The Salvation of the Gentiles, Part 2
Acts 10:21-33
Turn in your Bibles to the 10th chapter of Acts, and we are going to continue our study in Book of Acts this morning with a very, very important juncture in the history of God's redemptive unfolding. We come to the time when the Gospel is taken to the Gentiles. Peter unlocks the door to the Gentiles. Acts 10, and we'll begin our study in about verse 20.
A modern missionary, of whom I read earlier this week, was officiating at a communion service in Africa; and beside him there sat an elder who was very old. In fact, he was an old chief of the Nagoni tribe by the name of Manly Heart; and there were many Nagoni in the congregation at this communion service. The old chief said that he could remember the days when the young warriors of the Nagoni had gone out to bloody their spears at the expense of other tribes; and they had left a trail of burned and devastated towns and bloodied bodies, and they came back leaving all the blood on their spears as kind of trophies of their killing; and they always dragged all the women back as booty. The missionary recounted the fact that the two tribes, which the Nagoni were forever and ever fighting against and slaughtering were the Sanga and the Tambuku; and now here was a communion service, and gathered about the table of the Lord Jesus was the Nagoni tribe, the Sanga, and the Tambuku. Once busily shedding each others' blood, now one because of the blood of Jesus Christ, they gathered not to fight, but they gathered to share their love.
Somehow, in the great grace of God, all the barriers had been broken down. All of the things which built hatred and animosity, all of the walls that had been built between these people which could only be scaled in hatred, were crushed by love. Carnal pride in the early church had warped the...the outreach in a very real sense, of the Jew toward the Gentile. And prior to that, the Jewish standards of interaction for the Gentile was pure zero. You never had anything to do with Gentiles, and that is indicated, as we shall see, by the words of Peter in verse 28.
So not only in the early church was there a problem in reaching out to the Gentile, but in Judaism itself there was an isolation from Gentiles. The Jews were especially proud of the law. They were proud of their law-keeping. In fact, they stood on that ground. In Romans, Paul says that, "They think they're saved because of their nationality because they possess the law." And that's what they stood on. They considered Gentiles to be pagans. They had nothing but contempt for them, and the...the years had only widened the gulf, and so even in the birth of the church it was very difficult for the early Christians to reach out to the Gentiles. It demanded special preparation from God. The exclusiveness, which had been designed by God for Israel for the purpose of holiness and witness, had become a point of pride, and it had been perverted. And you add to that, not only did the Jews hate the Gentiles, but, believe me, it came back the other way. The Gentiles equally hated the Jews.
Some Jews had said the Gentiles were created by God to be the fuel for the fires of hell. This is a very narrow view. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl, a funeral was held. The Gentiles, in return, looked on Jews as slave material, persecuted, oppressed, and killed them. In fact, the Gentiles commonly called Jews enemies of the human race. You can get a little bit of imagination of this kind of contempt about the Gentile to the Jew when you hear Pilate saying, almost with dripping sarcasm, "I surely am not a Jew, am I?" The disdain in his voice, and you can hear the same sting of...of Gentile hate in the voices of the owners of the slave girl, you know, who was used to make them money by sorceries. And when Paul and Silas came along and cast out the demon in Philippi, you can remember the words of those leaders. They said, "These men, being Jews, do just exceedingly trouble our city." There was a...a great hatred among the Gentiles for the Jews, a deep disdain, as if they didn't belong even in the framework of humanity.
Well, this thing had existed long enough to propose a real head-butting situation in the church, a deep disunity existed, and the Spirit of God had to move in and shatter that kind of attitude before he could weld together the church into one body...The...the statement theologically is in Ephesians 2:11. Let me remind you of it. Here, the Apostle Paul gives the theory of unity in the church. "Wherefore, remember that you, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who were called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands." Which is a long way of saying, "The Jews keep reminding you you're Gentiles." "That at time...that at that time you were without Christ." This is a state of a Gentile. "Without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, without God in the world."
That's a pretty disastrous situation. "But now in Christ, you who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ." Here it comes. "For He is our peace. Christ is our peace. Who hath made both one...both what? Jew and Gentile...and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." And in verse 15, "He has made one new man, one habitation of the Spirit, one family, one building, one body." All the way through Ephesians.
Now, this idea of having broken down the middle wall of partition was absolutely vivid to the Jew, and the reason it was so vivid was because it was a visual picture of the temple. The temple was composed of a series of courts, and they started at the outside, and they just kept getting smaller and smaller. It was like going through a maze. You just came to one little box and then another one, then another one. And the temple consisted of this series of courts and, by definition, only certain people could go into certain courts, and the closer you were to God, theoretically by nationality and by your calling to the priesthood, the further in you could get.
