And as we normally do, I wanna take a few moments to address our children in particular, just to say a few words to those of you who are here before some of you are gonna be dismissed as we look to this passage. As always, we have these little handouts in the seats in front of you also, children, for you to take some notes on and just a means of helping you to connect with the things that we're looking at. And we encourage families to take advantage of the opportunity to work these truths out throughout the day and throughout the week to talk about these matters and so parents you can help your children in those ways and just encourage you to take advantage of it as we did last week I want to look really at the same verse that we looked at at the beginning of our time last week and that is Acts chapter 10 verse 36 and again it's on page 919 in those copies of Scripture in the seats in front of you Acts chapter 10 verse 36 let me read it and then say a few words to children with us here's what we find in God's Word at this point as for the word that he sent to Israel preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ he is Lord of all Now this is the Apostle Peter speaking, and he's speaking to a man named Cornelius, who he is about to share the gospel with, and Cornelius is going to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But Peter begins what he says to Cornelius with this statement, with reference to Jesus Christ, that He is Lord of all. He is the one who rules over everything. And in the context in which Peter is speaking this, he's making it clear that he has come to a fuller understanding that Jesus and all of the blessings that God has given in Jesus are not just for the Jews only, but for Gentiles as well. They're for people from every tribe and every tongue and every nation in the world, that anyone can come to faith in Christ who would come to Him. And so Peter says that he is Lord of all. Now, children, what we're going to be talking about this morning is, if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and that's an amazing statement, and we talked last week about the different ways in which Jesus' authority is evidenced in this passage, the way we see it. this passage. This morning we're going to talk about if He is Lord of all, then so what? What does that mean in our lives, and what are the ways that should work out in our lives on a day-to-day basis if Jesus Christ is Lord of all? Well the big idea, if you're taking notes, kids, this is what you can write down for the big idea. The big idea is this. If Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then we must follow Him. We must follow Him. If He is Lord of all, He deserves our obedience. We must follow Him. That's the big idea that we see and that we're gonna be looking at. You might think of it this way, and I'm curious, children, how many of you are on some kind of a sports team, or maybe you've been on some kind of a sports team before? You can raise your hands. That's great. Okay, a lot of you. You can put your hands down. Well, you know that if you're on a team, whether it's basketball, whether it's soccer, whether it's swimming, or some other kind of sport that you maybe play, you have a coach. You have a coach on that team, and that coach has a particular responsibility to help coach you. They lead the team. They have authority over the team. Now, if that coach is the coach of the team, then as a player on that team, what are you supposed to do? You're supposed to follow the coach, right? You're supposed to do what the coach says. So if the coach is the coach, then you're supposed to follow the coach. That's kind of how that works. Well in a much greater way, if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, and all means all, everything, everyone, everywhere, all the time, if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then we must follow Him. He deserves our absolute trust, our absolute obedience in everything. What we're gonna look at this morning is what does that look like? do that? What does it look like in our lives on a day-to-day basis? So that's the truth we're looking at this morning. If Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then we must follow Him. And with that, we want to go ahead and dismiss the young ones who are going to go across the way to our building over there. And we always like to remind folks, they're welcomed and encouraged to remain in here. But for those who desire, there's folks who will be teaching God's Word to them as well. So God bless all of you as you go. And for the rest of us, again, as we did last week, we are again going to look into this passage in Acts chapter 10 and want to read the fuller passage that begins in verse 34 and then goes to the end of chapter 10, to the end there in verse 48. So let me read this and then lead us in prayer and then we'll look more fully into the things that the Lord has for us this morning. So Acts chapter 10 beginning in verse 34. So Peter opened his mouth and he 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 happens 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. And 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 then they asked Him to remain for some days." This is the Word of our living God. Let me lead us in prayer again as we ask for His help. O great Holy Father, even as we have sung We pray that you would show us Christ. We pray that you would reveal your glory afresh to us, and as we know you have revealed your glory in your words, so we pray that you would help us to see that glory and to know ever more fully the greatness of this work that you have accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ and that you have given Him to be Lord over all, even as He lived, even as He died, even as He has now risen from the dead and exalted your right hand to be Lord of all. Oh, Father, may you cause us to see and to know and to trust and to follow You all the more because of Your great glory and Your purposes in Him. Lord, we know that this is Your will, that You would shepherd Your people, that You would feed us, that You would lead us, that You would correct us and comfort us and strengthen us, that You would feed us, Lord, as we are in such desperate need of Your nourishment. And so we pray that You would accomplish that today. We know that you are able, we know that this is your will, and so we thank you in advance for all that you would do for the glory of your name and your purposes in us in