SERMON OUTLINE:
God is not partial (vs 34-35)
Jesus is unique (vs 36-41)
Good news to share (vs 39-43)
SERMON BODY
Ill:
• Mel Blanc is a voice you will all know,
• But a name you will probably not.
• He has been called, “The man of 1,000 voices”
• Some of them you will instantly recognise;
• ‘Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Sylvester & Tweety Pie’
• On the Warner Brothers cartoons, it is Mel Blanc who does the voice for;
• “That’s all folks!”
• On his grave stone, just under the Star of David (he was Jewish),
• Is the inscription, “That’s all folks!”
• TRANSITION: Many people view life that way,
• When you are dead, you are dead - “That’s all folks!”
• Easter is a reminder that ‘death is not the end”
• There is more to follow!
Ill:
• I think the best Easter posters you will see,
• Was on the notice board of a Church in Halesowen, Birmingham. UK.
• It was a simple picture of a cross and above the cross was written two words,
• They simply said, “He won!”
Ill:
• My favourite Easter story;
• Is a about the vicar who preached a Good Friday sermon on the cross.
• He was spot on in both his content and also the way he delivered the sermon.
• At the end of the service he did what many preachers do,
• He stood at the door to greet people before they went home.
• As the people were leaving, they shook his hand,
• And they all said very complimentary things about the sermon.
• All that is, except for one boy,
• Who looked at the vicar and said, “Not bad, just one mistake!”
• Well, the vicar was shocked;
• “One mistake! Whatever do you mean?” he said to the boy.
• The boy looked him in the eye and said; “You left him on the cross”
• Then the boy walked out!
• Then the vicar realised that he explained all about the cross,
• But had not mentioned the resurrection at all!
• TRANSITION: The resurrection is the proof;
• That something mysterious, something supernatural took place on the cross!
• It is God’s receipt to the world!
• No resurrection, no atonement, no payment for sins, no hope!
• We might as well all pack up our things and go home!
• But because of the resurrection, we have hope,
• We have atonement for sins, we have a debt that has been paid once and for all!
• We have a new and living way into the presence of the Living God!
(1). God is not partial (vs 34-35).
“Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.”
Ill:
• We all have our favourites.
• Favourite foods.
• Favourite beverages.
• Favourite songs/hymns.
• Favourite Bible translations and favourite stories or passages.
• Favourite seats in Church!
• Favourite clothes.
• Favourite TV programmes.
• Favourite Music or singers.
• Favourite…endless list and you can fill in the blanks!
• These things I have mentioned are really our personal likes or preferences.
• They are neither right nor wrong. They are simply our preferences.
• In the little things of life these personal likes and dislikes are perfectly fine.
• They help define who we are.
• And without these different preferences in life, then life would be pretty-boring.
• e.g. Can you imagine life without those preferences mentioned,
• If we all liked exactly the same!
• Variety is the spice of life!
• These preferences enrich our lives and our situations.
Now there is a danger with preferences, they can morph into favouritism!
• Let me say that when preferences become extreme, they become dangerous.
• e.g. A teacher likes certain people in the classroom more than others and shows it.
• e.g. A sports coach shows favouritism to one person over other members of the team.
• e.g. A boss at work shows favouritism towards a person you work with.
• e.g. A boss shows favouritism because a person is a man or a woman;
• e.g. A boss shows favouritism because of a person’s race or religion.
• TRANSITION: Favouritism is the dark side of personal likes or dislikes.
• On the surface it can lead to hurt feelings,
• Deeper it can lead to feelings of inadequacy by those who are wronged.
• And as it goes deeper it can lead to complete exclusion,
• To sexism, racism, injury and even death.
• Favouritism at its worst van become pretty-nasty!
The context of these verses found in Acts chapter 10:
• Have to do with favouritism expressed in racism.
• Racism has been very much in the news connected to the world of football.
• But as you can appreciate, racism is nothing new in society,
• We might not be surprised to see it rear its ugly head in sport,
• But we should all be surprised when it makes an appearance in religion.
• The racism in these verses have to do with Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews),
• Up to know the Church has been Jewish!
• e.g. Salvation came through a Jewish Messiah,
• e.g. Predicted in Jewish scriptures (Old Testament).
• e.g. Who was preached about by Jewish disciples on the day of Pentecost;
• A Jewish feast (Acts chapter 2).
• e.g. And the Church started with 3,000 Jewish converts (Acts chapter 2).
• (or ‘completed Jews’ is probably a better description to call them).
But here in this chapter salvation has been offered to Gentiles (non-Jews):
• Cornelius a Roman soldier (a centurion), who was a Gentile,
• The apostle Peter did not want to share the gospel with him because he was not Jewish!
• And it would take a vision from God to make Peter change his mind!
Note:
• We are breaking into Peter’s sermon where he says he learnt an important lesson:
• Verse 34: “…God does not show favouritism…”
• Verse 35: “… but accepts from every nation…”
• Here at Caesarea all the barriers have come down
• From now on the message of faith and forgiveness is for everyone!
Ill:
• Years ago, at a children’s club in the West Midlands,
• The person leading a children’s club asked the question,
• “What does the word ‘whosoever’ mean?’”
• A little West Indian boy put up is hand and answered;
• “It means everyone in the world and me!”
• TRANSITION: That kid nailed it,
• He was spot on! God does not show favouritism!
(2). Jesus is unique (vs 36-41).
“You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
39 ‘We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”
• Wow! Great verses that remind us again of how unique Jesus was and is!
• In these verses we see in miniature the ministry of Jesus:
• FIRST: He was full of good deeds,
• SECOND: He healed people and liberated people who were demon possessed.
• THIRD: He was killed by being hung on a cross,
• FOURTH: But God then raised him from the dead!