There was, for example, the court of the Gentiles, which was the extremity. Gentiles could come in the outer court. Then there was the court of the women. Women could only come into the next level. Then the court of the Israelites, as the men entered into that. Then the court of the priests. Then the holy place, then the Holy of Holies. So the sequence just kept everyone out. Well, the Gentiles were clear on the outside...and the fantastic statement of what...that Paul is saying is simply this: the wall that always separated in the temple the Gentile from the Jew, Jesus Christ has smashed. In fact, if you wanna know the truth, when Jesus Christ died, He just took a bulldozer and bulldozed the whole temple and left the Holy of Holies standing free and clear. And every man can enter directly in the Holy of Holies. That's what the writer of Hebrews says. "Let us come boldly into His presence." The veil is ripped. It's rent in twain.
So the wall came crashing down, and Jew and Gentile were free to mingle in the grace of God. Now, Paul knew about that wall, believe me. You remember that Paul was arrested in Acts 21 in Jerusalem. I don't know if you remember this, though. The arrest that led to Paul's final imprisonment was based on the accusation that he brought Trophimus, who was an Ephesian Gentile, beyond the wall of the court of the Gentiles. That's why they captured Paul, because he brought a Gentile further than a Gentile was allowed to go.
So when the Apostle Paul wrote that thing about, "He broke down the middle wall of partition between us," any understanding Jew, or that matter any Gentile who had been to Jerusalem, would completely understand what he was saying. And that's what the design of the body was to do - tear down all the barriers and bring about unity.
Now, the theory of that is in Ephesians. The actual history of it in here in Acts 10. So we have theology in Ephesians. We have history here, and they always accommodate one another; because, here, in Acts 10, we find the first Gentile who's not afraid or who is called of God to enter into the fullness of all the promise of God. No more walls holding him out.
In Acts 10, God directs the momentous, historical event when the church extends itself from the Jews and the half-breed Samaritans to encompass Gentiles. This is the final phase in the expansion of the church. Now, lemme say this. Along with the history here, and we could do some tremendously deep study in... into just that, but along with the history, there's an undercurrent; and it's not really an undercurrent, because that sends...sounds like a minimizing of it; but...but you don't wanna do that, because it is this. We look at this historically, and we say, "Oh, great monumental day when the Gentiles got added." But you know what else it is? This is also the day Cornelius got saved, just plain, old everyday guy Cornelius, and you don't wanna minimize Cornelius, and say, "Cornelius is only important because he was a Gentile, and he was the first convert."
No, no, Cornelius is important because Christ chose him before the foundation of the world, and his salvation itself is important, even if he wasn't the first guy, right? So we don't just wanna study history. We wanna see what God was doing in Cornelius' life. So as we look at the history, we're also gonna see the sequence of salvation as illustrated in the life of Cornelius, and I think what we have here is...is a very general pattern for how salvation happens in the life of anybody. So we not only see history, but so many times we know Scripture's like a diamond. It has different facets, and every time you turn the light on, you see a new one.
As we look through here, we're not only going to see the flow of the history, but we're gonna see what happened in the life of Cornelius. While we're looking at a time sequence, we're looking at timeless principles as to how God saves men. So keep that in mind. And the chapter has not only history for us which has passed, it has timeless principles which are active and alive today.
Now, the first point in the sequence of salvation is sovereign call. Sovereign call. Now, this we found in verses 1 through 20, and that's where we've been before, so we'll not go all over those verses; but the first 20 verses illustrate to us sovereign call. What that means is God sovereignly is active in salvation. It all is initiated by God. It isn't men running around saying, "Oh, I've found that there's a God somewhere. I think I believe." All on their own will, no, God is sovereign in salvation; and we saw in the first 20 verses that God chose Cornelius. God just picked him out of all available Gentiles, God chose to do this in Cornelius' life. God not only chose Cornelius, the receiver, God chose Peter, the messenger; and we learned something else about sovereignty and salvation. God not only chooses who will be saved, but He chooses how. He chooses vehicles to use.