Christ. And it's in his great name that we pray, amen. Amen. Well, we do see from beginning to end in all of Scripture, and certainly in a very pronounced way in this passage, that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He rules over everyone, He rules over everything, everywhere, all the time. It's been said that there is not one square inch of all that He has created of which He cannot say and of which He does not say, mine mine now we saw this truth very clearly last week as we looked at this larger section that really we began in chapter 9 verse 32 went to the end of chapter 25 and with all of these events that are recorded within that passage that revolve around God's work through Peter, we saw that Jesus rules over all disease and death, that He rules over all gospel advancement, that we come to find that the gospel, as I mentioned earlier, is not just for Jews, but it is for people from every tribe and tongue and nation. And we saw that he rules over all wicked rebels, as we learn of this event in chapter 12 of this man Herod, who was the Roman ruler of the day during the early church, and how God saw fit because Herod did not bring glory to God, and Herod's rebellion was manifest in so many different ways that he ultimately was destroyed. And in all of these events, again, seeing that Jesus is the one, clearly, powerfully, sovereignly, comprehensively, who rules over all. He is supreme in His authority. He is, as Tim reminded us during the equipping hour this morning, He is free from all external control. He answers to no one. He seeks counsel from no one. He is accountable to no one. He rules and He reigns supreme. Now, of course, in the realm of all that God has created, there are many different aspects of delegated authority that God has given. We find this in the family. We find this within government. We find this within the church. There are realms of authority that are delegated authority, but He is the one who rules and reigns over everything. And every realm of delegated authority in this world ultimately answers to Him. He is sovereign. He is supreme. He is free from all external control. He is the infinite, eternal, holy King of kings and Lord of lords. His is not a democracy. His is a monarchy with Him Himself as the King. Now this is a focal point again of this entire section that we've read and really of the entire book of Acts and really of all of Scripture. And through Luke, who is the human author of the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is pleased to reveal all of these events with the birth and the growth of the early church following the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven. He's written these things so that believers would be all the more assured of his authority, and all the more assured of his power to bring to fulfillment all of his purposes that he has purposed in Christ. And against all opposition, against all persecution, against every obstacle, against every challenge, against everything that Satan would bring against Christ and against His saving purposes, He yet reigns supreme. And these matters are given for us, beloved, that we might see and know and be assured evermore fully of Christ's reign, and in that assurance that we would trust and that we would obey Him all the more. And I mentioned last week as we looked into this section that what takes place really represents a couple of significant seismic shifts in the understanding of Peter and the other apostles and really the entire early church, a couple of seismic shifts in their understanding of God's purposes in Christ. Namely, number one, that the gospel was not only meant for Jews, but was meant for those from every tribe and tongue and nation. And this is the seismic shift of what occurs with the salvation of Cornelius, who was a Gentile. And all that God did in bringing this about is he worked sovereignly in Peter's life, as he worked sovereignly in Cornelius' life. And then in chapter 11, as we read of Peter giving account to the leaders and to the church in Jerusalem, this event as he worked sovereignly in their lives to bring about the understanding for the early church that that this is a universal gospel it is made available to all and that was a seismic shift in the understanding of the church because at that point they understood the blessings of salvation to be only within the realm of those who were Jews and there was a perspective that for anyone to come to Christ they in a sense first had to become a Jew and then come to Christ Well, this was a massive shift, a seismic shift in their understanding to see the universal nature of the command and of the invitation of the gospel going forward. The second seismic shift has to do with the geographical progress of the advancement of the gospel. As Luke makes clear in the beginning in chapter 1, he quotes the words of Jesus telling the disciples that there to be witnesses of His, first in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria, then to the uttermost parts of the earth. That really forms the framework of the narrative that we find in the book of Acts. And we see the gospel going forth first in Jerusalem in the early chapters, and then there's the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria. Well now, in this section, as the believers, many of them, move to the city of Antioch, which is 450 miles north of Jerusalem, Antioch becomes the base of operations, as it were, for the church, then spreading from there to the outermost parts of the earth. Which is why in chapter 13, that's where the narrative picks up again, with the believers, many of them in Antioch and the Holy Spirit, moving them out to be preaching the gospel, particularly through the ministry of Paul and his co-worker Barnabas. But so this is what's taking place within this section, the demonstration of the work of the risen Christ in the ongoing teaching that he is accomplishing among his people and in the ongoing work that he is doing in the advancement of the gospel. And again, central to all of this is this clear reality that Jesus is Lord of all. Now, While it is true that He is Lord of all, those of us who are Christians, those of us who are believers, I think often fail to understand and to live in light of the implications of this great truth. In other words, though he is Lord of all, which we understand as an objective, an objective unchanging reality. We don't make him Lord. Nobody makes him Lord. He is Lord of all. That is an objective