Now we turn then to Acts chapter ten. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the bank called the Italian man, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much arms to the people and changed God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming into him, and saying unto him, Sennelius. And when she looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine arms are come up for a memorial before God, and now send men to Jopper, to call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is on the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. when the angel with stake unto canelius was departed he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually when he had declared all these things unto them he sent them to japa on the morning as they went on their journey and to nigh unto the city peter went up upon the house-shop to pray about the sixth hour and he became very hungry and would have eaten, but while they made ready he fell into a trance, saw heaven opening, and a certain death will descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet nipped of the four corners and let down to the earth, wherein with all manner of forfeit the teeth of the earth, and while these creeping things were cowed to the air, there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, till I meet. But Peter said, Nob, So, Lord, what a contradiction. If the Lord is Lord in your life, you are not saying, not so. But I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time. What God had cleansed that call not thou common. This was done twice, and the vessel was received up again into heaven. Now while Peter dumbered in himself what this vision was, he had seen. Behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and took before the gate, called in after the Simon which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter bought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, The whole three men seek thee, arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius. He said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek, what is the cause wherefore ye are come. And they said, Cornelius, then during the just man of one that fear of God, and the good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. Then called him in, and lodged them. on the morrow Peter went away with them and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him and the morrow after they entered into Caesarea and Cornelius waited for them and had called together his kinsman and dear friends and as Peter was coming in Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him and Peter put them up saying fair enough I myself also am a man And as he thought to him he went in and found many that were come together. And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come into one or another nation. But God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gain saying, as soon as I was sent forth, I asked therefore for what intent he has set for me. And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the night's hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, Benelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine arms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joplin call hither Simon, concerning is Peter. He is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the seaside, who when he cometh shall speak unto thee. immediately therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things, and are commanded thee of God. Then Peter opened his mouth and said, On the truth I perceive that God is no respectable person, but in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness and be accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. that word I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism of John preached. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was little. And we are witnesses of all things that he did, both in the land of the Jews and Jerusalem, whom ye may slew and hanged on a tree, him God raised up the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses, chosen the for of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rolled from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of the sick and dead. to him give all the prophet's witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sin while peter yet spake these words the holy spirit fell on all them which heard the word and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished that is the jews that many as came with peter because among the gentiles also was poured out the gifts of the holy ghost For they heard them speak in good tongues and magnified God. Then answered Peter, And any man forbid water, that he should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as he. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then prayed they him to tally with them many days. I read the whole chapter. It's a very interesting chapter. I got mixed up last week and I paid a feast of Father's Day sermon last week. I heard men announcing during the week about praying for followers. I'd given them this and given them that and given the other thing. And I had no mind that last Sunday was Father's Day. So I preached on a Father's Day there. Probably a lot of following in the Bible. It's probably the older one. So here's another one. Now that father we spoke on was Joshua and he was a soldier and a great soldier. Well, we've got a soldier here. Cornelius was a soldier. Joshua was a soldier who knew the living and true God. He was a Jew. This Cornelius, he was a soldier too, but he was a Roman soldier and did not know the living and true God. And he is a Gentile. So we're going to speak on. this father. Joshua in the Old Testament, he said, As for me and my house, he will serve the Lord. Now this man, Cornelius being a soldier, he didn't know the living and true God. He desired the Lord. And that's the story we have before us. So we want to speak about this father. But I might say that before getting any further, I want to thank all the Christians for their birthday gifts, Wednesday nights. We had a happy time, and some are still coming in, so I settled home and I read through all those lovely cards and thank God for them and the contract, and it certainly gave me a happy time going to Canada to see my post. I will leave you behind the road. I'm going out there at school. Now, in reference to our subject, Here we have a very wise father of a very wise family. It's very interesting. You have in chapters eight, nine, and ten the three sons of Noah. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Jabir. Shem, as you know, the Jews came from the Shemites. And Pam, the colored boat came from Ham. Then you have Jephthah, and of course the Gentiles as we know them, came from Jephthah. But you have all three of those men in these three chapters, eight, nine, and ten. And you know all three of these men were honest men, sincere men, they were religious men, they were men of authority. It's strange that the colored man should get priority in chapter eight. You remember the eunuch, how he had gone to Jerusalem. Undoubtedly, he embraced the Jewish religion, and he obtained a parchment known as the prophecy of Isaiah. And he was reading, and it was in the chariot, going back to Queen San Peter, where he was at Chancellor of the Exchequer for that dream. And he was reading that portion of Scripture, and he came to Isaiah fifty-three. And a man appeared in the desert, and listened, and he said, Understand us all what thou did? He said, How can I accept thou mine to throw him? So the fellow got up into the chariot, and he began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And the great man, or the ruler said, Of whom speaketh the prophet this to himself, or some other man? And he began at that same scripture. Isaiah fifty-three and six. And you look at this. That was a remarkable thing. Then you have a direct call. When you come to chapter nine, the Apostle Paul comes to know Christ, but there was no instrument used. Christ spoke directly from him. In chapter eight, you have an individual being used by God to win one's oath of Christ. In chapter nine, God speaks directly from heaven. No human instrumentality, and God can speak directly. God can use the forces of nature to speak to men and women. He doesn't have to have human instrumentality. He can speak direct. But when you come to Cornelius' house, you find God using preaching because there was an audience there. And God was using a preacher, and that is Peter, and Cornelius was saved. So after eleven years, after Pentecost, you find this incident in Cornelius' house. Up till now, the gospel had been preached to the Jews and the Samaritans. Peter, having the keys of the kingdom of God, he opened the door of faith to the Jews in chapter two. But when you come to chapter ten, he's opening the gates of the gospel to the Gentiles. And what a wonderful story it is. Thinking of this man, Cornelia, these are remarkable characters. When you stop to think of Cornelia, you would almost think, in fact, some people think he was a Christian. Notice some of the things, or about twelve things said about Cornelia. First thing you'll find in verse one, he was a trusted man. He was a centurion. Now, no man got that off unless he was trusted. A centurion. He's in charge of approximately a hundred soldiers. So he must have been a man of trust, the government of trust. And not only so, it says he was a devout man. And then the third thing, he feared God. The fourth thing, He must have had a good influence. He ruled his own house. And the fifth thing he gave arms unto the poor. He gave money to the poor people. And then the sixth thing he prayed to God always. That's amazing. And then you come to chapters or another one over in chapter twenty-two. Others speak of him as a just man. They say to me this is a just man. Others said why he feared of God this man. Others said, why? He's well spoken of by all the nation and the Jews. He had a great reputation. He was a humble man when Peter came in, and he, as a Roman official, he fell down before Peter. That means he was a humble man. And he fasted. You read in verse thirty, he fasted. Now there you have eleven things. very commendable things about this man Cornelius. Yet he was not saved. He was not born again, and the men of him today couldn't begin to come up to the standard of this man. Yet he was not saved. I want you to notice this in verse twenty-two. He was born of God in the future. There must have been something wrong when God warned them. God was warning him that all his goodness wouldn't fail. Now that's a warning that a lot of people need to get. All his good faith, commendable things, what others said about him. He must have been an amazing man. Yet God is warning him. that he needs more than work. He needs word. And that's why God sent Peter to tell him words, whereby he and all his husbands might be saved. You're not saved by works. You're saved by words. And so here's the warning. When you stop to think of Cornelius, why did he pray to God always? Evidently he was praying for life. There was something lacking. With all the good that he did, there must have been something lacking, and he began praying, praying for God to give him life, to give him life. That's exactly it, and that's why God answered his prayer and told Peter to go to Cornelius' house and tell him words whereby he and his whole house might be changed. How wonderful it is. God is warning this man with a clean life, an honest man, well-spoken off, paying to God, giving off. Yet he wasn't a good. There are people today, and if you look upon them, wonderful neighbors are honest, they're sincere. A lot of them are very religious, like these three men I refer to. yet they don't know Christ as personal failure. And so you find God answering his prayers in sending people. And so people in this text, they wondered how Canaan is, how sincere he was in verse thirty. He sent right