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We are going to be talking about the exclusive, inclusive gospel. And as you're situating yourself with Acts chapter 10, we're actually going to be looking at Matthew 28 here in a moment, just to kick things off. But let me just say this: that many of you have heard of TMAI.

Raise your hand if you've ever heard of the Masters Academy International. This is great. You know why? Because this is one of the churches that is so all in with us. There are other churches, but Emmanuel is really helping us on the cutting edge. We call you fellow workers with the truth.

You are, believe it or not, you are overseas with us. And your pastor is such a great support. Your elders are such a great support. Pastor, you've been to how many of our training centers? Malawi, Mexico? All over. Yes, all right. So you're in, right? There's no selling here as if I could sell anything, right?

But we just want to say thank you for that. TMAI is a great commission ministry. We have one simple goal. And you're going to hear more about this tonight. I hope you come back tonight. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're going to show some things here that hopefully will be eye-opening.

You'll understand about why it's important at TMAI that we train pastors. We don't just train them to be nice guys. There's part of that. But we teach them. Them. You got another sermon going over there? Okay. That's my wife, Debbie. She's got another sermon going. Sorry. I told her, if you fall asleep on this one, just pull up my carpet there or something.

No, I'm just kidding. So the Masters Academy International, our whole purpose, our sole purpose in life is to train men to know God's Word so well that they can exposit it in their own language. And so we have 17 brick-and-mortar schools around the world, and we have 2,000 students.

In actuality, we're in over 70 nations teaching men how to shepherd a church, much like your pastor and your elders shepherd this church. Christianity is not American. It's biblical. At least, biblical Christianity is biblical. And so I would say today that we do that so they can train the saints to do the work of the ministry in their local churches, just like we do here.

So Acts chapter 10 is such a great example of how this works in the New Testament. And if you want to know more about TMEI, I please ask, I beg you to come back tonight. If you're not able to come, or even if you do come back tonight, we have these cards.

This one's Japan, one of our most recent additions to our network of schools. And we have several of these prayer cards out there on both sides. You can pray through these, right? And we will make those available to you after the service. Go pick one up. Be praying for us and our students around the world.

How about if I open a word of prayer and then we'll get started? Father, we still thankful for this morning for an opportunity to open the truth of your word and to camp out there for a little while and to see and to understand your heart for all the ethnicities of this world, to reach them with the truth of the gospel.

You had one method to reach the nations with the gospel of Christ, and that was to make disciples by training them in everything that you've commanded and baptizing them. And you committed to be with us. Even to the end of the age, if we would just do that mission, we get so caught up in other things that we forget to make disciples.

We forget to preach the word of the truth. And so that's why at TMAI, Lord, you have allowed us to train people to do just that so they can have solid, sound churches like this one. We thank you in Christ's name. Thankful for Pastor Tom, who already read through Acts chapter 10, verses 33 through 48.

That's our main text this morning. We're going to spend some time there. I wish we could spend more time there. I really wish we could spend more time there in the first hour. But this hour, we'll spend a little time, we're going to unpack this thing. And I want you to understand that Acts 10 really transports us to a different time and a different place.

It takes us to the first century region of Samaria. Samaria. That's modern-day Jerusalem area, Samaria. And it's on the central. Coastal region of Israel between Jerusalem and Galilee. If you need the book of maps, you can go there at the end of your Bible. If you actually have a paper Bible, who has those these days?

But you can look up the maps on where we're heading in our text today. More specifically, this passage takes us to two cities separated by about a 30-mile walk one way. 30-mile one way. I'm talking about Caesarea and I'm talking about Joppa. You may have heard of Joppa with a particular prophet in the Old Testament who was unwilling, right?

Jonah went to Joppa, caught a boat, and God wanted him to go east, and he went as far west as he could, got swallowed by a big fish. So that's Joppa, right? He caught his ship in Joppa, and so that's where Peter is. Samaria is known in the Bible for marginalized people experiencing the sin of partiality.

You know what the sin of partiality is, right? You've heard of this. Here it is. We use the modern term racism. Let that sink in. Racism. They were under the curse of the sin of partiality, horrifically treated by the world around them, especially those from Jerusalem. It's interesting.

