to travel 50 kilometers away and find him. 00:10:55.580 --> 00:10:59.700 So the story and everything in the whole story is trying to communicate this is what actually 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:03.440 happened, even though for many Canadians, it's completely preposterous. I'm not going to try to 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:08.500 defend it, because there's a bigger thing that we need to look at. But I just want to say it's one of the 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:13.400 features of the story. I'm just going to accept it. And I, not I'm just going to accept it. I actually 00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:18.300 believe it's true, but that comes up towards the end of the sermon. But there are lots of visions and 00:11:18.300 --> 00:11:23.660 everything. The other thing about it is just, and this is an encouragement for all of you when you're 00:11:23.659 --> 00:11:31.079 reading books like Acts and the Gospels, is just to remember that for Christians who've read this many 00:11:31.079 --> 00:11:39.379 times, and we believe it's the Word of God, we sort of see the obviousness of the response. But you need 00:11:39.379 --> 00:11:44.319 to ask yourself and put yourself, if you're trying to enter into the world, that the response to this 00:11:44.319 --> 00:11:50.659 isn't obvious. So for instance, there'd be many, many Canadians today that if they had a vision like 00:11:50.659 --> 00:11:59.019 this, they wouldn't act on it. They'd think it was nuts. They'd think they had to go for therapy. 00:11:59.939 --> 00:12:03.779 They'd wonder whether they needed to take some medication, whether something like schizophrenia 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:10.159 was beginning to happen to them. That's how many Canadians would respond to it. And another thing 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:14.079 about it is many Canadians would just say, why on earth would you even respond to it? Like, 00:12:14.379 --> 00:12:18.579 you know, if somebody tried to frighten you, you shouldn't do what they say. Like, that's nuts, 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:25.500 right? So we have become accustomed to these responses, but I'm not going to go to it every 00:12:25.500 --> 00:12:29.920 time. But every time there's this type of a command, there's other ways of responding to it. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:36.940 In this particular story, the response is, in a sense, always the right response. And we need to 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:43.400 learn from it and sort of have it into our minds. So anyway, Cornelius has this vision, unexpected. 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:49.100 He sends people to Joppa to get Peter. What happens next? Well, once again, there's going to be 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:54.279 visions. Look at verse 9. The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, 00:12:54.480 --> 00:13:01.939 Peter went up on the housetop about noon to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat. 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:08.439 But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:15.420 great sheet descending, being led down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of 00:13:15.420 --> 00:13:23.600 animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:31.060 But Peter said, by no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. 00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:36.359 I'm just sort of pause here for a second. This word common is a bit of an unfortunate translation. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:45.319 It's a literal translation. But the problem with common, if the translators would ask my advice, 00:13:45.899 --> 00:13:51.279 I would say the problem is it doesn't have the right connotation, at least to Canadians. It sounds 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:58.279 as if the difference is between common and elitist. As if, oh my, I wouldn't have McDonald's french fries. 00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:04.179 I mean, you need to go and have these frits, you know, with a special mayo and come from some type 00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:09.720 of organic potatoes or something like that, you know, cooked in some special oil with some rare 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:14.579 seasonings. I wouldn't have something like McDonald's fries. That's not what it means at all. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:19.339 That's why it's an unfortunate translation. Basically, the two words you're trying to say that there's, 00:14:19.899 --> 00:14:26.579 that the food, and on one level, we can enter into this a little bit. If you watch cooking shows, 00:14:26.580 --> 00:14:34.320 food isn't just food. Food tells stories. Food is connected to cultural identity. It's a big issue 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:39.780 if you read many immigrant stories about the clash that immigrant children can have when they bring 00:14:39.780 --> 00:14:45.240 immigrant food to school, and the school kids consider it smelly. So food isn't just food. 00:14:45.820 --> 00:14:51.220 And in this particular world, what it's trying to get at is that there is this cultural and religious 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:57.800 and ethnic divide, and it's being maintained partially by food and by partially connections 00:14:57.800 --> 00:15:03.460 with hospitality and how you get along with people. And that's what's going on here in the text. 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:08.420 And I'll give you another example of why that's actually an important thing, but let's just read 00:15:08.420 --> 00:15:15.120 two more verses. Verse 15, and the voice came to Peter again a second time. What God has made clean, 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:19.759 do not call common, right? So don't call it as something that's going to ritually separate you 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:25.299 from God or from other people. This happened three times, and the thing was taken up to heaven at once. 00:15:26.259 --> 00:15:32.220 Now, here's sort of a big pause to enter into the story. We Canadians who sort of have a bit of a 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:37.659 double mind around this, on one hand, whether we realize it or not, Canadians have been profoundly 00:15:37.659 --> 00:15:43.860 affected by this story. And we don't realize it. You know, once again, if you haven't read, 00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:48.840 I can't remember the guy's name, the guy who wrote