The following teaching is the 14th of a series on the book of Acts by the Reverend John W. Howe of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia. The title of this teaching is Peter and Cornelius, and the scripture reference is Acts chapter 9, verse 31, through chapter 10, verse 48. We do give you our thanks, our worship, our adoration. We acknowledge you to be a great and a mighty king. Thank you for feeding us physically, and we ask you now to open your word to us and break the bread of life to our hearing and to our spiritual upbuilding for your name's sake. Amen. Acts chapter 9. And last time we deliberately jumped way ahead of ourselves so that we could trace the influence of Barnabas, the son of encouragement, on the man named Saul, who was eventually to become Paul, the mighty apostle to the Gentiles. But I ask you to bear in mind we were jumping ahead on purpose and we need to step way back.

We're not really ready for Saul's story. God was taking his time in shaping a man for a ministry. But it's 11 years now before we were going to get to what we were really taking a quick glimpse at last time.

Still 11 years away. Paul has been a Christian, a follower of the way for three years, but now he goes back to his own hometown and we lose track of him for, as I say, the next 11 years. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, things continue to move ahead.

Look at verse 31. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it was multiplied.

That's one of those summary statements that we have completed a movement of the Holy Spirit. And if you stop and remember the original commissioning, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and all Samaria and throw in Galilee, if you will. This is the area that was originally given to the Jews, the area that used to be Israel, that now is Palestine, all of that territory which was originally the kingdom.

And the church in Jerusalem itself, as you know, has fallen on very hard times. Persecution has broken out, terrible persecution. and basically it's only the apostles who are still hanging around Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has been emptied of Christians, but everywhere else throughout Judea, Samaria, Galilee, the church is being built up, and it's a time of relative stability, a time of relative growth. And we've seen that the church went much farther afield than that, but basically it went wherever the Jews went, Jews who had heard the message, who had accepted the Lord Jesus, who became followers of the way. The church spread where the Jews spread.

It spread where the synagogues were. So basically you're looking at the land of Israel or the land of Palestine and elsewhere in Gentile territory, but only amongst Jewish Christians in Gentile territory. You understand what I'm saying?

And in fact, it's an anachronism to call them Christians. They weren't called Christians until Antioch, and we'll come to that later. Up until now, this is very important, get this very, very clearly in your mind, up until now, the gospel has been preached only to Jews, or to proselytes, in other words, people who were born Gentile, but who had become Jewish, who had joined themselves to Judaism, who became circumcised, who accepted all of the dietary laws, all of the ceremonial laws.

In most cases, they would have undergone a kind of a baptism, a water baptism, washing away their Gentile background and allying themselves with the Jews. Up until now, even where the gospel has spread into Gentile territory, it has not been preached to Gentiles. Some of the Gentiles will have heard it, yes, but from the point of view of the apostles themselves and everybody else, with the possible exception of Stephen, all right, remember Stephen, took the gospel to its logical conclusion.

If Jesus Christ is Lord, he's Lord of all. He's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. Nobody else really has taken it to its logical conclusion thus far.

It is a gospel of the Jews, for the Jews. It is a development of Judaism. It is a movement within Judaism.

Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. And the mentality is, for you to get in on Jesus, you've got to become a Jew first. Now, they're paying lip service.

Peter, in particular, is paying lip service to Jesus being the Lord of all creation. But he's not carrying that out to its logical extreme in terms of how he's relating to Gentiles. And even in terms of Philip preaching to the Ethiopian, the Ethiopian eunuch, It's quite clear from the context that he had to be a Jewish proselyte.

He was born an Ethiopian, but he's coming back from Jerusalem. He's reading a copy of Isaiah. He's already into Judaism.

So we really don't have any exception apart from that of Stephen. The opinion is that to become a Christian, you need to be a Jew first. And that really is not finally resolved until Acts chapter 15.

And that's approximately a decade and a half still down the road from us. All right? I want you to really let that grab you.

It's very hard, I think, for us to identify with that mentality. So many places today you have people raising the question, is it possible for a Jew to become a Christian? You know, it was exactly the other way around.

Is it possible for a Gentile to become a... They weren't even asking that question yet. It was assumed. It was impossible.

Now we read in verse 32, go. They didn't call him that in a distinctive role, but that's what he was doing. He was visiting separate congregations, pastoring the flock, caring for the flock.