You'll recall that Jesus shattered Jewish norms by traveling through Samaria, and he asked the woman at the well for a simple drink of water. Jesus, meeting with the Samaritan woman, was Scandalous. It's something you would never hear of in those race-filled days. John 4, verse 9, we read these words.

It's chilling to the bone. It sounds familiar today. Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Think about that. And here's Peter. He's being called into this situation. He's being called into a situation to reach them with the gospel of Christ, and he could be thrown in jail for doing it.

We'll talk about that more in a minute. You see, they separated themselves from these kinds of people because Jesus spoke to a woman. He was even more counter-cultural than just speaking with a Samaritan, you see. Jesus gave the gospel to the marginalized, to the racist that despised him for doing this, but he did it anyway.

As repulsive as that was, it pales in comparison to the Jewish hatred for the ethnicities in that day, especially Roman military conquerors that were in their country. Of course, they would have some animosity towards them because they took over their land. They disarmed them. They forced them to submit to Rome.

Don't forget, Israel long thought that their Messiah would be a military conqueror, not somebody who would die on a cross. From their perspective, if Jesus didn't overthrow Rome, then he was no savior to them. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, Rome was still in control, still dominated them.

The Lord Jesus Christ didn't participate in cultural and racial strife. He didn't traffic in that arena, and neither did those that he sent. He came to seek and to save the lost. Why? Because Romans 3, if you think about it, Romans 3, we won't turn there. You know Romans 3.

You can look at it later even. Romans 3, all are under sin's curse. Not one person, not a single individual is righteous or seeks for God. And this is the world to which God calls Peter. Today, more than ever, this message needs to be proclaimed not only from the pulpit, but from the hallways of our own household, in our own neighborhoods.

It needs to be proclaimed and it needs to be applied. This is God's word. We can confidently say that the Great Commission happened in Samaria. One of the most unlikely places that a Jewish evangelist would go. And it, the Great Commission alone, is the end or is the solution to ethnic strife.

Let's just call it what it is. It's the gospel that brings an end to this blight on humanity. There's nothing else that's going to solve it. It's the Great Commission. You're going to see that what occurs in our text leads to a permanent dismantling of racism. And here's what I mean by an eternal cessation of the sin of partiality.

Acts chapter 10 is a reminder of a future day in heaven, whereas we see in Revelation 7, 9, I'll say it again if you want to jot it down, Revelation 7, 9, that believers from all ethnicities will spend eternity together forever. Here's what Revelation 7, 9 says. He says, This, Behold, or you could say, look, a great multitude, which no one could count from every ethnicity, and tribes, plural, and peoples, plural, and languages, plural, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, saying with a loud voice, I wish I could shout it.

Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. That's the future for every saved individual in this room. We're going to be around people that we've never thought even existed, colors of skin, backgrounds, tribes, tongues, and languages, and we're going to be there together, exalting the Lamb.

If we can do it there, we can do it here. Amen? I yearn for that day. Now, more than ever, more than ever before, it's time to place intense focus on God's method for reconciling people of every ethnicity to himself forever. And it starts in the church. It starts in the church.

And that's impossible without the Great Commission. Nothing else is going to do it. There's no other answer. None. It's the gospel. It's the Great Commission. The gospel alone brings God's people together. If you're not there, turn over to Matthew chapter 28. I just want to refresh your minds.

Most of us know this passage cold. We've got it memorized. And I just want you to think of it a little differently now. We'll spend more time here tonight. But I'm just going to read the last two verses. The Great Commission is really 16 through 20. We'll talk about it tonight.

But verses 19 and 20, Peter is there. Peter is the main figure along with Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. And here's what Peter heard. Here's what Jesus said to Peter and the 11. He says, Go, therefore, and here's what you're supposed to do, Peter. You're supposed to make disciples of all nations, of all ethnicities.

That's the word. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What are you supposed to do? How do you make disciples? Well, you teach them, verse 30. You teach them what? You teach them to observe all that I commanded you. That's a lot.

And lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. Let me see it again. Peter was there. He was with Jesus. He heard this command that this is what he is supposed to do. His marching orders. He was with the 11 disciples. He heard the Lord's directives.

He was one of the primary recipients of the message, to make all nations, disciples of all the races. Acts chapter 10 demonstrates that Peter never forgot Jesus' order. What's the order? To teach and to baptize disciples of all ethnicities. That's his job. That's his marching order. You know what?