Dominion, Tom Holland, you should read Tom 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:53.200 Holland's book, or at least a summary of it, about all these things that he thought were just 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:59.399 reasonable, he didn't realize it actually come from Christianity. And so the idea of not having 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:04.759 divisions around food and all, that's a very, very Christian idea, even if Canadians don't realize 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:08.080 that they heard it from somebody, you heard it from somebody, you heard it from somebody, 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:13.300 and, you know, 50 times of hearing back, it's because somebody read the Bible. And then it started to 00:16:13.299 --> 00:16:19.059 make people realize that's, that's like a good idea. On the other hand, we live at a cultural 00:16:19.059 --> 00:16:27.620 moment where divisions are escalating and deepening. And the chattering class in Canada thinks that 00:16:27.620 --> 00:16:32.579 divisions are very good. They don't, they don't, they're not as bald as that, but they fundamentally 00:16:32.579 --> 00:16:37.719 think that they're very good. Separate graduation ceremonies, safe spaces, a variety of things. 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:43.560 And, and we can also get a little bit of a taste for this in an, in another type of phenomenon. Just 00:16:43.560 --> 00:16:49.600 imagine for a second, if you have a, maybe it's your mom who's, you know, now wanting to, you know, 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:53.920 she has to remarry, maybe she's a widow or, you know, divorced and she's remarrying, or maybe it's your, 00:16:54.139 --> 00:16:59.519 your daughter or your granddaughter or your, your best friend or whatever. And, and you hear that 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:04.220 they're dating somebody and then you find out that they're, they voted for Trump. 00:17:04.220 --> 00:17:12.140 And you say, good grief, you can't date that guy. Now, just to switch the political thing, 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:16.140 maybe you're one of those conservatives who doesn't refer to Trudeau as Trudeau, but calls him Trudy. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:21.960 There are a lot of people like that out there in Canada. And you'd say, what, he's a, he works for 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:28.240 Trudy? How could you date that guy? Like, it should have nothing to do with him. And you could just 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:33.599 multiply the whole, the whole, the whole range of things, you know, like their view on trans issues 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:37.240 or even things to do with food, you know, like if you're really committed vegan and you find out 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:42.740 that they like hunting, hunting, how can you date somebody who hunts? That's completely abhorrent. 00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:46.880 Like, don't have anything to do with him. And, and people could, you just know, many people would get 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:53.620 very hot under the collar. So we understand divides. Okay. We understand divides. And the, one of the big 00:17:53.619 --> 00:17:57.539 issues, not one of the, one of the big points of this story, if you could put it up as this, 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:02.459 if you put it up on the screen, the Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost. That's, 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:09.119 Jesus says that in Luke. The Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost and no racial, 00:18:09.459 --> 00:18:18.099 linguistic, cultural, economic, sexual, religious, political, ethnic, caste, or educational divide 00:18:18.099 --> 00:18:24.279 will stop him. That's the point of the, one of the main points of this story. 00:18:26.139 --> 00:18:31.839 Okay. The Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost. And, and the, the early Christians are 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:38.339 just sharing the gospel with Jews or semi-Jews. And, and that's not good enough for Christ. And that's 00:18:38.339 --> 00:18:43.059 one of the reasons why throughout this whole story, you see that God is driving the action. He's driving 00:18:43.059 --> 00:18:49.139 the action through visions, through angels, through word. He's driving the action. He's pushing Peter 00:18:49.139 --> 00:18:56.240 out of his comfort zone across a massive divide. Why? Because no racial, linguistic, cultural, economic, 00:18:56.419 --> 00:19:02.259 sexual, religious, political, ethnic, caste, or educational divide will stop him from seeking 00:19:02.259 --> 00:19:09.000 the lost to save them. That's what this, one of the main ideas that this story is trying to communicate. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:13.839 And that's why it's being driven by visions. Because God needs to push these people, just as he 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:21.940 sometimes really has to push us. So how does Peter respond to all of this? Well, let's look, verse 17. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:31.900 Verse 17. And now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what this vision that he had seen might mean, 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:38.940 behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the 00:19:38.940 --> 00:19:43.920 gate, and called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was lodging there. 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:49.180 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking 00:19:49.180 --> 00:19:54.940 for you. Rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them. So, see, 00:19:55.019 --> 00:20:01.200 once again, God is pushing all this. He's done something to Cornelius, and then he's timed it. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:06.460 God has timed it so that just as these men are on the edge of the house, Peter has these visions. 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:12.620 He's perplexed. He hears the knocking of the door. The Spirit says, you've got to go with these guys. 00:20:12.740 --> 00:20:18.720 So God is driving the action. Verse 21. And Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you are 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:25.160 looking for. What is the reason for your coming? