Hi, I'm Matt Henry, and I'm the pastor at Missio Dei Fellowship in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Very thankful that you found our sermons, and I hope that they are a way of encouragement to you in your Christian walk. However, it's important for you to understand that this sermon was given in my church's context and for the people that God has entrusted for me to shepherd. So if you're in the Kenosha area, I would encourage you to come on a Sunday and worship with the body of Christ here. And if you're not in this area, these sermons are a great tool for supplementing your walk, but they are by no means a substitute for the local church. So you need to submit yourself to a faithful Bible teaching church and shepherd in your area. Thank you. Well, we're in Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 10, so please open there if you haven't. We're gonna read verses 36 to 48. Verses 36 to 48. Hear now the word of the Lord. Luke writes, as for the word which he sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming the good news. Oh, before we go any further, let me say this. I have several qualities, you see up there, 13 qualities, but as I read through it again, with the first service, I found more. We have X number of qualities about Jesus. We don't know how many there are now at this point. I'm second-guessing myself. So we have at least 13, but then I came up with two more, so we have 15. Now I'm afraid that when I read it some more, I'll find some more. So we have X number of qualities of Jesus in this passage. Your job, as I read it, is see if you can find them, or at least some of them, and just mark them out in your mind. Now hear the word of the Lord. But as for the word which he sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. You yourselves know the thing which happened throughout all Judea. starting with Galilee after the baptism, which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all the things he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a tree. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he appear not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly bear witness that this is the one who has been designated by God as judge of the living and the dead. Of him, all the prophets bear witness that through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sin. While Peter was still speaking on these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the word, and all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and magnifying God. And then Peter answered, can anyone refuse water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did? And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and then they asked him to remain for a few days. Now, in this, we have the finishing of the story about the conversion of Cornelius. It is the idea of the salvation coming to the Gentiles. Now, you remember from the past sermons that Peter has entered into the house of Cornelius, a centurion, and he is there to teach. Cornelius has invited all these people, these are friends and family, to come and to hear all that the Lord has commanded Peter to teach. And so that's the purpose. He is there to teach the people all that is his responsibility to do. And what you will find today and over the next week or so is that it is to understand and to believe in Jesus. Now, Peter himself, we know, has learned a few lessons along the way prior to this, and that God was instructing him as well as preparing him to instruct these Gentiles. The first thing that we saw that was God is not, or God is impartial, that God is not one to play favorites. And so not only is he the God of the Jew, but he is the God of the Gentiles. And so that we must keep that in mind, that if God is one who does not show partiality or favoritism toward one people or another, then we too must not show that favoritism. And then second, we saw that God welcomes and accepts all who truly fear him and do what is right. That was the relationship we dealt with for a couple of weeks on the important doctrine of faith and works. We are saved by faith alone, by grace alone, through Christ alone. No other way can salvation be found but those. But that faith never rests alone. It always produces works. And so there is always going to be obedience and a growing in holiness as the Christian grows in his or her faith. And so now we have the whole story set up for us and we get to the core of the point of this event. Salvation is going to come to the Gentiles. It's a wonderful story. because all of us in this room most likely are Gentiles. And so how is it that we ever heard the gospel? How is it that we ever found out that there was hope and life eternal? How could we be right with God? How can we find forgiveness of sin? How can we become part of the household of God? Everything and anything related to the benefits of Jesus Christ, how do we have those? It is because of this. And so we get to see and witness how salvation comes to the Gentile. And so what does he do? Where does he begin? What is his message? And the message is very simple, beloved. It is Jesus. If there's one thing you walk away with today, it is this, the absolute necessity of getting Jesus Christ right. Many things can be off, and most likely, if we were to examine ourselves, we would find that many things in our life and theology are off. You can mess up your understanding of the scripture. You can cling to certain doctrines that are just not true or solid, but I can tell you this, that if you get Jesus wrong, everything else falls apart. But if you have Jesus right, even though there can be messed up doctrines in your life, it doesn't matter. Ultimately, you have Jesus and that's what matters. This is very critical to understand because one of the tools that Satan will do, I believe, and he'll do it against Christians, is that he will cause your mind to get distracted off of Jesus and onto important doctrine. Hear what I said, he will get your mind off of Jesus and onto really important doctrines. Doctrines that are very critical, important, powerful, necessary, things that you want to get right. and you will be all about those doctrines, and that's exactly what you'll be known for. You'll all be known for this doctrine or that doctrine. You'll fight for it and study it and really deal with it hard. And in the whole process that you're doing that, what you don't recognize is somewhere along the line, your eyes got off of the person and work of Jesus. And so instead, you'll focus on these important things, and they are, they are important things, but they're not the most important thing. As many