"Christian disciplines help us hear from God and I don't want to overlook this I mentioned it briefly but Cornelius was fasting and on that note I did want to recommend a really good book a hunger for God by John Piper on this area fasting in prayer what it looks like why do we fast isn't a New Testament discipline I thought it was an Old Testament thing no it's very relevant very new and I will submit to you that when you fast and starve the flesh you can hear better from God it's a spiritual discipline that is often overlooked and many people say that's an Old Testament discipline that's Old Testament as they put the double-double in their mouth of course it's an Old Testament discipline because we don't like it so it's very applicable today." [00:01:39] Making vertical captioned clip



"Peter comes into this house Cornelius gives him a backdrop of the angel and Peter why are you here we're anxious to hear what you have to say to us but I want to stop here for a minute and Christian disciplines help us hear from God and I don't want to overlook this I mentioned it briefly but Cornelius was fasting and on that note I did want to recommend a really good book a hunger for God by John Piper on this area fasting in prayer what it looks like why do we fast isn't a New Testament discipline I thought it was an Old Testament thing no it's very relevant very new and I will submit to you that when you fast and starve the flesh you can hear better from God it's a spiritual discipline that is often overlooked and many people say that's an Old Testament discipline that's Old Testament as they put the double-double in their mouth of course it's an Old Testament discipline because we don't like it so it's very applicable today." [00:03:03] Making vertical captioned clip



"Peter preaches to Cornelius household verse 34 then Peter opened up his mouth you have to do that right to preach to tell people you have to open up your mouth and also this is interesting as you know I've talked about before the truth really gets people upset doesn't it they they hear things they don't want to hear I the privilege of and we had a large memorial service here yesterday and about 12 people got up and left as I was presenting the gospel I don't want to hear that part of this server I just want you know to pay my respects and why is that because that truth does something in our hearts and it convicts us and God wants to draw us closer to him." [00:04:11] Making vertical captioned clip