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:31.519 God-fearing man who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:38.200 you to come to his house and hear what you have to say. Now, just imagine, by the way, if somebody 00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:43.339 came to our house and said something like that, we'd laugh, right? But it's all part of God's 00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:51.400 pushing the event along, that Peter doesn't just laugh at it. He's been pushed by God. So Peter, 00:20:51.400 --> 00:21:07.940 verse 23, invited them in to be his guests. Now, the next day he rose and went away with 00:21:07.940 --> 00:21:13.540 them and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. Now, just sort of pause before I go anything 00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:20.039 any further. I'm taking, this is a very long story by New Testament standards, 48 verses, 00:21:20.779 --> 00:21:27.559 but I want to read all of the story because one of my great hopes is not that people remember what 00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:32.619 I say, but remember what the Bible says. I want to have, I want to be used by God to help you 00:21:32.619 --> 00:21:37.899 encounter the word yourself and encounter Jesus yourself. That's why I go through and read this 00:21:37.899 --> 00:21:43.000 story, even though there's going to be repetition. Anyway, continue verse 24. And on the following day, 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:48.779 they entered Caesarea, Cornelius was expecting them and called together his relatives and close 00:21:48.779 --> 00:21:53.740 friends. So one of the things that's really significant just to notice here is that it's 00:21:53.740 --> 00:21:59.720 not that, it's not that Peter is told just to stay in Jerusalem and God was going to, people, 00:21:59.900 --> 00:22:05.180 pagans have to come to him to hear about the Christian faith. This is a very important message. 00:22:05.380 --> 00:22:11.359 It's, it's why we're, we are here today because missionaries understood texts like this and went 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:19.179 great distances to bring the gospel to our ancestors. And Peter is going into the pagan capital where, 00:22:19.179 --> 00:22:25.000 not where he's at home, but where Cornelius is at home and he's being driven there. 00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:32.240 And verse 25, when Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:39.659 worshiped Peter. But Peter lifted him up saying, stand up, I too am a man. You see, that's one of the 00:22:39.660 --> 00:22:47.220 reasons why whatever's going on in Cornelius, he's had a, an interest in Yahweh. But it doesn't mean 00:22:47.220 --> 00:22:54.060 he's renounced his pagan ways of thinking about Yahweh. And so Peter talks to him, verse 27, 00:22:54.160 --> 00:23:01.440 he went in and found many persons gathered. But, and Peter said to them, you yourselves know how 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:06.720 unlawful, and that's a bit of a strong word, but it really goes against the grain of everything that, 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:12.059 that how he'd understood what it means to be a Jewish person and even Christian. For it is for 00:23:12.059 --> 00:23:18.460 a Jew to associate with or visit anyone other than, of another nation. But God has shown me that I 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:25.339 should not call any person, and here we go, common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without 00:23:25.339 --> 00:23:30.360 objection. I asked them why you sent for me. So one of the things that's happened is, you know, Peter's 00:23:30.360 --> 00:23:35.880 walking the 50 kilometers. He's thinking about the message he's heard from Cornelius. He's thinking 00:23:35.880 --> 00:23:40.260 about the vision that he's had, and he's realizing that it wasn't a vision about food, but about 00:23:40.260 --> 00:23:46.340 people. I mean, it is very, like, at a 10th level about food, but it's fundamentally about 00:23:46.340 --> 00:23:53.440 people. And, and, and by the way, I don't want to belittle it. I know I'm going to sound 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:58.820 like a, I don't mean to sound like I'm a Pierre-Paul-Averat, I don't. But the fact is, there's lots about 00:23:58.819 --> 00:24:06.039 Canada and Ottawa that's broken. Like, there's just a lot about our city that's broken. And a lot of 00:24:06.039 --> 00:24:14.839 the brokenness is a result of a very foolish ideologies and ways of thinking. And we need to 00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:20.000 stand against them. For those of you who work in those areas, we need to stand and argue against 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:25.399 them. There's things which are causing lots of problems in our society. You know, just for something 00:24:25.400 --> 00:24:29.840 as simple as in our, the way it now works in prosecution and other things, I, there's a 00:24:29.840 --> 00:24:34.920 prosecutor in the room, so maybe he'll correct me later on. But what I understand is, I could go out 00:24:34.920 --> 00:24:38.740 and I could smoke crack right in front of a cop, and there's nothing the cop can do about it. I could 00:24:38.740 --> 00:24:42.040 shoot up heroin in front of a cop, and there's nothing he can do about it. And there's something 00:24:42.040 --> 00:24:49.720 wrong about that idea. There's something broken. And that, that means sometimes we need to speak out 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:55.380 against it. And some of you are in positions where you can do that. But here's the point about this. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:01.559 Just as there's a point of speaking against how the centurion and some of the soldiers have dealt 00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:06.160 with the Jewish people. Peter could have a long list of very valid complaints about them. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:11.140 But at the same time, where you can disagree with them in their ideas, you need to love them as a person. 00:25:11.140 --> 00:25:19.020 And you can't have that divide stop you from wanting to have them come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. 00:25:20.580 --> 00:25:24.840 That's part of the challenge of this, right? So when I'm talking about great divides, some of those 00:25:24.840 --> 00:25:29.700 things are there that we need to walk in towards those things and try to talk about them. But, 00:25:30.700 --> 00:25:33.180 you know, I am more than who I vote for. 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:40.460 And even if you have a Canadian public that they see their identity connected to who they vote for, 00:25:40.460 --> 00:25:46.100 or their view on trans or other things, that's not their real identity. And they need Jesus. 