have said over the years, we must always make certain that we keep the main thing the main thing. And so look at these scriptures with me and we're gonna just see them on the screen for the interest of time so that we can stay with the text. But in Acts chapter four, verse 12, now I want you to notice and try to listen for a certain phrase that will be said all three times in the three passages. But here's what is written in Acts 4, verse 12, and there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name, except for the name of Jesus, under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. There is salvation in no one else. God has not given alternative options. There's not the easy way, and then there's some other ones that are a little bit more roundabout, and you have to climb over a few more hills, and go through a few valleys, and maybe a scary cave or two in your journey to salvation. But you'll get there eventually. He says, there is but one way, there is no other name, and nothing else but Jesus, and God has only granted that salvation can come only through Jesus. And so you can say, well, I have God, but if you don't have Jesus, you don't have God, you don't have salvation. God has limited it, the Christian faith is absolutely exclusive, and sometimes one of the problems that Christians will have as they share the gospels, they will keep trying to figure out some way to soft-sell Jesus, and you can't, it's just impossible. At some point, you will tell them he is the only way of salvation. And they will find offense over that because that is so exclusive. He is not part of the marketplace of ideas. It always annoys me and discourages me when I hear Christians say that Jesus can stand in the marketplace of ideas. No, he stands above the marketplace of ideas. You give the marketplace of ideas of every grand religion, every grand philosophy, every grand thought, everything and anything, bundle them all up together and put them there and you say, we invite Jesus to the table. He is not interested in being invited to the table. He sweeps them from the table and he says, I alone. in the way of salvation. And that's exactly, in fact, what he says in John chapter 14, verse six. Jesus said to Thomas, you know him as the doubting Thomas. He says, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Does it get any more exclusive than that? Is that not arrogant, unless it's true? Note that these are, remember last week we talked about the indicative and the imperative. Are these indicatives or imperatives? Indicative. And what's an indicative? Say it. Fact or reality. He doesn't care. Jesus is not asking you to like it, agree with it, or anything else. He is just simply declaring this is the fact. I am not a way. I am not a life. I am the life. I am the way. I am the truth. And no one, no one will come to the Father but through me. Any man, woman, child that says, I believe in God, I'm not sure I believe in Jesus, they do not believe in God. They cannot come to God. They will never know God if they do not come through Jesus. 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse 11. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid. And what is that foundation? Jesus Christ. You can build the most beautiful religious edifice in your mind or on earth. Go and see the Taj Mahal. Go and see the many vast temples and mosques and whatever else that might be out there. You will see great cathedrals claimed to be built in the name of God. And yet Christ is not at the foundation of it. And if without Christ at the foundation, nothing else matters. You have Christ as your foundation, and you might build all kinds of silly, stupid, foolish things on that. 1 Corinthians 3 is talking about that. He's talking in 1 Corinthians 3 about teachers, and the only foundation that a faithful teacher must make sure to do is build the foundation on Christ. Now, he may build on that through his teaching, wood, hay, and stubble, Paul then says, or he may do gold, silver, and precious stones. Good doctrine versus bad doctrine. But he's building on the foundation, and when God judges that teacher's labors, It will be through fire, and it describes that as being burned away if it's wood, hay, and stubble. But it says, yet he himself will be saved. Why? Because the foundation is nonetheless Christ. Same thing with you as your own life. Even if you say, well, I'm not a teacher, it doesn't matter. What's your foundation? What is it built upon? Let it be Christ alone. But notice, in all three of those passages, it said no one else, no other. It is absolutely, utterly, with no apology, exclusive. And so it's no surprise that Peter comes to this house and he's going to preach, and he's gonna preach Jesus. This is a message of the apostles, beloved. It was very simple and very straightforward. It was always about Jesus. So when an apostle would talk to a person who was not a Christian, the only thing ultimately he will say is about Jesus. Here's again where you can go wrong. You can talk to a non-Christian and they'll be asking for this issue and that issue and you'll be trying to give them all kinds of counsel. And it's even biblical counsel and good and wise. But if you ultimately don't bring them to be confronted with Jesus, does that matter? It doesn't, no. You're trying to build a life of choices and wisdom on something that has no foundation. And so an apostle would only ultimately look at a non-Christian and say, you need Jesus. This isn't true for me. As a pastor, I will get people who are not Christians and will come and they will want counsel. Or I will offer to help them if they have questions. And maybe I'm at a coffee shop and they see I've got a Bible and a question starts and they're like, you know, I got a question. And all of a sudden they start asking me for counsel. That's normal, that's fine. But every time that happens, ultimately, what I will do is say, I can help you. I actually have some counsel I can give to you. But let me ask you this, before I do, who is Jesus to you? And invariably, they'll say he's a good man, or I believe him, or I used to go to church and I asked him in my heart, or whatever it might be, or they say, I don't know. I'll say, well, tell you what, I can give you the counsel, but none of that matters if you don't understand who Jesus is. So would you be willing to meet with me? I'll do it at your time, at your convenience. I'll even buy you food or coffee, whatever it takes to make it easy for you. But would you meet so that we might look at Jesus? Some of you actually have come to faith because of that very event, right? And that's all you do. It doesn't matter. When