It's no different today. He's with us always to the end of the age. Acts 10 demonstrates that Peter never forgot it. Jesus told his disciples that they would be his witnesses to the remotest parts of the planet, even Bryan College Station, right here. That means to non-Jewish people, to the Gentiles, to the ethnicities, to the races of the entire world, including a guy named an important man named Cornelius, is a Roman centurion.

His job, his job was to dominate Israel with military force. This is who Peter is supposed to go share the gospel with. Think about that. For a Jew like Peter to take the gospel message to diverse ethnicities of the world, he'd have to resolve at least three major questions.

Oh, a whole lot more, but there's three major ones. Must the Gentiles be required to convert to Judaism before they can become Christians? That was a big question in those days. Second one, are Gentile believers also supposed to be circumcised? That was a big deal. Acts 15. Third one, what about the kosher dietary laws?

You realize that the kosher dietary laws of those days, those ordinances, they banned, or shall I say, outlawed Jews from eating with people from other races. This is where he's supposed to go. This is his message that God is going to give him here in the world. Moment.

We believers love to talk about the Lord over meals, over the times that we gather to eat. And oh, after spending three years here, I think I gained probably 20 pounds because we like to fellowship over food. I've been a lot of places around the world that eat things that you would never in a million years consider edible.

As I said in the last service, Pastor Tom, in Malawi, on the street corners in the long way, they have a stick. And what is on that stick? It's barbecued mice and rats. Barbecued on a stick, that's what they eat for a buck? Just boiled. Just boiled? Not barbecued, okay.

I didn't slow down fast enough, quickly enough to look, but okay. We bought a stick, it cost a dollar. Did you have it? Did you eat it? No. Okay. Yeah, good. Brian Biederbach's son, right? All right, I digress. You get the idea. The Jews had to go to an area to eat with these people.

Welcome to the 10th chapter of Acts, where impossible ethnic disparities are resolved by the gospel. I'm taking a long pause, let you think about it. It's solved by the gospel. Let me make this pointedly personal for each one of us this morning. Look, regardless of your ethnicity, For God to save you, you must believe in Jesus' gospel so that you can receive forgiveness.

Your skin color is irrelevant in that regard. You must believe and embrace the gospel and turn to Christ. We're going to see that today. Well, our text provides five scenes to highlight the exclusivity of the gospel of salvation. And I think I can operate this thing now. Right?

Good. Good. Last service, it didn't work for me just because I'm not technically sound. I don't know how to push buttons, but they taught me this morning. Okay, so salvation is for the people, is for people of any ethnicity. We see that back in Acts, excuse me, yeah, Acts chapter 10.

Let me just reread verses 33 through 35 so we can put it in context. We read these words in verse 33, Acts chapter 10. He says, So I sent for you. This is Cornelius talking to Peter. So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come.

Now then, we are all here, present before God, to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. Opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality. But in every nation, the man who fears God and does what is right is welcome to him.

Is that not refreshing? Those who fear God are welcome to God. Let's set the stage here. From Acts chapter 10, verses 1 through 8, Luke introduces us to Cornelius. He's a military officer responsible for at least 100 Roman soldiers. In verse 2, take a look at verse 2.

Cornelius is a devout man. He's a religious man. He's pious. He's reverent toward God. He fears God. And he's very kind to the Jewish people, gives them alms. But there's a huge problem. We can't miss the problem. It's a glaring problem. You see, for Cornelius, devotion to religion and good works never saved anyone.

Up to this point, regardless of what we see in verses 33 through 35, Cornelius was not saved. Cornelius wasn't saved at this point. How can we be so certain? How can we be so judgmental? Well, in Acts chapter 11, the very next chapter, verses 13 and 14, Cornelius mentioned that an angel told him that Peter would preach the words of salvation.

Here's why, so that he could be saved. He knew a lot of Jesus' facts and trivia, but he wasn't saved. And that's what this chapter is all about. Verse 5. In verse 5, well, the man prayed, the man prayed. An angel told Cornelius to get Peter in Joppa and bring him back.