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:52.000 So anyway, he asked them, why have you sent for me? So verse 30, Cornelius said, four days ago, 00:25:52.140 --> 00:25:57.400 about this hour, I was praying in my house at three o'clock in the afternoon. And behold, 00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:03.160 a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, 00:26:03.700 --> 00:26:08.380 and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, 00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:13.520 who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon a tanner by the sea. So I sent for you at 00:26:13.520 --> 00:26:18.880 once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now, therefore, we are all here in the presence of 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:27.300 God to hear all that you have been commanded by God to say. Now, you know, it's really interesting, 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:31.620 if you try to film this or make a movie of it, it would probably be really interesting. You need to make 00:26:31.619 --> 00:26:36.919 a bit of an editorial decision. Like, is Peter a bit gobsmacked? Is he prepared? Does he go, 00:26:37.059 --> 00:26:41.319 uh, deer in a headlight? Or is he sort of ready to go? I mean, there's some, you know, you could play 00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:44.819 around with that. The Bible doesn't tell you how it is. You can imagine maybe what you would be like 00:26:44.819 --> 00:26:50.959 if you're in that situation. That would be fine. So verse 34, so Peter opened his mouth and said, 00:26:51.019 --> 00:26:56.579 now just as an aside, okay, maybe I'm the only one in the room who loves the old book of common 00:26:56.579 --> 00:27:00.699 prayer and the morning and evening prayer. Maybe there's one or two others of you, but if you read 00:27:00.699 --> 00:27:05.639 those old liturgies, there's these call and response. And one of the call and response is, 00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:12.319 oh Lord, open now my lips. And the response is, and my mouth shall, my mouth shall tell forth your 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:19.779 praise. That open now my mouth, that comes from texts like this. That's what you're asking for in that 00:27:19.779 --> 00:27:24.879 prayer. That, that when we have an opportunity that you would open our mouths, that you would allow us to 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:29.660 say something, even if we feel unconfident and dumb and stupid, that you'd open our mouths. Anyway, 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:35.260 that's a bit of an aside. So Peter opened his mouth, verse 34, and said, truly, I understand that God 00:27:35.260 --> 00:27:42.360 shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to 00:27:42.360 --> 00:27:49.240 him. Now just sort of pause here for a second. I said at the beginning of my sermon that this text is 00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:55.859 a story about how Jesus is the only way. This, these two verses seem to contradict that. And you 00:27:55.859 --> 00:28:01.819 should know that if you go into a lot, into, into different Christian chat rooms, you go reading some 00:28:01.819 --> 00:28:08.000 books in, in lots of denominations and lots of people who, I'm sorry, would say they're Christian 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:12.140 thinkers, they would use this as a proof text to show that in fact, there you go, you can be, 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:17.319 you can be a pagan, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, and all these different ways are all completely 00:28:17.319 --> 00:28:20.779 acceptable to God. They're all going to lead you to God. That's what, but that's not what this verse 00:28:20.779 --> 00:28:25.659 says. It's not what it says just right here, but it's definitely not what it says in context. What 00:28:25.659 --> 00:28:31.259 it's actually saying is this. It's saying that, you know what, if you have some basic type of 00:28:31.259 --> 00:28:35.819 reverence for God and you have a desire to do what is right, you know, you're in a sense, whether you 00:28:35.819 --> 00:28:40.859 realize it or not, you're on the way to God. You might be a million miles away, a billion miles away, 00:28:40.899 --> 00:28:44.099 and you can't reach God, but you're on the way to God. And here's what you need to know. This is what 00:28:44.099 --> 00:28:47.740 the text is saying. God doesn't look and say, oh, there's a whole pile of white people here. I 00:28:47.740 --> 00:28:51.659 like black people better. He's not saying, oh, no, there's a whole pile of, you know, black people 00:28:51.659 --> 00:28:55.759 here. I like Asian people better. He's not saying, oh, look at that person. They're a trans woman. 00:28:55.959 --> 00:28:59.519 I, you know, I don't, I'm going to just disregard them. I don't have anything to do with them. I 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:03.179 want people with this view. Oh, look at those people there who vote liberal. I don't want anything. 00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:07.139 That's, the text is saying God doesn't look at it that way. We look at the world that way, 00:29:07.199 --> 00:29:10.699 but God doesn't look at the world that way. That's what Peter's come to understand, 00:29:10.700 --> 00:29:16.240 that beneath these other divisions, some of which may be, you know, sort of important about, 00:29:16.440 --> 00:29:20.480 around ideas, but beyond these, you know, there's, there are human beings that matter to God, 00:29:20.519 --> 00:29:25.759 and people matter to God. And since people matter to God, they should matter to us. And that's what 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.059 the insight that Peter's come, that's what verse 34 and 35 is saying. It becomes more obvious when 00:29:30.059 --> 00:29:34.200 you look at verse 36 and following. And one of the other reasons, just to get to the end, the reason 00:29:34.200 --> 00:29:38.340 we know that this idea of saying that the text, these two verses are saying that you don't need to come 00:29:38.339 --> 00:29:42.939 to Jesus is by the whole point of the text is that Cornelius comes to Jesus and is baptized. 