The Word of the Lord is always the center of our worship. Our singing, our praying, our giving, our preaching must always be in harmony with God's inspired Word. And for that purpose we now turn to Acts chapter 10. We'll be reading the first eight verses and then verses 30 to 43. What you're about to hear is God's word. Let us listen with attentiveness and respond with obedience. At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian regiment. He and all his family were devout, that means pious, took their religious life seriously. And God-fearing, he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said, Cornelius, Cornelius stared at him in fear. What is it, Lord? he asked. The angel answered, your prayers and your gifts to the poor have come up as a remembrance before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon, who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angel who had spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and one of his soldiers, who was a devout man. He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa. Now pick up the reading now, verse 30. Actually the last statement of verse 29. May I ask you, may I ask why you sent for me? This is, of course, Cornelius' servants telling Peter that Cornelius had sent for him. And now Peter has arrived at Cornelius' house. And Cornelius answered, Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining robes stood before me and said, Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the house of Simon the Tanner, who lives by the sea. So I sent for you immediately, and it was good for you to come. Now we are all here, in the presence of God, to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us. And then Peter began to speak. I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. This is the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people but by witnesses whom God already chose by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Here ends the reading of our scripture. May the Holy Spirit help us to understand and respond in faith to what we have heard. Dear friends in Christ, the Bible's primary concern for literally most of its record is for a specific people, a specific community of faith. We call them the covenant people or the Hebrews or the people of Israel, beginning with Abraham. Abraham, you know, was the first Hebrew. He grew up in Ur of the Chaldees. and spoke Sumerian. And in the Sumerian language, there's a word, haburi. And when Abraham moved from Ur of the Chaldees, north to Paddan Aram, the people along the way began to call him haburi, which means southerner. And it stuck. And his descendants, many of them forever after, were called Hebrews. Hebrew is a slight change in language, but it's very similar. And the whole scripture seems to be concerned with the relationship of those people with the Lord. Israel was called to be a light to the nations. A model, an example of a people of God who are faithful to their God. Also, Israel's history demonstrated the power and grace and delivering mercies of God because he delivered them from bondage in Egypt. He preserved them in the wilderness. He opened the waters of the Jordan River so they could enter the promised land. And eventually, through that people, he fulfilled his promise to send a Savior. So all during that period of Scripture, even through the Gospels, The concentration is on one type of national group. Even Jesus, remember, said that he had come to call the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But then Pentecost happens. We're going to celebrate that, aren't we? A few Sundays hence, one of our pastors will bring a message on Pentecost Sunday. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And then everything seems to change. Now, the people of God are to spread the gospel to the nations so that all peoples everywhere would hear the good news. Peter had to be convinced that the gospel was not just for his own type, but for the nations. And so he received a vision. I skipped that part of the passage, but you can read it later in the day. When God in a vision teaches him that the blessings of the gospel are not to be restricted to the Hebrew people, the Jews, but is intended for the nations. So the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, moves out with the gospel to the world. Now, on Pentecost Sunday, there were already some non-Jews who respond to the gospel. They're called in Acts chapter, let's see, 2 verse 11, converts or God-fearers. They were not born within the covenant community, but they moved toward the covenant community as an expression of their faith. But none of these are specifically identified. And so in order to prove the point, the Holy Spirit identifies in the book of Acts two Gentiles, non-Jews, who come to faith in Christ and are baptized. The first of these was a man from Africa. He's called a eunuch, the Ethiopian eunuch. And Philip testifies to him and he receives Christ as his Savior and is baptized. So the very first non-Jewish convert to the Christian faith that is personally identified was a gentleman from Africa, from East Africa. The second was Cornelius the Italian, and he's the one that is presented to us in our scripture reading this morning. Peter brought to Cornelius the Italian the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. That's in verse 36. I'm going to read it to you once more. This is the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling them the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You probably know from the outline that our theme this morning is good news. Jesus Christ is Lord. And we're going to notice, first of all, it's peaceful consequences. Secondly, it's personal focus. And then finally, it's inclusive nature. First of all