Inclusive Grace: The Mystery of Gentile Salvation

I believe that this chapter, chapter 10, is one of the most important chapters of the entire book of Acts, if not the most important chapter. And I would also add to that, that this chapter in my judgment is one of the most important chapters that we find anywhere in the New Testament because it brings to our attention an extremely important moment in redemptive history, a time of transition from the old way of doing things to a whole new epoch of redemptive activity by God. [00:00:08]

Paul says this, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. [00:01:05]

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” What Paul is saying to this congregation that is made up of Gentiles is this. He’s rehearsing his own credentials. He says, -- I am afflicted at every side and yet I’m rejoicing in my sufferings because you are benefiting from them. [00:01:49]

I’m filling up that which is left unfinished in the sufferings of Christ Himself, in the apostolic ministry that He’s called me to perform among the Gentiles. And what I have been called to do now is to reveal to you a mystery that has been hidden for ages and ages and generations of generations. I’m going to tell you something, explain something to you, open up something to you that has been obscured for centuries. [00:02:41]

I’m going to explain the mystery, and the Greek word there is mysterion. We get the word “mystery” for mystery novels and suspense dramas and all of that from this, but in the New Testament sense what a mystery is, is something that God had held back in times past of His disclosure of His purposes, which He at a certain point in history, then declares openly. It once was hidden but now is made manifest. [00:03:09]

And what is that mystery? He said it’s the mystery of the church, of the Gentiles in the church, that you, Gentiles, who had been strangers to the covenant of the things of God, you who were foreigners, you who were pilgrims, who were kept outside of the inner sanctuary of Israel, you who formerly were unclean and defiled and had no access into the presence of God, now I’m declaring to you that through the ministry of Christ, that you are a part of His body the church, that it is Christ in You, the hope of Gentiles. [00:03:41]

That’s the mystery. In previous generations, it was assumed before the Gentile, who was unclean, who was defiled, impure, not consecrated, outside the scope of the covenant God had made with Abraham and Moses and so on, -- that that person was without hope. But now with the presence of Christ breaking down the barriers that had separated Jew and Gentile, that hope is extended to the Gentiles. [00:04:41]

Now, I am looking at least one person right now who is Jewish by origin and ethnic background, who is now a Christian, a member of this body, but I suspect that almost everybody else in this room is of Gentile background. I mean, the only reason we’re here this morning is because of what takes place in Cornelius’ household at Caesarea that we’ve read about here in Acts, chapter 10. [00:05:00]

And so the book follows that progress of the church opening in Jerusalem, expanding then into Judea, out to Samaria, and then out to the uttermost parts of the earth with Paul’s missionary journeys. And also the book of Acts has to do with four distinct groups of people: the Jews, the Samaritans, the Gentiles, and the God fearers. [00:08:18]

The God fearers were those Gentiles, Greek speaking Gentiles usually, who converted to Judaism in every respect except one, they did not subject themselves to circumcision, for obvious reasons. It’s one thing to be circumcised as an infant. It’s another thing as a grown man. And the men said, “Hey, you know, we’ll be happy to just be out in the court of the Gentiles, and we’ll take our vows and we’ll practice Judaism, but no thanks on the circumcision.” [00:09:06]

So that’s where they were, and they were called the God fearers because even though they were Gentiles, they didn’t believe in the gods and goddesses of Rome or the pantheon of deities of Greece or any of the Oriental religions of the day, but rather they believed in the Most High God and were faithful followers of Yahweh the God of Israel. [00:09:39]

Now, that’s where Cornelius was in his faith and that was his status as he’s defined here by Luke as a God fearer, one who feared God, as well as all of his household, who gave alms generously to the people and prayed to God always. Now what happens, is about three o’clock in the afternoon, suddenly Cornelius has a vision of an angel who appears to him and speaks to him, saying, Cornelius. [00:10:08]