In the closing portion here of Acts chapter 9, you have two instances, very interesting, both of them, and I'm just going to mention this and move on. Two instances, one with this man Aeneas, and then shortly with a little girl named Tabitha in verse 40 of Peter healing people. And I want simply to call to your attention, we've noticed this already, call your attention again, he does not pray for the sick.

He proclaims healing to the sick. Aeneas, rise, be healed. Jesus Christ heals you.

If you read the incident carefully, the story of the little girl, he does pray beforehand. He prays for himself in the ministry he's about to go into, but then again he turns and proclaims healing to her. And in that instance, and it's the first one that's recorded, it's a case of raising the dead.

So far as we know, the first instance in the apostolic age of raising the dead. It might be a fun Bible study for you sometime to compare that story with Mark chapter 5, when Jesus raises another little girl, Jairus' daughter, and the pattern is exactly identical. Don't do it now, but study it at your leisure.

A bunch of people weeping and wailing and mourning. Jesus dismisses them and then tells her, little girl, arise. Peter has learned his lesson.

He does exactly the same thing, gets rid of the mourners, get them out of here, turns and raises the girl from the dead. Almost as a matter of course. You know, I mean, it's hardly even remarkable.

This is the way the Holy Spirit is blessing and ministering. We continue to see great power signs following the preaching of the gospel. We read that he went down to Joppa in verse 36.

And Joppa is a port city on the coast. And interestingly enough, you may possibly, does anybody remember in the Old Testament, what is the city of Joppa particularly remembered for? Whose story is associated with Joppa?

Jonah right what happened there Jonah was told by the Holy Spirit to go and preach the gospel in Nineveh preach the message in fact it was a message of God's judgment but it led to deliverance go and preach to the Gentiles but he didn't do that he went in the opposite direction he left from Joppa you might just log that away in the back of your mind We're going to read about one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of God's dealing with the Gentiles. And it's interesting that Peter finds himself in Joppa, because the other man associated with preaching to the Gentiles used the city of Joppa as a port of escape from his mission. Okay, just log that away.

There's an interesting humor in all of this. Notice verse 43. He stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

Simon, who is called Peter, is staying with Simon, a tanner. You've got two Simons staying together. Simon the tanner was, as far as the Jews were concerned, about as low as you could get in normal society.

A tanner was somebody who was almost, but not quite, untouchable. Number one, a tanner stinks. Have any of you ever lived near a tannery?

I mean, it is incredible, right? Even today with modern methods. You can't get rid of the smell, all right?

There is no way. You can wash in lye and you... Number one, he just smells terribly.

Number two, he would handle unclean animals, all right? They would use pigskin, for instance. Now, he would never dream of eating pig meat, but he would handle unclean animals, and so he's got two strikes against him.

And I don't want to make overly much of this, but it's interesting, isn't it, that in Peter's growth of spirit up to this point, that he's willing to go and make his place of residence the home of virtually an outcast in Jewish society. He's willing to associate himself. And you can just imagine, reading between the lines, that Peter is congratulating himself that he would be that broad-minded.

That the love of God would heal the kind of estrangement between himself and this smelly tanner. You know, I mean, you can just imagine that. So here he is in the city of Joppa in the home of Simon, a tanner.

Now, at Caesarea, that's further up the coast, approximately, oh, about 30 miles, I guess, up the coast. another port city named after the Caesars. Okay, it's a city, a very important city as far as the Roman Empire is concerned.

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, who gave alms liberally to the people and prayed constantly to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. And he stared at him in terror.

Okay, that's typical greeting for an angel. And said, what is it, Lord? Or that, what is it, sir?

He's not worshiping the angel, but what is it, sir? And he said to him, your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging was Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside.

When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. If you have the King James Version, when it describes Cornelius in verse 2, I think it says, not a man who feared God, but what? a God-fearer, right?

That's a technical phrase. You need to be aware of that. He's not just saying he was one who worshipped God.

A God-fearer is a technical phrase. There really were three categories of people in whom the scriptures were interested at this point. Number one, the Jews themselves.

Number two, the proselytes, who I've already mentioned, who were born Gentile and converted to Judaism. The third category is the God-fearers. The God-fearers are Gentiles who associated themselves with Jews, who would attend synagogue worship, for instance, but who would not formally convert.

They would not be circumcised. They would not be baptized into Judaism. They would not leave behind their Gentile background.

Now, they believed virtually everything the Jews believed. They accepted the authority of the scriptures. They looked for the coming of Messiah, all right?

but they did not formally become Jews. That's the sort of person we're talking about here. Cornelius was a God-fearer.

