The Gift that Leads to Life (Acts Pt. 24)
The Book of Acts shows us what can happen when normal people walk with a supernatural God.
God calls the weak, the broken, the foolish, and the lost… through Jesus Christ, we receive the gift of forgiveness and are BORN AGAIN. He adopts us into His eternal family, He fills us with His spirit, and He sends us into the world as witnesses of the Good News. As believers, Acts is our family history, our legacy. And it is our on-going invitation… to join Jesus on mission for the work of salvation.
We’ve been in this wild and powerful Gospel story in Acts 10 for the last two weeks. The Scriptures pull back the curtain on how God’s Kingdom in heaven interacts with His sons and daughters on the earth.
Two weeks ago I preached a message about Cornelius titled “A Heart that Attracts Heaven.” We let the Scriptures exhort us to cultivate a lifestyle of seeking God so that we might partner with what He’s doing on the earth.
Last Sunday, we looked at “The Simple Gospel” that Peter preached to Cornelius and his friends and family. We asked God to equip us to share the great message of salvation and to open doors with anyone who will listen.
Acts 10:34 - 11:18
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
11:1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I love the way that heaven is interacting and leading these people. I love the clarity of the “message by which you will be saved.” I love that Cornelius had gathered all his family and many of his friends! I love the simplicity of the message that Peter declared to them. And I LOVE how the Holy Spirit showed up with the clear preaching of BELIEVE IN HIM and RECEIVE forgiveness of sins. Might this be a bit of a blueprint for us during a time of harvest? I hope this encourages you as much as me.
The Old Covenant was with the Jews. The New Covenant is for ALL people.
“The circumcision party criticized him…” Entering a non-Jewish home and eating with Gentiles was strictly forbidden by the Law of Moses. We have to remember that God had called Abraham’s descendents out from the pagan practices of the nations in order that they might know and worship YHWH alone as God. YHWH is holy, set apart and pure, and His people have been and still are called to be set apart as well. This was the motivation behind keeping Israel separate from other nations. It had a distinct purpose for its time, which paved the way for the Savior to come, but it was a temporary covenant. Even the Jewish prophets of old foretold of a time when God would make a NEW Covenant with them.
The Old Covenant focused on sin and obedience and what you needed to do in order to relate to a holy God; the New Covenant focuses completely on “the gift of righteousness” and what JESUS HAS ALREADY DONE to make you holy and acceptable to God once and for all.
Because of this historical changing of Covenants that was inaugurated by Jesus at the cross, Acts is the most transitional book in the Bible.
OC: Temple worship; NC: Local house fellowship
OC: Temple sacrifices to remove sin; NC: Sacrament of communion reminding us that sin has been removed
OC: Jews were God’s chosen nation; NC: God makes no distinction between nations and Gentiles are invited in freely
OC: Professional Priests separate from common people; NC: Jesus becomes the “Great High Priest” over a priesthood of ALL believers called to carry the ministry of reconciliation to all nations
11X BETTER — Verses from the Book of Hebrews
Hebrews 7:18-19, 22 // For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God… 22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
Hebrews 8:1-7 // Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Hebrews 9:19-24 // For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” (Exodus 24:8) 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Out with the OLD, in with the NEW!
Better hope, better High Priest, and better promises built upon better sacrifices. We are distinctly NEW COVENANT people! And we cannot go back.
The Gift that Leads to Life
Repentance
Acts 11:18 // When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Granted = the give, to bestow a gift; “the noun denotes something to be done by him to whom it is said to be given”
Repentance = to change your mind and turn away from a path you have taken or from something you have done
From Strong’s concordance: “the change of mind of those who have begun to abhor their errors and misdeeds, and have determined to enter upon a better course of life, so that it embraces both a recognition of sin and sorrow for it and hearty amendment”
There’s a difference between saying “sorry” and repenting
Righteousness
Romans 5:17 // For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit
Acts 2:37-39 // Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Salvation through Jesus Christ is 100% a free gift based completely on what Jesus has already done! But receiving that gift requires that we must do this one thing… agree with God about our sin and repent from that course of life that has alienated us from Him.