1999-08-04 - God's Reach
Acts 10
Acts 10:27-28 And as he talked with him, he entered, and
found many people assembled. And he said to them, "You yourselves know how
unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to
visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy
or unclean.(NASB)
I have said before that I love Peter. He reminds me of me when I am so sure
of myself. Peter has recently seen a vision of a sheet coming down out of
Heaven with all kinds of ceremonially unclean animals in it. God tells Peter
to kill and eat, three times and three times Peter stubbornly refuses. He
reminds the Lord that he has never eaten anything unclean. In a loud voice
God tells Peter not to call anything unclean that He has declared to be clean.
We are about to see why.
Peter was also told to go with the men he would find downstairs. Well, they
were gentiles, one a Roman soldier. To travel with them would make Peter
unclean. He obeys God's instruction and follows the men back to their master,
Cornelius. That must have been tough for Peter. He was deliberately violating
his training and understanding. Now, the group arrives at the home of Cornelius -
a gentile home - and Peter enters without quibbling. To enter the home
of a gentile would make Peter unclean. But Peter has been paying attention.
God has revealed to Peter that things he has considered unclean all his life
will now be considered clean. Because Peter has been obedient and not struggled
against the instructions Jesus gave him in the vision, the Gospel is about
to become available to the gentile world. In this moment, the door of salvation
is kicked open down through the ages to you and me. The Good News has gone
first to the Jew, and is now spreading to the gentiles as promised.
Peter has just been shown that there is nowhere that God can to reach to
restore someone to fellowship with Him. Salvation is no longer restricted
from anyone at all. I think of the places I have seen God reach and I marvel.
Into a filthy housing project - a little girl who would never bathe; both
body and clothes rank and dirty was reached by an obedient young lady who
went in to read them Bible stories. She is now a radiant young girl for Jesus.
Into a drug and prostitution riddled neighborhood where women's children
play lookout for the police while their mom turns tricks to feed them - Jesus
touches the hearts of many, changing lives. LA Gangland - a young pastor
reaches out to gang members. Two leaders of rival gangs kneel together to
accept Jesus as Savior. Middle-class America. A young lady who had been raped
repeatedly as a young girl by neighborhood bullies hears the good news that
no matter what has happened Jesus loves her. She's helping others know the
same love that she now knows. The son of militant atheist Madeline Murry-O'Hare
accepts the Savior he had been told was a lie. The Auca Indians hear of the
love of Jesus from the wives of the men these cannibals had killed and eaten
in full view of the women the day before. The Chief of the tribe accepts
Jesus seeing the commitment of the women. Cornelius is merely the first drop
through as the dam that has held back the flood for centuries is shattered -
by the obedience of one man to the call of God. Gentiles had been touched
through the Old Testament, but one by one: an Assyrian General, Naomi's
daughter-in-law Ruth of Moab. In this meeting, it is made clear that that
has all been changed. And in all this, Jesus reached me so I know that there
are no limits on who God will save or who can be reached.
If Jesus touches your heart to speak with someone, don't write them off as
unreachable. God knows what He is doing, so trust Him. The Lord's arm is
not too short to reach out and prepare any heart to hear the Good News that
the Savior is risen and they are forgiven. The power of God is not so weak
that it can not change any heart no matter how stony or neglected. Tell them
about this Jesus.
Grace & Peace,
Mike
jmhoskins@gmail.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
2007-11-01 2016-09-22
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