away, but he does. He was so anxious. to get the light, to get help on the subject of salvation, he immediately sent for Peter. You know, it's strange. Why is it that God didn't tell the angel to go directly to Cornelius to tell Cornelius how he should be saved? No. God didn't send the name. God said to the angel, I want you to go to Damascus. that thirty-five miles down the coast from Pizzeria, I want you to go down there by the seaside, and I want you to get in touch with a man by the name of Peter, who is living with one primary family, and I want you to tell Peter to go up and talk to Cornelius. Well, why couldn't the angel have done that? Because angels can't preach the gospel. They don't know the power. The preaching of the gospel is not given to angels. The preaching of the gospel is given to those who experience the grace of God. Now the old hymn says, Angels do not know the joy that God's salvation brings. Those of us who are saved can speak to others who are not saved because we've had the experience. Angels haven't. angels who fall, there's no hope for them. There's not an angel that's been redeemed. There are creatures of God. There are those who have fallen and their doom is sealed because they had access to the brilliancy of the light of the glory of God. And they fell from such height and such depth. There was no redemption for angels. They are ministers of them. who are the heirs of Celtics. And therefore God sent an angel to Peter, to go to Cornelius, up in Sicily, and give them the gospel. And I tell you, that angel was happy to have even that part in the work of Cornelius getting saved. Because speaking mostly about Cornelius, And of course the visions, and I want to say this, that we don't have visions or angels ministering to us today. God doesn't give people visions. Angels don't come and talk to us today. We have his word. God says, you've got my word and call me. Now a lot of people have visions that don't agree with his book. And so the Bible is what God's given us. And that's what he's emphasizing on this occasion, the Bible, the Bible, the Bible. You've got God's Word, you don't need anything else. Why Peter went up on the housetop to pray? He got awfully hungry. Then as he got hungry and wanted something to eat, a strange thing happened. a sheet let down by four corners. It came down from heaven. Well, I must have been clean because only that which is clean can come down from heaven. So a sheet, little before corners, was let down from heaven. And as Peter looked into the sheet, what did he see? He saw some things in there he didn't like. He saw four-footed things. You saw wild beasts, you saw sheep in things, you saw piles in the air. A lot of these were unclean things in the Old Testament you could make them. And there are three amazing verses here, verses thirteen, fourteen and fifty. God says, Peter, kill me. Peter says, not so, Lord. The next verse, that's in verse fourteen when Peter says, not so, Lord. That's a contradiction. If Jesus is my Lord, I'm not saying not so. I will not do anything contrary to him that is my Lord. Not so, Lord. What a contradiction. The next verse, the Lord Jesus says in verse fifty, What God has cleansed all thou not caught. Peter, what you're looking upon at one time were exactly as described. They were indeed forego the deeds. But he's speaking of human deeds, as you find in the first twenty-eighth, the real estate, twenty-eighths. Yes, Peter, what God has planned, don't you call common? Now what's behind all this? Peter looked upon Gentiles as common. The Jews have no deeming. He was a Gentile and Gentile. And so in the eyes of Peter, a biased Jew, he didn't want to have any fellowship with the Gentiles. Well, that was for me. To him they were unclean. They couldn't go to the temple. God says, don't you call any man commoner on Jews. And so Peter learned his lesson in this chapter. that God loved the Gentiles just as much as he did the Jews, and Christ died for the Gentiles just as much as he did the Jews. And God rebuked Peter on this occasion. Peter, you go with a gospel to Cornelius, and go on a herd, and be rest. You know, this is an amazing picture when you think of his feet being let down from heaven, knitted the four corners, poor is the number of universality north, south, east and north. It speaks of Christ being universally preached. Yes, you have universal love, now universal salvation. What you have here is God reaching out to men. Worldwide, Jew, Gentile makes no difference. The gospel today is universal. Of course, these things that were in the sheep at one time that were unclean. This suggests universal neutrality. And that's true. Man was born in sin and in wicked, universal neutrality. And now these things are clean. You might say that Cornelius was on the clean footpath. Yes, a very clean man. He belongs to those four-footed people, but he was not yet claimed. Then you have the wild beast that speaks of old people, and they're very reckless, they're very violent. We have that segment in our society. People are very violent, and you have these wild beasts. And also you have creeping things, things rattling in the duct, a mucked and mired of shing. Do you have that segment, too? Falls of the air. And there are some of them that are not very keen, like buzzards. Or high flyers. Those who like to be up, they like to be on the top of the ladder, they like to be in society, birds of the air. It just about covers the whole human race, doesn't it? Yes? But thank God if you have universal depravity in these four things, mentioned in this book, they can all be fixed. And this is the lesson that God is teaching sheep that are missing. The Bible speaks of four classes. You have the four classes mentioned here in the sheep. If you return to Romans five, you have sinners, enemies, ungodly, and without strength. God speaks of the human race. Man without Christ. He's a sinner. He's an enemy. He's ungodly. He's without strength. Then you have the invitation of the