I love that last song. I woke up this morning feeling inadequate and that song reminds me I am inadequate and we are all inadequate and we are nothing without the power and love and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Last night I told Tish and Tilly that this sermon would be a little different. It'll be, there's no Tabasco in it. It'll be more lecture than what I typically do. And Tilley said, lecture? That's like, here's what toothpaste is like. So hopefully it's more interesting than a discussion of the viscous properties of toothpaste. I don't know. Turning your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 10, let me tell you what we're going to do. The fair Tish talked me out of a lengthy reading. When we read our text, it will be Acts 10, 34 through 48, so 34 through the end of the chapter. You're picking up in Peter's sermon. And then we'll read in Acts 11, which most of which is a rehash of Acts 10, beginning in verse 16 through 18. So when we read, that's going to be our text this morning. We are seeing in Acts 10, the conversion of one Roman soldier named Cornelius. The gospel of Jesus Christ is going to the Gentiles and the spirit of God is going to fall on them for the first time. It's really, beautiful point in the book of Acts where the kingdom of God is going to expand explosively. And that's really what the rest of the book is about. So the book of Acts is about the body of Christ doing the work of Christ through the Spirit of Christ to expand the kingdom of Christ. And so I'm going to walk you through where we are in the book of Acts and then we'll read our text and And then I'll have really just a few words about Peter's sermon and about the phenomenon associated with the conversion of Cornelius. And I recognize that I'm the guy standing between you and lunch, okay? But Katrina told me she needed till one o'clock and so we're just gonna be here. No, she didn't. The book of Acts begins with our risen Lord. He's before the disciples and he reminds them that that John the Baptist was baptizing with water, but that Jesus Christ would baptize them with the Spirit. It reminds us of John the Baptist out in the wilderness, and he's baptizing people in the River Jordan, and then some Pharisees and Sadducees come out. And he tells them, among other things, that I baptize with water, but there is one coming after me who is mightier than I. whose sandals I'm not fit to untie, and he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." The disciples at this point in Acts 1, they still have a misunderstanding about what the nature of the kingdom of God is, and so they ask Jesus, after he reminds them of that, is it now that you're restoring the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus responds, and we've said it a number of times because it's so thematic for Acts, Jesus responds by telling them it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Power to do what? To be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And then he ascends bodily in a great mystery, and he'll come back the same way. And then the rest of Acts 1, replace Judas with Matthias, and then you get to Acts 2, they're still hanging out in Jerusalem waiting for this Holy Spirit baptism to take place. And we note here that with John the baptizer, John is the baptizer, the element he's baptizing with is water, and the object of the baptism is the repentant man. With Jesus Christ, what he's saying in Acts chapter 1 is that Jesus Christ is the baptizer, that the spirit is the element he's going to baptize with, and that the church is the object of that baptism. And so what happens in Acts chapter 2 is they're all gathered together, and it's the day of Pentecost. And there's a sound as of a mighty rushing wind and tongues of as though a fire appear on the disciples, and they begin speaking in all the languages under the sun, every language that was represented there. In fact, it's such that the people present think that they're drunk. This is a beautiful scene. It's the reversal of Babel, whereas at Babel the languages are confused. At Pentecost, all the languages are extolling God and preaching about God. magnifying the name of Christ, and everyone hears in their own language. So whereas at Babel, everyone's confused because they're hearing in languages they don't understand, at Pentecost, there's clarity because people are hearing in their own native tongue. And Peter gets up and says, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and he says, this is the fulfillment of scripture. And then Peter delivers a sermon. It's beautiful. It's, I mean, it's a stem winder. He gets up and he preaches that Jesus Christ was bodily resurrected, that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the scriptures. He preaches about the life and works of Jesus Christ. He preaches that Jesus Christ is God and King, and he makes a call to repentance for all those who would be there. And there's a response that's made. The people gathered there and who are hearing Peter, they say, brothers, what shall we do? Peter says, repent and be baptized. And he says this is important for