you're looking at a non-Christian, everything you do that's not Jesus is of no use. It always has to be Jesus. But what if you're talking, and you were an apostle, to a Christian? Well then what you're gonna do is lay the foundation of Christ again and build everything off of that. So everything that you teach and preach to a Christian must be off of the foundation of Jesus Christ still. So why do we speak truth rather than lies? Why do we not live in immorality but in purity? Why are we a hard worker? We do our work heartily as unto whom? Jesus, the Lord. Why do we forgive one another? Well, that's a good thing to do, pastor. You ought to forgive another person. No, that's not. That'll put you in hell. You forgive one another just as Christ has forgiven you. It's always off of that foundation. And so that's why as a Christian, you can ultimately cannot hide Christ if you truly follow him, because out of everything, you're flowing from that foundation. And so when they ask you, why do you do this? Why do you do that? Why do you spend your money that way? Why do you save your money that way? Why do you invest this way? It has to be, it ought to be flowing from the foundation of Jesus Christ, your Lord. And so when you take Jesus out of the equation, all you end up with is religion or moralism. But you do not have the Christian faith. And so we're gonna begin to see X number of qualities. That's open right now. But at least 13 about Jesus that Peter makes reference to in the process of bringing the fullness of the gospel to these people. So let's jump right in. In verse 36, the first part of it, we see that he is the peacemaker. So he says, as for the word which he sent to the sons of Israel, proclaiming the good news, the gospel meaning, of peace. The gospel of peace. The Bible makes it very clear that due to the state of sin that rules in the heart of every person, we are at enmity with God. Because sin is our lot, that is the reality of every human from birth, really from conception, so we are at enmity with God. Sin is our enemy, and it makes us an enemy of God. And so the prophet Ezekiel said it very simply, he says, the soul that sins must die. And so though many will say that they themselves feel like they're at peace, and you'll hear this, well, I don't know if I agree with you, Matt. I think that I'm pretty much at peace. I don't see myself at war with him. In fact, I find this a little offensive and small-minded of you. Why are you judging me? When I look at my life, I think I'm at peace with God. They have no concern over the relationship with God because they don't see themselves as enmity with God from their perspective. Unfortunately, the reality is that only through Jesus Christ can you have peace with God. And that's what he says, right? The good news of peace through what agent? Jesus Christ. The idea of saying I feel at peace with God is not the same as being at peace with God. One never judges himself upon how he feels, he judges himself against the certainty of the word of God. And so we saw last week the reality of the power of our sin nature, right? Remember the term was flesh. And if you are in the flesh, that means that you are under the domination of sin, and that's what every human being is born in. They are born under sin, and therefore they're in the flesh. It's not talking about your body, it's really emphasizing that reality of sin in every human. And so that sin is in us and what it produces then the outward expression. So every person in this room is different. Some of you will gravitate toward immorality or sensuality. Others will be for drunkenness or gluttony and others will be being lazy or being factious and angry and bitter. It's untold number of ways and variations that your flesh can work in your life. But that's just the fruit. Where is that flowing from? It's flowing from the spring of the flesh or of sin. And if you are captured by the flesh, you are in the flesh. He says in Galatians 5, if anyone practices these things, the deeds of the flesh, there is no salvation. You're not a child of God. And so Paul tells us in Romans chapter eight, verse five, whoops, there we go, Romans eight, five, that those who are in the flesh cannot what? Please God, there is no peace. Again, this is all indicative, it's a fact, he's not asking you if you agree with it or not, he's just simply telling you, look, this is how it is. You are not able to please God. You look at your aunt, your uncle, your loved ones, your best friends, or anybody else in this world, and if they are in the flesh, meaning they are outside of Jesus Christ, they are not a believer, they have no capability of pleasing God. That's why when you talk to a non-Christian, no matter how much counsel you give them to how they can fix their life, you can't fix their life. It has to start with Jesus. It just simply has to start there. And so you can appeal to them, you can give them things that can fix, at least for a short time, certain things. You can help them budget their money, you can help them get off their drugs, things like that. All of those things are not necessarily bad or wrong, but they ultimately don't deal with the root. All you shift is their dependence from their drugs to their health. but it's just a God, a false God, it's not Christ. But through Jesus, and only through Jesus, one can be declared righteous, not because of our labors, not because of our goodness, but because of the perfect righteousness of Christ that he did in his obedience. And so the Bible tells us all that peace is ours, how? Through Jesus. And so Peter says in our passage, we preach peace through Jesus Christ. Why? Because in Jesus, we have peace with God. In fact, you could take John 14.6 and say it a different way. You could say, I am the way, the truth, the life, and the peace. Because this is the very quality of who Christ is. He is the one who is the peacemaker, and he brings peace. Do we approach God for peace? Do we sue him for peace and say, we need peace, and so I'm coming to you, what are the terms? No, Bible says that while we were yet sinners, under his wrath, still enemies of God, Christ died for us. God is the one who does that work. And so in Colossians 1, verse 19 and 20, it says, for in him, in Christ, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And it speaks of his divinity, that he was God in human flesh. And through him, through Christ, to reconcile all things to himself, So how is God going to reconcile things to himself? Through Christ. Having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. So this then brings peace between people and people groups. If we have peace with