reality. But while that's true, Oftentimes, we don't count Him to be Lord in our subjective day-to-day experience. We don't think through and we don't often live out the implications of the fact that He is Lord of all. It can often be just a cliche statement that becomes a part of our language, our terminology as Christians. Oh yes, Jesus is Lord. We know that Jesus is Lord. We sing about that. We pray about that. We talk about that. but how much all of us continually need to live under that reality and to live in light of the implications of that in our day-to-day lives. And so what I want to do today as we consider this truth, and particularly as we see things evidenced in the life of Peter and in the early church, but particularly Peter, even within the context of the passage that we're looking at, I want us to think through and to look at some of the practical implications of the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. and what it means for Him to be our all in all because He is Lord of all. And as I shared with the children, this is really the central idea to everything that we're gonna look at, that if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then we must follow Him. We must be humble under His authority. We could say that if He is Lord of all, then He must be our all in all. And the question becomes, well, what does that look like? How does that play out in our day-to-day lives, Monday through Friday, and in the framework of all of the things that encompass our lives, what does it look like to live as if Jesus is Lord of all? How do we understand this? Well, again, I think we see many things evidenced in Peter's life, and that's what I want us to look at this morning. And so we're going to focus in on six implications, six practical implications of the truth that Jesus is Lord of all, and as suggested by the title, if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then what does it mean in terms of how we should live? The overarching idea is that we should be humble under his authority, we should follow him, he should be our all in all, but We're going to work that out in six practical implications of all of that. Again, as we see these evidenced in Peter's life and in what we find within this section. So here we go. Practical implication number one. If Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then we must be captivated and confident in His great worth. We must be captivated and confident in His worth. His worth must be all that captivates us. Now to speak of His worth is to speak of His excellency, to speak of His supremacy, to speak of His infinite glory. Now it's clear that this was a growing and a deepening reality in Peter's life. As he is now indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and as his understanding of Scripture is increasing, and even as God is bringing new revelation to him to open up his understanding that much more, it's clear that Peter himself was increasingly captivated by and confident in the worth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was preeminent in Peter's heart and in Peter's mind. In the sermon, in the words that he shares with Cornelius, we see this very distinctly. In verses 34 through 36, Peter is very mindful that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He understands that the reigning and ruling Jesus Christ is the one who is supreme over all. He acknowledges him as Lord over all. In verses 37 through 43, as he moves through the content of the gospel that he shares with Cornelius, all of that is displaying his understanding of understanding and knowing Jesus as the Savior of all who would trust him. And within that gospel presentation, and it's intriguing and it's distinct throughout all of Acts, that Luke has recorded numerous proclamations of the gospel, preaching And the sharing of the gospel is central to what we find in the narrative of Acts. And this shouldn't surprise us because we're learning in Acts about the birth and the growth of the early church, and the birth and the growth of the church through the power of the Holy Spirit flowing from the exalted authority and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The birth and growth of all of it revolves around the preaching of God's Word. And so as we find and as we've already seen in earlier chapters in Acts and as We'll see in chapters that follow from where we're at, the preaching of the gospel is prominent. And in verses 37 through 43, this is what Peter is doing. He's preaching the gospel, he's sharing the gospel. Now it's a more abbreviated form here as we find it in this particular narrative, but he speaks about the good news of peace that God was proclaiming and accomplishing through Jesus. The good news of peace, that a sinful man can be reconciled to a holy God, that that one with whom we have been opposed to, we can now be reconciled to through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter goes on to talk about the baptism of Jesus and affirming God's display of his authority and his purposes in Christ. He speaks about the public ministry of Jesus within this section. The fact that Jesus went about doing good and he healed and certainly implied within all of that is the fact that Jesus also was preaching in the midst of all of this. This is why Peter begins there in the very beginning of verse 36, the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ. In addition to doing good and healing, Jesus was preaching of the kingdom. In verse 39, he speaks of the crucifixion Christ in verse 40 through 42 he speaks of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the verse 43 is really an invitation to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ when he says to him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name that's the invitation to come to faith in Christ and so Peter is proclaiming Jesus as Lord and as Savior, and in so doing, he is proclaiming his infinite worth. And he's proclaiming and giving evidence that even in his own life, Peter, who had repented and trusted Christ and knew personally the cleansing of his forgiveness and all of the blessings that came through his life and his death and his resurrection, Peter was a personal recipient of that, and he's proclaiming Christ as Lord and Savior. And so we see that he is counting him as the one who is of ultimate worth, captivated by his worth, confident by his worth. And for those who would know Jesus as Lord, that should be an increasing evident