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:52.500 It's, it's, it's a proof text. Verse 36, as for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news 00:29:52.500 --> 00:29:59.299 of peace through Jesus Christ. This is a, an important phrase I'm going to come back to. He is Lord of all. 00:29:59.299 --> 00:30:10.180 He is Lord of all. And I'm going to read the next few verses fairly quick. If you're ever one, a very 00:30:10.180 --> 00:30:15.500 brief summary of how you could describe what the Christian, like the whole, what, who Jesus is and 00:30:15.500 --> 00:30:21.379 his life and his death and why he matters, you could read verses 36 to 43 and you have a brilliant 00:30:21.379 --> 00:30:25.119 summary of it just here in the Bible. You don't have to think of it yourself. You could just use verses 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:32.179 36 to 43. Verse 37, you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from 00:30:32.179 --> 00:30:37.759 Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, that's John the Baptist, how God anointed Jesus 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:43.559 of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were 00:30:43.559 --> 00:30:48.979 oppressed by the devil for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did, both in the country 00:30:48.979 --> 00:30:54.939 of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. That's a cursed 00:30:54.940 --> 00:31:01.140 death, a crucified death. But God raised him on the third day and made him to appear not to all the 00:31:01.140 --> 00:31:07.519 people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose 00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:14.440 from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify, and this is a very 00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:22.480 un-Canadian phrase, that he is the one appointed by God to judge, to be the judge of the living and the dead. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:28.200 That's the bad news. Well, it's actually good news. I'll get to that in a moment. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:34.220 To him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins 00:31:34.220 --> 00:31:35.680 through his name. 00:31:37.779 --> 00:31:38.019 So, 00:31:38.579 --> 00:31:45.099 what's going on here in this particular text? Well, 00:31:45.099 --> 00:31:51.059 Jesus is the only way to God. 00:31:52.819 --> 00:31:54.299 And that doesn't sound 00:31:54.299 --> 00:31:56.579 very reasonable to people, 00:31:57.019 --> 00:31:58.899 but I think it's an exceptionally reasonable 00:31:58.899 --> 00:32:01.199 idea. Here's a couple of things 00:32:01.199 --> 00:32:01.819 to consider. 00:32:02.779 --> 00:32:05.059 If you could put up the first screen, the next point, 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:06.039 that would be very helpful. 00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:08.719 If you think about it, when you look around 00:32:08.719 --> 00:32:11.059 and you see people around you, what you don't 00:32:11.059 --> 00:32:15.700 see is that people are somehow getting themselves so perfect and so together that they 00:32:15.700 --> 00:32:17.099 can 00:32:17.099 --> 00:32:19.980 make it with God. 00:32:22.159 --> 00:32:23.480 Actually, sorry, I got out of my notes. 00:32:24.819 --> 00:32:25.799 We'll take a step back. 00:32:27.679 --> 00:32:29.079 Jesus is the only way to God. 00:32:29.899 --> 00:32:31.139 That's a very un-Canadian 00:32:31.139 --> 00:32:33.179 thing. And if I was to say to you 00:32:33.179 --> 00:32:34.619 that it's a very reasonable thing, 00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:37.099 people would throw up their hands 00:32:37.099 --> 00:32:39.319 and say, George, it's the opposite of being 00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:41.359 reasonable. It's just the opposite of being 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:43.179 reasonable. It's completely 00:32:43.179 --> 00:32:44.240 and utterly impossible. 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:47.039 And our response to that should be this. 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:49.199 It is 00:32:49.199 --> 00:32:51.119 not plausible to Canadians, 00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:53.119 but it's a very reasonable 00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:54.199 idea. 00:32:55.119 --> 00:32:56.279 Now, what do I mean by that? 00:32:56.839 --> 00:32:59.359 The reason it's not plausible to Canadians 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:01.259 is because at the end of the 00:33:01.259 --> 00:33:03.039 day, most Canadians don't think 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:05.079 that things like this, spiritual things 00:33:05.079 --> 00:33:06.879 or religious things, are actually real. 00:33:08.019 --> 00:33:09.359 They're not actually real. 00:33:10.299 --> 00:33:11.419 They're not real like 00:33:11.419 --> 00:33:13.219 the way that it's real that there's kids 00:33:13.219 --> 00:33:14.740 making some noise in the background. 00:33:14.859 --> 00:33:16.879 It's not real like the fact that this water 00:33:16.879 --> 00:33:18.959 bottle is real. It's not real like the fact that 00:33:18.959 --> 00:33:20.219 we're in a building and we're in Ottawa. 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:23.159 It's just, it's something different. 00:33:23.299 --> 00:33:24.980 And that's why, you see, for most Canadians, 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:26.799 they'd have no problem sitting through. 00:33:27.879 --> 00:33:29.199 You know, all in one 00:33:29.199 --> 00:33:30.719 day they could go to a native 00:33:30.719 --> 00:33:32.799 religious ceremony and 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:35.059 do some type of religious ceremony 00:33:35.059 --> 00:33:37.159 that involves creation myths and all of that 00:33:37.159 --> 00:33:38.679 type of stuff and they could say afterwards, 00:33:38.839 --> 00:33:40.579 that was really wonderful, I had a wonderful time. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:42.879 And then they could go to a Hindu ceremony 00:33:42.879 --> 00:33:45.039 and once again there could be maybe 00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:47.099 creation myths and all this other stuff and they could 00:33:47.099 --> 00:33:49.139 say at the end, that was really wonderful, I had a wonderful 00:33:49.139 --> 00:33:51.220 time. And then they could go to a Muslim 00:33:51.220 --> 00:33:53.440 ceremony and have a Muslim ceremony 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:55.220 and then after it was all over they could say to the 00:33:55.220 --> 00:33:57.259 Monk, that was a very wonderful thing, I had a wonderful 00:33:57.259 --> 00:33:59.380 time. Well, the reason 00:33:59.380 --> 00:34:01.259 they can say all of these types of things is because 00:34:01.259 --> 00:34:03.120 at the end of the day they don't think any of that stuff is 00:34:03.120 --> 00:34:05.360 true. What the average 00:34:05.360 --> 00:34:07.259 Canadian thinks is something like this, 00:34:07.339 --> 00:34:08.820 you know, listen, life is really hard 00:34:08.820 --> 00:34:11.159 and whatever helps you get