God, now we can begin to have peace with one another. but it's not going to be through treaties, it's not going to be through any other man-centered, man-ordained way. The only way you can ultimately have peace with one another, and with peace with other people, groups, and tribes, and nations, and tongues, whatever, is through Christ. And so for Paul, I'm sorry, Peter, here he is, a good Jew, and he has already told them, look, you already know I'm not supposed to be with you, but now I see that God is in fact impartial, so it's okay for me to be with you Gentiles. The Jew-Gentile difference in our day doesn't mean much, because we're Gentiles. What's wrong with us? I think we're kind of nice people. But a good Jew would say, ah, not quite. And then you're gonna get offended, like, who are you? And that's the very issue there. And yet now, in Christ, a Jew can say, I believe in Christ, and a Gentile can say, I believe in Christ, too. And they're like, hey, we're brothers, cool. I've always said, and I'll continue to say, if you look at our church, and you ask yourself, how many of these people sitting here would be my friend if it wasn't for Jesus, most of you'd say, most of them wouldn't. We live very different lives, we have different things we love to do, and we walk in different circles. What gathers us together each Sunday under this roof? We gather in the name of Jesus. And all of a sudden you find a person that you would never have gotten along with before, but now you're praying with them, you're encouraging them, you're talking to them, you're learning from them, you're encouraged by them. All of this is because God has brought peace to you between him, and now as fellow people who have peace with God, we have peace with one another. And so Paul writes this in Ephesians chapter two. He's dealing with people who are Jews and Gentiles, and the Jews right now in the church are thinking that they don't have to be friends with these Gentiles, and Paul is gonna deal with that. He says, for he, Christ himself, is our peace, who made both groups, Jew and Gentile, one, and broke down the dividing wall of the partition, talking about the things that the Jew practiced that created that division between them and everyone else. He says, no, Christ broke it all down. He's like, stop being idiots toward one another. Stop being unkind toward one another. Show mercy, your brothers and sisters, in Christ. And so as you learn to rejoice, and here's where it gets kind of fun, you start to realize, so you're saying, I really am at peace with God. If you have Christ, yes, you have peace through Jesus Christ. And then you start to realize, well, and then I also have peace with these people because they're also Christians. You do, you have peace with them through Jesus Christ. But you say, I don't feel like I have much peace. And I would just simply say, that's because you're not yet fully grasping this. But once you start to rejoice in that and rest that in Christ and not any other thing under heaven, that you have peace with God, that you are at peace with him, then you will find that that will begin to rest, bring rest to your soul and less anxiety and fear. You say, I'm full of fear, Pastor, and I'm like, that's because you have not yet learned Christ as you ought. Doesn't mean you're not saved, it just means you haven't yet learned Christ. Because in Philippians, he says that we are to be anxious for nothing, right? That as we entrust ourselves to God through prayer and supplication, giving our requests and needs, that we will have the peace of God in our hearts. But do you know what the command is prior to all of that, before he forbids you from being anxious? He says, rejoice in whom? The Lord. And again, I say, rejoice. Indicative or imperative? That's an imperative, he's commanding you. Your job is to rejoice in Christ. And if you didn't hear it the first time, he says, rejoice, I command you. Then he gives the negative, and don't be anxious. How will you not be anxious? By trying to not be anxious? No, you'll just get more anxious by rejoicing. What do you rejoice in? Who Christ is and what he has accomplished for you. I have peace. I have peace. One of the things I do is give counsel to people in times of great distress. I'm not a nice man, I don't claim to be. I try, but I do try to be a man of truth. And I've been called to the house or the room, hospital room, where a man or woman is facing death, and it's inevitable, and they look at me and they're like, I'm really scared. I'm afraid. I'm like, I'm not claiming I'm a good man here, okay? But what usually comes out of my mouth is why. Why? And I would ask you, why? Why are you afraid? And I'd say, tell me who you hope in. And all I'm listening for is what? I'm listening for Jesus. I'm listening, do they believe in Jesus? Because if you don't have Jesus, you should be terrified. Terrified. But if you have Jesus, and they do, and in these situations they are all believers, I look at them and I say, I'm not here to be unkind to you, but you're afraid for the wrong thing. When you close your eyes and your breath comes to an end and you are done on this side of eternity, you are then in the presence of who? And almost always they will smile, Jesus, I'm like, So it's okay, isn't it? Have no fear. Jesus has already redeemed you. You have peace with God. Do you think you'll see the frown of God when you enter into eternity? Do you think he's gonna be scowling at you? You're in Christ, you have peace. And they find rest, they find hope. Truly the prophet Isaiah was right when he called Jesus the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace. The second thing we see in this passage in Acts 10 is He is Messiah, or in our translations, the Christ. Now the Bible is very clear with this message that Jesus, the Son of God, was sent by God the Father. And as he was sent, he was sent as the Messiah. Now the Old Testament will talk about this Messiah. They'll talk about him as the Anointed One. And that's all Messiah is talking about. It's the Anointed One, the Messiah. And then in the New Testament with Greek, it gets picked up as Christos or Christ. And so whenever you see Christ, as I joked with you last week, Holy Spirit, holy is not his first name, that's a quality of the Spirit, he is holy. Well, Jesus Christ, Christ is not his last name, that's a title. So he is Jesus the Christ. In fact, if you wanna do an interesting study that's very simple, get an online or electronic Bible, and then search the phrase, the Christ, in quotes. the Christ, and you'll find it all over the place. And it's emphasizing that Jesus is the Christ. And that's