reality in our lives, that we're growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are growing in our counting of Him as more worthy than anyone or anything within this world. Peter also makes reference to Jesus being the judge. As he says there in verse 42, 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. He is the one who holds all men accountable. So he is the Lord, he is the Savior, he is the judge, he is the one of infinite, infinite worth. and he was captivated. Peter was captivated and confident in this infinite worth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew and understood him as Lord of all. And isn't it true, beloved, how easily we can become overly captivated with far lesser things. Now there's nothing wrong with enjoying to the glory of God and giving thanks to the glory of God all of the many things by way of blessing that we know in this world. And we could list countless things, but how easily we can become more captivated with the gifts that God gives than with God himself. And foundational to knowing Jesus as Lord is this matter of being captivated and confident in His infinite worth. And oh, may God give us grace to be all the more preeminently captivated with Him, to see His glory, His grace, His goodness, His beauty, His sufficiency, His wisdom, His power, His authority, and to be living and walking with Him by faith and rejoicing in Him, gazing upon Him, being captivated by Him, as He has revealed Himself in His Word." So really, the starting point of everything in terms of living under the Lordship of Christ and within the Lordship of Christ is to be increasingly captivated by His infinite, glorious worth as Lord, as Savior, as Judge. Well, flowing from that, a second implication that we can see and And you'll see how all of these implications work together. They really represent different aspects of one central reality of humbly submitting to his authority through faith. But the second specific implication that we see is that his work must be all that consumes us. His work must be all that consumes us. We must be consumed with his great work is another way that we could say it. Now remember, all of the events that we are finding throughout the book of Acts are really not so much the acts of the apostles, though clearly God is using the apostles, using the early church for his purposes in the preaching of the word of God. But it's all about the work of Jesus himself, risen and exalted. And again, just to remind you, this is how the entire book begins. Luke says in verse one of chapter one in the first book, O Theophilus, referring to the gospel of Luke that he had written, he says, I've dealt with all that Jesus began to do and to teach. All that he began to do and teach. That's what Luke recorded in the gospel of Luke. Now in the book of Acts, he's carrying on with all that Jesus is continuing to do and teach now that he's risen and exalted. And what he's doing and what he's teaching in the power of the Holy Spirit through the lives of the apostles. But this is all his work. Now, how do we understand the work of Jesus, all that he began to do and teach while he was on this earth? How do we understand that? Well, Peter really summarizes that with what he says in verses 36 through 38 of chapter 10. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he's 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. The essence of how we can summarize all that Jesus did and taught during his earthly ministry was that he went about doing good. Certainly an aspect of that doing good was the healing the miracles that he performed in people's lives and he preached and he preached he went about doing good and he preached and That's the very same work that we see taking place with the Apostles it's exactly what Peter is doing and we read at the end of last week we read at the end of chapter 9 where Peter did good. He was used of God to bring healing to a man who had been paralyzed. He was used of God to raise to life this dear faithful woman named Dorcas or Tabitha who had died. He went about doing good and he preached. So the point is is that the work that Jesus is doing is the work that he calls his people to be doing. Going about doing good and preaching. And if we are to know Him as Lord and to follow Him as Lord, we likewise must be concerned with His, or consumed with His great work. Realizing this is the work that Jesus is doing, this is the work that He calls us to do. Now just a quick footnote, as I've mentioned on previous occasions, and we won't go into all the details of it, but in the early church and with those original apostles, they were given unique supernatural abilities perform miracles and those miracles were designed by God to help authenticate the credibility the authority of the message that they were proclaiming well now that we have God's Word in the fullness of his revelation as it's now given to us in the 66 books of Scripture we see no evidence from the New Testament that those original miraculous gifts given to the Apostles we see no evidence that those now carry on and that's why we Don't see and understand those as gifts that are normative for the church today. But we do see the operation of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit transforming lives as He saves people through the preaching of the gospel and as He conforms us more and more to Christ, enabling us to live out these good works that He calls us to do in obedience to Him and in the countless ways in which that's to play out in our lives. and also enabling us to preach the gospel. And so the point of this point is that if we are following Christ as Lord, as He is the one who goes about doing good and who preaches the gospel, so we should be concerned with His work as well. We should be consumed with this work, understanding everything in our lives as really boiling down to that, that in knowing Him and through the power of His Spirit, every aspect of our life is to be about doing good and preaching the gospel. And we understand as we see so many places in God's word that we are not saved by good works. We could never do enough to make ourself pleasing in God's sight. We could never do enough to escape from God's judgment. It is grace, it is all of grace by which we are saved that God in Christ and through Christ has forgiven those who trust him counted us as righteous not because we possess that righteousness but because Christ was righteous and he was perfect and so his righteousness is