gospel supper. And you read the tour, the main, the halts, and the blind. Then you get four things again. Speaking of man's universal need. Then when you come to the book of Revelation and think of the anthem, they're going to sing. And it says, out of every kind, town, people and nation. Four things that are going to be, four different types of people are going to be singing the hallelujah chorus in time itself. The Lord is all in that sheet of the Lamb. That's one of it. All in Christ are split. a beautiful white sheep that came down to the tent, feet of Jesus Christ, after the tent of him in the cross. One time they were unclean, but now they're cleansed. I'm cleansed, I want to tell you this. Every person who's in Christ is cleansed of what God has cleansed, don't you call common or unclean? That's what it says. Paul writes to the Corinthians, Such were some of you, but dear one, but dear second. That can be said of every Christian, Such were such and such, and some of you, that was me before I was saved at the age of ninety, a poor, lost, guilty sinner. Then Bradford used to come to the little chapel in Stapwell, brought up big six-foot-poor, used to be a mason. His hair was as red as fire, and he was an Irishman, and he could really war out the gospel. And he could say, you tell me you're religious, and you tell me you're a good man. He said, you're nothing but a maggot. That's our claim that it's nothing but a maggot. Yes? but it isn't it nice to know not what you want and forget that and even say lend for the blood of Christ what you are like some like you he says such were such is you of your thing nice to think of the present I forget the fact shots were just like these things I've mentioned four-footed beast, the wire beast, the teaching thing, and the power of the real. You belong to one segment of that profile. But when the grace of God comes, you will say, I was, and now I'm certain. What God has said, don't choose for God. And when God saves us, Then you better be careful what you say about that. So God is saying, You can't throw up to a man what he was. You can't throw up to a woman what they wear before they were saved. That's what God is. They are now in Christ, saved by sovereign race. They're accepted in Christ. They're in the seat. You'll notice the seat was sent back. Be that. And these things that were cleansed in the sheep were sent back to be a testimony to the blood that Christ was cleansed from all sins. The sheep came down three times. Christ came down to save. The Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost to seal those who are saved. And Christ is coming down one of these days to take all who are in the sheep up and be the third. coming down and going back up, or they're not coming down back down after all. Three times the sheep came down and was taken up. So then we were waiting for the time when Christ shall come. Those of us who were saved, when washed in the blood, during Christ was going to be taken up to stay. Now after this experience, Peter went, And there he found in Cornelius' house a place was full, a place was packed.Cornelius had all his kinfolk in there. He had some close friends. And the place was packed. When Peter arrived, Cornelius said, Peter, we're all here present to hear all things that are given thee of God. Give us the word, Peter. Give us the word. And it is. And what a wonderful message it was. They read it. in verses thirty-eight to forty-three. What if Christ is preached by Peter in Out the Cornelius, Jesus the anointed one? That's right. That means Christ said, look, God's right hand, he is the anointed one. And in verse twenty-eight, he's the compassionate one. He went about doing good. Yes, that's one. He went about doing good. And he is the mighty one, healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Yes, mighty, able to deliver people who were oppressed from the devil. It took power and might to deliver people out of the clutches of the devil. He's the suffering one in verse thirty-nine, who ye slew and hanged on a tooth. Then in verse forty, he's the risen one. him God hath raised up the third day. He's the God's right hand. He's the exalted one. And God also ordained him to be judged over the trick and the death. He's the result. And he is the universally saving one. That's what it tells you. And the result of that message are given you. They heard, they believed, they were saved, they were sealed, they were baptized. Now what a message you've got in those few verses. He goes over the whole story of the work of Christ. And this is the message that Peter took to Cornelius and preached in Cornelius' house. Why wasn't it a wonderful experience? You can imagine Cornelius. He was that righteous fellow in his own eyes, that good man, that very religious man. that man of authority, that kind man who gave money nuts to the poor. Now he's listening to the God. This is what I've been trained. This is what God warned me about, that I didn't have it. Now I hear it. Now I'm listening. All about Christ. Peter didn't say one thing to turn a list. To me, it's better to turn up. You better turn over a new leaf. You better do better than you've been doing. You better give more money, do good parts. You better go and join the church. Nothing is said about that. Peter preached unto Cornelius Jesus Christ with all its fullness and fairness and love and beauty and power. That's the sermon that Peter preached within us. And what a result. They heard, they believed, they were saved, and while Peter preached the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Now that's when you get saved. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God until the day of redemption, until the time when Jesus Christ shall come. I'm not sealed or saved until I do wrong. No such thing being saved today and lost from all. Once I'm saved, I'm saved forever. I'm saved and sealed until the day of redemption. That's what the Bible says and not what I believe. They were sealed. And as an evidence of an inner work, as an evidence that I have been saved, they manifested as seven did last on the night. She got that time. Captism doesn't save anybody, but it gives evidence that you have been saved. You're saved when the Holy Spirit comes in, and He gives you peace. He gives you assurance that any man have not the Spirit of Christ is not of him. It's the Spirit quickening you into light in Christ is. It's the Spirit making you a member of the body of Christ forever. And if you were to become a member of the body of Christ and make or on, you lose that salvation, Christ's body would have a dismembered body. There'd be something lacking in that body. No. When you are saved, you're put in the body of Christ and you're there to stay and you'll be in your niche until Jesus comes. There's no such thing as going in and out. in God's salvation. When you're saved, you're in Christ. You're sealed until the day of Eden. You know, it's only those who are in the sheep that will be caught up. One of these days, the Lord Jesus is going to come, and he's going to catch up. All those who once were by, they were once like these things that either saw. Once they were among the four-footed beasts and the wild beasts to keep these things in the plows of the earth. Talking about people, it means one time our people served. And I spoke about the beasts coming in, the ark and the birds coming down, and there's that one door. And in go the elephants and the lions, God took all the, I suppose the fear of coming judgment, sobered up all the animals. And there's the eagle. The eagle says, well, I'm not going down there in that door. When that little sparrow goes, I'm a lost eagle. You've got to come down in that door. I have no mention. The reason I know this, I noticed the other day I was doing when I was teaching about twenty-five years. I've had two termites study. Two termites study. Must have. Why? Because two of every time. John, you might have said, well, termites get in here, there are four holes in this thing. This ark might eat a thousand termites that got in that ark and it wouldn't have sunk. How could it? God was in the ark. No, the ark couldn't sink as long as God did it. And then I can sink. Neither will the church sink because God did it. How wonderful. God's wonderful salvation is. Here is an ideal audience, how anxious they were to hear the Word. Every one of them were there, anxious to hear the Word. Why wouldn't I be happy if everyone that came here was anxiously to hear the Word? Hungry. Every month we have a missionary meeting. That is, we read letters, Bobby reads letters about missionaries and what's going on in the world. It makes your heart bleed. Think of the hundreds of millions of people in this world, in the poverty, in shame that you'll have told you, that you'll have told you. There they are, hungry for the gospel. They've did everything they've got. If they could sit where you sit, this morning, just to hear the and yet saved, yes, an ideal audience, all anxious to hear, an ideal preacher, Peter was sent and he took, an ideal being, an all-sufficient Savior, and an ideal result, all God saved. Every one that day that was in the nearest house, the Spirit of God came upon all of Jesus. Now that would be an idea that is all good, but everybody who admits to my word this morning could accept Christ and be saved. That would make heaven rejoice, and that would make a lot of Christians rejoice too, and loved ones as well. This is the story of a sheep that was let down from heaven. This is the story of a wise man. the head of a wise family. For an idiot was a wise man. He was keeping after the Lord. He was a very wise father. A very intelligent father. He was seeking after the living God. He wanted the truth. And God saw the destruction of him. And he had a very wise family because they were all present. There this communion is the head of the house, all paneling with us, to hear the gospel, and we all got through. That's a wonderful, wise father in a very wise house. I wonder what you'll have. I trust that you're not saved, Lord. You will come to Jesus Christ, believe on me. Trust is precious blood, and be saved. And no omnipotent search, an assurance, is going to Him. You're in the Sheep. You're in Christ. When He comes, you're caught up. Caught up is forever. Those of us who are in the Sheep have been sent back day by day to sit with us for two hours. And tell us of the redeeming blood of Christ, the blood of Jesus. That's our mission. until the sheep goes up to the third child, the Father, that he will ever lift the Lord. Now we pray. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend for thy holy service. We ask thy blessing upon thy holy words, and thank you for this portion under consideration. We thank thee for the leading of the Lord. Thy in love and desire to reach a man who was hungry, and wanting the truth, and found it in thy strength, what a happy home this day. This can be repeated today by any who desire to know thee, and Jesus' height is our strength. Bless thy will, say precious souls, and build up thy people. We ask in our favorite name, we ask. Now we sing and close in him, three hundred and seventy-six, three hundred and seventy-six, those of my bonded song of life. Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come into thy kingdom, the Lamb of the Son of light. Jesus, I come to thee. Yes, you have accepted Christ. You like to think that? Come up with the star of the Spirit. Praise heavens. I am a part of His power as I am. See what I want. He is a part of His heart. In what I see how blessed I am. Same as I got it over me, now as I take it and let it go. I will sing the last verse, when it is over, but it is true, until the Spirit of the Spirit of the Spirit is by God. Now the spirit and prayer will I heal my heart, heal my God, heal the joy of my life. He is a part of the movie. Power is a great one. Power is a great one. When the Lord has prayed for you, the Savior of my life will be