He prayed. He gave liberally. He supported the work of the synagogue, all right?

But he was not a proselyte. He did not convert to Judaism. From the point of view of the Jews, they're very grateful for his money, but he's still a dirty Gentile, all right?

Get that clearly in your mind. He is an untouchable. as far as the Pharisees are concerned.

Do you know that if a Pharisee accidentally brushed elbows with a Gentile, he'd go and take a bath. He'd go wash himself. He was ritually unclean.

They would have no dealings with the Gentiles. A good Jew would not enter the home of a Gentile, even a God-fearer. That's the mentality that we're dealing with.

So here's Cornelius. He's praying. He's praying fervently.

as we go on and read the rest of the story, it becomes quite clear that he's praying for salvation. He's seeking God. He wants to know the way of salvation.

The angel comes and appears to him and says, your prayers have ascended before God, and God is about to answer your prayers. Go get Peter. I find that very interesting.

Isn't it interesting that God would send one of the angelic host from the throne room of God and come to the home of Cornelius and not proclaim the gospel to him. He says, go get Peter. Let that register in your mind very clearly.

No angel anywhere in scripture ever proclaimed the gospel. Do you know that? I frankly don't think the angels understand the gospel.

I really don't think so. When Peter himself came at a much later date to write his first letter, in chapter 1 he makes this comment, the gospel which has been preached to you is something into which angels long to look. You get the picture of them sort of peering over the edge of the universe.

What's going on down there? not fully understanding it. I would suggest to you that no angel fully understands the meaning of the word mercy.

No angel understands the word grace. Why? Jesus Christ never died for any angel.

Now, there is a sense, clearly, in which all of creation is affected by the offering up of Christ on the cross. but for Jesus Christ to be the instrument of salvation in the life of an angel he would have to become an angel for him to save mankind he had to become a man you follow what I'm saying? if angels and human beings are two different orders of creation then the fact that Jesus became a man lived among us died and rose again does not affect the status of angels and therefore there is no hope for the salvation of angels to be found in the atonement of Christ.

Do you know that hell was a place prepared for Satan? God never intended that any human being would go there. It's only by your own choice if you choose to refuse what he has done in sending Christ that you go to a place never intended for you.

So it's interesting, isn't it? This angel cannot bear witness to the gospel because he has not experienced it. He cannot proclaim that which has not happened to him.

You shall be my what? Witnesses, and a witness bears witness to what has happened to him. The angel can't do that.

He says, I know somebody that can, though. Peter knows all about sin. Peter knows all about betrayal and forgiveness.

You send down to Joppa and get Peter. Now, God is doing a rather interesting thing in the life of Peter just about this time too. Peter has a vision.

The next day as they were on their journey and coming near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, about midday, and he became hungry and desired something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heaven opened and something descending like a great sheet let down by the four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air, and there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat.

But Peter said, No, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him again a second time, What God has cleansed you must not call common. This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

A sheet comes down. He's up there. He's hungry. His stomach is growling.

It's a very relevant image to him. Down comes this thing that looks like a huge net, some kind of a sheet, coming down right out of heaven and containing all of the animals that the Old Covenant labels as unclean. Even reptiles, which a Jew would never dream of eating.

It's unclean animals. Now, mind you, when an animal is pronounced unclean under the Old Covenant, there are two reasons for that. One is that there may be a health danger associated with it.

For instance, pork, you know, carries within it every virus known to man, let alone trichinosis. Reptiles, dirty animals, animals of the sea, shellfish. You know, there is a health danger associated with virtually all of the animals that are labeled unclean.

But more particularly, they are ritually unclean. They are associated with Gentiles. And the good Jew is to disassociate himself from them.

Now, I want you to get the impact of what's going on. Peter's hungry, wants to eat, and down comes this sheet full of all the animals that all his life, he's been told he must have absolutely nothing to do with. And a voice from heaven says, rise, Peter, kill and eat.

And he is absolutely horrified. And in a marvelous self-contradiction, I love these two words, no, Lord. Don't you love that?

And the Lord says, Peter, what I have called clean, you must not call unclean or common, unsanctified. Peter says, I've never eaten any such thing. I have never done this.

God forbid, Lord, that I should eat something unclean. You know, the seven last words of the church. We never did it that way before, right?

Peter says, I've never done that. See? And God says, you must not call unclean what I have called clean.

Peter is a real quick study. It takes him only three times running through this whole vision. Start to finish.