because the Bible over and over again in the Old Testament is pointing to the day when the Christ would come. And so if you reject him as the Messiah, the Christ, the sent one, all you end up doing is really rejecting the Father. And so in John chapter five, verse 22 and 23, this is Jesus talking. He says, not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son. For what purpose? So that all will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. And then he says this, he who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent them. It's that simple. If you reject Jesus as who he is, then you reject the one who sent him. The Father sent his Son into the world as the Christ, as the Messiah, as the one through whom we have peace and forgiveness of sin. You reject him, all you've done is reject the Father. And so when you talk about people and say, well, at least Islam and Judaism, they believe in the one God, they believe in Allah or they believe in Yahweh, and so, I mean, they're similar. It's like, no, they don't. You reject Christ and you reject him. You reject the true God. And so, keep your finger here, but go to Matthew 16. Matthew 16, verse 13. I have a typo. I said Matthew 3, but it's actually Matthew 16, which caused all kinds of confusion in the first service. most of all belonging to me, as I stared blankly at chapter three. Matthew 16, verses 13 to 16. Now Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, and he was asking his disciples, saying, who did the people say that the Son of Man is? And they say, well, some say John the Baptist, and others Elijah, and so others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And he said, but who do you say I am? And Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Now notice what he says. And Jesus answered and said, don't blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah. That word bar means son, the son of Jonah. So you now know his dad's name. Because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father who is in heaven. So in that, we don't have the time to tear that completely apart, but we can make a few quick observations. The first one that's worth noting is that it matters what you think and know about Jesus. In fact, it's Jesus who's asking this, right? He wants to know his disciples. He's been teaching all this time, he's been doing these various miracles, all kinds of things have been happening. Now he's got his disciples with him, he's like, I'm curious, what do the people say about me? Now, it's not that he doesn't know, but he wants to see and hear them work out for themselves. They're hearing all kinds of people talking, and people are coming to conclusions about Jesus, and now they get a chance to speak themselves about this. And so I think it's important that you realize it really does matter what we think of Jesus. Second is that it does not matter how high a view of Jesus that you may have, if it's not the correct one, it's simply false. Remember, they say, well, people think you're John the Baptist. Well, that's pretty cool because Jesus himself says that there is not a greater man than John the Baptist. Well, that's pretty amazing. or Jeremiah, another great prophet, or Elijah, another great prophet. So they're all assigning greatness to Jesus, and they all are thinking, these people out there that are talking, they're all thinking some pretty high thoughts of Jesus, right? Today, you might say, well, I think he's a prophet. That's what a Muslim would say. I think he's a prophet of God. Is he the son of God? No. Is he God? Absolutely not, but he's a prophet. If you talk to others, they say, well, I think that he is some sense divine, not the true God, but the Jehovah's Witnesses say he's some kind of a God, or he's a good man, or he's a great man, he's a great philosopher. We can talk all day long about these, and we can actually think, oh, that's pretty good. No, it's not good. You must have the correct view. Third, to understand that Jesus was truly the Christ matters to Jesus. He wants to find out, do you believe that I am who I am? Do you believe I am the Christ? And when Peter says, we believe that you are the Christ, that matters. And he says something then, he says, fourth, the ability to believe and confess Jesus as the true Christ is ultimately a gift from the Father. They can figure that out on their own, in other words. You and I, all we can do to people is we can instruct them. That's all I'm doing right now. We can instruct, we can correct, we can clarify, we can show, but we cannot make you see. One of the lessons I learned early on as a pastor was as hard as I try, I can't make you truly believe. I try, and I try, but it's like, ultimately, Lord, it's you that must do it. And this is all Jesus is saying to Simon. He's like, you did good, that's right. Now how did you get there? Because our Father in heaven revealed it to you. And so this reality of who Christ is that's so absolutely important is only given through the Father. And this is that third aspect of faith. Go back to Acts 10. That's that third aspect of faith I've talked about over the last few weeks. We can have the facts. We can agree to those facts and all that's fine, but that's not saving faith. It's when we see it and believe it and we comprehend, we apprehend it, we grab a hold of, embrace it and hope in it and trust it and love in it, that we find salvation. That's what's going on. Here is Peter and these disciples and they're seeing and they believe. So for the people Peter is speaking to here in Acts 10, this is important to know. Cornelius was a man who was a God-fearer. We know that. He was a man who feared God, a devout man. He was an Old Testament believer, if you will. And so as one who believed in Yahweh, he knew that Yahweh was gonna send one who was the Christ, and he was waiting for the Christ. And he believed that the Christ would come, he just didn't know he came. Do you see the difference? He knew Christ was coming. When that would happen, he didn't know, but he knew God is faithful, I believe in God, and he will keep his promise, and so I'm waiting for the day, Lord willing, it will happen in my lifetime, that the Christ comes, and now Peter is saying, here's Jesus, the Christ. He came. Oh, by the way, you have peace with God through this Jesus. Now, the third thing in this verse that we see about Jesus is Lord. And this is huge, huge, so you don't wanna miss this. Having said that Jesus is the one who brings peace, and that he is the Christ, the promised one of God, we have this little parenthetical statement, right? He is Lord of all. And our eyes kind of cast over that very