today, for Cornelius, for the promise is for you and your children and for all those who are far off, everyone who the Lord God calls to himself. So right there in Acts 2, you get this inkling of the worldwide nature of the kingdom of God. And then you get to Acts 3. What happens at the beginning of Acts 3? Peter and John are going to the temple. And think about what's happening at the church at this time. In between the sermon at Pentecost and the healing of the lame beggar in Acts 2, in Acts 3 you read that the church is devoted to four things. They're devoted to the apostles' teaching, They're devoted to the fellowship that is each other. They're devoted to the breaking of bread, and they're devoted to the prayers, and they're holding everything in common. They're gathered together, okay? Then Peter and John go to the temple, and they see the lame beggar there at Solomon's portico, and he's wanting money. And Peter says, silver and gold have I none, but what I have I give to you, rise and walk in the name of Jesus Christ. That man got up and walked. I mean, a paralyzed man, a lame man got up and walked right there in the temple. That walking, just like him, preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ at the temple, which was headed by people who disbelieved in the doctrine of resurrection. And so that miracle is coupled with a sermon. And the sermon Peter delivers, again, preaches the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. It preaches that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the scriptures. It preaches that Jesus Christ is God. He calls him the author of life. He blames his audience for killing Christ, just like he did in Acts chapter 2. And he makes a call to repentance, and he does so reminding them of the Abrahamic covenant. The aspect of the Abrahamic covenant, which is that through your offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed. So both in his sermon in Acts 2 and the sermon in Acts 3, Peter is letting the audience know there's a worldwide global nature to the kingdom of God. Peter and John are arrested in Acts chapter 4. And Peter delivers another sermon, this time to the Sanhedrin. This sermon, again, he preaches the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Beware a preacher who doesn't get up and routinely preach the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. He preaches the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the scriptures, that he's who we've been waiting on. He makes a call to repentance, and this time, there is no repentance. Peter, in that moment, preaches judgment on them. He reminds them that they are the builders who've rejected the cornerstone, the very citation to the same song that Christ made shortly before his death to those same people. And the Sanhedrin, they tell him, okay, we're gonna release you, and they're scared of the crowd. They're scared of the crowd in light of the miracle that's happened. And they tell him, don't preach anymore. Well, they're gonna keep preaching. They're going to keep preaching, they're released, and they go tell their friends what's happened. They go back to the church. And the church in that moment, they teach us a valuable lesson. They pray the scriptures. And very interestingly, in that prayer in Acts 4, the church prays Psalm 2. They open their prayer with, why do the Gentiles or why do the nations rage? Well, the people that the apostles have been having a problem with, who've been persecuting them, and the immediate preceding of that prayer is not the nations, but the Sadducees and the Pharisees. It's the Sanhedrin. And so very interestingly, in that prayer in Acts chapter 4, there's this linking of the nations with the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin that is oppressing their people, the followers of Christ, these early followers of Jesus. And the spirit fills all the people who are there and there's a shaking of the very room in which they're standing. And we read for the second and final time that they're holding everything in common. And it's at that point that we're introduced to a man, a Levite named Barnabas, who sold a field and he took all the money and he brought it and laid it at the apostle's feet. So we're invited to make a comparison between Barnabas, who did that, and Judas in chapter one, who we read, took his money and bought a field, and it's a field of blood. Barnabas sold a field and brought the money and gave it at the apostles' feet. And then Acts 5 tells us of the tragedy of Ananias and Sapphira, who sold a field and brought some of the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. But they lied about it. They lied to the spirit. Peter is explicit that the Spirit is God. And they're struck down. Ananias is struck down in church, and then a few hours later, Sapphira sashes in, and they ask her the same questions they had asked Ananias. Did you sell the land for so much? Yes, it's for so much, et cetera. And Peter says, behold, the feet that carried, that buried your husband are gonna, standing at the door, and they're gonna carry you out. That's what happens, and fear falls on