credited is imputed to those who trust him and so were made acceptable to God through the work of Christ and through the work of Christ alone but in that work and through the power of the Holy Spirit as we live in the hope and the power and the riches of all that God has given us, good works are to overflow from our lives in every aspect of our lives. And the good works that the Lord calls us to do aren't just individual acts here and there, but they encompass everything about us. Whatever job you may have, that's one aspect of the good works God calls you to do, to do that job in a way that honors and pleases the Lord and that's consistent with His will and with His purposes. Whatever hobbies you may have, whether you're in school, whatever else may encompass your life in any way is all a part of this mixture of things that make up the good works that we are to be doing and to be living out. And to be consumed with this because of understanding that this is the work of Christ. And again, this is what we see evidenced in Peter's life, as he's going about and doing good, and he's preaching the gospel. And as the Lord directs and leads in every situation, every opportunity, that's what he's doing. And so, beloved, I would just ask, is this how you understand your life? Whatever else may encompass your life, that you, in following the Lord Jesus Christ, are to be about the work of doing good and preaching the gospel. Again, in countless ways that might play out in everything. You know, a construction worker who's working on a job usually is not building for himself, but he's building following the design of another person, following the blueprint of another person. He's not working for himself, he's following somebody else's design. And in similar fashion, the Lord Jesus Christ is building his church. And He calls every single one of us in the unique ways that He has made us with our particular talents and abilities and spiritual gifts and opportunities and everything that's a part of the mixture of our lives to be doing our part and to be filling that out. seeking to do good and do good works and to be preaching the gospel. One of the ways that we've seen this play out in our own family, my wife Lori has had opportunity as our kids have played different sports through the years to be a team mom and she's currently doing that with our son and his football team and has done that in the past and it becomes just a great opportunity for her to not only be doing good and to be serving and to be ministering and showing kindness and countless different ways, but all of that sort of provides a platform for proclaiming the gospel. And there's been countless unique opportunities that she has had and some that I've had by extension with other folks who are connected with the sports to be proclaiming the gospel, to be ministering to people. And there's countless platforms that God gives to us, countless ways this can play out in our lives. Again, it encompasses every aspect of our lives that if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then we must be consumed with His work and think of our lives in terms of doing good and preaching the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, there's a third implication, very much relates to this and almost maybe kind of splitting hairs to separate these, but I think it's still significant. And again, we see this evidenced in the life of Peter, not only that he was captivated by the worth of Christ, not only that he was consumed with the work of Christ, but a third implication we see is that Peter was concerned with the will of Christ. He was concerned with the will of Christ. And we see this in his growing knowledge of Christ's will and his submission to Christ's will. Now think about this with Peter, okay? We know a lot about Peter. One of the significant things we know about Peter, especially during Jesus' earthly ministry, before he went to the cross, is that Peter often put his foot in his mouth. And Peter often resisted the will of Christ. And Jesus had to rebuke him. And of course, the most pronounced example of that is when Peter denied him when Christ was arrested. Peter abandoned him. because Peter was more concerned with Peter's will than he was with the will of Jesus the Lord. But he's growing, and we see God restoring him. Jesus restored him in John chapter 21, and of course in the book of Acts, especially in the early chapters in the birth of the church. Who is it on the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit has come, who is it that stands up and begins to preach? Well, it's Peter. And now here's Peter again. being used of God to be the vehicle through whom the gospel would begin to move to Gentiles as well. Now what's interesting, and we looked at this last week, we won't take time to go back over all of it right now, but in chapter 10, Earlier in chapter 10, God appears to Peter through a vision as Peter is praying, and he gives him this dramatic vision with this sheet that lowers down that Peter sees, and there's all these animals, and Peter's commanded by God to kill and to eat. And Peter resists this, as Peter was often prone to do. And Peter says, Lord, I have never eaten anything unclean, to which the Lord responds to him and gives further instruction and exhortation and clarification. But the point to see is that Peter was coming into a fuller understanding of and submission to the will of Christ. And beloved, if we are to know Christ as Lord, and if we are to humbly follow His authority, we must ever yield our interests, our desires, our perspectives to Him and to His will. And in Peter's life, this meant submitting to Christ's will in Peter's circumstances. Remember, he's praying, we're told back in chapter nine, verse 32, that Peter was going here and there among them all. He comes down to the saints who live at Lydda, But from that little village, he's eventually directed to go to Joppa. From Joppa, he goes to Caesarea, and that's where all these events unfold. And in his circumstances, Peter is given evidence of being submissive to the will of Christ in his circumstances, even to the point in chapter 12 where he's arrested and being held to be killed by Herod. And in God's mercy and in God's power for Peter at that point, he's ultimately released But nonetheless, we see this sense of Peter submitting to Christ's will in his circumstances, and Peter also submitting to Christ's revelation. He's learning, he's adjusting his thinking, he's changing