Acts 10:34-48 - Altar Calls & Bring ‘Em All

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

We are today continuing in our story of the Apostle Peter. And last week, or yesterday, rather, there was a very interesting thing that took place that Peter was hungry, not uncommon.

He goes up to the roof, most of the roofs at that point in time, they were flat, so you would go up there, you can, I don't know, you can sunbathe, you can say hi to people, you can have fun on top of a roof.

But once he got up there, God spoke to him in a vision and told him what God has called clean, don't call unclean or common.

And Peter was very confused about what that could possibly mean until he got messengers from a Roman centurion whose name was Cornelius, who loved the Lord, what he knew about him.

And God had told Cornelius to send a couple of messengers to fetch Peter, to bring Peter back. And so Peter went with them despite the stigma that there would be around a Jewish man going into a gentiles house at that time.

As he says in verse number 28, Peter said, You know it's forbidden for a Jewish man to associate with or visit a foreigner, but God has shown me that I must not call any person common or unclean.

So Cornelius says, God told me to send for you, that you had a message for me, and I would love to hear what the message is.

And as was mentioned back in verse number 24, it was Cornelius was expecting him and had called together his relatives and close friends. So when Cornelius knew God is going to speak, he didn't just have it be him.

He didn't have it just be his house. It was him, his house, his relatives, his close friends. He was bringing in everybody to hear the word of the Lord.

And I think that's something that all of us can emulate that when we are going to hear from God, maybe when we're going to corporately assemble with the rest of the believers, that we would bring along close friends and family members, loved ones,

spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, everyone. We ought to invite to hear what God has to say, to partake in what God is doing. So they say, Peter, the floor is yours. God himself told us that we needed to hear from you.

So what's happening? Verse 34 of Acts 10. Then Peter began to speak.

Now, I really understand that God doesn't show favoritism, but in every nation, the person who fears him and does righteousness is acceptable to him. He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ.

He is Lord of all. That is the Gospel, that Jesus Christ is Lord. You can think of Romans Chapter 10, where it says that if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, that there is such wonderful power in that.

We read earlier in Acts 4 how there was no other name that's been given among mankind under heaven that we must be saved by than the name of Jesus, that. He is Lord. Not simply that.

He is the Savior, though. He is emphatically that, but that. He is the Lord.

And we owe our allegiance and our obedience and our full dedication to. Him.

The scriptures would not recognize a kind of pseudo Christianity or pseudo spirituality that would say, I can pray a prayer, I can escape hell, and then I can never think about Christ again in all of my life and still expect that I have a genuine

real relationship with God. No, the work that is done by the Holy Spirit, not by man, but by the Holy Spirit in the heart of those that call on. Him is a continuing action that does not end until we die.

I think several weeks ago now, in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6, preached through that passage and that verse that I've known since childhood, being sure of this very thing that.

He that has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ, that God's never going to abandon us, that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, that when we confess Christ as Lord, when we when we

profess Jesus and our allegiance to. Him as the sovereign, as the ruler, as the king of everything, and the king and sovereign of our lives and of our hearts, that the Holy Spirit does a work in us and has promised that.

He will stay there and continue that work of sanctification and that day by day salvation, that conforming to the image of Jesus, that we would be more and more like. Him until the day that we pass. And.

He has promised. He will never leave us or abandon us. So Jesus is Lord of all.

Peter continues, You know the events that took place throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power and how.

He went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with. Him. We ourselves are witnesses of everything.

He did in both the Judean country and in Jerusalem, yet they killed. Him by hanging. Him on a tree.

God raised up this man on the third day and permitted him to be seen not by all the people, but by us, witnesses appointed beforehand by God who ate and drank with. Him after.

He rose from the dead, thereby disproving the assumption that sometimes made that maybe it was just a spiritual body that Jesus was raised with and. He was not physically raised from the dead. No, He was able to eat and drink with them.

They were able to, as. He invited Thomas to do, punch your finger in my hands and in my side with those wounds that. He suffered on the cross that.

He still bore the wounds for us.

I've heard one Southern Gospel song, I think it was written maybe in the 70s or 80s that said, oh, actually, there was a newer Casting Crowns one that says, the only scars in heaven won't belong to you and me, but they belong to Jesus.

And then the old Southern Gospel song that has a line similar to that is that the only thing in heaven that's been made by man are the scars in the hands of Jesus. And what a cool thought that how.

He purchased redemption for us is something that is ever present with. Him. There won't be a time where God the Father or God the Son or God the Spirit forgets the price that Jesus paid, it is ever present.

I think of the song, one of my favorite old hymns for many great versions of it. Arise, my soul, arise. Five bleeding wounds.

He bears, received on Calvary, they pour effectual, effective prayers. They strongly plead for me. Forgive.

Him, oh forgive, they cry. Forgive. Him, oh forgive, they cry.

Nor let that ransomed sinner die. Love that thought, that Jesus really did bodily rise from the dead. They ate and drank with.

Him. This is, He commanded us to preach to the people and to solemnly testify that. He is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets testify about. Him that through. His name, everyone who believes in.

Him will receive forgiveness of sins. What a comfort verse 43 is. It doesn't say that everyone who perfectly keeps all of.

His commandments. It doesn't say everyone who gives a certain amount of money. It doesn't say everyone who maybe is baptized will receive forgiveness of sins, but those that believe in.

Him. At our church recently in the month of January, we learned the song God So Loved, and we sing, For God so loved the world that. He gave.

His one and only Son to save us. Whoever believes in. Him will live forever.