"Peter began to open his mouth in truth I perceive that God shows no partiality but in every nation now this is gonna be a controversial scripture think about this think about what Peter is saying in every nation everywhere on the planet whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by God now that sounds just face value sounds like well if I fear God and I'm a good person doing good things God accepts me now let's back up a little bit Romans 2:12 Paul said this to the church in Rome in Rome for as many as have sinned without that without the law that means all the world without the law will also perish without the law and as many as have sinned in the law the Jewish people they will be judged by the same law that they are disobeying so that's what he's saying those who'll be judged outside the law those will be judged who know the law for not the hearers of the law are just in God's sight but the doers of the law will be justified but we know that we're not saved by works that our righteousness is above filthy rats so what is Paul talking about well I could spend the whole sermon here but I'm gonna try to just unpack the important parts for the hearers of the law are not just in God's sight but the doers of God's law he's talking about the Old Testament Saints as well Abraham God accounted it to him righteousness God Abraham was right before God because abraham believed god Noah believed in God Moses believed in God there's a god I'm not him God I believe in you and because of that I fear you and I there's a change in my heart I want to work righteousness and this this whole this is a whole topic of imputation imputation is an accounting term the sin is imputed to us because of Adam Christ dies on the Christ cross and his imputed righteousness his right standing before God is now imputed to us and covers the sin of Adam so again this is a deep theological mystery many people many depending on what denomination you're from they will look at this a different way but we know that we are saved through faith in Christ and Christ alone but our righteousness or our lifestyle our works our is the fruit it's a byproduct of our belief in God and then Paul goes on to say for when Gentiles who do not have the law so this is about all those people what about all those people have never heard the gospel not in Africa or India what about all these people that's not a fair loving God uuuuu just say just those who ever hear about Jesus well for when the Gentiles who do not have the law they don't know what they don't have the scriptures by nature by nature do the things that are in the law that's interesting by nature meaning they do the things in the law I'm not going to steal my neighbor's chicken I'm not gonna steal my neighbor's wife I'm not gonna set his house on fire I know these things because that's the inner alarm-clock of the Holy Spirit going and he's convicting he's showing I believe that God's law is written on our heart that the conviction is there we know right from wrong who shows although having the law are a law to themselves who show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness I know this is wrong and between themselves their thoughts accusing them or either excusing them in the day God will judge the secrets of men x' hearts by jesus christ according to our gospel so summing that up and since because i can't sit here and unpack romans for a while it's this men are held responsible men women all of us are held responsible even those who have never heard the gospel have a witness the witness is inside bearing witness to a creator romans 1 if we had time to go there for his invisible attributes are clearly seen so that we are without excuse because we actually suppress the truth like a basketball put that basketball under swimming pool water and try to do that if you ever got hit in the head with it so that's what we do with the truth we suppress it and we suppress it but there is no excuse because we have the inner inner conviction that we are not right with God and we are held responsible for what we do with that even John MacArthur would say if a person will respond to the revelation he has God will provide some means for that person to hear the gospel if a person responds to the plea to the the fact that there's a creator if the person responds God will like Cornelius answer that prayer of response the Lord will hear your plea that's why when it doesn't I'm not cold or callous but when people say well what about all those people they haven't heard the gospel yes let's get the message to them let's get the gospel out to them let's bring missionaries but they have the inner conviction of the Spirit working in their heart convicting them of righteousness and convicting them of the judgment that is to come so they have an internal think about the people it's like you make it hard to go to hell it's really hard to go to hell because you fight conviction your entire life your entire life you're miserable you're fighting I talk to atheists they're not happy they are not happy individuals and their their conviction and they're fighting the conviction here's the Word of God they hear the word of God I don't want the hear word of God there's that loud bald guy and then Leona Valley I don't want to hear him anymore and their conviction family members you got to read this I don't want to hear this here's this article you gotta check it out I don't want to read this article here's this book you got to check out billboards there there's a creator you walk up you outside NASA new discoveries of this and there's it's everywhere everywhere so people are without excuse there's no excuse I mean if you can explain how people can come from nothing and babies are born and all this just happens out of random mutation it's impossible there's no excuse for denying that there is a creator now of course I've talked about this but it fits the sermon that the two sides on this it's really about pursuit and choice and I don't even know if I want to go into this because I've talked about the two different sides before and we're limited on time but it's the whole point of can here's where the argument is can man respond to that conviction can man respond to that conviction that he has Arminianism this side man cannot respond he can't respond he's dead how can a corpse respond to anything Calvinism and you have those too that's why there's a divide in the camp in the in the within the Christian community man can respond man can't respond unless the Holy Spirit it quickens him the actually the order of salvation is different to this side would believe that the order salvation is faith belief repentance this side would believe that the Holy Spirit comes and indwells a person then they can have faith and repentant because the Holy Spirit is within them convicting them to do that they can't do that without the Holy Spirit so are they already saved before the so you that's why people get in big arguments I get emails a lot the people shoot me down they don't like with it I can't take a strong stance on one side or the other but I just like what the Bible says we are held accountable I'm gonna preach the gospel you better repent God sovereign keeps it simple right me it keeps it really simple I actually I don't know if I've told you this before but I was reading Martin Luther's book on the bondage to the will he wrote against Pelagianism and it says actually you're not a you're not a you're not born a sinner you're the little babies are good little babies and it's a product of their environment I just kind of threw that book down and Lord I don't understand this I I mean if you're if you're sovereign in regard to you will save whoever you want to save I don't even have to get out of bed I don't have to preach the gospel I'll do it I guess you command me I mean but what I mean there's no passion right I mean if it doesn't matter what I do doesn't matter what I do God's elect will come to saving faith we might as well close down the church think about that right but when I read the ba gospel Paul pleading to King Agrippa King oh god I wish you would turn to Christ Jesus you were not willing Jesus is crying he's crying Oh Jerusalem your going to be devoured in eighty seventy when Titus comes in and he ransacks this place you missed your opportunity you were not willing you stiff neck people you denied me that seems pretty passionate that's a passionate plea to turn to God turn to God but both sides do agree that without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and nobody will come to know God nobody and I agree with that without the Holy Spirit going open the door open the door without that man would not come to saving faith john 6 for no one can come to the Father jesus said nobody can come to me unless the father what draws him decide would translate that word hell co drag him this side would translate the word help go in the greek as a divine impulse that we can respond to or not see you got two sides here what about the other verse the natural man 1st corinthians 2:14 the natural man does not receive the natural man does not receive so this side saying the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit they are foolishness to him they can't this sight says the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit that word is dekha my dekha my and the Greek it means you ready for this he does not welcome or accept so although I don't welcome or accept visitors knocking on my door at 1:00 a.m. at my house that doesn't mean I can't get up and open the door and let them in even though I don't welcome so see how you can look at things to two different ways and really and the majority of the books I read John Piper's and others art are on this side you know I like both sides and the the reformed thought Calvinism came actually out of or against Roman Catholicism when it works you know penance all these works works works works works this came out against that and said no we're not relying on the works it's by fits it's a five solar scriptura Sola Gracia all these by grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone through the work of you know the Holy Spirit alone and and they came up with these against works works works works works so if you understand the school through school two schools of thought you can see they both come from from from scriptural course but I like to take the middle ground and believe that both I've trust God he's sovereign thank God for that but people are held responsible and it's hard for me if I tell if I get mad at a let's say there's a new baby born right there's maybe dedicate today two months old if I tell that baby you're going to be punished unless you get up and walk right now that baby's not perfect that baby's not even able to perform what's being asked so it's not right to punish a baby it can't perform what he's being uh so that's one of my issues with this side is if man can't repent and believe but he's called to repent and believe and then he's punished because he can't repent and believe that that doesn't seem like the heart of God it doesn't seem like that because you if God's saying you must do this that tells me a person can do that or else it wouldn't command it however this is the debate that's been going on for thousands of years 2,000 years maybe early church fathers even it begin with Augustine st. Augustine and I think it was 400 AD believed actually in free will and then later he believed on this side and then as a result he wrote a book I have I like to read sometimes it's called the retractions he looked back on his life and said I'm retracting this statement in this statement and this statement in this death statement so I was remember that shame be careful you don't want to go back and retract everything so on things that are that are not real that the Christian community is devided godly men are divided I just want to walk humbly between them and try to glean from both so that was what what what was happening with Cornelius that Cornelius was seeking him he was responding to the revelation that was given to him then verse 36 the word which God sent to the children of Israel preaching through Jesus Christ he is Lord of all so he's telling Cornelius his family listen Cornelius you heard the truth Jesus Christ is Lord of all and I don't want to skip to the next verse because I want to remind you what the word Lord means someone having power and authority and influence if you confess with your mouth that Christ is Lord that he has authority and influence that he's governed your life that he saved you you will be saved that's what it means lordship what about flipping to every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord so this is what you're gonna run into if you think he's just a good teacher he if he's just I like he was a good guy gosh if we would just follow his teachings but I can't take on the whole God stuff then your are not in the right relationship with God he is the Lord Jesus Christ scripture is clear that word you know verse that 37 that words you know Cornelius you know it was proclaimed throughout all Judaea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached so I don't know the tone of Peter's voice maybe he wasn't being like I'm being but he wasn't Cornelius you know here's the truth it was preached throughout all Judea 30 33 years Jesus walked he talked he healed you know this this is after the baptism of John well what is he talking about now why did he bring that in because this is interesting John the Baptist was foretold in Scripture that there would be a forerunner of Christ and boy this would be another interesting sermon John the Baptist you have the last book in the Old Testament Malachi they don't know exactly what was written let's say 400 450 BC then you have nothing from God nothing from God for 400 years can you imagine that not hearing from God from your profit from anything for 400 years he just rebuked the nation of Israel for their idolatry their wicked leaders and their pagan marriages that's why Malachi said I changed not he the Lord to Malachi I changed not I hate divorce I hate even the thought of divorce and then he ends the book of Malachi saying that somebody will come in the spirit of Elijah and they will turn the hearts of the father's back to their children and the children to their fathers 400 years of silence then John the Baptist comes on the scene and says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent and you better I think though I don't remember who said it but you better commit your head to heaven if you preach repentance 20 years in the wilderness a ministry that's probably six months long and then he's beheaded but he was the forerunner of Christ he preached he baptized Jesus verse 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with Nazareth sorry with the Holy Spirit and with power so God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power they go together okay you can't have the Holy Spirit and no power if you have the Holy Spirit and no power it means you've quenched and grieve the Holy Spirit that's why Karen I love what you share please share that the next service because that I'm just gonna I'll let the cat out of the bag what she said is exactly what I'm praying for this church that you would hear the worship and it would just bring you to your knees people begin to weep God will begin breaking the heart because of power the Spirit is moving listen you can go to church and it can be a cemetery dead dead religion dead orthodox dead doctrine because letter kills it's the spirit who gives life it's the power of the Holy Spirit so Jesus God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit he went doing good works healing people all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him then you can bring Isaiah in right in the Book of Luke Jesus opens up this scroll he says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor to open blind eyes to set the captives free God has anointed me for this very purpose to set the captives free to preach the glorious gospel that's why I'm here so Peter is breaking all this down and then verse 39 and we are witnesses of all these things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree him God raised on the third day and showed him openly not to all people but to witnesses chosen before by God even to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead anybody who says I don't know about that I can't really believe that I have a lot of questions well I'm gonna not invest in an hour and a half right now and I'll just go encourage you to watch case for Christ oh no a minutes on that one new movie out case for Christ how Lee Strobel former atheist came to know Jesus Christ that the manuscript that the rabbi in the movie or the Hoover that was under 6,000 manuscripts we have the 500 witnesses all these things that prove the resurrection is true even sec see here's here's the thing if this was all a Bible thing oh you guys in your Bible I mean the Book of Mormon is no different more i and that this mountain and all these things that really didn't happen you know it's really but secular sources Josephus Roman historians other historians talk about a man named Jesus he was crucified in the body was stolen or the swoon theory right Jesus really wasn't hurt that bad he just he got up three days later see you can't you can't discount the fact that here is a historical figure where do we date our calendars in the year of our Lord man I could spend some time there that is amazing all these I think there's eight different secular historians not Christian they say yeah there was a Jesus he's not the Son of God okay if there wasn't Jesus he did die where's the body where's the resurrection how do you know the resurrection isn't true all these people gave their lives for a lie they hid a body that they can't find and they're dying for that lie all these witnesses all these accounts all the change lives see it was one thing if you could just say this happening I can I think so but once you understand once you make him Lord of your life once you repent and God fills you with this love and your crying Abba Father Abba Father God I know you it is internalized and it's experiential so it confirms the gospel see it's not like we're most religions never experienced their religion they're going through motions prayers and go to church and a half in there's just debt why hope this is right but Christianity changes the heart changes the heart so people you might as well stop to try to stop Niagara Falls that trying to stop a real Christian fill with God's Spirit from living a life to glorify Christ you might as well just tried it because it's impossible and then he commanded us to preach to the people Peter saying Jesus command us to preach to the people and to testify that he is ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead that's why I often quote aw Tozer that I love Jesus because he's my Savior but I fear him because he is my judge see it's a very sobering reality if I often reminds you I'm not trying to win a popularity contest we're not trying to build a huge church based on on what people think what they want you have to tell people the truth he is your Savior but he's also your judge be careful be careful he did that Jesus did that the disciples did that he is a judge of the living in the debt to him all the prophets were witnesses that through his name whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sin that's of Peters laying out the gospel so we have this is interesting Christ is an advocate it's an interesting dichotomy he's well perceive dichotomy it's really not a dichotomy is is well that's something different but Jesus is advocate he goes to the Father for me he stands before God for he's my advocate but then he's also my judge so when I say I don't want you as my attorney I don't want you as my attorney I don't want use my advocate I'm going to represent myself then he has to judge you based on your own representation of yourself he's your advocate but he's also your judge many talk about the lamb but not the lion the Lamb of God not the lion we talked and we mentioned the man who turned the other cheek is that Jesus turned the other people tell me that what he said turn the other cheek why you so upset what have you ever read revelation no what what that he will tread the winepress and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God oh now every time I read that just like ah I mean it's amazing I'll even run into pastors who never talk about those passages shame people don't want to I don't care what they want to hear what do they need me here the problem is you've got too much liberal theology in your mind or you came from a liberal seminary who wants to just avoid the difficult truths because you one have never been converted or te vas sure you left your first love they talk about love but not the coming judgement heaven but not hell in a relationship but not repentance whoever believes see remission whoever believes when you believe on the name it saves these shackles are released and it opens the prison doors that's I mean I could get I get really excited on this point I don't know why but when you're when you when you give your life to the Lord and you say Lord use me however you want he shows you God show me your glory show me your your your forgiveness show me Calvary be careful to pray that prayer God show me Calvary coz you'll see the blood-stained cross you'll see how see ah this is something that is so frustrating people to understand the closer you draw to Christ the more you see how depraved you are and you've got all these people living like oh my living like Sodom and Gomorrah they think they're just great with God but the closer I draw to the purity of the gospel the closer I draw to the purity of Christ and I see him that the even the sin of of selfishness our pride whatever it is the closer I get the more my sin is magnified I hate it but I love it because you think you're doing good and he'll say no no see just the fact you think you're doing good and he'll start too but that's a good thing what happens is the closer you get to the mirror the better you see right can you see the men's restroom where the women's restroom mirrors right now no but as you get closer and closer and closer so God heard Cornelius we're talking about God here's got her Cornelius this is Cornelius this is what you need to do is well he feared God he obeyed he sought God and he repented he feared he obeyed he sought God and repented God will hear the proud if they humble themselves he will hear the addict if they confess and turn he will hear the sexually immoral if they repent he will hear the single mom who was struggling and the failing father he will hear them he will reach out to the depressed he will restore the wounded and he will heal the brokenhearted that's a God who hears and wants that relationship but you have to take that step of repentance repentance Shane why do you always talked about that well I'm going to until the day I die the repentance is a beautiful word and then won't spend time here because I know we have to end but I want to get through the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles verse 10 I'm sorry yeah chapter 10 verse 44 while Peter now listen this here we go another controversial thing get out get out your eraser you got your eraser with you well Peter was it's funny because people read though this is amazing in the New Testament happens now no no let's have the devil that's a that was for them but that's of the devil today while Peter was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word and this isn't just this is epi the word epi the preposition falling upon an overwhelming sense of the whole unless I felt this so much before I couldn't even go up and preach I just wept and wept and what I couldn't even go up and preach and God begin to just he pours his spirit but watch out Church watch out Church cuz all your plans for the rest of the day they are over you're not hungry anymore the little shower and the baby shower whatever later you're gone you're not even gonna make it you're gonna be on the floor on your face before God weeping and crying out to God that's genuine revival that's what the church needs listen Trump isn't going to save us America needs awakening to restore and renew that's okay don't cloud the second service will we have more people there but in all seriousness spirit fell and this is why I'm so passionate about this because he fell upon me and I want others to experience that you change you are you just feel what is coming out of me it's no longer this and well mmm cuss words this and cuss words that right it's it's what is this what's this praise what's just worship in my heart he's changed my heart he's renewed me and those are the circumcision meeting the Jews who believed were astonished and they came to Peter and said the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all the Gentiles for they heard them speak in tongues Oh Jane you just lost me again the Bible says it but the Bible says it it isn't this ironic we have no problem with raising from the dead and healing it and all these other but no you can't speak in a language that you don't know really okay well you better check your theology because Paul spent a whole chapter two in Corinthians on this this and people that don't know it I can see why it wouldn't make sense but once a person experiences it and the Bible talks about it it says it's really so worship it's not some word of knowledge it's not it's this worship from the heart that the Holy Spirit's crying Abba Father and the Holy Spirit doesn't take up speak American the Holy Spirit is crying to the Father and that's what this is it's this glory that is gripping God and this glorious takes place and a person is worshiping God and arrogant prideful people who've never experienced it want to shoot down what they've never experienced that's the bottom line I knew I should have fasted this weekend huh god my goodness I'm so sick and tired of people putting down what's in the Bible because they've never experienced it they want to avoid the Holy Spirit don't don't talk about that stuff why because it gets us doesn't it comfortable Christianity is over when you're filled with the Holy Spirit comfortable Christianity is over you're gonna go disconnect Netflix Facebook buh-bye YouTube no more unless it's worship songs all these friends who want to get drunk and get high bye see you later oh I just want to turn off look at the look at just how we spend our time when you're filled with the Holy Spirit everything changes everything changes so we said can anybody forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just says we have so if you've never been baptized guess what we're filling that up I'm thinking of filling it up on Easter next weekend and just be baptized honor God and show others that you are serious about your conversion and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord then they asked him to stay a few days so I'll leave with this closing thought has the Holy Spirit fallen on you it might seem like guy we're talking with the Holy Spirit aligned I've had people leave this church in the past because he I talked too much about the Holy Spirit guess what these people are not filled with the Holy Spirit they're filled with sound doctrine but they had know nothing of the spirits power I asked them what if you want a person to the Lord they can't even remember no don't you ever talk to me about the Holy Spirit if you're not witnessing on a weekly basis I don't want to hear your input sorry maybe I should apologize later but let me just internalize that soften it up right but you know what that is meant to convict I don't I'm not concerned with people's opinions on the Holy Spirit unless I see the Holy Spirit operating in their life then they have a right to talk about certain things and not be offended I want to recommend to another book for those who even thought about ministry if you're considering it it's called dangerous calling and the author Paul Tripp was a seminary professor he said when the gospel of Jesus Christ gets reduced to theological ideas and concepts you are in trouble that's the problem many times with modern-day seminary is you come out with head knowledge but no heart experience you come out knowing all about God to study and get your degree but you don't know that God who you should be studying the hardest job a pastor will ever have is practicing what they preach practically prayer Lord makes sure who I am in private is Who I am in public make sure the same gospel I preach is the same gospel and repent repenting and embracing then what the thing about pastors that you have to remember is we are in the same boat we are sinner saved by grace I'm actually I look to the same one the same one I'm pointing you to I have to look to the same one I'm pointing you to I have to look to the same person I'm encouraging you to turn to I have to turn to I have to seek repentance and renewal and restoration so that's the closing thought has the Holy Spirit fallen upon you do you have this a relationship with God this over because I'm not real concerned with customer or consumer Christianity where we just go through the motions but do you truly know him is he saturating every aspect of your life is not that can change this morning how long st. hell you say god I need that I don't know exactly what it is but I need that I need more of you show me please Lord we'll hear you and if you don't have a relationship many people could there's a lot of visitors here all the time and I want to encourage you Jesus will forgive if you believe that he is who he said he is everything takes a level of faith even atheism takes a great deal of faith you've got to step out onto the rock of nothing and believe that nothing is there and nothing is coming and nothing is going to happen you're banking eternity on that step of faith Christianity steps out under the faith of God's Word who he is his sovereignty and that I'm not God and I have because without faith you can't truly love I want to encourage you though to pray really pray God God's convict him even this morning to really pray I had it just a quick list 10th teen 15 things 15 20 minutes I'm done it's like God said you haven't even begun you haven't even begun to sit at the feet of your Savior let him build you up let him encourage you see there's prayers you can't just pray you just sit there in God oh god help me and he'll bring things to your mind he'll begin to restore your soul you'll begin to build you up he'll begin to hold you I can't explain it I can't explain it sometimes I don't want to because words don't do it justice but sometimes remove the checklist and just sit daddy I need you daddy I need you my father you know died today young when I was 20s I didn't know who he was I didn't know what it meant to be a man I said daddy I need you show me how to be a husband show me how to be a father show me how to be a pastor show me how to preach this morning and he begins to rebuild and restore and renew that's prayer prayer is not getting through a checklist prayer is sitting and waiting on God letting him fill you at this." [00:09:04] Making vertical captioned clip