the way he thinks and his disposition in accordance with what he's learning of Christ's revelation as he learns his will. And so he's submitting, and beloved, if we're to know Christ as Lord, if we're to acknowledge Christ as Lord, we must be willing to submit our will to Him and to follow His will. It's interesting even in Peter's life to see the parallels of what we know of his experience as we find it in the Gospels, as we find it very prominently in these early chapters in the book of Acts, but then to consider things that Peter says in his own letters. And we won't look at all of these connections, but it's a fascinating study to see the parallels between the things that God's doing in and through Peter's lives life and what he is now exhorting to others. But listen to what Peter says, one example of this, in 1 Peter 4, verses one and two. He says, since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking. For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. Again, you think Peter had some personal experience in that? You think he had some detailed testimony that he could give about the distinction between living for the passions of the flesh and living for the will of God? Absolutely. And that is what we are called to do, to die to our own sinful passions, to kill those sinful passions, and to continually understand and be submitted to the will of God. in accordance with what He's revealed, and in accordance with how that plays out in our circumstances. And isn't it true, there's so many burdens, so many challenges, so many trials that the Lord brings our way. Difficult responsibilities that He calls us to. Sometimes difficult relationships that we find ourselves in. Much that can come our way by way of pain and grief and sorrow. And the Lord, of course, knows and He cares about all of our cares, but we must learn to see that more than changing our circumstances, God is interested in changing us and in causing us to be yielded to His will and to His purposes. So often when we find ourselves in these difficult, painful, grievous kinds of circumstances, our knee-jerk reaction, our knee-jerk prayer is, Lord, get me out of this, or some form of that yearning. And that's understandable enough, but it's a mark of growth, it's a mark of of maturity in Christ to pray more and more, Lord, what is your will for me in this situation? Lord, what would you have for me? What are my responsibilities before you? Even as I'm trusting you to help me and to comfort me and to strengthen me, Lord, what is your will for me? Peter was yielded to his will increasingly. He was concerned about his will, and beloved, so must we be if we seek to follow him and to know him as Lord. So we must be captivated by his great worth. We must be consumed with his great work. We must be concerned about his great will. Very much related to all of this is a fourth implication. We must be counseled by his great word. We must be counseled by his great word. Beloved, we see this in Peter, how his understanding of, his submission to, and his being a faithful steward with the Word of Christ was ever increasing. Now again, earlier in chapter 10, as God brings this vision to him, brings new revelation to him, initially Peter is resistant. Lord, I'm not going to do that. I've never done that. And so three times, God tells him the same thing. And eventually, Peter gets the message. And eventually, Peter submits because he's allowing himself in faith in Christ and in submission to Christ, he's allowing his mind to be changed according to God's word. He's allowing himself to be counseled by the word of God. Beloved, if we are to know Christ as Lord, if we are to live as if He is Lord, it must ever be our disposition, first and foremost, to be concerned with, well, what does God say? What does God say? Now, God no longer speaks by way of vision because His Word is complete. He's given us the completeness of His revelation. Beloved, this is the vision of God. And He has given us everything necessary for us to know Him, and to trust Him, and to follow Him, and to understand His Word in an increasing way, and to be counseled by His Word. You see, it's interesting for Peter, even in his experience, and even in this section, as we see with what he shares to Cornelius. He makes reference to the fact that he had come to a new and a clear understanding. Notice that distinctly in verse 34 and 35 of chapter 10. Peter opens his mouth, he says, 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. Why does Peter understand that? because God told him. He heard the revelation of God. And so his understanding changed. He changed his understanding because of what God had revealed. He had a regard for the revelation that God had given through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he makes reference to that in verse 36 and what follows, as for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ. And then he goes on again to share the details of the gospel. Peter also had a regard for the revelation that God had given through Old Testament prophecy. Notice down there in verse 43 again what he says, to him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. It was beginning to come together ever more fully for Peter based on the revelation of God. Beloved, if we're to know Him as Lord, very practically, do we submit to His Word? Do we allow His Word to counsel us, to convict us, to instruct us, to change us, to correct us when we need to be corrected? If we are to know Him as Lord, if we are to follow Him as Lord, we must allow His Word to be all that counsels us. And that any counsel we may seek from others is to only be measured by the counsel of God's word itself. And that's why as you and I seek counsel, and well we should, it should always be in the context of my goal, my desire, my passion, my burden is to understand what God would say about this. And so if I'm going to other people, I'm going so that they might help illuminate to me and point me to Scripture to help me see more fully what God's Word brings to bear on this. This is why we gather corporately, even as we do right now, to hear the Word of God preached and explained, and that's why we sit under the teaching and preaching of God's Word. That's why we're to be reading God's Word and studying God's Word, memorizing God's Word, that we might know the mind of God, that we might follow the counsel of God. This is where it becomes very, very, very practical. You know, so often our disposition towards God's