Sermons from Acts: Into All the World.

“Into All the World”
(Acts 1:8)

Last time, I posted about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the significance of the unique event of the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The verse here in Acts 1:8 is a command by Christ to the Church corporately and individually; that we are empowered and commanded to go and be witnesses to all peoples. Today, we are going to see that the Gospel message is for all people, regardless of race, age, or position in life.

I. A New Dispensation (Acts 1:8; Matt. 10:5-7)
The book of Acts is a book of transition; a transition from Jew to Gentile, from Judaism to Christianity, from Judea to the uttermost parts of the earth, from law to grace. Think of those early Christians there in Jerusalem that have just entered into this new dispensation of grace. They have in their lives been living under the old covenant ways of worship by bringing and offering animal sacrifices for the atonement of their sins and they now know Jesus and by faith received Him as Savior for their sins (once for all).
Things have changed, what was once important or considered ritually clean or unclean are not in effect anymore. For example, Acts 1:8, what we have read, is significantly different than what we read in Mt. 10:5-7, “5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand”; now this is a lot different than what Jesus commands in Acts 1:8 (…ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth). This is a big difference, the disciples were told not to go to the Samaritans and Gentiles and preach the Kingdom of God, only to the Jew, the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But like I said the book of Acts is the official history of the transition from Old Covenant into New Covenant, from the chosen nation of Israel to the Church. The command given in this new dispensation of the Holy Spirit and the grace of Jesus is that the Gospel (good news) of the salvation in Jesus is not only for the Jews (Jerusalem and Judea) but also for Samaria (shunned half-breed Jews) and uttermost parts of the earth (the godless, pagan Gentiles). The house of Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah and now the chosen people of God would be from all peoples, tribes, and tongues. The early church and the apostles obeyed this command for Christ, even in spite of their previous prejudices. We see that they did become witness to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all the world to all people.
II. Jerusalem and Judea (Acts 2:38-41; Acts 4:4)
(2:14- But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem)
Last week, we saw that in Acts 2:14-37 that Peter (awkward, bumbling, stumbling, Christ denying), now filled with the Spirit standing before a great crowd proclaiming Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. We see that the Jewish pilgrims being convicted by the Holy Ghost and asking them would they should do to be saved. Acts 2:38-41 says, “38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls”; what an amazing work of God that day to the people of Israel, 3,000 were saved and baptized in water and became part of the Church, the body of Christ.
Peter and John in Acts 3, were used by God to heal a lame man at the gate Beautiful but the greatest miracle done by God that day was after Peter preached to this great crowd around them and over 5,000 people were saved by the grace of God and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:4- 4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand; Romans 10:9,10- That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation). The gospel witness of the apostles and the early church there in Jerusalem and Judea (Israel) was a strong and vibrant church not only proclaiming but showing the love of Christ. But it just didn’t stay in Judea. A great persecution began against the Church by the Jewish religious leaders there in Jerusalem and great men of God like Stephen were killed. This persecution did not put out the fire of Christianity but only made it spread outside of Jerusalem into other areas of Judea and into Samaria and other Gentile countries (Acts 8:3,4- 3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and hauling men and women committed them to prison. 4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word).
III. Samaria (Acts 8:5-17) and Uttermost Parts (Gentiles: Acts 10)
A. Samaritans- Acts 8:5 says, “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them”; after the persecution starts and Stephen is killed. God extended the message of salvation to Israel first and the Jewish people rejected the truth. Sure, there was some that had came to salvation and there was the Jerusalem church but the message of salvation delivered to the Jewish religious leaders by Stephen was rejected by them and they killed Stephen because of the message. So God began to shut the door on Jerusalem and so began the spread of the Gospel because of it (‘they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word’). So, we see Phillip going to Samaria; Samaria was north of Jerusalem. Now the Jews had nothing to do with the Samaritans because they had intermarried with Gentiles and were considered to be outcasts and half-breeds. To them a Samaritan thought so little of being a Jew that they had intermarried with the gentile and had polluted his racial identity. There was bad blood between the two and the Samaritans even had a rival place of worship to the temple in Jerusalem (remember Jesus and the Samaritan woman’s question). Now Phillip is there and he is preaching the word of God and the Bible says they believed in Jesus and was saved and baptized in water (Acts 8: 12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women). But there is something unusual that happens (Acts 8:14-17, “14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: 16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.) Remember, this was a time of transition and beginning of the Church. There was an interval between the Samaritan salvation and the coming of the Holy Spirit. They did not receive the Spirit until the apostles Peter and John laid hands on them. Why did this happen? There were two reasons, first, the it was for the apostles, who were Jewish born, to see that God had saved the Samaritans because they witnessed the Holy Spirit coming upon the Samaritans with their own eyes and that they understood they were part of the Body of Christ just like the Jewish believers were. Secondly, this showed the Samaritans the authority of the Apostles and that they were part of the same Church and it would give no reason for them to try and start a rival Christian group, and continue the age old rivalry and hatred that would have a Jewish church competing against a Samaritan church. So, God waited until the Jewish apostles Peter and John, the most significant ones, showed up, and then He demonstrated that these truly had been converted, and they were being baptized by the Holy Spirit into the same body as the Jews were in; the same Body of Christ, the same Church. It was also important that the Apostles were present so that the Samaritans would understand the power and authority of the Apostles, for they needed to be subject to the Apostles’ doctrines. That why the giving of the Spirit was delayed, to show that the Gospel was also for the Samaritans as well as the Jews, that they were as saved and had the same Holy Spirit, to be accepted and loved as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It can be best described by Eph. 2:12-14, “12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us”; for those who are saved by Jesus, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and the only walls of separation between us are the ones we put up.
B. Gentiles (Acts 10)- we see in Acts 10 we read of a Gentile named Cornelius who becomes the first Gentile convert. We all know the story, that Peter receives a vision from God bout all the ritually unclean animals that they cannot eat are shown to Peter and God commands Him to eat and Peter refuses by saying, Acts 10:14,15- “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean”, but God rebukes Him by saying (the NASB says it best), “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy”; God simply says that He is no respecter of persons. After the vision three men come to the house where Peter is and explained to him they were sent by Cornelius and that Peter was supposed to go and teach Cornelius about God. Because of this vision God had given him, he went to this Gentiles house. I imagine Peter had to swallow what was left of that Jewish pride that had already been dented by the Samaritans’ salvation. To a Jew, getting near a Gentile was a serious matter; they couldn’t eat a meal prepared by Gentile or a utensil or go into a Gentile house. If they had entered a foreign country and came back to Jerusalem they would shake the dirt off their sandals so the dirt wouldn’t be carried into Holy Land. But because of the God revealing this vision to Peter and Peter remembering the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8; he goes into the house of Cornelius and preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them. The result: Acts 10: 44-47- “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. 45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, 47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord”. Here we see the result of preaching the Gospel, lives are saved. The whole household of Cornelius was saved and God gives a sign to Peter and the ‘circumcised’ (the Jewish Christians with Peter) that they are saved, they spoke in other languages. This sign was for them to show that the Gentiles were now saved and got the same thing as the Samaritans got and that they got and we got (Acts 11: 15,17-18, "And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. 16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? 18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life...). In Christ, we are all one saved and baptized in the Spirit and the Body of Christ (Gal. 3: 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus).
I am so glad that the grace and salvation is given freely to all who believe on His name. Regardless of color, race, age, or social standing we can receive this free gift of salvation by faith in Christ. Be you, Jew, Samaritan, or Gentile, we are all in need of Jesus.