Resurrected for Everyone

Acts 10:36-43

Acts 10

Acts 10:36-43, The word which God sent to the]children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— 37 that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

Easter season commemorates the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the greatest event in history.

Mark 10:45, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

John 2:19, Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

John 11:25, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

John 14:19, A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. Jesus Christ came to die for our sin, and he came to rise again for our life.

The Christian talks about Easter all the days of his life. For the life we live isn’t even ours; it’s Christ resurrected living in us. Easter is not a historical event but way of life. Because He lives, you can live.

In order to be alive to God, you must hear the message. The message Peter gave in the house of a man named Cornelius, to him and to his household. The book of Acts is the only historical and most important book in the New Testament.

It records for us the growth of the church from its birth to its first early years. Jesus Christ has already died in the chronology of the New Testament, been buried, risen again, ascended to Heaven. Having ascended to Heaven, He sent His Spirit back to form His church and to live in His church and to indwell in His church.

This happened in the 2nd chapter of Acts. The Spirit of God came. The church was born. From Acts 2 through 10, the church has been growing. People have been coming to Christ. People have been coming alive with resurrection life.

First, in Jerusalem, there was a tremendous moving of the Spirit of God, people were saved, they acknowledged Christ, and they came alive.

Then they reached outside Jerusalem and Jews who were living in Greek-speaking countries, who had come to Jerusalem for feasts and certain such important things, they were entered into the church by faith in Christ. Then the church reached out to Samaritans, half Jew, half Gentile. They heard the Gospel. They believed. They were placed by the Spirit of God into the church.

As we come to the 10th chapter of Acts, the last great extension of the church takes place. It has reached Jerusalem’s Jews, the Hellenist Jews, the Samaritans, and the last step is the uttermost part of the earth. It is to reach the Gentiles.

Acts chapter 10 we find the salvation of the first group of Gentiles. Peter is about to preach a sermon to a group of Gentiles which will result in their salvation and their being brought into the church. The message to the Jews was Christ crucified, risen, and coming again; and the act of faith receives it.

The message to the Samaritans, exactly the same. The message to the Gentiles, exactly the same. The message to you, no different. Cornelius is a pagan by all definition. He has been raised apart from the law of God. He has been raised apart from Judaism.

He does not know the transcripts that have been granted to men from God, because they were placed in the care of Israel. But he lived up to the light that he had in his conscience and in the world around him. He had attached himself somehow to Judaism because he saw in Judaism the God that he knew in his heart to be the true God and so God began to work on him.

Cornelius needed to hear was the simple proclamation. He just needed an explanation. His heart was ready. God had sovereignly done His work. He was prepared soil. All he needed was the seed to be planted, and here comes Peter.

Peter is God’s chosen vessel to dispense the facts of the gospel to Cornelius, that he might be saved and added to the church.

Here was a man who wanted salvation. In fact, before Peter’s sermon ever was completed, Cornelius had believed, received Christ, and Peter got stopped in the middle of his sermon. All good sermons and Peter preached has three parts.

It has an introduction, a main theme, and an invitation. 1. Introduction. V 34, Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. Peter, a Jew had been reared all his life to feel that God had a special love for Israel. God liked Israel better than He liked anybody else.

To extend God;’ love to Gentiles was extremely difficult for Peter. But God had prepared him with a vision, and in this vision that he had seen earlier in the 10th chapter, God had begun to break down this kind of attitude and this kind of prejudice. Peter says, “I am beginning to understand that God is not partial to people. God doesn’t play any favourites culturally, religiously, racially, but God is no respecter of person.”

God doesn’t make concessions to smart men as over against unintelligent ones or rich ones as over against poor ones or a certain race against another race. God is impartial. Pater tells Cornelius that Salvation is available to all.

It is available to anyone. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what’s your culture, what’s your background, or what is your race. Salvation is available.

Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

God wants men to come to salvation. Across the barriers salvation is available. It’s not for super- religious people. It’s not for strange kinds of fanatics. It’s for all men everywhere who respond.

V 35, But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. When God looks around the world, He sees a pagan somewhere. Maybe in a corner where there is no information about the Scriptures at all; but He looks into the heart of that pagan, and that guy is living up to the information he has written in his conscience.

Romans 2 says that every man is born with enough conscience about God to be able to see God’s eternal God-headed power. The testimony of scripture is that men have the knowledge of God built into them. Anywhere, if a man lives up and fears God, God will look favourably on that man.

Then God will give him the information he needs to be saved. Cornelius was a good man. He feared God. He worked righteousness the best he knew how, but he was not saved. Cornelius is not yet saved, though he has lived up to the light he has.

Acts 4:12, Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

A man could live up to all the light that God gave him, but he wouldn’t be saved until he learned Christ and received Christ. There’s no salvation any other way.

Will God teach him about Christ? Absolutely.

John 7:17, If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. Jesus said that God will give him more light. God will reveal the truth, and that’s Cornelius. Cornelius had lived up to the light he had, and here came Peter with the rest of the light. God is impartial. Cornelius was a Gentile, but God withdraws Himself from no seeking heart. Jesus Christ is the only way to God. Peter says, “Salvation’s available, Cornelius. You lived up to all the information you had, and here I am to give you the rest.” Peter introduction is salvation is available.