Word can be, and I have said this at times, and you've probably said this at times, when we're confronted with some issue, when we're confronted with the mind of God in something, we see it clearly in Scripture. We may not always say it this way, but we're thinking this way. Well, I know that's what God says, but... And there's always some reason that we can find that we don't want to submit to the counsel of God's word. Beloved, where do you go for counsel? Where do you go for your thinking to be shaped? Is it to the word of God? His word alone is the word of life. This is why Peter would say in 1 Peter 2, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word. hunger for it, crave after it, allow your thinking to be shaped and formed by the Word of God, because, beloved, your thinking, my thinking, is being shaped and formed by something. It's either the world, it's either the devil and all of his evil, deceptive philosophies and lies, or it's God and His truth. And it's interesting, again, even in our narrative, that it wasn't just Peter whose mind needed to be brought into conformity with the Word of God, It was the entire church. Remember, as we read in chapter 11, and this is why this whole event holds such prominence in chapters 10 and 11, that it's reported back to the church and to the leaders of the church in Jerusalem that Peter has done the most audacious thing in the world as a Jew, and he's gone into the home of a Gentile. This was unheard of. This was unacceptable. And they criticized Peter. But as Peter begins to recount to the early church what transpired and how it transpired and how God had brought this revelation and made clear what his purpose and his truth was, notice how the whole church responds as we read over in chapter 11, verse 18. When they heard these things, they fell silent, and they glorified God, saying then to the Gentiles, God has granted repentance that leads to life. They fell silent. Why? Because they understood and they submitted to the Word of God. Beloved, if we know Jesus as Lord and to acknowledge Him as Lord and to humbly follow His authority, it means that we must be ever counseled by His Word and have a regard for His Word and seek to understand and to apply His Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, men in particular, isn't it true that we're notorious if we get some new little thing to put together, maybe like a new barbecue or a bicycle or something like that, we're notorious for trying to do it on our own without reading the instructions, right? Anybody else guilty of that? Okay, the rest of you are liars. Put your hands down, that's okay. I'm that way, I think we all are. Okay, maybe you're not. I don't mean to, well, anyways. We're notorious, why? Because we want to figure it out. We think we know how to do it. The proverb is always true in big ways and small ways. There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is a way of death. That's Proverbs 14 12. Need to learn to go to the instructions. Need the Lord to go to the authority. Need to learn to go to the word of God and be counseled by the word of God and the word of God alone. as we seek to follow Christ as Lord. A fifth implication of all of this, again all of these woven together, is we see that if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then we must be content in His ways. We must be content in His ways. trusting the wisdom of his shepherding care in our lives and learning to be content. And again we see this in Peter's life implicit to everything that he experiences within the worth and the work and the will and the Word of Christ is evidence that Peter is learning to trust the ways of Christ and how he let Christ lead him. to various places and to various circumstances, even to the point of being in prison under Herod, even as he had already been in prison a couple of times before with the religious leaders. But there's this sense that he was content and he was seeking Christ in the midst of these things, seeking to honor Christ. and letting Christ teach him and use him. It's interesting that this was a lesson that Jesus had prophesied to Peter that he was going to need to learn. And just to briefly see this, let me remind you of what Jesus said to Peter back in John chapter 21. After Jesus had risen from the dead, this provides for us the account of Jesus meeting up with Peter and restoring him to ministry. And listen to what he says to him in verses 15 to 17, Jesus makes clear to Peter the essence of his responsibilities in obedience to Christ. And what is it? To shepherd my sheep, feed my sheep, care for my flock. And then listen to what he says to him in verses 18 and 19. Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God and after saying this he said to him, follow me. He doesn't give all of the details but Jesus prophesies to Peter of how it is he is going to die and that he is going to be led somewhere that he doesn't want to go. What's amazing is we see Peter's progress in his maturity and his growth in his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ even evidenced in these chapters that we're looking at is a greater willingness, a greater submission, a greater contentment on Peter's part in submitting to the ways of Christ in his life. And so again, within his submission and trust to the worth, work, will, and word of Christ, he's learning to trust the wisdom of Christ and submitting to Christ's ways. And again, if we took time to read through 1 Peter, even 2 Peter, we would see this all over the place in terms of his exhortation for God's people to do what? To trust him, and to submit to him, and to cast all of their cares upon him, as he says in 1 Peter 5. Oh, that we would be like Peter. Oh, that we would testify like David did in Psalm 23.1, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. to know Jesus as Lord and to grow in following Him as Lord is to be content in His great ways as His purposes work out in our lives. I love this hymn, All the Way My Savior Leads Me, What Have I to Ask Beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell, for I know what e'er befalls me, Jesus does all things well. Peter was growing in his understanding of this, growing in his understanding of submitting to Christ as Lord, confident that he does all things well. May it be the same for you and I. And this leads to the sixth implication that we see that really in many ways is the foundation of all of them, and that is that if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then