Repentance that leads to life
Acts • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 8 viewsThe Spirit falls on Gentiles and the church must receive them
Notes
Transcript
Repentance that leads to life
Repentance that leads to life
44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 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. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
acts10.44
I have truly wanted to preach this since we started the book of Acts. As a former Pentecostal that was raised with a certain view of texts like this one, I am going to try and fight the urge to just speak to an over correction of a view on the Holy Spirit.
Yet this chapter has been building up to this moment. The whole chapter has been about the dramatic conversion of Cornelius, a Gentile or non-Jew. God has miraculously spoken to both Cornelius through and Angel and the Apostle Peter through a vision and by his Spirit. The cultural context here has been a tension filled story of how Jews who have been converted to Christianity are still seeing their lives as being under jewish laws and prohibiting anyone who isn’t like them from receiving Christ as they have.
In all of chapter 10 we have seen how this conversion story of Cornelius has been all about God including Gentiles in the church. How he needed to work on the hearts of his people in order for them to be willing to go preach the gospel to these different people.
This is more than some sort of commentary on racism… We have to understand that these people, Jew in Israel have been keeping the law for many generations in preparation of the coming Messiah. And now that he has come and they have believed, God is moving in extraordinary ways.... Everything their forefathers have been practicing has now become realized in Christ their Lord and Savior. Even the very sign they have carried in their flesh in circumcision was part of how they still identified. We are going to see that some of these early Christian were still considered part of the “Circumcision party”…
Meaning, these people had put the time into looking for God to save them from their sin in the coming messiah, and they were not ready to hear about it being opened to those who have never waited for such an event. This is why God goes to such extreme measures to demonstrate to his people what his will is in having a gospel that will save anybody who would believe it.
So, what I am trying to say, before we break down the text and see the gloriously good news about God saving people, is that this is not about a gift of the Holy Spirit… It is not about tongues and shouldn’t be used as a proof text for believers nowadays to speak in tongues. Why???
Notice how the whole chapter is not about the gift of tongues, but about the inclusion of Gentiles into the church. It is going to move on to show that this experience was NECESSARY for the early church to receive these new believers into the body. But just because something was necessary at one point, it doesn’t mean that it was NORMATIVE from that point on.
So what is happening here? Well what is the books of Acts all about?
Well, Acts is generally a continuation of the Gospels as Jesus is now alive and resurrected, he ascends into heaven and gives instructions.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
He tells his followers to wait for the Holy Spirit, in order for them to be witnesses. And notice where specifically. In Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Well in we see the Holy Spirit come upon the followers of Jesus and Pentecost happens. When the Holy Spirit came they spoke in other tongues, which was different languages in which they glorified God so that all those who were in Jerusalem could hear the gospel in their own language. God removed a language barrier to people in hearing the good news of Jesus Christ.
The Church grew but was only Jews that have been converted to Jesus at this point. Once persecution breaks out the church is forced to leave jerusalem and the gospel is preached in Samaria. Samaritans were half Jewish people and generally not accepted by Jews, yet the gospel was recieved by them and the holy Spirit was given to them as a sign to the apostles that they were being included in the salvation that is found only in Jesus Christ.
14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
So now these Samaritans have been included in this new Body of Christ, and Jews must now get over their elitism and welcome them as brothers and sisters.
But here we are now in a different part of Judea and the people are very different. Gentiles who these former Jews who still kept the Law would not go to. God has to show Peter that it is time to go to the gentiles and include them in salvation through Jesus Christ. So he gives peter a vision and invitation comes for him to preach to the Gentiles that God has miraculously gathered and prepared their hearts to hear the gospel preached. After this story the rest of the book of acts will show how they carried the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth. But here today we see a fulfilling of what Jesus told them, that the Spirit would empower them to be his witness. And the church moved in concentric circles outward to the whole world.
The only problem is this: How will christians know that all these other people have truly been saved by Jesus as they were? Since it hasn’t been revealed to them all that anyone can receive the Gospel, God will have to do something extraordinary for the church to know that the former prohibitions they lived under are now lifted. With those thoughts in mind let’s look at the text today.
acts10.44
44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 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. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared,
Peter is preaching the gospel and they are believing the good news about Jesus Christ. Right while he is preaching they are believing, repenting and accepting Jesus. But Peter would never have known. No doubt he would’ve kept preaching in order to get them to believe, and yet they already were believing.
So Peter doesn’t get to finish… The Holy Spirit “fell” on all who heard the Word… That word FELL is the same word used when Zechariah sees and angel in the temple and fear fell on him… It doesn’t imply that the Holy Spirit is up above you and if you pray he comes down on you in physical way. It is language used to describe what they saw and heard. There was an impression that changed their state of being all of the sudden. Something visibly changed them as an audience.