30-mile walk. So somebody's got a 60-mile round trip ahead of them to go fetch Peter. Immediately, Cornelius summoned three men to get Peter and bring him back to Caesarea. It's a small price to pay that 60-mile round trip for the message of salvation. There's more obstacles to be dealt with here.

Look at verse 28. In verse 28, it's illegal for a Jewish man like Peter to associate with people of Cornelius' race. Illegal. He could be thrown in jail for this. How are you going to convince Peter to violate that decree so that they can hear the gospel message?

Well, here's how. You see, God intervenes. While Peter approached Caesarea, he stopped to pray. In verse 10, it says he wanted to eat something because he was hungry. You'd probably be hungry too after 30 miles of walking, and 10 mice on a stick might be edible at that point.

That's when God lowers a bunch of animals from the sky. We know from chapter 11 it contained reptiles, it contained birds on something like a sheet, other animals. The Old Testament prohibited Jews, prohibited Peter from eating things like this. But in verse 13, a voice from the Lord demanded him to kill and eat.

Stay with me here. Look at verse 14. Peter was appalled. Lord, I've never eaten anything like this before, and I'm not about to start now. Verse 15, watch how God overcomes Peter's objection. Verse 15 in Acts chapter 10. He says, again, a voice came to him a second time.

What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy. God commands Peter with this voice, with precision. Many of our seminary students here would recognize Daniel Wallace, a Greek expert. And he says that the point that we're supposed to understand that Peter is supposed to get here, he would translate it this way, Peter, don't you defile what God has made clean?

Exclamation point. You've got to kill and eat, Peter. In verse 16, God told Peter three times that it was okay to eat. And at this point, we find ourselves scratching our heads, and we go, why is this even important? Food? Well, here's why. You see, God removed the dietary restrictions so that Peter could eat the man's food in the man's house, he could stay at his home.

The food served. As a gospel opportunity to sit down and have fellowship and talk, not get upset about food. It's like Peter's not going to show up and say, I'm sorry, I can't eat your mouse. That's gross. Not going to do it. We mustn't ever allow our dietary demands to be a hindrance to the message of the gospel so that people could be saved.

Look, if you're going to offend people, do it with the gospel and not with your food. Right? Let's look again at verse 28. While Peter is in Cornelius' house, he reminds the people that he's breaking the law for mingling with their race. He could go to prison for this.

Look at your watch, if you have one. Look at the time. Within a couple of hours, there are pastors in California who will be arrested for doing what I'm doing today. They're not supposed to have church in California. People might get sick and they're going to go to jail.

Do you understand what Peter's going through here? He has a great commission. The pastors in California have a great commission, and they're not going to back off. They're going to go to jail. God's message wasn't limited to clean or unclean food. Peter finally understood the extent to which the Lord reaches the nations.

No man in no way. Woman from any race is unacceptable or dirty. That's what the text actually says. Salvation may be received by people from any ethnicity, but God loves Cornelius. He loves his guests. Peter resolves to preach the gospel. To Peter, the jail time, the threat of it, was worth it.

He'd seen prison cells. It's nothing strange to him. Verse 33, Cornelius says that they're all in God's presence to hear all that the Lord commanded Peter to tell them. In effect, Cornelius appeals to the Great Commission without even knowing it. He required Peter to follow Jesus' instructions in Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20 to a T.

You tell me what your master said. So Peter responds with conviction, saying that he finally understood that God is not partial. He's not favorable to any individual of any nation. We are his creation and he loves us. Look at verse 34 again. Let's break this down, that word partiality there.

Since God doesn't sin, God doesn't commit the sin of partiality. One Greek expert, and I love this, he defines partiality like this, because The word partiality has the Greek word for face in it, it means to look upon a person's face, it means to make an unjust distinction between people by treating one person better than another simply because of what their face looks like.

The gospel is simple. Can you imagine if people today just got this message, we'd be a whole different world because people would be serving Christ and they would understand this. The Bible, get this: the Bible never calls racism a sin. You know what? Scripture goes much deeper than that.

It judges people for the sin of partiality of which God is not guilty, the text tells us. It judges their sin of partiality by favoring or disfavoring people just because of the melanin count and their skin. God had to drop a whole bunch of animals from the sky and say, It's okay to eat these, Peter.