casually, because we see it all the time, and yeah, Jesus is Lord, and yet we do not tremble at that. In fact, I would say that, and I already know it's true, you don't see me up here shaking. that if that statement doesn't cause us to stop and do some serious thinking every time we see it, it shows how little we understand it. It reveals something to us that we need to correct in our own hearts, and that's something you'll labor to the rest of your life. But notice that in verse 10, is that a fact? Is it indicative? Or is he commanding you to think it? It's just simply a statement of fact, right? He doesn't ask you if you believe it or not. He is just simply telling you, Jesus is Lord of all. Now he's looking at Roman citizens. Roman citizens who belong to the most powerful nation in the world at the time. So this would be very much like America today. And in the Roman Empire, there is one Lord, and that is who? Caesar. And so he looks at the centurion and all of these other Romans, and he says, and Jesus is Lord of all. Not Caesar is Lord, Jesus is Lord of all. And it's not contingent on anything. We do this all the time, but it's not. It's not that he is Lord of those who have made him Lord. He is not the Lord of those who believe. He is not those who have truly believed and are super holy that now Jesus is Lord. He's just simply Lord of all. Living and dead you're gonna see in just a second. But he is simply the Lord over all things. and we must come to understand that. Now there's this horrible, horrible doctrine. I was raised in it, and so I know, or I don't know, but I'm sure that some of you were raised in this as well, that has taken place over many, many decades in the American church, where the idea is that Jesus can be your Savior, but not your Lord. That you can accept him as your Savior, and not yet your Lord, and everything's fine. Listen, and it's up on the screen. These are just a couple of quotes off of a few key sites from the web. But in light of that, just remember, Peter says he is the Lord of all. Here's what it says, in order to make Jesus your Lord, where did that come from? When do you make Jesus your Lord? Is he Lord of all or is he not yet? But in order to make Jesus your Lord, you must be a child of God. So they have already limited the Lordship of Christ to whom? Being a Christian. Peter would say, sorry, he's Lord of all. One who has called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from your sins, As a child, we'll look at that passage in a moment, as a child of God, you not only acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, but lovingly submit to his authority over your life. And so there's a very common statement, and you hear it all the time. You were designed, is the next quote, you were designed for the purpose of knowing Jesus Christ and making him the center of your life. Ah, there's that lovely center of your life. You want Jesus at the center, and then everything else will get better, and that gets into your decision-making, and so you want to be in the perfect will of God, right? And there's people who kill themselves to try to figure out, before they move, am I in the perfect will of God? Am I in the center? Is he at the center of my life? How do you know that? You may ask, what do you mean? Make Jesus the center of my life. Well, it means you acknowledge that Jesus has the ultimate authority of your life and you voluntarily yield the control of your life to him. Another way of this is let go and let God. See, we just need to let go and let God and everything else will be fixed. There's a guy named Howard Hendricks, a professor. He's now with the Lord, actually a very good and godly man, but he held to this doctrine. I remember when I was in seminary and they had us go into a seminary chapel that you were required to go. And we sat down, they played a video and it was not well received and rightly so, but it was of him talking about learning to yield to Christ. And he was up on the stage and this chair. And he talked about this as if, okay, this chair is the center of your heart, and when you're a non-Christian, you're sitting on it. But he said, now when you accept Jesus, he now enters into your heart, but if you're not careful, you can still sit on the chair, the throne. But the true trick to a victorious living is that you need to get up, because he wants to sit there. So he's in there saying, can you let me control you? Can you let me, please, please? And so if you'll get up and get off that chair, you can let him sit, and now everything is better. I grew up with this stuff. And we're all in seminary now, and so we're learning stuff in a very rigorous manner, and we're like, I don't think so. And so we were all really angry. In fact, we actually went into Greek exegesis, that was my class, and immediately hands were up and we were just nailing the professor, what is with this? He's like, hey, I didn't approve that video. But it was just bad, bad theology that preaches good, it sounds good. So that's what my problem is, I don't have him as my Lord. So we have three slides I wanna take you through. You may have seen something like this. You have the non-Christian heart. This is one where you see the little cross off to the, I guess that you're right. You're on, the circle is your heart, and you're sitting on the throne, you are it. So Christ is outside, and that's just the life of the non-Christian. Then you have what they call the worldly Christian, or the carnal Christian, a terrible doctrine. So now, where did Jesus get to be? He got to be in your heart, right? Isn't that nice? But you're still sitting on the throne, and as a result, all of these things start happening in your life, and this is what makes you who you are. But the goal is to get off of the throne, let Jesus be on the throne, and then magically everything takes place and is good. Many will learn this, many will learn this and think this is a secret to a victorious life. I just need to make him Lord. And so what happens often is at some point you've asked Jesus in your heart, you've said the sinner's prayer, and you say, yeah, I believe these things. but your life doesn't change, and this happens all the time, where you've said it, you walk the aisle, whatever it might be, and you say, I am a Christian, I believe that, but your life makes no change, and you continue how you were, and doing the things you were, and in fact, you continue to love the things that should not be loved, and then somebody says, well, your problem, Fred, is that you haven't made him your Lord yet, and he begins to show you that Jesus is not just Savior, he's Lord. and he hits you