2. Theme. Salvation is in Christ.

How do you get it? In Christ. The only One, who can provide you with resurrection life is Jesus Christ.

Why? He is the only one that ever raised from the dead. Hardy checked out Buddha’s tomb – occupied. Mohammed’s tomb – occupied. Jesus’ tomb – empty. There’s no salvation in any other because there’s no resurrection in any other than Jesus Christ.

V 36-37, The word which God sent to the]children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—37 that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John

preached

I am here to announce to you salvation is available. It is by Christ Jesus. There is no other way. This is the Word which God has sent. God’s been giving messages for a long time. Unfortunately, people aren’t always listening.

You can’t reach God by your own design. The natural cannot escape to understand the supernatural.

What did God have to say? God in sundry times and diverse manners in time past spoke unto the fathers by the prophets. He spoke in the Old Testament. In these last days, He has spoken unto us by His Son. God said something in the Scripture, and He said something in the person of Christ.

What did God say? The word which God sent to the]children of Israel God used Israel as a vehicle, not as an end. God didn’t unload His grace on Israel. He simply used Israel as a channel. They were ineffectual, however, and God cut a new channel, which is the church.

But God had only chosen Israel to be a tool, a witness for Him.

Man is at war with God. You’re born into this world in conflict with God, but God sent a Word. God revealed His mind. God revealed His will, and His will was that men know peace with Him. From the time a man is born into this world, he is born in sin.

He is in rebellion to the moral law of God, which flows in the universe. Consequently, he is not at peace with God, and that reflects in his own life and he is not at peace with himself. If he is not at peace with himself, he is not going to be at peace with his family.

If he can’t be at peace with his family, nations aren’t going to be at peace with nations. All you have in the big world, the lack of peace. There’s no peace. God bursts into their scene, and He says, “I have a message and my message is peace. Would you like to be at peace with God? Have the peace of God in yourself and be at peace with men?” That’s His message.

Resurrection life is a life of peace. When you come to Jesus Christ, the old war life dies.

The old rebellious life dies, and you rise in a new life at peace with God. Why does a man want to live in rebellion against God when he can have peace with God? Why does a man want to live in rebellion with his family and his friends when he can have peace?

It’s all available.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

God took care of our sins in Christ. Therefore, we can have peace with Him. As we come to Christ, the holiness of Christ becomes ours, and we get in the flow. There’s no more turbulence. We are at peace with God. Even though we still sin, it’s covered by the blood of Christ.

V 36, The word which God sent to the]children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all—

There is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ, but don’t you worry. In any of those pagan countries, if a man is really living up to the knowledge of the true God within him, God will give him the light that he needs to come to that full knowledge of Christ. But there is no other way.

So, God here is the real preacher. “He is Lord of all.” He is my Lord. He is your Lord. We are one. “He is Lord.” He was God in a human body. He is Lord not a man. He is Lord of all, which means that there is no other Lord. If anybody has a Lord at all, it is Him. There is no other Lord.

Jesus Christ is Lord, and if anybody, anywhere on the globe, anytime is a child of God, it is because he knows Christ.

V 37, that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John

preached

Caesarea, which is a little town down by the coast where the Roman government had its headquarters, and so it was just a few miles, 40 or 50 miles from Jerusalem. It was in Judea. Cornelius, you know. You have heard everything about Jesus.

The Word has been scattered all over the place, throughout all Judea and Galilee. The information is available. You know about it. began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and the greatest of them. He was announcing the coming of Christ. He was baptizing Jews. Jews would come, believing in the coming of Messiah. He was preaching Messiah’s coming, and he was calling out a people from Israel who would purify themselves and get ready for the Messiah, and their baptism was a symbol of their purification, getting ready for Messiah.

Then one day as John was getting the people ready for the coming of Messiah, the Messiah came.

Jesus wandered down to the Jordan River, and John turned to Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world,” and John faded out. Later John said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” John faded away, and Jesus Christ came to the fore, and the spotlight of the world was turned on Him. And to begin His ministry, He was baptized by John in that Jordan River.

V 38, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Jesus was baptized, the Spirit of God descended upon Him.

God set Him apart as the Redeemer, the King, the Anointed One. God said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” and He anointed Him with power as the Spirit of God came upon Him. He was set for the work which He had been called to do.

Luke 4. Jesus of Nazareth. Nazareth was kind of a crummy little town in Galilee, and everybody thought nothing good could come out of there and it was part of His humiliation that He came from there.

Luke 4:18-21, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” He was anointed by the Spirit of God as the Messiah. He began His ministry in the power of the Spirit. Did He ever have any capacity to do anything but good? No, He went about doing good.

There is a conflict in the universe between God and Satan, and Jesus came into the world to enter into that conflict and resolve it. The first thing that happened after Jesus anointed. He was anointed at His baptism, immediately He was led in the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, and He went into conflict with Satan.

Satan tempted Him, and the conflict began.