"Peter began to open his mouth in truth I perceive that God shows no partiality but in every nation now this is gonna be a controversial scripture think about this think about what Peter is saying in every nation everywhere on the planet whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by God now that sounds just face value sounds like well if I fear God and I'm a good person doing good things God accepts me now let's back up a little bit Romans 2:12 Paul said this to the church in Rome in Rome for as many as have sinned without that without the law that means all the world without the law will also perish without the law and as many as have sinned in the law the Jewish people they will be judged by the same law that they are disobeying so that's what he's saying those who'll be judged outside the law those will be judged who know the law for not the hearers of the law are just in God's sight but the doers of the law will be justified but we know that we're not saved by works that our righteousness is above filthy rats so what is Paul talking about well I could spend the whole sermon here but I'm gonna try to just unpack the important parts for the hearers of the law are not just in God's sight but the doers of God's law he's talking about the Old Testament Saints as well Abraham God accounted it to him righteousness God Abraham was right before God because abraham believed god Noah believed in God Moses believed in God there's a god I'm not him God I believe in you and because of that I fear you and I there's a change in my heart I want to work righteousness and this this whole this is a whole topic of imputation imputation is an accounting term the sin is imputed to us because of Adam Christ dies on the Christ cross and his imputed righteousness his right standing before God is now imputed to us and covers the sin of Adam so again this is a deep theological mystery many people many depending on what denomination you're from they will look at this a different way but we know that we are saved through faith in Christ and Christ alone but our righteousness or our lifestyle our works our is the fruit it's a byproduct of our belief in God and then Paul goes on to say for when Gentiles who do not have the law so this is about all those people what about all those people have never heard the gospel not in Africa or India what about all these people that's not a fair loving God uuuuu just say just those who ever hear about Jesus well for when the Gentiles who do not have the law they don't know what they don't have the scriptures by nature by nature do the things that are in the law that's interesting by nature meaning they do the things in the law I'm not going to steal my neighbor's chicken I'm not gonna steal my neighbor's wife I'm not gonna set his house on fire I know these things because that's the inner alarm-clock of the Holy Spirit going and he's convicting he's showing I believe that God's law is written on our heart that the conviction is there we know right from wrong who shows although having the law are a law to themselves who show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness I know this is wrong and between themselves their thoughts accusing them or either excusing them in the day God will judge the secrets of men x' hearts by jesus christ according to our gospel so summing that up and since because i can't sit here and unpack romans for a while it's this men are held responsible men women all of us are held responsible even those who have never heard the gospel have a witness the witness is inside bearing witness to a creator romans 1 if we had time to go there for his invisible attributes are clearly seen so that we are without excuse because we actually suppress the truth like a basketball put that basketball under swimming pool water and try to do that if you ever got hit in the head with it so that's what we do with the truth we suppress it and we suppress it but there is no excuse because we have the inner inner conviction that we are not right with God and we are held responsible for what we do with that even John MacArthur would say if a person will respond to the revelation he has God will provide some means for that person to hear the gospel if a person responds to the plea to the the fact that there's a creator if the person responds God will like Cornelius answer that prayer of response the Lord will hear your plea that's why when it doesn't I'm not cold or callous but when people say well what about all those people they haven't heard the gospel yes let's get the message to them let's get the gospel out to them let's bring missionaries but they have the inner conviction of the Spirit working in their heart convicting them of righteousness and convicting them of the judgment that is to come so they have an internal think about the people it's like you make it hard to go to hell it's really hard to go to hell because you fight conviction your entire life your entire life you're miserable you're fighting I talk to atheists they're not happy they are not happy individuals and their their conviction and they're fighting the conviction here's the Word of God they hear the word of God I don't want the hear word of God there's that loud bald guy and then Leona Valley I don't want to hear him anymore and their conviction family members you got to read this I don't want to hear this here's this article you gotta check it out I don't want to read this article here's this book you got to check out billboards there there's a creator you walk up you outside NASA new discoveries of this and there's it's everywhere everywhere so people are without excuse there's no excuse I mean if you can explain how people can come from nothing and babies are born and all this just happens out of random mutation it's impossible there's no excuse for denying that there is a creator now of course I've talked about this but it fits the sermon that the two sides on this it's really about pursuit and choice and I don't even know if I want to go into this because I've talked about the two different sides before and we're limited on time but it's the whole point of can here's where the argument is can man respond to that conviction can man respond to that conviction that he has Arminianism this side man cannot respond he can't respond he's dead how can a corpse respond to anything Calvinism and you have those too that's why there's a divide in the camp in the in the within the Christian community man can respond man can't respond unless the Holy Spirit it quickens him the actually the order of salvation is different to this side would believe that the order salvation is faith belief repentance this side would believe that the Holy Spirit comes and indwells a person then they can have faith and repentant because the Holy Spirit is within them convicting them to do that they can't do that without the Holy Spirit so are they already saved before the so you that's why people get in big arguments I get emails a lot the people shoot me down they don't like with it I can't take a strong stance on one side or the other but I just like what the Bible says we are held accountable I'm gonna preach the gospel you better repent God sovereign keeps it simple right me it keeps it really simple I actually I don't know if I've told you this before but I was reading Martin Luther's book on the bondage to the will he wrote against Pelagianism and it says actually you're not a you're not a you're not born a sinner you're the little babies are good little babies and it's a product of their environment I just kind of threw that book down and Lord I don't understand this I I mean if you're if you're sovereign in regard to you will save whoever you want to save I don't even have to get out of bed I don't have to preach the gospel I'll do it I guess you command me I mean but what I mean there's no passion right I mean if it doesn't matter what I do doesn't matter what I do God's elect will come to saving faith we might as well close down the church think about that right but when I read the ba gospel Paul pleading to King Agrippa King oh god I wish you would turn to Christ Jesus you were not willing Jesus is crying he's crying Oh Jerusalem your going to be devoured in eighty seventy when Titus comes in and he ransacks this place you missed your opportunity you were not willing you stiff neck people you denied me that seems pretty passionate that's a passionate plea to turn to God turn to God but both sides do agree that without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and nobody will come to know God nobody and I agree with that without the Holy Spirit going open the door open the door without that man would not come to saving faith john 6 for no one can come to the Father jesus said nobody can come to me unless the father what draws him decide would translate that word hell co drag him this side would translate the word help go in the greek as a divine impulse that we can respond to or not see you got two sides here what about the other verse the natural man 1st corinthians 2:14 the natural man does not receive the natural man does not receive so this side saying the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit they are foolishness to him they can't this sight says the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit that word is dekha my dekha my and the Greek it means you ready for this he does not welcome or accept so although I don't welcome or accept visitors knocking on my door at 1:00 a.m. at my house that doesn't mean I can't get up and open the door and let them in even though I don't welcome so see how you can look at things to two different ways and really and the majority of the books I read John Piper's and others art are on this side you know I like both sides and the the reformed thought Calvinism came actually out of or against Roman Catholicism when it works you know penance all these works works works works works this came out against that and said no we're not relying on the works it's by fits it's a five solar scriptura Sola Gracia all these by grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone through the work of you know the Holy Spirit alone and and they came up with these against works works works works works so if you understand the school through school two schools of thought you can see they both come from from from scriptural course but I like to take the middle ground and believe that both I've trust God he's sovereign thank God for that but people are held responsible and it's hard for me if I tell if I get mad at a let's say there's a new baby born right there's maybe dedicate today two months old if I tell that baby you're going to be punished unless you get up and walk right now that baby's not perfect that baby's not even able to perform what's being asked so it's not right to punish a baby it can't perform what he's being uh so that's one of my issues with this side is if man can't repent and believe but he's called to repent and believe and then he's punished because he can't repent and believe that that doesn't seem like the heart of God it doesn't seem like that because you if God's saying you must do this that tells me a person can do that or else it wouldn't command it however this is the debate that's been going on for thousands of years 2,000 years maybe early church fathers even it begin with Augustine st. Augustine and I think it was 400 AD believed actually in free will and then later he believed on this side and then as a result he wrote a book I have I like to read sometimes it's called the retractions he looked back on his life and said I'm retracting this statement in this statement and this statement in this death statement so I was remember that shame be careful you don't want to go back and retract everything so on things that are that are not real that the Christian community is devided godly men are divided I just want to walk humbly between them and try to glean from both so that was what what what was happening with Cornelius that Cornelius was seeking him he was responding to the revelation that was given to him then verse 36 the word which God sent to the children of Israel preaching through Jesus Christ he is Lord of all so he's telling Cornelius his family listen Cornelius you heard the truth Jesus Christ is Lord of all and I don't want to skip to the next verse because I want to remind you what the word Lord means someone having power and authority and influence if you confess with your mouth that Christ is Lord that he has authority and influence that he's governed your life that he saved you you will be saved that's what it means lordship what about flipping to every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord so this is what you're gonna run into if you think he's just a good teacher he if he's just I like he was a good guy gosh if we would just follow his teachings but I can't take on the whole God stuff then your are not in the right relationship with God he is the Lord Jesus Christ scripture is clear that word you know verse that 37 that words you know Cornelius you know it was proclaimed throughout all Judaea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached so I don't know the tone of Peter's voice maybe he wasn't being like I'm being but he wasn't Cornelius you know here's the truth it was preached throughout all Judea 30 33 years Jesus walked he talked he healed you know this this is after the baptism of John well what is he talking about now why did he bring that in because this is interesting John the Baptist was foretold in Scripture that there would be a forerunner of Christ and boy this would be another interesting sermon John the Baptist you have the last book in the Old Testament Malachi they don't know exactly what was written let's say 400 450 BC then you have nothing from God nothing from God for 400 years can you imagine that not hearing from God from your profit from anything for 400 years he just rebuked the nation of Israel for their idolatry their wicked leaders and their pagan marriages that's why Malachi said I changed not he the Lord to Malachi I changed not I hate divorce I hate even the thought of divorce and then he ends the book of Malachi saying that somebody will come in the spirit of Elijah and they will turn the hearts of the father's back to their children and the children to their fathers 400 years of silence then John the Baptist comes on the scene and says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repent and you better I think though I don't remember who said it but you better commit your head to heaven if