In fact, you must kill them and eat them. He was upset, and the message was: you don't not share the gospel with anybody, Peter, just because of what they look like. I want to be in a church like that. You see, the Bible judges people for the sin of partiality by favoring or disfavoring their skin color, as I said.

James 2, 8 and 9, and verse 13. James 2, 8 and 9, and verse 13. You can read it. In other words, the Great Commission is colorblind. You mustn't show preference because of the levels of the melanin in people's skin. God is not one to show partiality. Peter makes this point in verse 35.

In verse 35, he uses a Greek word, and I love it. It's the word ethnos, from which we get the word ethnicities. Here's what he says: In every ethnicity, the man who fears God and does what is right is welcome, you could say, is acceptable to God. Very encouraging.

So, salvation is all-encompassing for people of any ethnicity, but there's really a second scene in the text here that accentuates the exclusivity of the gospel. Salvation is for people who know Jesus as Lord. It's exclusive to that. We see it in verses 36 through 38. While God saves individuals from any ethnic community, not everyone's going to be saved.

Salvation is reserved exclusively for those who know Jesus as Lord. But what does that even mean? Knowing Jesus as Lord? Before we can understand. Verse 36. We really need to understand verse 37, specifically the word no, K-N-O-W, in verse 37. Do you see it there? No, in verse 37 is about raw truth, it's about facts.

And by the structure of the verb here, it's about the details of what Cornelius and the guests of his household had already understood even before Peter arrived. He's saying, Look, there's a lot of things you already know about the gospel. You know about Jesus. Let me tell you what they are.

And he tells them what's in their heads. They could have been good Bible trivia experts before Peter got there. So Peter starts with common ground about the details that they themselves have already understood for a long time. Let me give you a list of the truths that they've known for a while.

Verse 36, do you see it? They've already known that God sent his message of peace through Jesus Christ to the sons of Israel. It's top of mind. Verse 36 again, they've already heard that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is master of all, including Cornelius' commander-in-chief. Who's Cornelius' ultimate commander-in-chief?

Caesar. Nero. Remember Nero in your world history, ancient history? He was a wicked despot. And yet we know here that Nero has a Lord and Master, and that Lord and Master is Jesus Christ. He didn't receive Jesus Christ. He didn't repent of his sin. Nonetheless, he's king of kings and lord of lords.

Look at verse 37. They've already known, and he uses the word the thing. Literally, the thing means the message. The message which God sent throughout all Judea, which began with John the Baptist's preaching. So they'd heard all these things. They have it in their head. They knew that Jesus was from Nazareth.

Verse 38 again: they've already understood that God appointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power. It's a lot of things these people knew. Verse 38: It was a well-known fact that Jesus did good works and he healed many who were oppressed, exploited, dominated, and violently treated. Oh, they suffered.

But who, at the hands of who, who violently treated them? Verse 38 says the devil, right? Okay, but that doesn't make sense. How did the devil violently treat them? Well, at the hands of violent people. Look at the streets of America today, around the world. Violent people working as emissaries of the devil.

Why? Why were they treated so harshly? Well, because God was with Jesus. That's why. God was with Peter. God was with Paul. God is with us. And the New Testament tells us, indeed, all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So long before Peter arrived in Caesarea, Peter says that their heads were already filled with the details, with facts about Jesus.

But there's a problem. Cornelius still hadn't heard the saving gospel. Those in his household still hadn't heard it. Their heads were filled with unassimilated Jesus trivia and God facts, and none of that has ever saved anybody. It can't save you, and it can't save me either. There has to be something more.

They're still destined to an eternal destruction unless they place their lives under complete submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You see, as you embrace the exclusive, inclusive gospel, you realize, first of all, that salvation is for people of any ethnicity. And second, it's only for people who know Jesus as Lord.

That's the exclusive, inclusive gospel. Well, to underscore the exclusivity of the gospel, there's a third scene in our text here. Third scene. Salvation is for people who testify of Jesus' resurrection. We see that in verses 39 through 41. Verse 39. Verse 39 continues Peter's reasoning about the people of Cornelius' house, the things that they'd already known for a long time.

But the first thing that we need to understand is we have to understand who the we is in verse 39. Do you see that in verse 39? We? Verse 45 says that they are Jewish believers, these we, who are with Peter. And we know from Acts 11, 12, it says that the we, the six, there were six of them, that were with Peter in Cornelius' house.