then, good news. Jesus Christ is Lord of all. It's peaceful consequences. Why do you suppose Peter says to Cornelius that he brought a message of peace? Wouldn't you expect him to say, Cornelius, I have a message of salvation. Or I have a message of forgiveness. Or Cornelius, there's eternal life for you. Or Cornelius, you must accept Jesus as your personal Savior. Well, he comes close to that when he observes that he presents to him Jesus, because Jesus means Savior, as we'll soon see. Well, Cornelius may have been a little shocked initially, because after all, he was a peacemaker, wasn't he? That's why he was in Palestine. He was in the army, and he was there to keep the peace. But it wasn't that kind of a political peace, a Pax Romana, as the historians call it, that Peter was talking about. He was talking about a deeper need of humanity for peace with God. You see, Peter knew, and he had every reason to believe, that Cornelius knew the story of the Old Testament. After all, the early verses of this passage suggest that he was very devout. And he was a prayerful person. And he had a great interest in the religion of the people he was serving there in Palestine. You see, they knew the story of Eden, which was a sad story of rebellion against God. When Adam and Eve chose for the supremacy of evil in disobedience to God, war broke out. Conflict broke out, didn't it? And this conflict is recorded throughout the scriptures. The seed of the woman opposing the seed of the serpent. Light opposed to darkness. Truth opposed to error. Good opposed by evil. And throughout the whole Old Testament particularly, the issue is in doubt as to which of these forces would triumph. As a matter of fact, most of the time you get the impression that evil is more powerful than the good. That the majority are in rebellion against God. And they forever had to be sent prophets to call them back. Gradually, the people of Israel, the true faithful ones, became fewer and fewer until the prophets don't even speak of a tribe anymore, much less a nation. They speak of a remnant, the faithful few. And so the history is a sad tale of the supremacy of evil in the lives of the majority until Jesus came. And then when Christ came, he crushed the head of the serpent and destroyed the works of darkness at the cross. And now we know that there's good news because there's peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul has it right in Ephesians 2 verse 12. Remember that at that time you were separated from God, foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope, without God in the world. But now, in Christ, you who were once far away are brought near by the blood of the cross. That's the good news. Now the good news has a dark side, doesn't it? Because for unbelievers, the war is still raging. And they're on the losing side. But for believers of humble faith, Peace, peace with God through our Christ Jesus Himself. Assured of salvation, no more conflict, no more hostility, no more rebellion, but harmony, unity, reconciliation, peace through the divine peacemaker, Jesus. There is no higher privilege in the world, I keep telling my preaching students, some of whom are here, than to bring the message of peace for the nations. And it's a privilege that we cherish at every opportunity. So much for point one. Good news, there is peace with God through Christ. I want you to notice, secondly, how personally focused Peter's message is to Cornelius. You know, throughout the whole New Testament, the first person of the Trinity is called Father. Always Father. Oh, there are some descriptions, sometimes Father of mercy and so forth. Holy Father, Jesus calls His Heavenly Father, Holy Father. And that should be reserved only for God Himself, shouldn't it? But it's always Father. And the same thing is true for the Spirit. It's Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Truth, but it's always Spirit. But when it comes to our Redeemer, the second person of the Blessed Trinity and His work of salvation, The apostles keep repeating three titles. Look at all of these epistles. Virtually all of them begin with the identity of the Redeemer as Jesus Christ our Lord, or Christ Jesus our Lord, or the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of them begin and end with those references. And here, Peter says his message of peace is through Jesus Christ, our Lord. It seems that the fullness of the gospel, to really present the gospel in its completeness, we have to use three titles for the second person of the Trinity. And let's look at those three titles, shall we? First of all, Jesus is a word, means Savior. Of course, as soon as you say someone needs Jesus, you're saying someone needs a Savior. And if you say someone needs a Savior, the next question is, from what? If you're drowning, you need a Savior. Lifeguard, Savior from drowning. If you're ill, you need medical salvation, restoration from that source. So if you need a savior named Jesus, it means, yes, it means you're sinful. Yes, we have to preach sin, don't we? We have to remind ourselves every Lord's Day of God's expectations of the Christian life, especially as it focuses itself on the Ten Commandments. So, we may never minimize the seriousness of sin. You know, it's not popular to preach sin nowadays, is it? I was at a minister's conference some years ago in which one of the leading speakers said, hadn't used the word sin in 20 years. He said it turns people off. Well, I guess it does, but not the way he meant it. Sin turns people off from God. He meant people aren't interested in the rest of what you have to say if you call them a sinner. Peter didn't have that problem. When he said, Cornelius, you need Jesus, he was implying that Cornelius needed someone to do something about his sin. And