Ill:
• At the end of Jules Verne’s book, ‘Around the world in eighty days.’
• There is a dramatic episode.
• The adventures are desperately hurrying back to Britain from America.
• To everyone’s horror, the ship runs out of coal to fire the boilers.
• Instantly the order is given to start pulling apart the structure of the vessel.
• Wooden railings, furniture, deck boards, and so on,
• Finally, they make it to land.
• When they arrive, there is little left of the ship,
• Other than the hull, boiler and funnel.
• Those were the bare-essentials that they could not do without!
• If they dispensed with them,
• The ship would have gone down!
• TRANSITION: When it comes to Christianity,
• You cannot dispense with two key truths – the death & resurrection of Jesus!
• If you dispense with them, then you have no message of salvation!
Ill:
The apostle Paul put it this way (1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3-4).
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures”
FIRST: The Cross/Death of Jesus.
• The death of Jesus was not assignation and it was not martyrdom.
• He gave his life a sacrifice, a payment for sin!
Ill:
• A church recently received personal greetings from the Kejave Medical Centre staff;
• Which is a mission hospital in Kenya.
• It contained the following story.
• Eight-year-old Monica fell into a pit,
• The fall broke her leg and she laid helplessly at the bottom of the pit unable to get out.
• An older woman, Mama Njeri,
• Happened to go along the same path;
• She saw the girl in distress and climbed into the pit to help get Monica out.
• In the process of helping Monica;
• A dangerous black Mamba snake bit both Mama Njeri and Monica.
• Monica was taken to Kejave Medical Centre and admitted.
• Mama Njeri went home, but never awoke from her sleep.
• The next day a nurse explained Mama Njeri's death to Monica,
• Telling her that the snake had bitten both of them,
• But all of the snake's poison was expended on Mama Njeri;
• She was alive because there was no poison left to infect Monica.
• TRANSITION: On the cross Jesus has taken the poison of sin;
• He died willingly, so that we could live!
• He gave his life a sacrifice, a payment for sin!
SECOND: The Resurrection.
Quote: I like what Peter Larson writes:
• "Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes.
• The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities:
• A virgin's womb and an empty tomb.
• Jesus entered our world through a door marked 'No Entrance';
• And left through a door marked 'No Exit’”
• The Bible makes it very clear, If Jesus has not risen from the dead;
• “Then our faith is in vain, it is worthless!” (1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 14)
• But, because he is risen,
• Our faith is meaningful and true!
(3). good news to share (vs 39-43).
“‘We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’”
• The apostle Peter was one of many witnesses who saw the risen Christ!
• Peter ate with him and talked with him and touched him.
• He was an "eyewitness" to the greatest event in history.
Quote:
• Charles Colson who was known as USA President Richard’s Nixon’s ‘hatchet man’,
• He masterminded some of the dirty tricks that led to the president’s downfall.
• He served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970.
• He went to prison for his crimes and in jail found Jesus Christ as his Lord & Savour!
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
• TRANSITION: The apostle Peter was an "eyewitness" of the resurrected Christ.
• He ate with him and talked with him and touched him.
• And would even be willing to die for this truth – Christ has risen!
Note: In his sermon he points out that the apostles were ordered to preach.
• The apostles were ordered to preach about Jesus,
• To preach both the good news and what we might call the solemn news!
FIRST: The Good News (vs 43).
• “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’”
• Forgiveness is never an optional extra, it is our greatest need!
Ill:
“If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If your greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness,
so, God sent us a Saviour.”
Ill:
• The story of the lame man lowered through the roof.
• Luke chapter 5 verses 17-26.
SECOND: The Solemn News (vs 42).
“…he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead”
ill:
• Just suppose at the start of the service I had given you a test:
• I handed out some pens & paper, & asked you one question,
• "Who is the final judge of mankind?"
• If you are a believer, then most of you, if not all of you,
• Would probably have given the same answer:
• "God is" - Meaning, "God the Father".
• But according to the apostle Peter you would be wrong!!!
• All judgement will be done by God the Son.
Ill:
Jesus himself taught this in John chapter 5 verses 22-23.
“Moreover, the Father judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.”
• And in that verse Jesus tells us why it is the Son who will do the judging:
• "That all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father".
• He (the Son) deserves equal honour with God!
• He deserves the same honour that is given to God the Father.
Note:
• This One whom the Jewish have killed;
• Will ultimately judge all mankind.
• This does not refer just to the spiritually living and the spiritually dead.
• Rather, Jesus is and will be Judge of all who have ever lived or will ever live on earth!
Before that judgement takes place:
• Jesus has commanded us to take the Gospel everywhere,
• Even to the remotest part of the earth.
• He came for all people.
• When He died on the cross, was buried, and rose again,
• It was on behalf of every single person. God is not partial.
• He offers salvation through Christ freely and fully.
• This was great news for Peter's audience.
• And it is great news for all of us today.
ILL:
• Swedish au-pair had just started working for an English family:
• She had not yet got a good grasp of the English language,
• One day she entered a room, where the children she looked after had gone berserk,
• The room was a real mess and so she said to them ....
• Or rather what she meant to say was: "What on earth are you doing?"
• Instead she said; "What are you doing on earth?"
• TRANSITION: When it comes to evangelism and world mission:
• "What are you doing on earth?"
Conclusion:
• In summary Peter was called to the home of Cornelius,
• He was to speak the group of Gentiles who were there.
• When Peter spoke, he made these points:
• God is not partial,
• Jesus was powerfully anointed, and He did mighty works,
• Jesus died for the sins of all men and the disciples were witnesses, and
• The apostles were ordered to preach the gospel to all.
• God is not partial! He invites all to come to Christ in faith.
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=uouhnrAXRglWhWu42bgjxakfhWIAoykU