So there were six people that Peter brought with him. He's talking about the we. Peter wants the Gentiles to know something that they hadn't understood until after Peter's arrival. In essence, what he's saying is, whereas you have known a bunch of facts, you've known all these things, Peter and the six men that were with him were actually eyewitnesses to the things that these guys already knew about.

They saw the things that Jesus did. Watch how this comes together in verse 39. And if you have an ESV Bible, I love the way the ESV puts it together. Because in the ESV, it puts the word and in verse 39. Some English Bibles don't include that. It's a helpful word.

So, if we were to insert it there from the Greek text, it's not all that necessary, but it's helpful to know. Really, what he's saying here is here in verse 39: you've known these facts for a long time, and verse 39, we are witnesses to the things that Jesus did all over Israel.

You know about it, we saw it. We're eyewitnesses. We were there, we saw Jesus do these things. So, Peter lists some of the specific things these men saw. They were witnesses to the Jewish leaders who put Jesus on a cross, who killed him. They saw Jesus alive after the crucifixion because God raised him from the dead three days later.

They saw it. God hand-selected in verse 41 a group of people to see Jesus after he came back to life. They even shared meals together. Meals are important. This is about trusting the eyewitness accounts. Even the Apostle John appeals to this. John 20, 31 talks about why testimonies of the things that were seen were important.

John 20, 31, the book of John was written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. That's what that gospel is all about. So, here's what the exclusivity of the gospel has shown us so far: Salvation is for people of any ethnicity, right?

It's for individuals who know Jesus as Lord, and salvation is for those who testify of Jesus' resurrection, which we can do today. Let's drill into the fourth scene that stresses the exclusivity of the gospel. There it is. Salvation is for people who are forgiven. Don't you love that word?

Forgiven. The word ordered in verse 42. Do you see it there? The word ordered in verse 42 reminds us of what Cornelius demanded Peter to do back in verse 33. Except there's an important detail here. Cornelius used a different word for Peter to tell them what the Lord had commanded him to say.

In verse 33, Cornelius uses a Greek word for command. It's a term that suggests a military order from a higher-ranking officer, a higher ranking officer who outranks Peter himself. Cornelius has little interest in Peter's musings, his thoughts. He wants to know what his commanding officer, the Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned him to say.

What did Jesus commission him to say? Didn't we look at that this morning, Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 and 20? Make disciples of all nations. Teach them to do everything I've commanded you to do. Baptize them, teach them, and I'll be with you to the end of the age.

This is what Cornelius is telling him to say. You go to your commanding officer, you tell me what he said. Back in verse 42, Peter used the word ordered to tell the household three things: Jesus' first order for Peter in verse 42, Jesus commanded Peter to preach to the people.

Again, the great commission to disciples, to teach them, to observe all these things. That's discipleship, isn't it? Isn't that what should go on in churches? Discipleship. It happens in the pulpit. It happens one-on-one. Jesus' second order is what Peter must preach to the people. And it too is in verse 42.

He told Peter to solemnly testify that Jesus is the one that God appointed long ago to judge the living and the dead. That's just another way of speaking what he'd already said in verse 36. He, that's Jesus, is master. He's Lord of all. That means he's judge of all, everyone.

Paul tells us, the Gentiles in Greece, the same thing in Acts chapter 17, verses 30 through 31. This is important. He says this, it's Paul speaking. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere. That they should repent, because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.

So in Acts 10:43, Peter notes that this encompasses all people, both the living and the dead. None shall escape Jesus' judgment. Except for believers, of course. How do we know that? Because in Romans 8:1, you know this passage. Therefore, there is now what? No condemnation for those who are in Christ.

I take comfort in this because I probably had racial thoughts in my younger years of life, but now I'm a believer. I've confessed sin. And now there is no condemnation for me who is in Christ, neither for you. I just got finished reading the book, White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo.

You don't have to read it, it's probably required reading in most universities, probably Texas AM. There is no forgiveness in that book. None. And if you're a believer and you have to read that book in the university setting, remember Romans 8:31. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

It doesn't matter what sin you've committed, there's a cleansing that goes on. Oh, I'm so thankful. Jesus' third order for Peter is seen in verse 43. Peter must bear testimony that Jesus was appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. He's the one that the prophets bore witness.