between the eyes and you're like, man, you're right. And it's there that you commit yourself to him as Lord. What's actually happened? You became saved. That's what's happened. Up to that point, you are what I would call an almost Christian. If you think, now a true Christian can believe Him as Savior and not Lord, because they don't know about the Lordship. Whoever was sharing the gospel did it poorly, but they still pointed that in Christ alone, salvation, and you're like, I want to be saved. I need that. And you find your heart holy and trusting yourself to Christ as Savior. You just don't have the right words. But what you'll discover is that as they then say, oh, by the way, he's also Lord. You're not arguing with that. You're like, okay, he's Lord too. I got that. Oh, he's also your peace. Cool, this just gets better and better. And you're just adding to what you now know and believe, okay? That's totally different versus the one who says, he's my savior. And I've listened to people say this time and time again from their own mouth. He's not yet Lord. And the reason they say that is that there's things they still want to go do. And until they do those things, they're not going to make him Lord. That is a person who's not yet truly believed. Notice also how very expansive this is. He's not Lord of the earth or Lord of heaven. He is the Lord of all. And so go to Romans chapter 10. Paul picks this very same thing up in Romans 10, verses 8 through 13. Now here he's talking to both Jews and Gentiles, mostly Jews here who are believers, but he's talking to both. And he says this in verses eight through 13. But what does it, the word of God, say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith which we are preaching. What is it? That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation. Why? For the scripture says, whoever believes upon him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek or Gentile. For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Now, that's an Old Testament quote, I'm gonna restate it, but use it even more precisely. Whoever calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved. So who is Yahweh? He is Christ, the Lord. Very simple. You have the word Lord in verse 9, 12, and 13, and that's what Paul is driving home. He's not talking just simply about his kingship. or his sovereignty, but rather his sovereignty, that he is the true sovereign Lord. He is Yahweh, the God who is the true God, and is found in Jesus Christ. And he gives this to proud Romans and proud Jews. And the Roman struggles because he's like, you want me to confess that Jesus is Lord when I'm commanded to confess Caesar as Lord? In fact, Upon pain of death, I'm commanded to confess Caesar as Lord. He says, then you will not be saved. Jesus is Lord. And to the Jew, they're stumbling over this because they're thinking, well, wait a second, only Yahweh is Lord. He's like, if you don't confess Jesus as Lord, there is no salvation. So it's not just say, say this magic word, Lord, oh, I guess I'm saved. It's confessing. What's that mean? It's a little word called hamelegeo. It means to say the same thing. That's the Greek word, hamelegeo. It's a fun word to say. It literally means to agree, to say the same thing. So it's not just a mindless repetition, it's that when your mind is convinced, fully convinced that I agree, Christ is Lord, you are saved. So you're not making him Lord. You're simply agreeing that he already is. Do you see the difference? So you're telling me he is Lord. Yeah, I didn't know that. Well, he is. I see that now. Now, all you're doing is confessing that. You're like, wow, that means things gotta change. It sure does. But as Lord, he is my peace. Yep, you have peace with God. And as Lord, that means he is the one sent by God. He is the Messiah. He is. And you start smiling. You're like, well, that's kind of cool. And you say that if I believe these things, I have forgiveness of sin. I do. I believe that. Then why don't we get you baptized? You know, it's that simple. It's that simple. Go over to Romans 14, just a couple pages to verse nine. Here, it's a unique context, but he'd bring in the lordship of Christ into it. He says, for to this end Christ died and lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. So in that Lordship, we see his death and resurrection connected. This is why Christ said in Matthew 28, all authority has been given to me because he is Lord. But what's interesting is the context of Romans 14 is dietary laws of all things. The Jews at the church in Rome are struggling with the Gentiles who are not following the Jewish dietary laws. And so there's all kinds of problems going on between the two. And they don't like each other, and there's arguments, and you can't eat that. And the Gentiles are saying, who are you to say I can't eat that? I'm not a Jew. And they're like, Paul, Paul, the Gentiles are eating pork, and all kinds of problems are going on as a result. And so he says this in verse seven. Not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself. That's interesting. He assumes that if you're a Christian, that you're not living for yourself. Who are you living for? The Lord. You're living for Jesus. And he says, and you're gonna die, not for yourself, but for the Lord. And his whole point is, look, get your eyes off of the other person. Stop worrying about whether they're not eating pork. and stop looking and worrying if they are eating pork, or whatever it might be. And we have it in this world, right? In our day and age, and there's people who say, well, she dresses this way, and I think that it should be that, and he does this, and I don't think they should do that. And Paul would just simply say, if you are a Christian, they do that because they are living for whom? The Lord. And if they don't do it, they are doing it because they're living for the Lord. Well, all that matters is that they both are living for the Lord. And then this gets into the reality of it, is that then you say, well, I don't think they are. Well, first of all, you can't know that. But second, that's the hard reality of people who are just casually talking about Jesus and saying, yeah, yeah, he's my Lord, and yet you have absolutely no expectation that you're gonna do anything. The one thing that's not open for debate is that Jesus is Lord. His death and resurrection establishes it. And he's Lord of all. And for the Christian, our life is to arrange itself under that Lordship. And as we grow, we're gonna do things or stop doing things simply because the Lordship of Christ impacts us. One other passage, Philippians chapter two, verses nine