all the people. But the apostles keep going and they're preaching the gospel, and we read that more than ever, people are coming to know our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then you get to Acts chapter six, where you see the first intra-church squabble. It again has to do with language, whereas in Acts chapter two, the Spirit comes down and people are hearing in their own language, in Acts six, the dispute is about culturally Greek Jews, widows, versus culturally Jewish, traditional Jewish widows, not getting along and they can't figure out how to do the food ministry right. And so the apostles say appoint seven men full of faith and wisdom to fix it. And there were introduced to, do you remember three years ago when you would freak out if you heard people sneezing? It's kind of nice, actually, to hear a cough and a sneeze and not just, you know, run for the hills. Anyway, sorry. It seemed like up here it was a cacophony. It was just going around. But so we're introduced to two men, Philip and Stephen. And Stephen, it turns out, in addition to being a deacon, is a great preacher. And he preaches the same things that Jesus Christ preached, and he receives the same accusations that Jesus Christ received. And so he gets up in his trial in Acts 7, and he preaches the best sermon in Acts. It's a sermon in four parts. It's a sermon about Abraham. It's about Joseph. It's about Moses, and it's about the temple, but really what it's about, it's about how Jesus Christ fulfilled all of those types and shadows in the Old Testament. And then right before, right as Stephen's being killed, he sees a vision of Christ, not seated at the right hand of God, but standing as though engaged in battle. And he's killed right there, and he prays this Christ-like prayer of, Lord, hold not their sin against them. It's that scene, they were introduced to this man who would bring the gospel to more people than anybody else, this young Pharisee named Saul, who receives this unholy sacrifice of cloaks being laid at his feet. Well, people scatter, they're scared. And remember in Acts chapter one, the whole point of Acts, describing how the gospel's going out, the body of Christ doing the work of Christ through the spirit of Christ to spread the kingdom of Christ, the Sanhedrin unwittingly makes that happen. And Philip and the others, everybody but the apostles, they scatter and go. So then in chapter eight, Philip goes down to Samaria. or up to Samaria. He goes to Samaria. And he brings the gospel to the Samaritans. And people believe, people believe in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and they don't pass through Judaism to get it. When Philip is preaching to the Samaritans, he does not have a debate with them about whether you should worship on Mount Gerizim or Mount Zion. Doesn't do it. He preaches Jesus Christ. The Samaritans only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament. and he didn't make them agree to the canonicity of the Psalms before they agreed to believe in Jesus Christ. You don't have to pass through Judaism to believe in Jesus, and that's one of the lessons you get from Philip going down to Samaria, and people come in town after town to know Jesus Christ, and the apostles, they hear about this, and they send Peter and John to investigate. Is this really happening? And one of the lessons you learn from that scene in Acts 8, the gospel's going out. Don't lose the point, the worldwide nature of the kingdom of God. The spirit had not come down on the Samaritans. That's integral to know this as we read our text this morning, okay? The spirit had not come down, the spirit does not come down on them until Peter and John come down and they lay hands on the Samaritans. In fact, the power is so overwhelming that there's a man named Simon the sorcerer who says, hey, Peter, can you sell me that ability? And Peter wears him out and says, you have neither part nor lot in this matter. The gall of bitterness is within you. You need to repent. So Peter and John go back to Jerusalem, and Philip, attuned to the calling of the Holy Spirit, comes across an Ethiopian eunuch who is the treasurer of the Queen of Ethiopia, Candace. Clearly a Gentile, right? I mean, an Ethiopian just has to, the literature is that that's a Gentile. And Philip hears the spirit tell him, go talk to him. And this Ethiopian eunuch is riding in a chariot and he's reading aloud from the prophet Isaiah. He's reading from Isaiah 53. He's reading that beautiful passage about the suffering servant. And he asks Philip, is this about the author or is this about someone else? And Philip walks him through the gospel of Jesus Christ starting there. And he's converted. It's the first Gentile convert in the book of Acts. And then you get to Acts chapter nine. And that's where we come across Saul again. This time Saul is breathing out threats, and murder. He's going to try to capture men and women and bring them back to Jerusalem. He has an encounter with Jesus Christ. He sees the risen Lord. In fact, the light of such is blinding. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you? And he says, I'm Jesus Christ, whom you are persecuting. Paul learns right there that the body of Christ is the church, and Jesus Christ is going to defend his people. And he's converted, there's this beautiful, we know Luke has the heart of a poet, there's these three names that come up in that story of Saul, Judas, and Ananias, three names that are infamous. And you have this scene of, they're at Judas' house, and Ananias' hands are on Saul's head, and the scales fall from his eyes, and he believes in Jesus Christ. And he has a special mission. He is going to be an apostle to Israel and to the Gentiles and to kings. And immediately he begins preaching in Damascus and he's run out of town. There's a threat on his life. He escapes murder. He goes to Jerusalem. Barnabas, we see again for the second time in the book, in the book of Acts, Barnabas comes to his defense, to the apostles at Jerusalem and relays what's happened to him. He escapes death again. And he kind of just goes off to Tarsus and you don't encounter him again until the second half of Acts chapter 11. Well, we noted last time that that is a moment of transition in the book in Acts 9.31. If you look at this, you'll see that in Acts 9.31, Luke tells us, the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. Now if you go back to the original formulation in Acts 1, all that's left is the end of the earth. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth. Now we have the formulation of Judea, that's where Jerusalem is. Galilee, that's northern, that's where Christ did most of his ministry. Samaria, all that's left is the end of the earth. Luke is telling you that's what the rest of the book is about. Now you know that Acts 10 pertains to Cornelius, but I want to give you something that Luke's readers would have known that we miss if we just read the story, okay? About a generation before the birth of Christ, there's a book written by the poet Virgil. The book is something you said you read in college, but you didn't read. It's called the Aeneid. It is about, among other things, the founding of Rome. And the founder of Rome in that book is not Romulus and Remus. It is a man, a Trojan, named Aeneas. And so when Peter heals the paralyzed man named Aeneas, there's something poetic Luke is telling us with that. That Rome is impotent, that Rome is powerless, that there is the God-man has come, Jesus Christ. You're gonna see in Peter's sermon that we'll read in a couple of moments the phrase, and in Greek it's, let's see if I can call it back, hutos esti kirios pos, he is Lord of all. Dangerous words to say in the house of a Roman soldier. But he is Lord of all, and that miracle preaches that among preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then he raises Tabitha from the dead, and then we're introduced to this man named Cornelius. You're gonna eat. You're introduced to this man named Cornelius. And Cornelius, we read a few things about him. We read that he's a devout man. We read that he is a God-fearer. We read that he gives alms to the poor and that he prays continuously. Now, a God-fearer is someone who is a Gentile who believes in Yahweh, but he's not circumcised. Okay? So it's a believer in God who doesn't follow the rules. We call those Methodists now. But back then we called them God-fearers. Okay. Thank you. And so somewhere my granddaddy heard that and he's laughing. But we're introduced to this man. This man sees a vision. He's given a vision by an angel of the Lord and he's told to send men to go get Peter who is in Joppa. He sends two servants and a God-fearing soldier out to fetch him. Meanwhile, Peter sees a vision. This man who has raised someone from the dead is staying at the home of one Simon the Tanner, a man who deals in death. In fact, it had to be so malodorous that he lives by the ocean. They need that breeze to come wash the smell away. In Peter's vision, he sees this four-cornered sheet And he hears the voice of Christ. Rise, Peter, kill and eat. He sees all these animals. And he says, by no means, 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 made clean, do not call common. And he looks and sees Miss Piggy, and he says, I'm not going to do it. He sees the vision again. This time it's Porky Pig, and he won't do it. He sees the vision a third time, and he looks at Pepa and says, I'm not going to eat it. And right then, there's a knock at the door. And it's these men from Cornelius, and he understands what's happened. He understands in that moment what's being taught to him, an understanding that he would unfortunately lose later but regain. And these Gentile men come to his house and he invites them in. They actually stay overnight. His heart in that moment has changed. And Jesus, the Spirit of Christ is going to lead him to go to Cornelius' house and he gets, they leave the next day. These Gentile men stay at Simon the Tandor's house and the next day they set out to go see Cornelius. They get there and Peter recounts what's happened. Cornelius says, you know, the vision he's seen. And then Cornelius ends his statement to Peter in verse 34, verse 33 with this, now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. So stand with me and we're gonna read our text and this is gonna be the shortest sermon after a text you've ever heard. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality. But in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, 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. 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. But God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 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. 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. To him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, can anyone withhold 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. Go down to 16 in chapter 11. And I remember the word of the Lord, Peter said, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them, he's speaking to the Judaizers, As he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way? When they, the party of the circumcision, heard these things, they fell silent. And they glorified God saying, then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his precious word. We'll discuss three things briefly about Peter's sermon. One, God shows no partiality. Two, the gospel is the good news of peace. And three, the kingdom of Christ will move forward. Peter opens his sermon by saying that now he knows God shows no partiality. Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, he says. Indeed, that's true. All of us need to come to repentance in Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter what race you are, or how much money you got, or where you are in life, what your name is, there is no partiality. We all need Jesus Christ, and in Jesus Christ, we are all accepted equally. Just before the Jerusalem Council, Paul most likely writes Galatians while he's en route there to kind of lay the groundwork for the church council that's going to happen in Jerusalem. He writes to the church at Galatia, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, for there is no male or female, for all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring. according to promise." He's giving a sweet word to these Gentile converts and telling them, you are not less than. When Mary and Joseph bring the Christ child to the temple for a dedication, they come across a man named Simeon. We read that he was righteous and devout and that he was waiting for the consolation of Israel, the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And we saw Jesus, he took him up in his arms and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. We've mentioned Jesus alluding to Elijah and Elisha going to the Gentiles in his first sermon in Luke chapter four. Staying in Luke's corpus, you could go to his healing of the centurion's servant, upon which he said, I tell you, not even Israel have I found such, such faith. Jesus Christ is the great Messiah of Israel. He's the prophet promised by Moses, the greater Joshua, but he came to save not Jew only. Thus we read that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Therefore Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, considers no one unclean. He heals the leper by touching him. To the Pharisee, a violation of the law. To Christ, its fulfillment. A woman with a bloody discharge, physically unclean, an outcast, touches our Savior, and she is not struck down, but she is made well. A Canaanite woman who nobody would come around is the unfortunate woman to Jesus Christ in that moment. I know that's not the parable, the unfortunate woman in the King James Version, but she's the unfortunate woman in that moment to Christ. And he heals her daughter. He says, a woman great is your faith, Be it done for you as you desire. For Jesus Christ, there is no one who is unclean. Those who seek refuge in our Savior are never unclean. All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me, Jesus said. And him that cometh to me, I shall in no wise cast out. That's everybody. So one, God shows no partiality. Two, the gospel is the good news of peace. You want peace in Palestine? People need to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Peace I leave with you, Jesus said, my peace I give you. The gospel of the good news of peace first gives us peace with God. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, Paul wrote, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Paul goes on, since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God that our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. We have been reconciled with God through Jesus Christ, because we were not at peace with him, we were his enemies. And the blood of Jesus Christ puts us at peace with God. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, Paul wrote. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself. So the sinner has peace with God through Jesus Christ, and that's really what atonement means, isn't it? The at-one-ment that we get for God through Jesus Christ. And there's also peace, not only between God and man, but between Jew and Gentile in Christ. If we had continued reading that passage in 2 Corinthians, we would read, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, that is, both Jew and Gentile, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. In Ephesians, Paul writes, remember that you, the Gentiles, were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he, Jesus Christ, is himself our peace, who has made us, that is, both Jew and Gentile, both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. He's broken down in his flesh that dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, that is Jew and Gentile combined. And so in that way making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing hostility. And he came and preached peace to those who were far off peace to those who are near." Paul would refer to that later in Ephesians as a mystery. The mystery is that the Gentiles are the fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. It is a great mystery that Jew and Gentile partake in the gospel of Jesus Christ together. In fact, Isn't that the whole issue that Paul deals with in the second half of Acts? He goes to a synagogue, he preaches Jesus Christ, some converts, largely Christ is rejected, and then he goes to the Gentiles. And throughout, he's being chased by these Judaizers who want Gentile converts to pass through Judaism to get to Christianity. And that's what's going on in Acts chapter 15. And James, at the apex, at the zenith, at the crescendo of Acts 15, James says that the rebuilding of the tent of David promised by Amos, that's not a physical tent. It's Gentile inclusion into the body of Christ. It is people from every tongue, tribe, and nation coming to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thus, you don't have to pass through Judaism to become a Christian. And in Acts chapter 11, the Judaizers, the party of the circumcision, For a moment, they recognize that truth. For they say then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. Repentance is a gift of God. And in the first century, everybody would have acknowledged that repentance is a gift from God. The dispute was, on whom is he going to grant that gift? And one of our great hopes, both Jew and Gentile, is this. that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. And God indeed has put all things in subjection to Christ, has he not? So one, Peter preaches that God shows no partiality. Two, he preaches that we have peace in Christ. And three, What I get from this sermon, I think what's being preached in this sermon that Peter preaches and the phenomenon that happens immediately thereafter is this, that the kingdom of Christ will move forward throughout the whole world. What you see as Peter's preaching is the Holy Spirit falls for the third time in the book of Acts. He fell at Pentecost. He fell at Samaria when the apostles laid their hands on the Samaritans. He fell here at Cornelius' house and will fall one more time in Acts chapter 19. Is it time for me to stop? The presence of the Spirit here is very much temple language. The Spirit is not in the temple. We've discussed that a number of times. That second temple never gets the Shekinah glory of God coming down to it. But now the Spirit is falling on Jew. falling on Samaritan, and now on this God-fearing Gentile, so that the Spirit is present in a new and profound way throughout the whole world. And like in the creation narrative, the whole world should now be seen as the temple of God. And very quickly, I want to distinguish for you again the difference between Holy Spirit baptism being filled with the Spirit and regeneration. Regeneration, the work that the Spirit of God does in you, is how you are saved. It is how Abraham was saved. It is how Moses was saved. It is how Peter was saved when he declared that Jesus is the Christ. It is how every person has been saved, whoever was saved, is a work of God, that is regeneration. Then there is the concept of being filled with the Spirit. Well, I can tell you one man who was never regenerated and who is at the right hand of God, and that's Jesus Christ. He didn't have to be regenerated, but Luke does tell us he was full of the Spirit. So there must be a difference between being filled with the Spirit and being regenerated. In fact, that language comes up several times in the Book of Acts, and it comes up in two ways. One is a special empowerment for a moment. So if Peter's in prison and he's about to preach a sermon to his captors, he may be filled with the Spirit. It is also used as language to describe someone who is mature in the faith, someone who's full of the Spirit and wisdom. And then there is the idea of Holy Spirit baptism. That is the idea of Christ baptizing his church with the Holy Spirit, and that happens exactly four times. It happens in Acts chapter two at Pentecost, it happens in Acts chapter eight at Samaria, it happens in Acts chapter 10 with Cornelius, and it happens in Acts chapter 19 when Paul comes across the disciples of John. In three of those instances, Holy Spirit baptism is associated with tongue speaking. This will give us something to talk about at lunch. Tongue speaking, we've talked a number of times about how the miracles in the New Testament must preach