And what did they say? Verse 43: that through Jesus Christ, by his name, everyone who believes and receives him receives forgiveness. How comforting. Salvation is exclusively inclusive for all the believing ones who in him receive forgiveness for their sins. That word believe is one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible, and it ought not to be.

It's very simple. Here's a basic definition for the word believe in its simplest form. Believe is present tense, it means the believing ones. It requires receiving God's gift of saving grace by faith alone and Christ alone. You know something? The world needs this message. It's this message that they need in Portland.

Where are the Bible expositing churches in Portland? Maybe they're there. Are we praying for them? They're in a tough place, but are they proclaiming the truth? This is what needs to be proclaimed. This is what heals, what ills us. Are you believing in the Lord Jesus Christ? If no, you remain in your sin and his judgment is upon you even right now.

The gospel is exclusively inclusive. It's for people of any ethnicity. It's for those who know Jesus as Lord. It's for you who testify of his resurrection and is reserved for those whose sins are forgiven. Amen? Now let's wrap this up with the final scene, the fifth one that proves the exclusivity of the gospel.

Salvation is for people who submit to Jesus' Lordship. We've all been engaged in exciting conversations, and right in the middle of the most important thing that you wanted to say, somebody else thought that what they had to say was even more important. And so they began the beginning of their sentence, and you never got out what you wanted to say.

Yeah, if that's you, welcome. You're in good company, because that's what happens in the text here. And verse 43, you see, Peter was on a roll. He was nailing gospel points one right after the other. He was hitting it on all cylinders, got everything right. And Cornelius and his household were on the edge of their seats, watching and listening to every word.

Then all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit commandeers the Bible study. Verse 44, mid-sentence. God took over. Had to shut his mouth. The Holy Spirit fell on all those who were listening to the message, and they, what happened? They believed. Acts 11:17, which summarizes all of this, says that they believed.

The five solas came alive in Cornelius' home. Jot this down if you're taking notes. The Holy Spirit obliterated any notion of good works-based salvation. There was no good works-based salvation going on here. The five solas, they were saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, by the testimony of God's Word alone, to the glory of God alone.

God took over the Bible study, and they got it. And in verse 45, the six Jewish believers were amazed. They were astounded. They were shocked. They were so shocked by God's love for these people. People made in his own image. They were eyewitnesses of God's saving grace and their lives.

And yet, they could have gone to jail for what they'd just done. Will you go to jail for your faith in Christ? Somebody tells you you can't talk to somebody who doesn't look like you, are you willing to go? Because they look like what Jesus made them to look like.

How exciting is that? We have at TMAI 2,000 current students spanning the globe going out into their own people, their own tribes and languages, reaching their own people because people are willing to leave the United States in the comfort of their own home and go teach them. Oh, how I thank God for Emmanuel Baptist Church that helps us.

They see the people that God loves. Acts 11:18, we see that the Jewish believers heard this and they quieted down and glorified God. And they said, Well, then, God has granted to the Gentiles repentance that leads to life. They were shocked. Salvation is exclusively inclusive for any individual from any ethnic background, for those whom God has granted repentance leading to life.

So today, you have to ask yourself a very important question. And your answer has eternal consequences. Has God granted you repentance? Repentance is a gift of God. You know that, right? It only comes from Him. Has He granted that to you? Let today be that day that He gives that gift.

Turn from sin. Trust Christ. If He has, your life will be one in which you mourn over your sin. You'll be every morning, every day,. Confessing it before the Lord because that honors Him. If God has given you the gift of repentance, you confess your sins to Him, He is faithful and righteous to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

How do I know that? 1 John 1, verse 9. If you say that you haven't sinned, then you make God a liar, the text says. And His Word isn't in you, and you just happen to know a lot of Jesus facts and God trivia and can probably beat your neighbor in a Bible quiz.

But unless God has granted you repentance, unless you receive Him as your Lord and your Savior, you're still stuck like Cornelius was before he heard the gospel. Let's think about Acts 10 today. Regardless of your ethnicity, for God to save you, you must believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ so that you can receive forgiveness.