through 11. Now this is gonna say the same thing as Romans 14, 9. He says, therefore, therefore, in Philippians 2, God highly exalted him, him being Jesus, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is what? Lord. to the glory of God the Father. It's not that in the end that everyone will decide he's the Lord. It is that in the end, everyone will confess what already is true, he is Lord. For those who do not believe and love Him and follow Him, it will be to their horror, He is Lord, and now He is my judge for all eternity. And to the ones who believe, they will confess, there's my Lord. There's my Lord, the one who brings me safely into the arms of my Father. The last thing we're gonna do, and it'll be just a very simple thing to observe, is go back to chapter 10, The last observation about the person of Jesus is that he is historical. He's not just some religious figment that we came up with. In the heyday of magazines, so those of you younger, you grow up with the internet, but older people, we used our magazines. And most of you will remember it. If you're older, you'll be standing in the grocery line, you'll be waiting for your turn, right? So you're scanning the magazines. And there was always a national inquiry about the new alien baby and this and that. But there was also always a Life magazine or a National Geographic or a Time, right? And around Easter time, you would see something like this, In Search of the Historical Jesus. And there would be an article in there talking about the historical Jesus, which was almost always anything but historical, because it was always written by people who don't even believe in Jesus. Listen, today, and you'll find that anyone who claims to be an atheist will invariably say, I don't even know if there was a Jesus. The Barna Research Group found in 2014 that while most Americans believed there was a man named Jesus, nonetheless, it pretty much stopped right there. He was a man. He's not God. He was maybe some sort of a spiritual leader, kind of like what the people said when Jesus said, who do the people think I am? Well, he's a good man, but that's it. He's a powerful man, a wise man. 56% of those who are called millennials, according to research, say they believe that Jesus sinned, which is not true. Here's a kicker. The majority of Americans, though, at the same time said that they had made some kind of a spiritual commitment to Jesus. But the Bible would say, no, they haven't. You don't get to make some sort of commitment to Jesus. You either take him as he is or you don't take him. But there's no middle ground. He doesn't allow for it. Yet here, what we see is Peter, in verse 37, has no fears about whether Jesus existed. was part of history, he says, you yourselves know. To a whole household of people who are not Jews, he says, you yourselves know the thing which happened throughout all Judea. And then he gives a time frame, starting from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed. And he goes on to talk about Jesus again. Here's a very simple point, but I want you to see it. In the mind of Peter, he knows that he can talk to them about Jesus because they know that Jesus was there. They know what happened. They actually know from the beginning of his public ministry, which is when John the Baptist was there, and if you read your Bible and the Gospels, you know in chapter, in fact, let me, I jotted them down. Yeah, Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, and John 1. Just needed to get those chapters square. At the beginning of every gospel, it talks about the time where John began to baptize people for repentance. And out of that, Jesus comes. and then he has John baptize him, and it's the beginning of Jesus's public ministry. And that's what he's referring to. Starting then, when Jesus came public, if you will, all the way, you guys already know. So he's telling them, look, you know what happened. And that's what's so critical for you to see is that when we talk about it, it's not theory. And you don't ever have to be embarrassed about that. You're gonna have people say, I don't think he existed. Make them prove that. You don't have to spend a lot of time. You have something that is written and you can say, look, this is what it says. They're like, I don't know if I believe it. That's okay. In fact, those of you who have met with me when you were not a Christian, many of you have said things like, well, I don't know if I agree with that. That's okay, I'm not asking you that. Let's just look at the Bible together, and let's see who is Jesus. And over time, what's very neat to watch is those who God is saving, they start to realize, no, this is what it says, and they believe it. And so what we've seen today is very simple and yet profound. We have seen that And Jesus brings us peace. We've seen that he is the Messiah, the one promised by God, that he is Lord over all. And finally, that he is historically true. So in just a few words, Peter is already bringing up all sorts of truth, not just words. He came to preach truth. And so with no preamble, no catchy illustration to hook the people, he moves straight into the core issue for every person on earth. What are you gonna do about Jesus? So here's my charge to you, and then we'll pray. There's only two options for everyone in the room. One is that you do not believe that. The only option you have is to repent and believe that Jesus is Lord. You are to confess that. You are to, Embrace that in the fullness of its meaning. That's the only option. You can walk out of here, but there is no other name given under heaven by which you may be saved. And then two, for those of you here who are in fact a Christian, consider perhaps where your strain in obedience and in fear, knowing that he is Lord and he is impartial and judgment begins with the household of God. And so then, under that Lordship, say, I've been in disobedience to your Father, I've been in disobedience to the Lordship of my Savior, and you begin to repent and turn and walk in a different way. Let's pray. So Father, I ask that you would help us toward these things, that we would see them, delight in them even. I pray that you would open our eyes to the simplicity of the gospel and yet how utterly life-changing it is, and that we would find our rest there. Let no man or woman here who is a Christian be ashamed of that gospel, and let us not fall into the trap of thinking it's our wisdom that will convince anyone. Only through your work can any man or woman believe, and so let us be faithful to proclaim. Do it with patience and kindness, but to proclaim the truth. We ask in your son's holy name, amen.