And in vs 45 it says that, “believers from among the circumcised that came with Peter were amazed”...
They were with Peter and sure about going into a Gentiles howe but they were seeing something they couldn’t deny… The gift of the Holy Spirit was being poured out on even the Gentiles! And look at verse 46, “For THEY were hearing THEM speaking in tongues...” meaning that Peter and the believers with him were not speaking in tongues. This was not some practice of the early church to speak in tongues together, in fact Paul prohibits it to the Corinthians. Rather these people they were not sure about, began to display the same sign they had displayed in in Jerusalem.
In Acts the gift of tongues was a sign
In Acts the gift of tongues was a sign
Tongues were a sign to the early church that Gentiles were part of the body of Christ too. Tongues had only ever been present when the Holy Spirit revealed who was part of the newly formed church.
Since the early church experienced this, how would they know if another church that sprung up was really part of them? They needed a sign and God gave them one. The Spirit fell on them and they spoke in tongues just like those in Jerusalem did. IF in acts 8 when the Spirit came on the Samaritans they received them into the church, then here with the Gentiles they would also have to do the same. They couldn’t deny that these gentiles are now welcomed by God into the family.
They may not have been circumcised and they may not have spent their life looking for the Messiah, but God was looking for them and revealed them as his own just like those Jews who made up the early church. How Glorious is our God in showing his plan in dramatic ways so that his people cannot argue with his Glory!
So if this is happening to these Gentiles, then they must receive them into the body. But how has the Church always showed that someone is recieved into the church? Baptism. Look at what Peter says next...
46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
acts10.
Notice Peter’s words… Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people...
He is making a statement to the brothers who are with him. He isn’t talking to Cornelius and his family, he is talking to other Christians who were uncomfortable with this whole thing. Peter is telling those that are with him that they are going to officially accept them into the church by having them baptized.
They will publicly in front of the visible church, (Peter and these brothers), deny their former life, (we call this repentance), and identify with Jesus, (in his death, burial and resurrection), by being baptized, as well as being welcomed into the church by these witnesses of the visible church.
And once they are accepted they ask him to stay for some days. They want Peter to continue to teach them about what and who they are a part of now.
How beautiful is it to see people come into the body of Christ and immediately have a desire to know more about the God who has saved them. And while we do not know exactly how long Peter stayed we do know that it was long enough for word to reach the rest of the Brothers and sister in Jerusalem. This was a big deal. It was huge news to hear what was happening. And this is where things get interesting...
1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
Acts11.1-
Notice that when the brothers hear the news they don’t rejoice. Why? Shouldn’t they be excited for more people to come to Christ? If we don’t understand the context we will make this about how religious people don’t value sinner being saved, or something like that. But this is not what is happening here.
Again, think about. If you were a part of a people group that had waited hundreds of years for the coming of the promised one who would save your people from their sins, you might not be able to accept that God would save more than just those who actually were waiting for him. Furthermore, these people may have been converted to Christ but they still held on to the law and so they were referred to as the “circumcision party”. They were still operating on an old view and not having a special revelation of God and his new covenant.
That is why they are more concerned with how Peter broke the law. They didn’t say, “tell us about what happened with the Gentiles who heard the Word of God”… they criticized Peter and said, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them”.
Peter now has to address their concerns by helping them understand that none of this was his idea. Peter was not coming up with some new evangelistic method that was suspect for the more conservative brothers. He needs to tell them exactly what happened.
4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.
acts11.4-
So again, for the 3rd time this story is told. First as it happened to Peter, then when peter explained to Cornelius that he understood it to mean he was to draw no distinction in what people are clean. And now he explains it to the brothers in Jerusalem by telling them the Spirit told him, “Not to make a distinction”. But he also tells them that 6 other brothers were with him to add their eyewitness testimony to what happened next.
So their first gripe of eating with Gentiles is being answered by Peter here but he isn’t done yet...
12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.
acts11.12-
Not only did this happen to Peter but it also happened to Cornelius and they needed to know that God was doing something that Peter couldn’t manipulate. Peter did not change their dietary prohibitions on his own word of a vision that he had and no one could question, because it had a fulfillment in this gentile that God sent word to.
So what we see here is that the gospel preaching is not about strategy but Sovereignty.
Effective gospel preaching has less to do with out strategy and more to do with God’s sovereignty
Effective gospel preaching has less to do with out strategy and more to do with God’s sovereignty
For every person who has ever heard the gospel and received the good news about Jesus Christ and been saved, it had less to do with the strategy of the preacher and more to do with the sovereignty of God in placing the preacher and the message with earshot of the hearts he is already working on.