All right? Three times, and he finally gets it. Well, he doesn't quite get it.

It says, verse 17, he was perplexed. Verse 18, it says, he pondered. Okay.

He was pondering the vision. What does it mean? What does it mean?

Okay. And as a matter of fact, he understands finally, after he goes and sees Cornelius, that the Lord is not really talking about eating unclean animals. The whole thing is a parable to him.

All right. Notice verse 28. He goes, the men come, virtually as the vision is ending, the Spirit says, there are three men here from you.

Go with them. They recount the whole story of how God has come in a vision to Cornelius, and Peter trots off with them. And he gets there, and Cornelius tells him the whole story yet again, and finally the penny drops.

Verse 28, Peter understands. You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with, or to visit, even to visit, anyone of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man, any human being, common or unclean.

That's the meaning of the vision. God is not saying, rise, Peter, eat pigs. He's saying, rise, Peter, eat with pigs.

Got it? All right. Now, I believe, in fact, that we are set free from the dietary law in the New Covenant, okay?

Which is to say that there is no longer a ceremonial restriction against eating of the foods that were ceremonially unclean. Why? Because Jesus has fulfilled all of the ceremonial law, all right?

There may well be a good health reason for still leaving aside shellfish and what have you, all right? But that's not primarily what this vision is about. It's a parable.

The parable is not that you need to go out and literally eat pigs, but that you need to eat with people that you have considered pigs, unclean. That what God declares clean, you must not consider common any longer. And I'm interested in Peter.

you have got to understand that this is the hardest thing that he ever was asked to do it takes him a great deal of convincing to understand what God is saying but when he finally gets it right he goes and does it out of obedience alright Peter may have had a thick skull but when he finally got it right he did it out of obedience and he did it knowing full well the consequences that this would cause back in Jerusalem them. All right? And we'll come to those in just a little bit.

He goes to Cornelius. Cornelius recounts the whole blessed thing. And I want to notice one more thing here.

Verse 25, when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. And well, he might. Can you imagine having an angelic visitation telling you to go get somebody, bring him to your house, and he's going to declare to you the things of God?

You can see what's going on in Cornelius' mind. But Peter lifted him up saying, Stand up, I too am a man. Peter's position here is that of creating a pattern, not a papacy.

Let that register. Stand up, I'm no better than anybody else. I'm a man.

I'm here because I know what it is to be a sinner and to be forgiven. Peter is given a critical role in the unfolding history of God's salvation. It is not the role that he is better than somebody else.

He's the pattern setter. His role, his position, establishes a pattern. So, having all that behind us, Peter understands God has sent me and God is doing a new thing, and there's no longer going to be any difference between the Jews, who we've considered to be clean, and Gentiles, who we've considered to be worse than pigs, no more any distinction. If God declares them eligible for salvation, that's the way it is.

And so he begins to preach to Cornelius. Cornelius invites him to do that. He says, verse 33, I sent to you at once and you've been kind enough to come.

Now, therefore, we're all here present in the sight of God to hear all that you've been commanded by the Lord. What an invitation. I love it when I have a congregation like that.

So Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly, I perceive that God shows no partiality. What an incredible statement for him to make. His whole life has just done 180 degrees.

But in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. If you study Peter's speech very carefully, all the way from verse 34 down to 43, you're going to find exactly the same seven points that he's made on other occasions. only interestingly enough this time pitched to a Gentile rather than pitched to a Jewish audience but it's exactly the same gospel and he goes through what God did in sending Jesus and in the salvation that that opens up even to the Gentiles verse 44 while Peter was still saying this the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word and the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.

You have a mini repetition here of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is poured out and this time it explicitly says they are speaking in other languages, other tongues which they've never before studied or understood. And Peter declares, verse 47, Can anyone forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and they asked him to remain for some days. While he was yet speaking, he didn't even get to the conclusion. He didn't even give the altar call.

He didn't even get the first strains of just as I am, and the Holy Spirit comes down, and they're speaking in tongues and moving in the power of the Spirit. notice Peter's reaction to that is immediately to get him baptized may I suggest to you is here is one more incident that underscores what I've been trying to say that the New Testament perspective is that becoming a Christian and receiving the spirit in power are all one and the same to become a Christian is to be converted it is to be regenerate It is to accept Jesus as Lord. It is to repent.

It is to be baptized, which is the only acceptable sign of repentance. It is to receive the Holy Spirit. It's all one event.