you preach repentance 20 years in the wilderness a ministry that's probably six months long and then he's beheaded but he was the forerunner of Christ he preached he baptized Jesus verse 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with Nazareth sorry with the Holy Spirit and with power so God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power they go together okay you can't have the Holy Spirit and no power if you have the Holy Spirit and no power it means you've quenched and grieve the Holy Spirit that's why Karen I love what you share please share that the next service because that I'm just gonna I'll let the cat out of the bag what she said is exactly what I'm praying for this church that you would hear the worship and it would just bring you to your knees people begin to weep God will begin breaking the heart because of power the Spirit is moving listen you can go to church and it can be a cemetery dead dead religion dead orthodox dead doctrine because letter kills it's the spirit who gives life it's the power of the Holy Spirit so Jesus God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit he went doing good works healing people all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him then you can bring Isaiah in right in the Book of Luke Jesus opens up this scroll he says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor to open blind eyes to set the captives free God has anointed me for this very purpose to set the captives free to preach the glorious gospel that's why I'm here so Peter is breaking all this down and then verse 39 and we are witnesses of all these things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem whom they killed by hanging on a tree him God raised on the third day and showed him openly not to all people but to witnesses chosen before by God even to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead anybody who says I don't know about that I can't really believe that I have a lot of questions well I'm gonna not invest in an hour and a half right now and I'll just go encourage you to watch case for Christ oh no a minutes on that one new movie out case for Christ how Lee Strobel former atheist came to know Jesus Christ that the manuscript that the rabbi in the movie or the Hoover that was under 6,000 manuscripts we have the 500 witnesses all these things that prove the resurrection is true even sec see here's here's the thing if this was all a Bible thing oh you guys in your Bible I mean the Book of Mormon is no different more i and that this mountain and all these things that really didn't happen you know it's really but secular sources Josephus Roman historians other historians talk about a man named Jesus he was crucified in the body was stolen or the swoon theory right Jesus really wasn't hurt that bad he just he got up three days later see you can't you can't discount the fact that here is a historical figure where do we date our calendars in the year of our Lord man I could spend some time there that is amazing all these I think there's eight different secular historians not Christian they say yeah there was a Jesus he's not the Son of God okay if there wasn't Jesus he did die where's the body where's the resurrection how do you know the resurrection isn't true all these people gave their lives for a lie they hid a body that they can't find and they're dying for that lie all these witnesses all these accounts all the change lives see it was one thing if you could just say this happening I can I think so but once you understand once you make him Lord of your life once you repent and God fills you with this love and your crying Abba Father Abba Father God I know you it is internalized and it's experiential so it confirms the gospel see it's not like we're most religions never experienced their religion they're going through motions prayers and go to church and a half in there's just debt why hope this is right but Christianity changes the heart changes the heart so people you might as well stop to try to stop Niagara Falls that trying to stop a real Christian fill with God's Spirit from living a life to glorify Christ you might as well just tried it because it's impossible and then he commanded us to preach to the people Peter saying Jesus command us to preach to the people and to testify that he is ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead that's why I often quote aw Tozer that I love Jesus because he's my Savior but I fear him because he is my judge see it's a very sobering reality if I often reminds you I'm not trying to win a popularity contest we're not trying to build a huge church based on on what people think what they want you have to tell people the truth he is your Savior but he's also your judge be careful be careful he did that Jesus did that the disciples did that he is a judge of the living in the debt to him all the prophets were witnesses that through his name whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sin that's of Peters laying out the gospel so we have this is interesting Christ is an advocate it's an interesting dichotomy he's well perceive dichotomy it's really not a dichotomy is is well that's something different but Jesus is advocate he goes to the Father for me he stands before God for he's my advocate but then he's also my judge so when I say I don't want you as my attorney I don't want you as my attorney I don't want use my advocate I'm going to represent myself then he has to judge you based on your own representation of yourself he's your advocate but he's also your judge many talk about the lamb but not the lion the Lamb of God not the lion we talked and we mentioned the man who turned the other cheek is that Jesus turned the other people tell me that what he said turn the other cheek why you so upset what have you ever read revelation no what what that he will tread the winepress and the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God oh now every time I read that just like ah I mean it's amazing I'll even run into pastors who never talk about those passages shame people don't want to I don't care what they want to hear what do they need me here the problem is you've got too much liberal theology in your mind or you came from a liberal seminary who wants to just avoid the difficult truths because you one have never been converted or te vas sure you left your first love they talk about love but not the coming judgement heaven but not hell in a relationship but not repentance whoever believes see remission whoever believes when you believe on the name it saves these shackles are released and it opens the prison doors that's I mean I could get I get really excited on this point I don't know why but when you're when you when you give your life to the Lord and you say Lord use me however you want he shows you God show me your glory show me your your your forgiveness show me Calvary be careful to pray that prayer God show me Calvary coz you'll see the blood-stained cross you'll see how see ah this is something that is so frustrating people to understand the closer you draw to Christ the more you see how depraved you are and you've got all these people living like oh my living like Sodom and Gomorrah they think they're just great with God but the closer I draw to the purity of the gospel the closer I draw to the purity of Christ and I see him that the even the sin of of selfishness our pride whatever it is the closer I get the more my sin is magnified I hate it but I love it because you think you're doing good and he'll say no no see just the fact you think you're doing good and he'll start too but that's a good thing what happens is the closer you get to the mirror the better you see right can you see the men's restroom where the women's restroom mirrors right now no but as you get closer and closer and closer so God heard Cornelius we're talking about God here's got her Cornelius this is Cornelius this is what you need to do is well he feared God he obeyed he sought God and he repented he feared he obeyed he sought God and repented God will hear the proud if they humble themselves he will hear the addict if they confess and turn he will hear the sexually immoral if they repent he will hear the single mom who was struggling and the failing father he will hear them he will reach out to the depressed he will restore the wounded and he will heal the brokenhearted that's a God who hears and wants that relationship but you have to take that step of repentance repentance Shane why do you always talked about that well I'm going to until the day I die the repentance is a beautiful word and then won't spend time here because I know we have to end but I want to get through the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles verse 10 I'm sorry yeah chapter 10 verse 44 while Peter now listen this here we go another controversial thing get out get out your eraser you got your eraser with you well Peter was it's funny because people read though this is amazing in the New Testament happens now no no let's have the devil that's a that was for them but that's of the devil today while Peter was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word and this isn't just this is epi the word epi the preposition falling upon an overwhelming sense of the whole unless I felt this so much before I couldn't even go up and preach I just wept and wept and what I couldn't even go up and preach and God begin to just he pours his spirit but watch out Church watch out Church cuz all your plans for the rest of the day they are over you're not hungry anymore the little shower and the baby shower whatever later you're gone you're not even gonna make it you're gonna be on the floor on your face before God weeping and crying out to God that's genuine revival that's what the church needs listen Trump isn't going to save us America needs awakening to restore and renew that's okay don't cloud the second service will we have more people there but in all seriousness spirit fell and this is why I'm so passionate about this because he fell upon me and I want others to experience that you change you are you just feel what is coming out of me it's no longer this and well mmm cuss words this and cuss words that right it's it's what is this what's this praise what's just worship in my heart he's changed my heart he's renewed me and those are the circumcision meeting the Jews who believed were astonished and they came to Peter and said the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all the Gentiles for they heard them speak in tongues Oh Jane you just lost me again the Bible says it but the Bible says it it isn't this ironic we have no problem with raising from the dead and healing it and all these other but no you can't speak in a language that you don't know really okay well you better check your theology because Paul spent a whole chapter two in Corinthians on this this and people that don't know it I can see why it wouldn't make sense but once a person experiences it and the Bible talks about it it says it's really so worship it's not some word of knowledge it's not it's this worship from the heart that the Holy Spirit's crying Abba Father and the Holy Spirit doesn't take up speak American the Holy Spirit is crying to the Father and that's what this is it's this glory that is gripping God and this glorious takes place and a person is worshiping God and arrogant prideful people who've never experienced it want to shoot down what they've never experienced that's the bottom line I knew I should have fasted this weekend huh god my goodness I'm so sick and tired of people putting down what's in the Bible because they've never experienced it they want to avoid the Holy Spirit don't don't talk about that stuff why because it gets us doesn't it comfortable Christianity is over when you're filled with the Holy Spirit comfortable Christianity is over you're gonna go disconnect Netflix Facebook buh-bye YouTube no more unless it's worship songs all these friends who want to get drunk and get high bye see you later oh I just want to turn off look at the look at just how we spend our time when you're filled with the Holy Spirit everything changes everything changes so we said can anybody forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just says we have so if you've never been baptized guess what we're filling that up I'm thinking of filling it up on Easter next weekend and just be baptized honor God and show others that you are serious about your conversion and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord then they asked him to stay a few days so I'll leave with this closing thought has the Holy Spirit fallen on you it might seem like guy we're talking with the Holy Spirit aligned I've had people leave this church in the past because he I talked too much about the Holy Spirit guess what these people are not filled with the Holy Spirit they're filled with sound doctrine but they had know nothing of the spirits power I asked them what if you want a person to the Lord they can't even remember no don't you ever talk to me about the Holy Spirit if you're not witnessing on a weekly basis I don't want to hear your input sorry maybe I should apologize later but let me just internalize that soften it up right but you know what that is meant to convict I don't I'm not concerned with people's opinions on the Holy Spirit unless I see the Holy Spirit operating in their life then they have a right to talk about certain things and not be offended I want to recommend to another book for those who even thought about ministry if you're considering it it's called dangerous calling and the author Paul Tripp was a seminary professor he said when the gospel of Jesus Christ gets reduced to theological ideas and concepts you are in trouble that's the problem many times with modern-day seminary is you come out with head knowledge but no heart experience you come out knowing all about God to study and get your degree but you don't know that God who you should be studying the hardest job a pastor will ever have is practicing what they preach practically prayer Lord makes sure who I am in private is Who I am in public make sure the same gospel I preach is the same gospel and repent repenting and embracing then what the thing about pastors that you have to remember is we are in the same boat we are sinner saved by grace I'm actually I look to the same one the same one I'm pointing you to I have to look to the same one I'm pointing you to I have to look to the same person I'm encouraging you to turn to I have to turn to I have to seek repentance and renewal and resto