through a 00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:13.220 hard life and gives you 00:34:13.220 --> 00:34:15.199 some peace and 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:17.320 helps you sleep at night, then good on 00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:19.320 you. As long as it doesn't hurt other people, 00:34:19.900 --> 00:34:21.320 good on you. And you know 00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:23.320 for some of you it's going to a native 00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:25.280 ceremony and going through these types of 00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:26.820 things. And you know, for some of you 00:34:26.820 --> 00:34:29.340 it's joining the running 00:34:29.340 --> 00:34:31.059 room and going for 00:34:31.059 --> 00:34:33.180 jogs with other people. And for others 00:34:33.180 --> 00:34:35.280 of you it's having a really good scotch at 00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:37.400 night with a nice cigar. And for others 00:34:37.400 --> 00:34:39.140 of you it's, I don't know, reading the Bible 00:34:39.140 --> 00:34:41.160 and going to a prayer group. And you know, as long, you know, 00:34:41.200 --> 00:34:43.080 whatever rocks your boat, whatever 00:34:43.080 --> 00:34:45.039 gives you peace, that's fine. 00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:47.220 And so from that point of view to 00:34:47.220 --> 00:34:49.220 say that Jesus is the only way is just 00:34:49.220 --> 00:34:51.220 completely and utterly preposterous. It would 00:34:51.220 --> 00:34:53.120 be like me saying that 00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:55.000 French vanilla ice cream is the only 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:56.960 ice cream that anybody's allowed to eat. 00:34:57.759 --> 00:34:58.980 That's completely and utterly 00:34:58.980 --> 00:35:01.099 that would be just, I mean 00:35:01.099 --> 00:35:02.639 people would think I was demented 00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:05.159 if I said that, right? You're only allowed 00:35:05.159 --> 00:35:06.980 to eat French vanilla ice cream. 00:35:07.739 --> 00:35:08.960 Because it's just ice cream, dude. 00:35:09.219 --> 00:35:10.980 Like, right? And so that's why 00:35:10.980 --> 00:35:13.099 people look, when Christians make a claim 00:35:13.099 --> 00:35:15.139 that Jesus is the only way, what they're hearing 00:35:15.139 --> 00:35:17.139 is something like French vanilla 00:35:17.139 --> 00:35:19.139 is the only ice cream you should eat. Because 00:35:19.139 --> 00:35:20.920 they don't ultimately think that Christianity 00:35:20.920 --> 00:35:22.599 is talking about anything real. 00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:24.920 Here's the reason why 00:35:24.920 --> 00:35:26.820 week in and week out, to differing 00:35:26.820 --> 00:35:28.840 degrees, I'm trying to communicate to you that 00:35:28.840 --> 00:35:30.880 the Christian claim 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:32.599 is that there are real things. 00:35:33.300 --> 00:35:34.700 There are real things 00:35:34.700 --> 00:35:36.700 in the spiritual world. And that 00:35:36.700 --> 00:35:38.800 like 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:40.639 these things really happened. 00:35:41.740 --> 00:35:42.780 And Jesus really 00:35:42.780 --> 00:35:44.820 did die on a cross. He really 00:35:44.820 --> 00:35:46.840 did die. 00:35:46.840 --> 00:35:49.019 The tomb 00:35:49.019 --> 00:35:50.760 really was empty. He really 00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:52.940 did show up alive. There really 00:35:52.940 --> 00:35:55.019 is a God, and that God is the triune 00:35:55.019 --> 00:35:56.440 God described by Jesus 00:35:56.440 --> 00:35:58.820 and the Bible. And that when 00:35:58.820 --> 00:36:00.820 I pray, there really is a God 00:36:00.820 --> 00:36:02.800 who can hear my prayers. And 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:04.860 there really are angels. And there 00:36:04.860 --> 00:36:06.820 really are certain things that are 00:36:06.820 --> 00:36:08.820 right and wrong. And that these things aren't just a 00:36:08.820 --> 00:36:10.760 matter of taste. And they're 00:36:10.760 --> 00:36:12.820 not a matter of giving me comfort. In fact, some of them 00:36:12.820 --> 00:36:13.660 make me profoundly 00:36:13.659 --> 00:36:16.500 uncomfortable because it means I have to 00:36:16.500 --> 00:36:18.000 disagree with my culture. 00:36:18.460 --> 00:36:20.259 It means that if I went into a coffee 00:36:20.259 --> 00:36:22.159 shop, and it wouldn't matter which one it was, if 00:36:22.159 --> 00:36:24.119 everybody heard that I believe these things, they'd 00:36:24.119 --> 00:36:25.819 think it would be like I was demented. 00:36:26.339 --> 00:36:28.079 And so it doesn't even necessarily always give me 00:36:28.079 --> 00:36:30.000 peace in the short run, but they're true. 00:36:31.719 --> 00:36:32.119 It's 00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:34.039 real. We're talking about real 00:36:34.039 --> 00:36:36.000 things. And when you 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:37.639 talk about real things, 00:36:38.219 --> 00:36:40.079 then it's reasonable when it comes to 00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:42.039 real things that sometimes there's only one 00:36:42.039 --> 00:36:45.679 way. You know, a very, very good 00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:47.559 example is if somebody came up and 00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:49.739 they'd found a cure for 00:36:49.739 --> 00:36:51.619 Alzheimer's. And they 00:36:51.619 --> 00:36:53.779 said, listen, we found there's a pill 00:36:53.779 --> 00:36:55.699 and there's an injection. And you 00:36:55.699 --> 00:36:57.599 take this DNA screening 00:36:57.599 --> 00:36:59.800 and it will show you whether you're prone 00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:01.699 to it. And if you go through this process, you won't 00:37:01.699 --> 00:37:03.639 get Alzheimer's. Or if you get the early 00:37:03.639 --> 00:37:05.840 stages of it, you take these 00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:07.619 pills. It'll stop 00:37:07.619 --> 00:37:09.659 the Alzheimer's from developing and it'll even go 00:37:09.659 --> 00:37:11.859 backwards and you regain your function. And 00:37:11.859 --> 00:37:13.859 if somebody said, and it's been proven, 00:37:13.980 --> 00:37:15.699 there's been, you know, the perfect evidential 00:37:15.699 --> 00:37:17.699 studies and it's, you know, been tested and we're 00:37:17.699 --> 00:37:19.679 100% sure it's going to work and, you know, there's a 00:37:19.679 --> 00:37:20.980 small number of, you know, 00:37:21.339 --> 00:37:23.699 side effects from it, but 00:37:23.699 --> 00:37:25.579 it's going to work. And if somebody said, listen, I'm not 00:37:25.579 --> 00:37:27.679 going to take that, the guy who developed that 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:28.539 voted for Trump. 