Now this is not apart from man's will, but it is in conjunction with man's will. Nevertheless, God chose Cornelius, the receiver. God chose Peter, the messenger; and this is how salvation always begins. Cornelius' heart was turned toward God. God moved on his heart. He looked toward God. He began to search for God, because God had already searched for him and turned his heart. And then God moved into Cornelius' life, and God responded by giving him a vision and telling him where he could get the information he needed. He lived up to the light he had. God gave him more light, and God even gave him the opportunity to exercise his faith by being obedient and sending men to find Peter, which he had to do. God never just does things apart from man's active faith in response. So Cornelius had to do something. He had to respond to God.
Cornelius, then, was prepared by God. Then God, as we saw, began the preparation of Peter. Now how you gonna get a stubborn, died-in-the-wool, traditionalistic, nationalistic Jew to open up his heart and his arms to a Gentile? That's a tough one. Well, God had to do a lotta work on old, crusty Peter to get him to the place where he'd ever pull off this thing, and He did. He sovereignly chose Peter, first of all, because he was available. Remember how we saw earlier in chapter 9 the principle of I being in the way the Lord led me? Peter was available. He was active. God just used him; but God had to prepare him; so He gave him a vision. The vision broke down all of his prejudice and prepared the way for the meeting with the Gentile. But you'll notice Peter had to have active faith, too. The messengers game and got Peter and took him back, as we shall see today.
So sovereign choice was there to begin with in the receiver and the messenger, and then we talked about how sovereign timing brought the two together...two together at absolutely the crucial moment. Peter hadn't even finished with his vision. The Holy Spirit said, "Wake up, Peter, get on downstairs. The folks are there waiting for you." Perfect timing. No way it could happen by chance. Mathematical impossibility, if not ultimate improbability. So sovereign choice and sovereign timing. Mark it now, just as a principle; and we've gone over this many times; but mark it. God is active initially in salvation. It begins with Him.
Isaiah 65:24, "And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer." You hear it? "Before they call, I will answer." Before Cornelius knew what he was looking for, God was giving it to him; and, says Isaiah, "While they are yet speaking, I will hear." In Acts 16:14, I wanna take it a step further, so that you'll understand this principle. In Acts 16:14, listen to this most startling statement, regard to Lydia. "A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple," and, incidentally, the city of Thyatira was famous for that, "who worshiped God, heard us." Now, listen. "Whose heart the Lord opened." Did you get that? Fantastic statement. "Whose heart the Lord opened." The only... the only power in the universe that can track the sinful heart of man is God's sovereign power...Man lost in sin cannot of his own open his heart to God.
In Luke 24:45, "Then opened He their understanding that they might understand." You see, salvation is sovereign, and understanding of any spiritual truth, as well, is sovereign. It is on God's part that we can understand anything at all. Another statement that is an interesting one is in John 6:45. "It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath hearth and hath learned of the Father cometh unto Me." Jesus said, "The only people who ever come to Me are those whom God has sovereignly, supernaturally taught." You see? Believe me, people, salvation is of God, because the...the unenlightened, dead, natural man cannot grasp the truth of God. It is sovereignly taught him, and doesn't that make grace all the more glorious?
I mean there I was wandering around, little John MacArthur, in all my stupidity and sin; and God designed to teach me the truth. Praise God for that. I don't understand why me. I thank Him. I mean in Ephesians 2, you gotta mess in verses 1 to 3. All the vileness of sin, and then in verse 4, all of a sudden, the vileness of dead...of deadness and sin is invaded with these words, "But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath made us alive." God moved in. God gave us life. God did it. Don't ever think that anybody got saved 'cause they were intelligent enough to see that it was the only way to go.
"And He raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. In the ages to come, He will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." You say, "Well, we haven't done anything yet." Right. You say, "But don't we have to have faith?" Yes, verse 8, "For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God." What is? Faith. Even that God gave. "Not of works, lest any man should boast."
For we are His masterpiece. You didn't recreate yourself. He's doing it. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath long ago ordained that we should walk in. God is sovereign in salvation. No question about it at all. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, listen to this. "In whom the God of this age hath blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who's the image of God, should shine unto them. But we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." All right, you gotta buncha blind people. Watch this. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts...listen...to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." We wouldn't know it if He didn't give it to us...Salvation is God's activity.
Now, there's one other verse that is...that just comes to mind at this point that is helpful. It's 1 Corinthians 12:1. We don't usually think of it in this context. Listen to this. "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols...listen to this...Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed...and then listen to this...and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by...what?...the Holy Spirit." We can't say anything, know anything, or be anything apart from God.