And if you like, this is a mirror image of what happened in Samaria. Do you remember in Samaria? They had gone and they'd preached the gospel.

Philip had preached the gospel and they had been converted and they had been baptized and somehow the Spirit hadn't fallen. And what do they say? Emergency!

Something's wrong. Go get Peter. it is an emergency it is a crisis to have everything else and somehow lack the spirit and they go and rectify it immediately now we have exactly the mirror image the spirit has fallen emergency we've got to get him baptized right now because you can't have one without the other it is inconceivable to have one without the other does that shed light on the phrase one Lord, one faith, one baptism we've gotten it all messed up all messed up we've got you know you get converted and then you get baptized and then you know you go through a newcomer's class and then you join the church and three years later you take a life in the spirit seminar it's all one if people experience it in stages that says a whale of a lot about the inadequacy of our teaching and our expectancy New Testament it was all one how could we possibly forbid water for baptizing other words, for receiving them as if they were full-fledged Jews who became followers of the way who received the Messiah, even though they were never circumcised, even though they never accepted all the ceremonial rules, even though they never joined the synagogue.

Do you see what's going on? The apostles and brethren back in Judea hear about this, and they demand an explanation. Peter recounts the whole blessed thing yet again.

And the bottom line is, verse 17, if 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 withstand God? And when they heard this, they were silenced. This is a sovereign move of God in his spirit.

This is the major breakthrough. There was a breakthrough when the gospel went from a strictly Jewish experience to being a Samaritan as well, sort of the half-Jews, if you will, the mixed pedigree Jews. That was a breakthrough.

This is the breakthrough. When for the first time in all of their history and all of their understanding and all of their self-consciousness, they see God has opened this up. We're not going to be a privileged people by virtue of our natural birth.

We're going to be a holy nation by virtue of our spiritual rebirth. God's creating a new nation, a new Israel, and it doesn't matter whether you're descended biologically from Abraham, you get in on this one by receiving Abraham's son, the offspring of Abraham. And when they heard this, God has done this, they were silenced.

And it says they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life. now one more thing I want you to see I said a minute ago that the role that Peter was given was that of establishing a pattern Jesus said to Peter I give to you the keys of the kingdom then very shortly thereafter in fact two chapters later in the gospel of Matthew he says the same thing to all the apostles on the night of Easter he says the same thing yet again I give to you the keys to the kingdom weren't Peter's alone. All of us use the keys to the kingdom.

But Peter was given that message first, and Peter establishes the pattern for all of us. Do you understand the difference between a pattern and a papacy? It's not his exclusive prerogative, but he sets the thing in motion for all of us to follow.

Isn't it interesting, therefore, that the gospel does not come to the Jews except Peter preaches it? Once Peter has preached it on the day of Pentecost, then anybody can preach it to the Jews. The gospel does not come to the Samaritans except Peter goes and endorses it, And then anybody can preach it to the Samaritans.

The gospel does not come to the Gentiles except Peter goes and preaches to Cornelius and then anybody, and especially Saul who becomes Paul. Saul is to be the great apostle to the Gentiles, but not until Peter has turned the key in the lock first. And I just wonder, Three times Peter saw this vision come down.

Three times he's given that message, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. Three times Peter was asked by a little servant girl, Aren't you one of his disciples? Not me.

Never saw the man. Three times in the last chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus says, Peter, do you love me? Peter says, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

And what does Jesus say? feed my sheep feed my little lambs I just wonder if after all of this had happened and he began to reflect on it if maybe he heard echoing in the words of Jesus Peter do you love me enough to feed my Jewish lambs Peter do you love me even enough to feed those dirty Samaritan lambs Peter do you love me even enough to feed the untouchable Gentile lambs yes Lord you know that I love you do you see the pattern to the Jew first and also to the Gentile in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Let's stand and pray together.

Father, we remember the Lord Jesus calling himself the Good Shepherd. And he said, I'm the Good Shepherd because I give my life for the sheep. And then he said, other sheep have I, not of this fold.

They also will hear my voice. and know it. Father in heaven, thank you that we who basically have come through Gentile genealogy, we have been included in the marvelous thing that you began amongst your ancient people.

And you threw that key into the lock and opened the door and said there's no longer any partiality. Thank you, Father, for Peter's obedience. Thank you for Cornelius' love of you.

Thank you that in every nation, in every group, in every tribe, in every people, in every clan, you have a witness to yourself and you make us to be a family because of Jesus. Amen.