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and “deeds.” Certainly it is true that back of the “words” preached there should be “life” and “deeds.” But these things with out “words” cannot help a lost world. Christianity is first of all a message of “words,” telling men what God has done through Christ.’ “The words that I speak . . . ,” said our Lord, “they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). 3. “God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed” (v. 17). The American Revised Version translates, “when we believed,” instead of “who be lieved.” This rendering suggests an im portant truth regarding the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit becomes ours “when we believe," not at some subsequent time as a “second blessing.” Weymouth renders the passage, “when we first believed,” in order to do justice to the Greek aorist tense which points back to the initial act of faith, finished and once for all. G olden T ex t Illustration When Queen Elizabeth came to the throne, she set free several state prisoners whose names were brought before her. Presently some courtiers approached her with a petition. “Your Majesty,” they said, “we have; four prisoners who deserve not to be kept locked up, and we humbly pray for their- release.” “Who are they?” demanded the queen. “Your Majesty, their names are Matthew,' Mark, Luke, and John, and they are kept shut up in the Greek language, whereas they ought to be abroad among the people!” The queen immediately commanded that they should be released, that they might do service in the English tongue. How many people there are today who still keep them prisoners I— S elected .
slay and eat.” The implication was that God had made clean the things that Peter thought were unclean. Such a vision was necessary in order to break down Peter’s reluctance to preach to the Gentiles. Sec ond, messengers were sent from Cornelius (v. 11). The coming of these men, con sidered in connection with the thrice- repeated vision of the sheet, would make a deep impression on Peter’s mind, and would prepare him for the next step. Third, the voice of the Holy Spirit commanded Peter to go with the men “nothing doubt ing” (v. 12). In the next verses, Peter declares the need for preaching to the Gentiles (vs. 12-14). He recites how he, and the six brethren who had accompanied him, had gone to the house of Cornelius and there discovered why he had been sent. Cornelius had had a vision in which he was in structed to send for Peter. There could be no mistake about the matter, for the angel who appeared to Cornelius had defi nitely named Peter as well as the town where he could be found. Furthermore, the angel had said that when Peter was come he would “tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.” Cornelius, as the record reveals, was a good man, a praying man, and presumably a man who lived his creed; but he was not a saved man. His good life, earnest pray ing, and excellent conduct could not bring him salvation. Neither could the angel tell him what he needed most to know. No angel can preach the gospel to sinners; that is an honor reserved only for sinners who have themselves been saved by the gospel. There was need, therefore, that a saved sinner be sent with the gospel to Cornelius the Caesarean. The result of Peter’s preaching was that Cornelius found what he desired (vs. 15- 18). While Peter was preaching, faith was awakened, and at once the Holy Spirit fell on the gathered audience, even as He had come to the disciples at Pentecost (v. 15). Immediately Peter was reminded of the words of the Lord: “John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost” (v. 16; cf. Acts 1:5). Heretofore, Peter had not understood that the Lord’s' will was to give the Holy Spirit alike to saved Jews and Gentiles. But now, with this revelation, there was nothing for Peter to do but to agree that this was the Lord’s plan,' and in this agreement the whole company of apostles and brethren at Jerusalem joined (vs. 17, 18). From that time onward, there was no question but that the gospel was to be preached to all men everywhere. To spread to every nation the good news of salvation is still the great work of the church. The church is, in reality, a missionary society, and every member is a missionary (cf. Acts 1:8). How sad that this fact is not always recognized by the members 1 II. P a u l a n d t h e R o m a n s (Rom. 1:15-17). There were some who questioned whether Paul was brave enough to carry the gospel to Rome, but he declared that he was ready to preach wherever oppor tunity afforded (v. 15). Rome was the mightiest city of that time; it was the most outstanding for intellectualism; it was also the most wicked city. But Paul knew that in the gospel there was a power superior to all the might of Rome, a wis dom far above all the culture of Rome, and grace which could cover the wicked ness of a thousand Romes. Therefore, as the servant of the Lord, Paul would put
aside his own will and have nothing but the will of his Master. Our Lord is look ing today for other channels, like Paul, through whom He can work. The purpose of the gospel is to bring salvation (v. 16). Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; he had seen it transform hardened sinners, release de mon-possessed minds, break down the opposition of science falsely so-called, and deliver men from intellectual pride and the worship of unknown gods. He also knew the gospel had but one condition of acceptance—it was open to all who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, whether they were Jews or Gentiles. The power of the gospel is found in the righteousness of God (v. 17). There is a superiority in the righteousness contained in the gospel over all other forms of good ness. The Jews were seeking righteous ness by keeping the law’s demands, over looking the fact that the Law was a school master to bring men to Christ. And the Gentiles were seeking righteousness by obeying conscience. To both classes—-and indeed to all men—the gospel would be good news, because in it the righteousness of. God is revealed. The good news is that the righteousness of 'God is available to all who receive it by simple, appropriating faith. To recognize oneself as a sinner, lost and helpless, before God guilty and undone, and to recognize that Christ died for both sins and the sinner, and then by simple faith to accept Christ as one’s per sonal Saviour, means to come into posses sion of the righteousness of God contained in the gospel. For this vital transaction, faith is absolutely necessary, and faith is absolutely sufficient. P oints a n d Problem s 1. “Thou wentest in to men uncircum cised, and didst eat with them” (Acts 11:3). This was the accusation leveled at Peter by the legalists who believed that something must be added to what Christ has done in order to save men. These gentlemen dogged the steps of the preach ers of God’s grace wherever they went, and they finally got Peter for a moment caught in the net of their error (Gal. 2:11, 12). But in the case of Cornelius, Peter stood his ground against them coura geously. The narrative in Acts 11:5-18 is Peter’s defense against them. Evidently he convinced them, for the time being at least, for “they held their peace, and glori fied God” for the salvation of the uncir cumcised Cornelius (v. 18). 2 . “Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved” (v. 14). This is one of the astonishing things about the power of Christianity—it does its work through "words.” Directly con trary to this, modern religion cares little for “words,” depreciates the work of preaching, and lays the emphasis on “life” BLACKBOARD LESSON
P e ter L earns a Lesson A cts 10:1 to 11:18
Memory Verse: “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). Approach: We have been talking about Stephen and Philip and Saul, and today we are going to tell some things that hap pened to Peter. All of these men were followers of the Lord Jesus. Some of
them had known Jesús and had been His disciples when He was on earth. Peter was one of these. Then, too, all of these men were J e w s . F o r t h i s reason, some of them preached about Jesus only to the Jews, and some of them even t hought that Jesus
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had come to save only Jews. Peter was one of the disciples who thought this way, so God had to show him that this idea of his was wrong. Lesson Story: One day God sent Peter a vision to make clear to him what He knew Peter needed to learn. In Palestine, houses were often made with flat roofs. As Peter was resting on a housetop in the city of Joppa, he saw in a vision, a sheet filled with animals of all sorts. The sheet was let down from heaven, and a voice said, “Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.” Now Peter had always lived according to the Jewish law, and there were only certain animals which a Jew might eat. Thus when
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