So salvation begins with sovereign call, sovereign preparation. Second point of salvation is submissive will. Now sovereign call is not a...is not opposite to submissive will. They fit together in God's mind, and that we find here in our text, and we'll come to our message. Verses 21 and following. Submissive will. Both of these guys, both Peter and particularly Cornelius, Peter already being a believer, but particularly Cornelius, he responded by his will actively. They obeyed the sovereign will of God. They enacted their will and responded immediately to the command that God gave them.
Now, you see, a man by his own will must respond to God, and this is where human responsibility comes in. God does all that, and we must respond. God requires obedience. He requires the act of faith that is obedient. This is repeated all over the place. Both...this is true in salvation. It's true the rest of your life as a Christian. You're saved by faith. You walk by faith. God expects a faith kind of obedience continuously. For example, in John 8:30, it says, "Many believed on His name." That sounds real good, doesn't it? Jesus said unto them, "If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples, allaythos, for real." In other words, believing is only valid. It's only valid faith if it follows in obedience, right? The devils believe and tremble. True Christians believe and obey...So there must be an active faith in response.
Now, in the Gospel of John, this becomes a almost thematic. It's repeated over and over again. It's like the recurring theme in some kind of symphony. You just hear it again and again. Obedience validates true faith, over and over and over. In 14:15, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." Simple. Verse 21, same chapter, 14, "He that hath My commandments and obeys them, he it is that loves Me." Then down in verse 23, "If a man love Me, he will obey My Word." You see, all, true faith always issues in obedience. So the will is always active. Over in chapter 15 verse 10, "If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love." You're the ones abiding if you're the ones keeping commandments. Verse 14, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you."...
So the point is obedience is the response. Now you have the same thing in 1 John. John is on this theme forever and ever, as I said a moment ago, and he's in 1 John 2:4. He says, "He that saith, 'I know Him,' and keeps not His commandments is a liar, because true faith is obedient." Verse 19, "They went out from us. They were not of us. If they had been of us, they would've continued with us. They went out that they might be made manifest. They were not of us." There will be continued obedience where faith is legitimate.
James also talks about the same thing in James 1. We won't take time to read it. Also in James 2 verses 18 to 20, "Faith without works is...what?...dead." Another interesting verse, Matthew 7:21. This is very interesting. Catch this word. "Not everyone that saith unto Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that...what?...doeth the will of My Father. Not everyone that saith, but he that doeth."...
Apart from willful obedience, there can be no valid faith. Apart from my will subjecting to Christ, there can be no valid faith...There must be obedience. Now to teach this principle, our Lord Christ gave a parable in Matthew 21 verse 28. Interesting parable. "But what you think?" He said. Boy, fathers, can you identify with this one. Listen to this. "A certain man had two sons. And he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in my vineyard.'" Kid, mow the lawn. Right? "He answered and said, 'I will not,'...but afterward repented and went." You say, "Well, I get the first part. Don't often get the second." This guy said, "No," and then he repented and did it. "He came to the second and he said to the same...he said the same thing, 'Go tend the vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I go, sir,' and went not. Which of the two did the will of his father?' They say unto Him, 'The first.' Jesus saith unto them, 'That's right, and verily I say unto you, tax collectors and harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you.'"
Mmmmmm, zap. Boy, that's a shot. I mean the Pharisees were saying, "Yes, God," and never doing it. The harlots might say, "No," but God was changing their life, and they wound up doing His will. It's not the talkers, it's the doers. That's the legitimizing of faith, believe you me. So what...we're not saying that all of a sudden you're walking down the street sometime and God goes, "Whooooooo," and you say, "Oh, saved, haaaaa." See. "The rest of my life, it's all taken care of."
No, there's an active part of...which your will is involved in, willing obedience. Discipleship is obeying. In fact, Paul used to talk about himself as a bond slave, didn't he? What would be the one word that would...that would characterize the life of a slave? Obedience. Sure. He had no will of his own. He just obeyed his master's will. That's really all there is for us to do. I think of another passage. I may never get past this first point.
Luke 9. That's okay. It's all right outta the Word anyway. 9:23, He said unto them all, 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." That's submissive. That's obedient. If you're gonna come after Him, it doesn't say, "If any man come after Me, let him stand around while God saves him." No, let him be willing to make a verbal, willing, active faith commitment, and move out. Then he goes down in verse 57 and explains that. "It came to pass that, as they went on the way, a certain man said unto Him, 'Lord, I will follow Thee wherever Thou goest.'" Oh, I like that. It's good, isn't it? Yeah, you've said that a few times yourself.
"And Jesus said unto him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.'" Not too much in it for you, f