To much of the church is wrapped up in being strategic in preaching and making flashy memorable sermons. If the early church wanted to strategize about how to preach the gospel they wouldn’t have ever gone to the Gentiles on their own. Yet God in his sovereign rule and divine power enabled the gospel to reach further than they ever thought it could.
Peter wasn’t acting on his own. He wasn’t telling people about a subjective experience he had with God that no one could prove or disprove. He tells of a vision he has and how it was confirmed with someone else’s story… but he doesn’t leave it there.
15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
acts11.15-
He points out that the same thing that happened to us happened to them. The Sign of the Holy Spirit being poured out as was prophesied in was also being recieved by the Gentiles too!
But the next step is vital in believing any brother about a revelation they had about God.... He pointed them to the Word of God in verse 16. “I remembered the word of the Lord” and he reminds them that the baptism they had was now shared by these gentiles.
And so Peter puts it all together for them so they can see how glorious God is...
17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
Acts11.17
Peter is telling them that they shouldn’t also stand in God’s way if he is saving people. Because they are now all identified as the same. They all recieved the same gift.
If he would’ve said he preached to them and they received his message but the sign of the Holy Spirit and tongues being present wasn’t there, these brothers would not have believed that these gentiles had truly recieved this gospel and been saved.
If you think about it, the sign of tongues in this story is more for the others to believe than it was for Cornelius and his family. They had no control over it happening and neither did Peter and they guys with him. God gave a sign for the rest of his church to be willing to receive these gentiles as brothers and sister in the faith and part of the family of God.
This story has nothing to do with our Christian experience because it is simply the beginning of the gospel being opened to Gentiles. This is another pentecost, a Gentile Pentecost. And further more it was showing how the Witness about Jesus as messiah is spreading just like he said, from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria… later in Acts we will see it get to the ends of the earth with the sign again proving to people that God was saving people.
When we make pentecost about us receiving a gift we completely miss the point and undervalue the real Glory of God, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ reaching and saving all kinds of people all over the earth! Tongues became a sign that no one could stand in the way of God expanding his kingdom to whomever he chose to give it to.
And the most glorious verse in this whole story is found next...
18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
The same people who oppose Peter are now convinced that God is saving Gentiles. And notice the wording, they “fell silent”… meaning it was impressed on them so much that their demeanor changed. It is the same word that Luke used when describing the Holy Spirit coming on Cornelius’ house. They were changed by what they heard, and they glorified God!
But this pales in comparison to what we learn about how we are saved.
Look at it before we finish and see the glory of God! They said, “Then to the Gentiles also...” Meaning that their experience was no different from how God saves anybody… In fact nobody can receive salvation in a different manner than this.
GOD grants repentance that leads to life
GOD grants repentance that leads to life
God and God alone grants repentance. We do not conjure it up on our own. We do not dare say that repentance is something that we do without the regenerating work of the Spirit in our life.
If we learn anything from Cornelius and his family getting saved by hearing the gospel, it should not focus on tongues but on the fact that God grants repentance that leads to life!
For them, they would never have thought that God would grant repentance that leads to life to a bunch of Gentiles.
I love what Al Mohler said about this...
“Why would God grant such a thing to uncircumcised people? To stiff-necked, rebellious, fornicating, adulterous, pagan-worshipping, idol-worshipping people ---- why would God do this? HE DID IT FOR HIS GLORY!”
The only reason anyone is ever truly saved is for the glory of God alone. None of us deserve it and no one can earn it, yet God graciously gives us salvation a free gift. And please see how it is described...
Repentance that leads to Life!
Repentance is a turning from your life and your own striving to find happiness and fulfillment and joy in the things of this world. It mean to go 180 degrees in the opposite direction from something.
But the beauty is not in seeing all that you turn from, but rather who you turn to.
Repentance leads to life! Who is life?
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Repentance that leads to Jesus. He is Life, true life, eternal life for all who would believe.
When we turn form the things of this life it should lead us to Jesus!
But make no mistake about it that this is not some common work that anyone can simply decide to do on their own. We must be drawn by the Father.
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
See it is the father who first draws us to him. We cannot come just because we have had an emotional experience or felt overwhelmed with guilt, fear, or anxiety. This is the work of the Spirit and a gift from God. The truth is that Cornelius and his family only came to Christ because God himself gave them the gift of repentance.
It is still that same to this day. We all only can come to Christ if God gives us the gift of repentance. This is by Grace alone through faith alone. That is what scripture teaches us.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, none of us can boast. God has given us a gift of repentance and faith because of his great grace. But please do not take my word for it. Let us close by reading together. For God’s word can speak to this far better than I can.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you 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. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
eph2.1-2