00:37:29.960 --> 00:37:31.139 You'd go, you're nuts. 00:37:31.940 --> 00:37:33.619 Or that guy that developed that 00:37:33.619 --> 00:37:35.639 voted for Trudeau. 00:37:35.719 --> 00:37:37.619 Or the person who did that didn't have 00:37:37.619 --> 00:37:39.619 any gays on his team. Or they were 00:37:39.619 --> 00:37:41.699 all gays. Like, no, it 00:37:41.699 --> 00:37:43.579 doesn't matter anything like that. Like, this is going to 00:37:43.579 --> 00:37:45.460 actually stop you from having Alzheimer's. 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:47.619 Like, you could go and take it and stop 00:37:47.619 --> 00:37:49.719 the Alzheimer's developing. Or, you know, 00:37:49.759 --> 00:37:51.599 cerebral, you know, any type of 00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:53.779 real disease. And you'd be 00:37:53.779 --> 00:37:55.719 nuts to say, well, because 00:37:55.719 --> 00:37:57.599 it's the only way I'm not going to take it. Well, that's 00:37:57.599 --> 00:37:59.719 ridiculous. You're going to say 00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:01.679 that there's this thing that stops you from Alzheimer's 00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:03.980 and unless there's 10 different pills, you're 00:38:03.980 --> 00:38:05.480 not going to have any pill until you have it. 00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:07.480 But that's just ridiculous. Why? Because we're talking 00:38:07.480 --> 00:38:08.320 about something real. 00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:11.480 And that's 00:38:11.480 --> 00:38:13.559 what Christians are trying to communicate with this. 00:38:14.539 --> 00:38:15.500 If you could put up the third 00:38:15.500 --> 00:38:17.320 point. Sorry, I was just going to skip the second point 00:38:17.320 --> 00:38:19.400 because I missed something in my talk. It wasn't going to 00:38:19.400 --> 00:38:20.860 make any sense anymore. The third point. 00:38:21.260 --> 00:38:23.420 The Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to 00:38:23.420 --> 00:38:25.420 the triune God and this is perfectly 00:38:25.420 --> 00:38:26.000 reasonable. 00:38:28.179 --> 00:38:29.500 It's perfectly reasonable 00:38:29.500 --> 00:38:31.280 if there really are real things. 00:38:31.960 --> 00:38:33.780 If there really is a real God 00:38:33.780 --> 00:38:35.560 like who's 00:38:35.560 --> 00:38:37.460 in fact, actually the Christian doctrine is 00:38:37.460 --> 00:38:39.080 that God is more real than us 00:38:39.080 --> 00:38:41.640 because he's without beginning and end. 00:38:41.740 --> 00:38:42.720 He doesn't have an environment. 00:38:43.060 --> 00:38:43.280 He's 00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:45.480 he's more real than us. 00:38:47.620 --> 00:38:49.580 And here's the other thing which makes this 00:38:49.580 --> 00:38:51.060 whole doctrine so beautiful 00:38:51.060 --> 00:38:53.600 which is why you should be enchanted with it 00:38:53.600 --> 00:38:55.780 because 00:38:55.780 --> 00:38:57.900 it's deeply coherent and beautiful. 00:38:57.900 --> 00:38:59.720 If you could put up the final point, that would 00:38:59.720 --> 00:39:01.680 be very helpful because here's 00:39:01.679 --> 00:39:03.679 what the good news is. If you go back and you look 00:39:03.679 --> 00:39:05.659 at those verses 36 to 43 00:39:05.659 --> 00:39:07.779 and you just check out, I'm just using 00:39:07.779 --> 00:39:09.719 these verses. The good 00:39:09.719 --> 00:39:11.559 news of the person and the finished 00:39:11.559 --> 00:39:13.619 work of Jesus is deeply 00:39:13.619 --> 00:39:15.339 coherent and beautiful. 00:39:16.199 --> 00:39:17.159 Why is it beautiful? 00:39:17.659 --> 00:39:19.559 It's beautiful because the one who 00:39:19.559 --> 00:39:21.519 is Lord of all is 00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:23.699 the same one who will judge all 00:39:23.699 --> 00:39:25.719 is the same one 00:39:25.719 --> 00:39:27.619 who sees the desperate need of 00:39:27.619 --> 00:39:29.699 all is the same one 00:39:29.699 --> 00:39:31.399 who bore the curse of all 00:39:31.399 --> 00:39:33.739 and forgives all who trust 00:39:33.739 --> 00:39:34.339 into him. 00:39:35.419 --> 00:39:37.779 There's a deep coherence to this. 00:39:38.480 --> 00:39:39.659 See, one of the reasons we have a 00:39:39.659 --> 00:39:41.739 meaning crisis in our culture is because 00:39:41.739 --> 00:39:43.139 when you find your 00:39:43.139 --> 00:39:44.079 when you 00:39:44.079 --> 00:39:45.619 when you your fundamental way of 00:39:45.619 --> 00:39:46.879 understanding the world is deeply 00:39:46.879 --> 00:39:48.059 incoherent, you 00:39:48.059 --> 00:39:49.859 whether you're conscious of it 00:39:49.859 --> 00:39:51.279 or not at an existential 00:39:51.279 --> 00:39:53.460 level, you're conscious that these 00:39:53.460 --> 00:39:55.119 things don't make any sense that 00:39:55.119 --> 00:39:57.439 you know, you can't sort of try to get 00:39:57.440 --> 00:39:59.200 some peace out of crystals and then 00:39:59.200 --> 00:40:01.119 like a Ouija board and then you take 00:40:01.119 --> 00:40:02.559 your science classes that say that 00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:03.840 those things don't even happen and 00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:05.320 then you have a different way of 00:40:05.320 --> 00:40:06.659 understanding morality and then you 00:40:06.659 --> 00:40:07.679 have a different way of trying to 00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:08.760 find meaning in your life and then 00:40:08.760 --> 00:40:09.760 a different way of understanding 00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:11.519 death and and origins and these 00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:12.820 things are all completely different 00:40:12.820 --> 00:40:14.340 all completely contradictory and 00:40:14.340 --> 00:40:16.679 completely and utterly incoherent and 00:40:16.679 --> 00:40:18.159 if any of them was made coherent 00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:20.039 it would become unbelievably ugly and 00:40:20.039 --> 00:40:20.480 frightening. 00:40:20.980 --> 00:40:22.920 But when you press into this profound 00:40:22.920 --> 00:40:24.500 message of the gospel, what you see 00:40:24.500 --> 00:40:25.980 is something which is deeply 00:40:25.980 --> 00:40:29.000 coherent and so that as it becomes 00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:30.599 more real to your heart you become 00:40:30.599 --> 00:40:31.940 more firmly established. 00:40:32.179 --> 00:40:33.440 Life begins to have meaning. 