we should not minimalize it. You know, sometimes we think some sins are not nearly as bad as others. We give them a certain grade. Roman theology has institutionalized the idea because they distinguish between venial sins, they're not so bad, a few rosaries and a few Hail Marys and our fathers, and you can pay for that. You can redeem yourself from venial sins, little sins, white lies. Or when you don't tell the truth because, well, I didn't want to embarrass someone. See? All right, little sins. Other sins are mortal sins. That comes from the Latin word mortuus, which means deathable, worthy of death. You have to pay a long time in purgatory to cover those, see? Well, so there's a gradation. Folks, that's the wrong approach. Sin is sin because, as we read from Psalm 51, All sin is against the Lord. It's insulting our holy, heavenly Father. And so let's not minimalize sin, trivialize sin. Because if we trivialize sin, we trivialize God's grace. If sin is not serious, then God's grace is not amazing. We sing amazing grace, but if sin isn't serious, grace isn't amazing. so let's not cheat our fellow men and call it a shrewd business deal or tell a lie and say it's only a white lie. It wasn't so serious. Sin is sin. You see, if sin is trivialized, if sin is just a little variation from a straight path, then grace is just a little nudge back in the right direction. And if that's the case, then our Lord Jesus Christ came and went to a lot of trouble to correct a minor problem with the human family. But if we need Jesus, it means that we need reconciliation with the Holy God. And that's why at birth, the angel announced to Joseph to call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And when he entered his ministry, John the Baptist introduced him to the people with these words. He said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, Paul says, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You know, I find that comforting. Reminding you of your faults and calling you to repentance should not turn you off, but turn you toward a merciful, loving Savior. It's comforting to know that Christ Jesus came for sinners. Because if he only came for the righteous, if there be such, if he only came for the noble and the saintly and those who are almost perfect, well then I for one would be in despair, and so would you. But if he came for sinners, you qualify. And so do I. And that's why Peter introduced the peacemaker for Cornelius the Italian to Jesus. But we must move on. The second word, the second title that Peter mentions and the apostles so often mention is Christ. The word Christ means anointed one. It means to specially choose and set apart for special service. Set apart and qualified for special service. And what was the qualification? And what was Jesus set apart for? Well, our Reformed catechisms say it very plainly. Westminster Confession, Chapter 8 says, Jesus came and was anointed to be prophet, priest, and king. And this is repeated in the Westminster Catechism, Shorter Catechism. Question and answer 23 to 26. But I prefer, you won't be surprised at this, the Heidelberg Catechism's approach. It's the same approach. But the Heidelberg Catechism, when it tells us that Jesus came to be the anointed one, it adds a qualifying adjective. To be not just our prophet, a prophet is one who brings the word of the Lord. Jesus was the word in person. But he, says the Catechism, is our chief prophet. Lord's Day 12, question 31. All others were lesser prophets, imperfect, who brought the word of the Lord. He is the chief prophet. Furthermore, the Catechism says he is our only high priest. He's the only one who brought the perfect sacrifice to God. That's the work of the high priest, you know, to bring sacrifices to God. Jesus was both priest and sacrifice. Only one. And he is our eternal king. All of the kings are very temporary and imperfect. Jesus shall reign forever and ever. He was set apart and qualified to be our chief prophet, our only high priest, and our eternal king. Now, we shouldn't be surprised that Peter included the word Christ in this appeal to Cornelius. Because, you see, there was an occasion in Peter's life in Jesus' ministry where Jesus asked the disciples the opinions of people. He said, who do people say that I am? And they said, well, some say you're just like Elijah, some like John the Baptist, some like Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Jesus says, what about you? And it's Peter who says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You see, what Peter was saying was that Jesus is the fulfillment of the mother promise of Genesis 3.15 of one who would eventually crush the serpent's head, destroy the works of darkness. That Jesus was a descendant of Abraham in whose descendants seed all families of the earth would be blessed. He's saying that to Cornelius, that his Savior, his Redeemer, was a fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy in Jeremiah 23, verse 6. That God would raise unto David a righteous branch, and this is the name by which he will be called, the Lord our righteousness. This is good news. Good news. Which brings me to the third title, the title Lord. The third of the personal focus titles that Peter presents to Cornelius. The word Lord means owner. It means master. It means ruler. When you call Jesus Christ your Lord, you admit that you belong to him. He holds title deed to your life. He's your owner. I am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Familiar words from Lord's Day 1. He sought us. We didn't seek Him. There's no such thing as seeker service. The unregenerate heart does not seek God. It seeks itself. But God seeks us. He sought us and bought us with his own precious blood. You buy something, you own it. Jesus bought you with