You asked 10:30. The message this morning is, "The Lord hears us."

Acts 10:30. I wanted to give a big backdrop of where we were and how we got here, but let me just tell you this in a nutshell: Cornelius, an angel appears to Cornelius. He's seeking God, he's fasting, he's fearing God, and he's seeking God. And then Peter has a vision. So Cornelius, he's an angel; Peter has a vision, and God’s going to bring them together to lead this family to the Lord.

Acts 10:30. So Cornelius said, "Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, 'Cornelius, your prayers have been heard and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa and call Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon a Tanner by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.'"

So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God to hear all the things commanded you by God.

So Peter comes into this house. Cornelius gives him a backdrop of the angel, and Peter asks, "Why are you here? We're anxious to hear what you have to say to us."

But I want to stop here for a minute. Christian disciplines help us hear from God, and I don't want to overlook this. I mentioned it briefly, but Cornelius was fasting. On that note, I did want to recommend a really good book, "A Hunger for God" by John Piper, on this area of fasting and prayer—what it looks like, why do we fast? Isn't it a New Testament discipline? I thought it was an Old Testament thing. No, it's very relevant, very new.

I will submit to you that when you fast and starve the flesh, you can hear better from God. It's a spiritual discipline that is often overlooked. Many people say, "That's an Old Testament discipline," as they put the double-double in their mouth. Of course, it's an Old Testament discipline because we don't like it. So it's very applicable today.

Also, he said, "Hear all the things commanded by God." So if Peter's going to portray the gospel correctly, he's got to give Cornelius's family all of the truth, not some of the truth, all of the truth.

It was interesting when I spoke, many of you know, at the debate against the atheists at the college recently. I was able to give that last 10 minutes on the gospel. There were theists, the Satanic group that got up and left, different religions, different organizations—Muslim, Hindu—were there, and they all heard the gospel.

Now, I had, and I knew that was going to be a different audience, and I had a choice: Do I make Christianity palatable or powerful? Do I make it taste good or do I make it powerful? Do I make it easy or do I make it narrow?

And that's when it comes to the truth. We have to remember that we present the whole truth. That's why I like Mike put up here, "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season." Preach the word in totality, and that's what Peter was going to do.

So Peter preaches to Cornelius's household. Verse 34: "Then Peter opened up his mouth." You have to do that, right? To preach, to tell people, you have to open up your mouth.

And also, this is interesting. As you know, I've talked about before, the truth really gets people upset, doesn't it? They hear things they don't want to hear. I had the privilege of... We had a large memorial service here yesterday, and about 12 people got up and left as I was presenting the gospel. "I don't want to hear that part of this service; I just want to pay my respects."

And why is that? Because that truth does something in our hearts, and it convicts us, and God wants to draw us closer to Him.

So then Peter opened up his mouth and he said, "In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality." What was happening is the Jews thought that Christ was just for the Jewish people. He was, and Jesus wasn't for anybody else. But God showed Peter in this vision not to call things common which God has cleaned, which God has saved. The Gentiles—He's brought salvation to the Gentiles.

So there's no partiality, and that's good to remember with God. God is no respecter of persons. Sometimes we think, "Why? I'm in America, and God does this, and He puts me way up here and others down here." No, there's no partiality when it comes to God.

As a matter of fact, when we get to heaven, He's not going to say, "What denomination were you? What church was that? A Westside? I have them really high up here on this list." It's all the blood, all the blood of Christ. That's how we stand before God.

So Peter began to open his mouth. "In truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation..." Now this is going to be a controversial scripture. Think about this. Think about what Peter is saying: "In every nation, everywhere on the planet, whoever fears God and works righteousness is accepted by God."

Now that sounds, just at face value, sounds like, "Well, if I fear God and I'm a good person doing good things, God accepts me." Now let's back up a little bit. Romans 2:12, Paul said this to the church in Rome: "For as many as have sinned without the law"—that means all the world without the law—"will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned in the law"—the Jewish people—"they will be judged by the same law that they are disobeying."

So that's what he's saying: those who will be judged outside the law, those will be judged who know the law. "For not the hearers of the law are just in God's sight, but the doers of the law will be justified."

But we know that we're not saved by works, that our righteousness is as filthy rags. So what is Paul talking about? Well, I could spend the whole sermon here, but I'm going to try to just unpack the important parts.

"For the hearers of the law are not just in God's sight, but the doers of God's law." He's talking about the Old Testament saints as well. Abraham—God accounted it to him for righteousness. God—Abraham was right before God because Abraham believed God. Noah believed in God. Moses believed in God.

There's a God; I'm not Him. God, I believe in You, and because of that, I fear You, and there's a change in my heart. I want to work righteousness.

This whole topic of imputation—imputation is an accounting term. The sin is imputed to us because of Adam. Christ dies on the cross, and His imputed righteousness, His right standing before God, is now imputed to us and covers the sin of Adam.

So again, this is a deep theological mystery. Many people, depending on what denomination you're from, will look at this a different way. But we know that we are saved through faith in Christ and Christ alone. But our righteousness, or our lifestyle, our works, is the fruit; it's a byproduct of our belief in God.

And then Paul goes on to say, "For when Gentiles who do not have the law..." So this is about all those people. What about all those people who have never heard the gospel? Not in Africa or India. What about all these people? That's not a fair loving God. Just say, "Just those who ever hear about Jesus."

Well, "For when the Gentiles who do not have the law, they don't know what they don't have—the scriptures—by nature do the things that are in the law." That's interesting. By nature, meaning they do the things in the law. "I'm not going to steal my neighbor's chicken. I'm not going to steal my neighbor's wife. I'm not going to set his house on fire."

I know these things because that's the inner alarm clock of the Holy Spirit going off, and He's convicting, He's showing. I believe that God's law is written on our hearts, that the conviction is there. We know right from wrong.

"Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness." I know this is wrong. And between themselves, their thoughts accusing them or either excusing them. "In the day God will judge the secrets of men’s hearts by Jesus Christ according to our gospel."

So summing that up, and since I can't sit here and unpack Romans for a while, it's this: men are held responsible. Men, women, all of us are held responsible. Even those who have never heard the gospel have a witness. The witness is inside, bearing witness to a creator.