It's as simple as that. He declares that the gospel is for people from every ethnicity. In Ephesians chapter 2, read Ephesians chapter 2 very carefully. You'll see that Jesus slayed racism with the cross that slayed him. It's very clear. Read it. It's there. Thereby creating a single new race known as Christians, the Redeemed.

You look around this room, and I get to see the faces. We're filled with color here. Praise God. Praise God. You will find the redeemed in biblical churches with expository preaching, loving God and caring for one another in the bond of peace. How do they demonstrate submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

We see it in verses 47 through 48. Peter followed his superior officer's directions from Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20. And he ordered for these Gentiles, these foreigners, people that he could be thrown in jail for having visited their home and eating their food, and he ordered them to be baptized.

What is baptism? It's a simple outward expression of an inward change. It's obedience to your Lord and Savior, who commands that you be baptized. Have you not been baptized yet and you've turned from sin and trusted Christ? It's right behind me. How soon will you stand up and talk to your elders or your pastors and say, I've got to do this?

Right there, right then, he ordered them to be baptized because that's part of the great commission. And since baptism is important to Jesus, it's a delight for all believers to do so out of obedience to him. Pastor Tom, do I have a couple of minutes longer or am I done?

Okay. I can't think of a better way to summarize what we just did than to simply read. I'll read it. You follow along, chapter 11, verses 1 through 18. This is a synopsis of what happened. This is a looking back from Peter's perspective as he tells the people in Jerusalem what happened in Caesarea.

Follow along as I read. Here's what it says in Acts 11. Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. And Peter came up to Jerusalem. Those who were circumcised took issue with him. There's no surprise there, saying, verse 3, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them?

Read in the white spaces of the text. Didn't you know you could go to jail for that? Hmm. But Peter, in verse 4, Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying, I was in the city of Joppa, kind of minding my own business, praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, and an object coming down like a great sheet lowered from the four corners of the sky, and it came right down to me.

And when I'd fixed my gaze on it, and observing it, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, and wild beasts and crawling creatures. And birds of the air. And I also heard a voice saying to me, Get up, Peter, kill, and eat. Verse 8. But I said, By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.

But a voice from heaven answered a second time, What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy. This happened to me three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. And behold, at the moment, at that moment, three men appeared at the house in which I was staying, having been sent from Caesarea.

That's that 30-mile walk. The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. These six brethren, remember those six guys? Were also with me and went with me, and we entered the man's house. And he reported to us how he'd seen an angel standing in his house, saying, Send to Joppa, have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here.

He was the superior officer giving his direct reports an instruction to go and do something. Go get Peter. And here it is, verse 14. And he will speak words to you by which you will be saved. Hear that? He's going to give you some words by which you're going to be saved.

You and your whole household. In other words, have everybody there. I want them to hear the gospel. And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them. And just as he did upon us at the beginning, verse 16, and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he used to say, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, God gave them the same gift as he is also gifted to us after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was I to stand in God's way? And when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, Well, then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the ethnicities of the world, also repentance that leads to life.

Here's the five scenes that highlight the exclusivity of the gospel for all people. Salvation is for any ethnicity, salvation is for you who know Jesus as Lord. Salvation is for those who testify of Jesus' resurrection. Salvation is for those who are forgiven. Salvation is for those who submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

That's the living out of the Great Commission. That's the example of it. And we are called to live that message. Look, you may have been guilty of all kinds of sin. You were. We all are. Before salvation in Christ. When there's a repentance, when there's a confession of sin, when there's a turning to Christ, you may have been a racist, you may have been all kinds of things that you would never care to talk about amongst others.

But this one thing I know: there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Father, we thank you. We thank you for the simple truth of your word. Peter knew he could be arrested. He knew he wasn't supposed to eat with them and visit with them, and yet you had to show him things that would overcome his concerns.

You overcame his concerns. And he lived the truth. He lived the Great Commission with great clarity. And you jumped on the message and you turned the ethnicities of that room to Christ, who became proclaimers of the gospel that they too would reach their neighborhoods and the world and would turn the world upside down with the word of truth these last 2,000 years.

Would you change a life? Several lives right now, this morning, through confession of sin, repentance, and embracing you as the Lord of all. Would you give us peace that we are not condemned for our sin anymore? You've taken that from us, and we're free to love the ethnicities of the world.

Help us, Lord, to be faithful in that. Amen.