we must be strengthened in his great presence. Be strengthened in his great presence. Now this is more implicit to everything that we find with Peter in this section that we're looking at, more implicit than it is explicit. But beloved, it is the reality that undergirds everything with Peter and everything with the early church's experience. Namely, they were strengthened by and they were comforted in the glorious reality that Jesus was with them. through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They knew that they were not alone. They lived in the hope and in the power of that promise at the very end of Matthew's gospel that Jesus said that Chuck read earlier in verse 20 of Matthew 28 when Jesus says, lo, I am with you always to the end of the age. That was a reality. And it not only was a reality, beloved, for any of us who belong to Him through His mercy, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a reality. He is with us to the end of the age. His Spirit does indwell us. And with all the means that He has given us within His Spirit, with His Word, and with prayer, and with the fellowship and ministry of the church, and our growing relationships with one another in Him, and all that He designs in our corporate bearing witness, and our corporate doing good, and our corporate proclaiming the gospel. He's with us. He's with us. He's with us. Beloved, this is what Peter knew. This is what the early church knew. Do we know this? And do we live as if He is truly with us? Or do we just often think of Him as some distant past figurehead? who was here once and he's gone and he's resurrected. Yes, we know that, but it doesn't seem to have much connection with reality. Do you count him as present day by day, moment by moment? And beloved, this is not a feeling primarily. This is not a whether or not you feel like he is. It's a factual reality that we take by faith based on what he's promised. And we live and we pray and we serve and we minister and we proclaim based on that reality. Oh God, you are near. Help me trust you all the more. And help me live in light of that, in that confidence and in that assurance and in that strength and in that comfort. because He is Lord of all, He must be our all in all, and if we belong to Him through faith in Christ, if we have repented of our sin, if we are trusting Him and looking to Him, beloved, that's our assurance, that is our hope, that is our confidence, and it is His indwelling presence. through the Holy Spirit who enables us to be captivated by his worth and to be consumed with his work and concerned with his will and counseled by his word and content in his ways because he is our dwelling place. He is our refuge. He is our strength. He is our hope. He is the one who is with us to the very end. Oh, beloved, don't allow your hope and your trust and your confidence and your joy in Him to be diminished. And beware the danger that we are so easily pressed with to find our hope and our joy and confidence in other things, whether it's money or whether it's people or whether it's work or just on down the list. It's Him. It's Him. It's Him. And so, beloved, if Jesus Christ is Lord of all, we must follow Him. We must be humble under His authority. And His worth must captivate us increasingly. His work must consume us. His will must be all that concerns us. His word must be all that counsels us. His wisdom, His ways must be all that contents us. And His presence must be all that strengthens and comforts us. And to live and to walk by faith in Him. How do we do that? How do we grow in these things practically and tangibly? We seek Him. Remember what Peter was doing at the very beginning of this narrative back in chapter 10? He's praying. He's seeking the Lord. And in the midst of that, he grows in his understanding of the revelation of God and he's continually equipped and continually enabled to be faithful in following Jesus as Lord. Turn all of these implications that we've talked about, turn them into resolves, and turn them into prayers. Oh God, help me to be captivated by your infinite worth. Help me to be consumed with your sovereign work. Help me to be concerned with your good, pleasing, and perfect will. To be counseled by your holy, life-giving word. To be content with your wisdom and your ways. God, help me to be strengthened by your presence and by your power and by your promises. And beloved, the Lord calls us to do these things together as his people. That's why we gather. That's why we're to be together in and around his word and his purposes, gathered corporately as we are now and throughout the week as God deepens and seeks to work in our relationships to strengthen and encourage and spur one another on in these ways. This is what it means to know Jesus as Lord. This is what it means to follow him as Lord. May God give us grace to do so. Let's pray together. Our gracious Father and Lord Jesus Christ, may you press your glorious reality home to our hearts and to our minds all the more. Oh Lord, strengthen the faith of your people in all that you are. and in all that you have accomplished, and in all that you are doing, and all that you have called us to, and all that you have given to those who belong to you through faith in the Lord Jesus. O Lord, even as we see Peter as a man who was far from perfect, and yet by your mercy and by your grace and in the infinite glory of your holy love, to see Him growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ, to see Him growing in faith and growing in knowing you as Lord and Savior of all. O Lord, so may you work that evermore fully in our lives, not only individually, but corporately as your people. And Father, if there are any among us this morning who have not bowed the knee to Jesus, who have not repented from sin and trusted Him as Lord, who are yet in their sins Yet bearing your guilt and your wrath because of sin, oh God, we pray that you would intervene and we pray that you would grant them repentance and faith unto eternal life, that they might know the cleansing of their conscience through the work of Christ and being reconciled to you. We pray that you would do that work. And Father, help us even this day and as we move into the week and even as we long for your return, to live all the more fully as those who are humbly submitting to your authority as Lord. May we be faithful in all these things for your glory and for the joy of many others as well. In Christ's mighty name do we pray. Amen.