Romans 1, if we had time to go there: "For His invisible attributes are clearly seen, so that we are without excuse." Because we actually suppress the truth. Like a basketball, put that basketball under swimming pool water and try to do that. If you ever got hit in the head with it, that's what we do with the truth. We suppress it, and we suppress it.

But there is no excuse because we have the inner conviction that we are not right with God, and we are held responsible for what we do with that. Even John MacArthur would say, "If a person will respond to the revelation he has, God will provide some means for that person to hear the gospel."

If a person responds to the plea, to the fact that there's a creator, if the person responds, God will, like Cornelius, answer that prayer of response. The Lord will hear your plea.

That's why when it doesn't—I'm not cold or callous—but when people say, "Well, what about all those people? They haven't heard the gospel." Yes, let's get the message to them. Let's get the gospel out to them. Let's bring missionaries. But they have the inner conviction of the Spirit working in their heart, convicting them of righteousness and convicting them of the judgment that is to come.

So they have an internal... Think about the people. It's like you make it hard to go to hell. It's really hard to go to hell because you fight conviction your entire life. Your entire life, you're miserable; you're fighting. I talk to atheists; they're not happy. They are not happy individuals, and their conviction, and they're fighting the conviction.

Here's the Word of God. They hear the Word of God. "I don't want to hear the Word of God." There's that loud bald guy in Leona Valley. "I don't want to hear him anymore." And their conviction—family members, you got to read this. "I don't want to hear this. Here's this article; you got to check it out." "I don't want to read this article. Here's this book; you got to check out."

Billboards—there's a creator. You walk up, you’re outside NASA, new discoveries of this, and it's everywhere. Everywhere. So people are without excuse. There's no excuse. I mean, if you can explain how people can come from nothing and babies are born and all this just happens out of random mutation, it's impossible. There's no excuse for denying that there is a creator.

Now, of course, I've talked about this, but it fits the sermon that the two sides on this—it's really about pursuit and choice. And I don't even know if I want to go into this because I've talked about the two different sides before, and we're limited on time.

But it's the whole point of can—here's where the argument is—can man respond to that conviction? Can man respond to that conviction that he has? Arminianism—this side—man cannot respond. He can't respond. He's dead. How can a corpse respond to anything? Calvinism—and you have those too. That's why there's a divide in the camp within the Christian community.

Man can respond. Man can't respond unless the Holy Spirit quickens him. Actually, the order of salvation is different. This side would believe that the order of salvation is faith, belief, repentance. This side would believe that the Holy Spirit comes and indwells a person, then they can have faith and repentance because the Holy Spirit is within them, convicting them to do that. They can't do that without the Holy Spirit.

So are they already saved before the... So that's why people get in big arguments. I get emails a lot from people who shoot me down; they don't like it. I can't take a strong stance on one side or the other, but I just like what the Bible says. We are held accountable. I'm going to preach the gospel; you better repent. God is sovereign. Keeps it simple, right? It keeps it really simple.

I actually—I don't know if I've told you this before, but I was reading Martin Luther's book on "The Bondage of the Will." He wrote against Pelagianism, and it says, "Actually, you're not a sinner; you're not born a sinner. The little babies are good little babies, and it's a product of their environment."

I just kind of threw that book down and said, "Lord, I don't understand this. I mean, if You're sovereign in regard to You will save whoever You want to save, I don't even have to get out of bed. I don't have to preach the gospel. I'll do it, I guess You command me."

I mean, but what? I mean, there's no passion, right? I mean, if it doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't matter what I do. God's elect will come to saving faith; we might as well close down the church. Think about that, right?

But when I read the gospel, Paul pleading to King Agrippa, "King, oh God, I wish you would turn to Christ Jesus." You were not willing. Jesus is crying. He's crying, "Oh Jerusalem, you're going to be devoured in AD 70 when Titus comes in and he ransacks this place. You missed your opportunity. You were not willing, you stiff-necked people; you denied me."

That seems pretty passionate. That's a passionate plea to turn to God. Turn to God. But both sides do agree that without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, nobody will come to know God. Nobody. And I agree with that. Without the Holy Spirit going, "Open the door, open the door," without that, man would not come to saving faith.

John 6: "For no one can come to the Father," Jesus said, "nobody can come to me unless the Father what? Draws him." This side would translate that word "helko" as "drag him." This side would translate the word "helko" in the Greek as a divine impulse that we can respond to or not.

See, you got two sides here. What about the other verse? The natural man, 1 Corinthians 2:14: "The natural man does not receive." The natural man does not receive. So this side is saying the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit; they are foolishness to him. They can't.

This side says the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit. That word is "dechomai." "Dechomai" in the Greek means, you ready for this? He does not welcome or accept.

So although I don't welcome or accept visitors knocking on my door at 1:00 a.m. at my house, that doesn't mean I can't get up and open the door and let them in, even though I don't welcome them.

So see how you can look at things two different ways? And really, the majority of the books I read—John Piper's and others—are on this side. You know, I like both sides. The Reformed thought, Calvinism, came actually out of or against Roman Catholicism when it works, you know, penance, all these works, works, works, works.

This came out against that and said, "No, we're not relying on the works; it's by faith." It's a five solas: "Sola Scriptura, Sola Gracia," all these—by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone, through the work of, you know, the Holy Spirit alone.

And they came up with these against works, works, works, works, works. So if you understand the two schools of thought, you can see they both come from scriptural course. But I like to take the middle ground and believe that both—I trust God; He's sovereign. Thank God for that. But people are held responsible.

And it's hard for me if I tell—if I get mad at a, let's say there's a new baby born, right? There's maybe a baby dedicated today, two months old. If I tell that baby, "You're going to be punished unless you get up and walk right now," that baby's not perfect. That baby's not even able to perform what's being asked.

So it's not right to punish a baby that can't perform what he's being asked. So that's one of my issues with this side. If man can't repent and believe, but he's called to repent and believe, and then he's punished because he can't repent and believe, that doesn't seem like the heart of God.

It doesn't seem like that because if God's saying, "You must do this," that tells me a person can do that, or else it wouldn't be commanded. However, this is the debate that's been going on for thousands of years—2,000 years maybe. Early church fathers even began with Augustine. St. Augustine, I think it was 400 AD, believed actually in free will, and then later he believed on this side.

As a result, he wrote a book I like to read sometimes; it's called "The Retractions." He looked back on his life and said, "I'm retracting this statement and this statement and this statement." So I always remember that. Shame—be careful; you don't want to go back and retract everything.

So on things that are not real, the Christian community is divided. Godly men are divided. I just want to walk humbly between them and try to glean from both.

So that was what was happening with Cornelius. Cornelius was seeking Him; he was responding to the revelation that was given to him.

Then verse 36: "The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all." So he's telling Cornelius's family, "Listen, Cornelius, you heard the truth: Jesus Christ is Lord of all."

And I don't want to skip to the next verse because I want to remind you what the word "Lord" means. Someone having power and authority and influence. If you confess with your mouth that Christ is Lord, that He has authority and influence, that He's governed your life, that He saved you, you will be saved.

That's what it means—lordship. What about Philippians? "Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord."

So this is what you're going to run into. If you think He's just a good teacher—"He was a good guy. Gosh, if we would just follow His teachings, but I can't take on the whole God stuff," then you are not in the right relationship with God. He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture is clear that word—you know, verse 37: "That word, you know, Cornelius, it was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached."

So I don't know the tone of Peter's voice. Maybe he wasn't being like I'm being, but he wasn't saying, "Cornelius, you know, here's the truth." It was preached throughout all Judea—30, 33 years Jesus walked, He talked, He healed.

You know this—this is after the baptism of John. Well, what is he talking about now? Why did he bring that in? Because this is interesting. John the Baptist was foretold in Scripture that there would be a forerunner of Christ.

And boy, this would be another interesting sermon. John the Baptist—you have the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi. They don't know exactly what was written—let's say 400, 450 BC. Then you have nothing from God, nothing from God for 400 years.

Can you imagine that? Not hearing from God, from your prophet, from anything for 400 years? He just rebuked the nation of Israel for their idolatry, their wicked leaders, and their pagan marriages. That's why Malachi said, "I change not." He, the Lord, to Malachi, "I change not. I hate divorce. I hate even the thought of divorce."

And then he ends the book of Malachi saying that somebody will come in the spirit of Elijah, and they will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the children to their fathers.

400 years of silence. Then John the Baptist comes on the scene and says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repent! And you better— I think, though I don't remember who said it, but you better commit your head to heaven if you preach repentance.