00:40:33.559 --> 00:40:35.059 You have a way of understanding and 00:40:35.059 --> 00:40:36.440 navigating life that has meaning 00:40:36.440 --> 00:40:38.199 and it's so deeply beautiful. 00:40:38.699 --> 00:40:40.340 You don't have to worry that the one 00:40:40.340 --> 00:40:43.119 who saves you is not powerful enough 00:40:43.119 --> 00:40:44.820 to deal with other creation issues or 00:40:44.820 --> 00:40:47.179 with death or anything like that. 00:40:47.260 --> 00:40:49.420 No, this message is Jesus is 00:40:49.420 --> 00:40:50.699 proclaimed as Lord of all. 00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:52.820 He's proclaimed as the one who will 00:40:52.820 --> 00:40:54.180 judge the living and the dead. 00:40:54.539 --> 00:40:56.340 He is judged as he is portrayed as 00:40:56.340 --> 00:40:57.880 the one who sees the desperate need 00:40:57.880 --> 00:41:00.700 of all and out of love he bears the 00:41:00.700 --> 00:41:03.160 curse of all and forgives all who 00:41:03.160 --> 00:41:04.240 trust into him. 00:41:04.539 --> 00:41:06.600 There's this deep coherence and beauty 00:41:06.600 --> 00:41:08.080 of who Jesus is. 00:41:11.019 --> 00:41:12.300 And it's true. 00:41:12.300 --> 00:41:19.740 I've just been watching two things in 00:41:19.740 --> 00:41:20.039 closing. 00:41:20.280 --> 00:41:21.840 I've been just watching something about 00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:23.940 the three great waves of persecution in 00:41:23.940 --> 00:41:27.180 the 200s done by different emperors 00:41:27.180 --> 00:41:29.920 that were empire-wide persecutions of 00:41:29.920 --> 00:41:30.280 Christians. 00:41:30.519 --> 00:41:31.660 And what I'm telling you is the 00:41:31.660 --> 00:41:33.640 historic understanding of the Christian 00:41:33.640 --> 00:41:34.019 faith. 00:41:34.820 --> 00:41:37.400 Why did literally tens of thousands of 00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:40.760 Christians die and they could have 00:41:40.760 --> 00:41:42.780 saved their life if they just sacrificed 00:41:42.780 --> 00:41:43.340 to an idol? 00:41:43.420 --> 00:41:45.040 It's because the idol is either a 00:41:45.040 --> 00:41:45.940 demon or not real. 00:41:46.120 --> 00:41:47.160 And Jesus is real. 00:41:49.080 --> 00:41:50.320 And they would die for that. 00:41:53.180 --> 00:41:55.300 If you just stand as I bring this to a 00:41:55.300 --> 00:41:56.280 final close. 00:41:59.640 --> 00:42:03.140 You know, a sermon like this, it'll 00:42:03.140 --> 00:42:04.980 make impact on you in terms of how we 00:42:04.980 --> 00:42:05.640 shall then live. 00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:08.799 But what my hope and prayer is, is this 00:42:08.799 --> 00:42:10.859 story becomes more real to you and as the 00:42:10.859 --> 00:42:13.599 gospel becomes more real to you, you 00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:15.960 understand why it's so important to give 00:42:15.960 --> 00:42:17.319 and to pray for missionaries. 00:42:17.619 --> 00:42:19.839 You understand why it's so important that 00:42:19.839 --> 00:42:21.779 even if we can't reach into different 00:42:21.779 --> 00:42:24.480 people groups in the city, maybe we have 00:42:24.480 --> 00:42:25.920 no way of trying to figure out how we 00:42:25.920 --> 00:42:27.579 could share the gospel with people who 00:42:27.579 --> 00:42:29.980 vote for Trudeau or trans activists or, 00:42:30.539 --> 00:42:32.339 you know, Jordan Peterson conservatives or 00:42:32.339 --> 00:42:33.859 whatever the group is, that we should be 00:42:33.860 --> 00:42:34.940 praying into that. 00:42:35.720 --> 00:42:39.700 And we should be praying into how we 00:42:39.700 --> 00:42:42.200 cannot wait for them to come to us, but 00:42:42.200 --> 00:42:44.440 how we can actually go to where they're 00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:47.160 comfortable in such a way that at some 00:42:47.160 --> 00:42:48.880 point in time we can bear witness to 00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:49.720 Jesus to them. 00:42:51.420 --> 00:42:53.960 Like that's the loving heart of Christ 00:42:53.960 --> 00:42:54.539 for us. 00:42:55.140 --> 00:42:56.120 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:42:57.559 --> 00:43:01.380 Father, we thank you for this story. 00:43:01.380 --> 00:43:03.960 We thank you, Father, that even as Peter 00:43:03.960 --> 00:43:06.280 was proclaiming these deep truths, that 00:43:06.280 --> 00:43:08.980 as he was proclaiming them, people came 00:43:08.980 --> 00:43:11.220 to believe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit 00:43:11.220 --> 00:43:13.420 fell on them and they were baptized and 00:43:13.420 --> 00:43:16.380 you launched this whole new movement into 00:43:16.920 --> 00:43:19.340 that world beyond Judaism, which in those 00:43:19.340 --> 00:43:20.860 days was called the pagan world. 00:43:21.099 --> 00:43:22.960 And Father, we thank you for this powerful 00:43:22.960 --> 00:43:23.380 story. 00:43:23.500 --> 00:43:26.079 We thank and praise you that you seek, you 00:43:26.079 --> 00:43:28.460 came to seek and save the lost and no 00:43:28.460 --> 00:43:31.880 division will stop you from finding people 00:43:31.880 --> 00:43:34.460 in every people group whom you have called 00:43:34.460 --> 00:43:36.440 to be your children by adoption and grace. 00:43:36.820 --> 00:43:39.240 We marvel, Father, that you have chosen us 00:43:39.240 --> 00:43:41.199 and worthy as we are. 00:43:41.780 --> 00:43:43.740 Father, we ask that this truth would not 00:43:43.740 --> 00:43:46.519 make us feel proud, but humble us, that 00:43:46.519 --> 00:43:48.300 you would do everything that needed to be 00:43:48.300 --> 00:43:50.240 done, that we might be made right with you. 00:43:50.340 --> 00:43:52.199 And we ask, Father, that you would give us a 00:43:52.199 --> 00:43:54.420 heart of love for those who are on other 00:43:54.420 --> 00:43:57.599 sides of divides in our world, that we would 00:43:57.599 --> 00:43:59.739 pray for them, Father, that you would give us 00:43:59.739 --> 00:44:03.119 a heart to pray that they, like us, will 00:44:03.119 --> 00:44:05.239 have a faith, a saving faith in the Lord 00:44:05.239 --> 00:44:06.000 Jesus Christ. 00:44:06.159 --> 00:44:07.819 And we ask all these things in the name of 00:44:07.819 --> 00:44:10.199 Jesus, your Son and our Savior. 00:44:11.199 --> 00:44:11.599 Amen. 00:44:27.940 --> 00:44:40.059 Amen. 00:44:41.159 --> 00:44:41.219 Amen. 00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:45.319 Amen. 00:44:45.319 --> 00:44:46.179 Amen. 00:44:46.199 --> 00:44:47.179 Amen. 00:44:47.299 --> 00:44:50.239 Amen. 00:44:50.960 --> 00:44:51.339 Amen. 00:44:51.400 --> 00:44:53.440 Amen. 00:44:53.480 --> 00:44:53.839 Amen. 00:44:53.839 --> 00:44:54.699 Amen. 00:44:54.699 --> 00:44:55.279 Amen. 00:44:55.279 --> 00:44:57.400 Amen.