his shed blood. He owns you. And he paid a high price. You're his property. Furthermore, the word Lord means master. It means he is in command. And it's our delight to obey him. To do only what pleases him. To say only what he would approve. To shape our lives and our relationships only to meet his stamp of approval. He is the supreme master and if he is really your master, no other master will ever control you and dominate your life. He is the Lord of authority and dominion. We willingly give our obedience to him. And then Lord means ruler, which means he sets the rules. But he only sets the rules to our best advantage, and he's the only ruler who does. All other rulers have some selfish ambition to fill, who want their own interests advanced. My, Senator Specter of Pennsylvania is switching parties because he knows he can't get reappointed from his Republican Party. So he's made a big switch. He's one of these lesser rulers looking out for his own advantage. See, that's typical of human rulers. Jesus is the one ruler who wants only your best advantage. He is Lord, which also means he's our all-powerful Savior. You see, we believe in limited atonement, don't we? But that does not imply that Jesus' power to save is limited. He saves to the uttermost those who come to him in faith. And if you're present here this morning, it's a pretty good indication that you've not reached that point. That uttermost is out there, a barrier that you haven't crossed. Or you wouldn't even have been motivated to come to this worship service this morning. So don't be concerned that Jesus can't save you. And don't insult him by suggesting that you're such a big sinner that even Jesus can't do anything about it. Never despair of God's grace in Christ. And there's just one more thing we have to cover. And your level of attention encourages me to continue just this last thought. And that is, how far does Christ's lordship extend? If I were talking to just the seminary and pastors, seminary students and pastors among us, I'd mention the word that is translated all here. When Peter says, Jesus Christ is Lord of all. I'm almost tempted to, but I've told the students not to use technical terms in the pulpit unless they explain them. So I better practice what I preach. Well, the word happens to be, let me talk to the seminarians and the pastors, and the rest of you listen in for just a half a minute, okay? This word translated all is genitive plural. Of pas pan. Which means all or each in the singular. Or all or every in the plural. Now, it so happens that in that particular form, that case, we can tell whether it's masculine or neuter. Now, if we could tell, if it were masculine, it would mean Jesus Christ is all, is Lord of everybody. If it's neuter, it means, it could mean everything. What does it mean here? Well, suppose it means everything. Would that be adequate? Well, it's true, isn't it? Jesus Christ is Lord of everything. There come a day when the whole creation will be redeemed. Hebrews says that the Heavenly Father created the worlds through the Son. So He is Lord of everything, right? And the whole creation awaits the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. Jesus saves the world, remember, the cosmos. So, okay, Jesus Christ is Lord of everything, but that's not what it means here. Well, maybe it means everybody. Well, that would be true too, wouldn't it? We often speak of the Lord's people and those who are not the Lord's people. Those who have faith in God and those who reject God. So we sort of divide humanity. But really, Jesus Christ is Lord of everybody. There's coming a day when every knee will bow. Willingly or unwillingly. No exception. Everyone will acknowledge Jesus Christ is Lord of all. But that isn't what it means here. Which gets us to the final point. All right? What Peter is telling Cornelius is that Jesus Christ is Lord of every nation group. Because that's the lesson that Peter had learned. And that's what happened at Pentecost. The gospel then became, was for the nations of those who seek the Lord. Peter was hard to convince. It took a vision from heaven to convince him that the blessings of Christ's salvation was not restricted to his own people type, his own Israelite people. You see, one day Jesus said to the disciples, salvation is of the Jews. Jesus meant that through the Jewish tradition, the Savior of the world has come and therefore salvation had as its agency a special people, the Jews. But what Peter heard Jesus say was that salvation is for the Jews. And, you know, that would have been good news for Jews, but not good news for most of us. We've had some members here. We had a member who drove in 45, 50 miles a Sunday who was a Jew, and he was a committed believer. And some of you remember a lady who was with us. She had moved to be with her children, and they were of Jewish descent. But most of us are not, are from Gentile nations. And it wouldn't be good news for us then, would it? And it wouldn't have been good news for Cornelius the Italian. But Jesus is the Savior of all nation groups. Because Peter confesses, doesn't he, that God accepts people from every nation who fear him. And do what is right, including the Italian Cornelius and his family. Yes, Jesus has redeemed us to God by his blood from every nation, every tribe, every people, every tongue. Praise be his name for good news. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gospel. And though we proclaim it with insufficient adequacy, we pray that your Holy Spirit may enliven our hearts to respond in faith that we may be a people representing many nations, even here in our congregation. and see the fulfillment of Pentecost among us today. Hear our prayer, our prayer of thanks, and our loyalty to you, both now and forever. Amen.