something, right? If you miss the sermon that the miracle's preaching, you don't understand the miracle. So when Tabitha is raised from the dead, that is preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, what on earth is tongue speaking preaching? Well, I'm gonna tell you it's preaching two things. One is it preaches the global nature of the kingdom of Christ. And two, it preaches judgment on national Israel. Well, you ask me, where's the judgment? Well, Paul wrote this to the church at Corinth. And whatever tongue speaking was, we can all agree that Corinth was doing it wrong. But Paul wrote this to the church at Corinth. He said, brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil. But in your thinking, be mature. In the law, it is written, by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people. And even then, they will not listen to me, says the Lord. Thus tongues, Paul wrote, are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers. That citation to the law he makes is from the prophet Isaiah chapter 28. where Isaiah is prophesying about the Assyrian invasion of Israel. So it is Isaiah 28 is a prophecy about judgment, judgment by Yahweh on Israel via the Assyrian invasion. So Paul in first Corinthians is using that same thought to display how foreign tongues are a sign of judgment. That is frankly culminated in that whole idea culminates in 70 AD in the destruction of the temple. Thus tongues and acts is linked with disbelieving Jews. First in Acts 2, where people are there and they think the disciples are drunk. And then here, when you have believers among the circumcised. Now, when I say disbelieving, I mean they're not unbelievers. They're disbelieving what the nature of the kingdom is. The believers from among the circumcised who'd come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For, now listen, catch it, for they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. The purpose of tongues in that moment is as a corrective to those circumcised believers who had come down with Peter. Thus Peter declares, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing this people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? Then we go to Acts 19, Paul lays hands on the disciples of John and that's how the Holy Spirit comes on them and then they go to the synagogues and they're preaching the kingdom and they're run out and they end up going to the school of Tyrannus and preaching to the Gentiles. The only instance of the Spirit coming down and there being no tongue speaking is Acts 8 with the Samaritans. The Samaritans, like the Jews, spoke Aramaic. And nobody comes down with Peter and John to see the Samaritan conversion. In other words, the underlying purpose of tongue speaking aren't there in that episode. There is no underlying purpose of judgment that could be conveyed there, nor of the global, worldwide nature of the kingdom of God, because they speak the same language. So that same sermon is not there to be preached, and there's really no one to preach that sermon to. But tongue speaking preaches not only judgment, that's the negative side of it, it also preaches the global, worldwide nature of the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Compare the Old Covenant with the New. In the Old Covenant, the Old Covenant is ethnic, it's local, it's the borders of Palestine, and it is under the economy of the law. The New Covenant is not ethnically limited in any way. Every tongue and tribe will bend knee to Jesus Christ. And there is neither Jew nor Greek in the New Covenant. There's no ethnic component. It is global in scope, so it's not ethnically limited and it's not regional. in his global in scope. Thus, when Peter is standing in the house of a Roman soldier, and he says, hutas esti kirios pas, some tongue speaking, he is Lord of all. He is the anointed one. He is declaring to this Roman soldier that Jesus Christ is King, not just of the Jews, but of the whole world. He preaches that in the house of a Roman soldier. and that we are not under the economy of law, we are under the economy of grace. Friends, the law was 100%, 100%, not 99%, not theoretically, 100% fulfilled in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The law is now obsolete. And that is preached and taught through the conversion of this Cornelius and the response of that party of the circumcision, where Cornelius, he doesn't get circumcised there, but he is granted the gift of repentance, just like the Jews had been. So I'm gonna end with this encouragement to you about the kingdom of our Lord. Therefore, God has highly exalted him. and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Father, thank you for showing no partiality. Thank you for loving people of every tongue, tribe, and nation. Thank you that King Jesus is King over all, and thank you for using your church to spread the kingdom throughout the world. Bless us in missions efforts to spread the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, and bless us in our homes that we would magnify Christ daily in the local mission field, which is our community. In Jesus' holy and precious name we pray, amen.