What a wonderful truth it is that though the life that is changed by Jesus, the one that receives forgiveness of sins in the Holy Spirit, though that person will then live a life that the Holy Spirit and Jesus is living through us, that we do not

have to live like God in order to receive. His forgiveness. Instead, we receive forgiveness, and then we are invited to live like our Savior. So Peter is saying all this.

He's saying here's who Jesus is. Here's the message of the Gospel. Everyone who believes in.

Him will receive forgiveness of sins. Verse 44. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came down on all those who heard the message.

The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles. Also, this was something they hadn't anticipated. Nowadays, we just brush over it.

Oh, of course. Anyone that is saved has the Holy Spirit. But for these people, they had been very focused on the nation of Israel, that it is our nation and our believers that will receive all of these wonderful promises.

That's who they had seen receive the Spirit all through this time. But now, Peter doesn't give an altar call. He doesn't invite them to bow their heads and close their eyes.

It was in their hearts, these people believed. They believed in him. They received the forgiveness of sins, and the Holy Spirit came.

That Peter didn't have to lay hands on them, like Peter and John did with the Samaritan believers. When they received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit just came down on them, just as he did to the apostles and those in the Upper Room in Acts 2.

So the circumcised believers, the Jews who had come with Peter, were astounded, for they heard them speaking in other languages and declaring the greatness of God.

See, it is a discernible language, one that they knew and that they knew, oh yeah, I know these words. They're proclaiming how great or how amazing God is. It wasn't just maybe nonsense words.

It was something that was direct and discernible and able to be heard. Then Peter responded in verse 47, can anyone withhold water and prevent these people from being baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days. What an incredible witness this is.

I see here in verse 47, immediately seeing that these people were saved, that there was evidence given of salvation, there was a testifying of who God was through belief in Jesus. Holy Spirit was there. All of that was there.

Immediately, Peter says they need to be baptized. There's not a walkthrough here of a bunch of pre-steps to their baptism. It is a step of obedience that upon the Holy Spirit coming into a life, it has to take place.

Why does it have to take place? Because if we're going to be followers of Jesus, we have to follow in that initial step that he took, which was his baptism with John.

And so as we enter into the way of Jesus, we enter through that first step of baptism, that we publicly confess that Jesus is Lord. We declare that we believe in God the Father, God the Son and Holy Spirit. That's what we are baptized in.

I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So this is a wonderful thing. Tomorrow we'll see some people that get upset about Peter breaking some of their arbitrary rules.

But I think what we can learn from this passage is that God is not restricted by the same things that we are.

We are often restricted in our love for other people because we don't naturally love those that are not like us, maybe that aren't from a similar background as we are, maybe aren't from the same ethnic background as we are, maybe you aren't from the

same country, aren't from, you name it, could be any number of reasons. But here, God loved even Roman centurions, those whose entire purpose was to subjugate the Jewish people and to keep them in line and to keep them paying taxes and in submission

to Rome. And yet God loved him and wanted him to be able to know Jesus. And God wanted all of Cornelius' family and close friends to be able to know Jesus. And as soon as they believed, the Holy Spirit was given.

Aren't you glad that you don't have to, you don't have to go through maybe a seminary in order to receive the Holy Spirit. You don't have to go through a 10-week class and ace every test in order to receive the Holy Spirit.

All that is required is genuine belief and repentance in your heart that as these heard that Jesus was Lord of all, that. He was the judge of the living and the dead, and that God had. Him crucified for our sins, raised to life again, and that.

He would bring forgiveness to all who would turn to. Him, they believed it in their heart. And maybe that might be your story.

Maybe you don't have an account of a time that you came forward in a church service and prayed a big prayer or turned from a life of drug dealing and Al Capone style crime, and you don't have a giant testimony like that, but you'd say, I know in my

heart that I've believed what the Bible says about Jesus, that if someone were to ask me, how do you know that you're on your way to heaven? Your answer would be, it's through what Jesus has done, that I believe in the work of Jesus, that he is the

Lord, he's the judge, he's the one that bought forgiveness. It's all him. It's not him and some of my things. It's entirely what Jesus has done.

I'm thankful that the Holy Spirit has given to us freely. One other thing that I think is worth mentioning, if I can recall it, from the passage, as I mentioned at the beginning, that Cornelius brought in other people.

And I want to note that Peter brought other people as well, so that not only did Cornelius accept Christ, and other people that were friends with Cornelius accepted Christ, but Peter was able to see God work in a miraculous way.

And he brought friends as well, who could also see God work in beautiful, miraculous ways. Don't hoard God's blessings and goodness for yourself. Invite others to come on in.

Maybe it might be that you'd say, okay, I know I've got an unsaved friend, I know I've got a Christian friend, and I would love to share the Gospel with my unsaved friend.

I'd love to have some conversations about Jesus or God or the Bible, something like that with my friend, but I might be scared to do it alone.

Bring along a Christian friend that their presence might be able to encourage you that, yeah, no, no, no, I know I'm not alone in this. I'm not a crazy person.

I know what Jesus has done for me, and I know what Jesus has done for my friend, and I want that for my other friend.

Maybe it's a game night where you invite some people over and that you would have an intentionality that says, I'm going to share Jesus. I'm going to bring along other people as I do it. I'm going to bring along other people to hear the Gospel.

All of those would be wonderful things for us to do. Don't do your Christian life alone. It's meant to be lived out with other people.

Hope this would be an encouragement to you, and look forward to being with you again tomorrow as we discover people being persnickety about what God has done and what God commanded Peter to do, and we'll see some lessons that we can learn from that.