All the three years of ministry of Jesus Christ, He conflicted with Satan. Until the Garden, He struggled and sweat great drops of blood, and He got to the cross, and Satan threw all hell against Him at the cross; and He was still in conflict with Satan to the very end.

1 John 3:8, He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. If you have no Satan, you have no sin. If you have no sin, you have no death. If you have no death, you have no decay. If you have no decay, you have no disease. So, if you have no Satan, you have no disease. Sometimes sickness is direct demon possession, but always sickness is a result of Satan’s curse on the earth.

God wanted to test Job, but who made Job sick? Satan did.

What about Paul? Paul had an infirmity of the flesh which the Lord had given him. Yes.

What Paul called it?

“The messenger of Satan sent to buffet me.” All illness, directly or indirectly, is related to Satan and to the principle of sin in the world. So, when Jesus came into the world, He immediately started fighting against Satan’s system, and one great way to fight it was to destroy the power of disease and death.

“God was with Him.” It was obvious that God was active in Him.

John 3:1-2, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus Christ fought against Satan, and He won. V 39, And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree.

John 12:12-17, Jesus came riding into the city, and you know, it was Passover time, and everybody was thinking about a

deliverer, because Passover commemorates deliverance from Egypt and Moses and all that great act of God. Deliverance was in the air, and they had just heard that this Jesus, who had always claimed to be the Messiah, had raised Lazarus from the dead after four days of being in the grave.

They thought this may be our Leader. He came riding into Jerusalem, and they all took their palm branches and they cried, “Hosanna.” Save now. They were crying for political deliverance from Rome. Too blind to know that what they needed was deliverance from Satan in their souls.

Jesus arrived, and they cried, “Hosanna, the King of David. Save now.” Jesus calmly answered.

John 12:24, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

They turned Him off. The next time the crowd got together, they screamed for His blood. “If you are not going to be our political Messiah, we are not interested in You. You are a blasphemer.” They killed Him.

Now, we recognize the fact that they nailed Him to a cross. The Roman soldiers did the actual crucifixion. The Jews put Him to a false trial and brought it to pass. Both were instrumental in His death, and the Devil tried to stop Him by killing Him.

Jesus had showed that the Devil’s disease power wasn’t any good at all. He’d shattered that again and again. The Devil tried to expend the power of death on Jesus. V 40, Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, The Devil got men to kill Him, but God raised Him up.

Men made a verdict – blasphemer. God reversed the decision and shot Him out of the grave and said, Redeemer, Messiah, King, Anointed. Men judged Him a blasphemer and executed Him. God said, He is the Messiah. He is the Redeemer.

“Showed Him openly.” If Christ is not risen, then those who have died hoping in Christ and His resurrection are damned forever if Christ be not risen.

1 Corinthians 15:17, And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! V 41, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. He was alive in a real body. Jesus came out of the grave. He died to pay the penalty of your sin. He rose to give you life. You got to have both. It’s one thing to pay the penalty for sin and to have that out of the way. It’s something else to come out the other side of the grave and have eternal life. Both sides are necessary. I just know that when I die, it’s simply going to free my soul to be with God, and I fear no death. He did come out of that grave. Satan tries to keep Him in the grave. Believe you me, he got Pilate to try to keep that thing shut. “Seal it. Don’t let it get

opened. Make sure you do as well as you can. Get those Romans around there,” which didn’t do a bit of good. God just gave a divine anaesthesia to all the soldiers, sent an angel, and just removed the stone, and Jesus walked out.

Easter itself is the name of the ancient Chaldean goddess Astarte. Another name for Astarte is Ashtoreth, always associated with Baal worship. From there we get the word Easter. If that’s not bad enough, Easter eggs come from the myth that a great egg fell from heaven into the Euphrates River, and out of that egg came Ashtoreth, again, a false goddess.

Lent is nothing but the worship of Tammuz or Baal translated into Christianity. It has nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We look at Easter today, and all you see are rabbits and eggs and even they don’t go together. But all the way along the line, Satan is attempting to cloud the resurrection of Christ, to get you concentrating on all this other stuff.

Believe me, Satan would like to keep Him in the grave, but he can’t. He’s alive, and because He lives, I live.

The day I put my faith in Jesus Christ, I came alive, and I will never die. V 42, And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. Take your choice. Peter concludes the main body of his sermon very simply by saying this, “Salvation is available.

Salvation is in Jesus Christ.” 3. Invitation. Salvation is by faith. V 43, To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” Jew or Gentile, rich or poor shall receive remission of sins.

Remission is forgiveness. The only thing that can allow God to receive us is forgiveness, and forgiveness comes when you believe. God has no problem collecting all the drowning people who want to be collected.

God is not limited. Whosoever believes shall receive forgiveness, and it’s only a question of faith. God is not limited. Salvation is available to everybody who comes. It’s in Christ. It’s by faith.

Do you believe this morning? Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for you, bore your sin? Do you believe He rose from the dead to give you life? If you believe that, personalize it. Say, “Christ, come into my life. Give me resurrection life,” and He will, and this will be the first day of the rest of your life.