20 years in the wilderness, a ministry that's probably six months long, and then he's beheaded. But he was the forerunner of Christ. He preached; he baptized Jesus.

Verse 38: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." So God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. They go together, okay? You can't have the Holy Spirit and no power.

If you have the Holy Spirit and no power, it means you've quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit. That's why Karen and I love what you share. Please share that in the next service because that—I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag—what she said is exactly what I'm praying for this church: that you would hear the worship and it would just bring you to your knees.

People begin to weep. God will begin breaking the heart because of power. The Spirit is moving. Listen, you can go to church, and it can be a cemetery—dead, dead religion, dead orthodoxy, dead doctrine—because the letter kills; it's the Spirit who gives life. It's the power of the Holy Spirit.

So Jesus—God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit. He went doing good works, healing people, all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Then you can bring Isaiah in, right? In the Book of Luke, Jesus opens up this scroll. He says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor, to open blind eyes, to set the captives free. God has anointed me for this very purpose—to set the captives free, to preach the glorious gospel." That's why I'm here.

So Peter is breaking all this down. And then verse 39: "And we are witnesses of all these things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised on the third day and showed Him openly, not to all people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead."

Anybody who says, "I don't know about that; I can't really believe that. I have a lot of questions." Well, I'm going to not invest an hour and a half right now, and I'll just go encourage you to watch "The Case for Christ."

Oh no, a minute's on that one. A new movie out, "The Case for Christ," how Lee Strobel, a former atheist, came to know Jesus Christ. The manuscript that the rabbi in the movie or the Hoover—that was under 6,000 manuscripts. We have the 500 witnesses—all these things that prove the resurrection is true.

Even secular sources—Josephus, Roman historians, other historians—talk about a man named Jesus. He was crucified. The body was stolen or the swoon theory, right? Jesus really wasn't hurt that bad; He just got up three days later.

See, you can't discount the fact that here is a historical figure. Where do we date our calendars? In the year of our Lord. Man, I could spend some time there. That is amazing.

All these—I think there's eight different secular historians, not Christian—they say, "Yeah, there was a Jesus." He's not the Son of God. Okay, if there wasn't Jesus, He did die. Where's the body? Where's the resurrection? How do you know the resurrection isn't true?

All these people gave their lives for a lie. They hid a body that they can't find, and they're dying for that lie. All these witnesses, all these accounts, all the changed lives.

See, it was one thing if you could just say, "This happened." I can think so. But once you understand, once you make Him Lord of your life, once you repent and God fills you with this love and you're crying, "Abba Father, Abba Father, God, I know You," it is internalized and it's experiential, so it confirms the gospel.

See, it's not like most religions never experienced their religion. They're going through motions, prayers, and go to church, and half in, and there's just debt. Why? Hope this is right.

But Christianity changes the heart. Changes the heart. So people—you might as well stop trying to stop Niagara Falls, trying to stop a real Christian filled with God's Spirit from living a life to glorify Christ. You might as well just try it because it's impossible.

And then He commanded us to preach to the people. Peter is saying, "Jesus commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead."

That's why I often quote A.W. Tozer: "I love Jesus because He's my Savior, but I fear Him because He is my judge." See, it's a very sobering reality.

If I often remind you, I'm not trying to win a popularity contest. We're not trying to build a huge church based on what people think, what they want. You have to tell people the truth. He is your Savior, but He's also your judge. Be careful. Be careful.

He did that. Jesus did that. The disciples did that. He is a judge of the living and the dead. To Him, all the prophets were witnesses that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.

That's of Peter's laying out the gospel. So we have this—this is interesting. Christ is an advocate. It's an interesting dichotomy. It's really not a dichotomy; it's well—that's something different.

But Jesus is an advocate. He goes to the Father for me. He stands before God for me. He's my advocate, but then He's also my judge. So when I say, "I don't want you as my attorney. I don't want you as my attorney. I don't want you as my advocate. I'm going to represent myself," then He has to judge you based on your own representation of yourself.

He's your advocate, but He's also your judge. Many talk about the Lamb but not the Lion—the Lamb of God, not the Lion. We talked, and we mentioned the man who turned the other cheek. Is that Jesus? Turn the other cheek? Why are you so upset?

What? Have you ever read Revelation? No? What? That He will tread the winepress in the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God? Oh, now, every time I read that, just like, "Ah!" I mean, it's amazing.

I'll even run into pastors who never talk about those passages. Shame! People don't want to—I don't care what they want to hear. What do they need to hear? The problem is you've got too much liberal theology in your mind, or you came from a liberal seminary who wants to just avoid the difficult truths because you, one, have never been converted or, two, have sure you left your first love.

They talk about love but not the coming judgment—heaven but not hell—in a relationship but not repentance. Whoever believes—see, remission. Whoever believes, when you believe on the name, it saves. These shackles are released, and it opens the prison doors.

That's—I mean, I could get really excited on this point. I don't know why, but when you give your life to the Lord and you say, "Lord, use me however You want," He shows you. God, show me Your glory. Show me Your forgiveness. Show me Calvary.

Be careful to pray that prayer: "God, show me Calvary," because you'll see the blood-stained cross. You'll see how—see, ah, this is something that is so frustrating. People don't understand the closer you draw to Christ, the more you see how depraved you are.

And you've got all these people living like, "Oh, my living like Sodom and Gomorrah." They think they're just great with God, but the closer I draw to the purity of the gospel, the closer I draw to the purity of Christ, and I see Him, the even the sin of selfishness, our pride, whatever it is, the closer I get, the more my sin is magnified.

I hate it, but I love it because you think you're doing good, and He'll say, "No, no." See, just the fact you think you're doing good, and He'll start to—

But that's a good thing. What happens is the closer you get to the mirror, the better you see, right? Can you see the men's restroom? Where the women's restroom mirrors right now? No, but as you get closer and closer and closer...

So God heard Cornelius. We're talking about God hears Cornelius. This is Cornelius. This is what you need to do. He feared God; he obeyed; he sought God and he repented. He feared; he obeyed; he sought God and repented.

God will hear the proud if they humble themselves. He will hear the addict if they confess and turn. He will hear the sexually immoral if they repent. He will hear the single mom who is struggling and the failing father. He will hear them. He will reach out to the depressed. He will restore the wounded, and He will heal the brokenhearted.

That's a God who hears and wants that relationship, but you have to take that step of repentance. "Repentance, Shane, why do you always talk about that?" Well, I'm going to until the day I die. Repentance is a beautiful word.

And then I won't spend time here because I know we have to end, but I want to get through the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles. Verse 10—I'm sorry, yeah, chapter 10, verse 44: "While Peter—now listen to this—here we go, another controversial thing. Get out your eraser. You got your eraser with you?"

Well, Peter was—it's funny because people read this. "This is amazing in the New Testament. It happens now." No, no, let's have the devil—that was for them, but that's of the devil today.

"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word." And this isn't just—this is "epi," the word "epi," the preposition falling upon an overwhelming sense of the whole.

Unless I felt this so much before, I couldn't even go up and preach. I just wept and wept, and I couldn't even go up and preach. And God began to just pour His Spirit.

But watch out, Church! Watch out, Church! Because all your plans for the rest of the day, they are over. You're not hungry anymore. The little shower and the baby shower, whatever, later, you're gone. You're not even going to make it. You're going to be on the floor, on your face before God, weeping and crying out to God.

That's genuine revival. That's what the church needs. Listen, Trump isn't going to save us. America needs awakening to restore and renew.

That's okay. Don't cloud the second service; we'll have more people there. But in all seriousness, the Spirit fell, and this is why I'm so passionate about this, because He fell upon me, and I want others to experience that.

You change. You are—you just feel what is coming out of me. It's no longer this and, "Well, mmm, cuss words this and cuss words that." Right? It's, "What is this? What's this praise? What's this worship in my heart?"

He's changed my heart. He's renewed me. And those of the circumcision, meaning the Jews who believed, were astonished, and they came to Peter and said, "The gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all the Gentiles."

For they heard them speak in tongues. "Oh, Jane, you just lost me again." The Bible says it. But the Bible says it.

Isn't this ironic? We have no problem with raising from the dead and healing and all these other things, but no, you can't speak in a language that you don't know? Really? Okay, well, you better check your theology because Paul spent a whole chapter, two in Corinthians, on this.

And people that don't know it, I can see why it wouldn't make sense. But once a person experiences it, and the Bible talks about it, it says it's really so worship. It's not some word of knowledge; it's not—it's this worship from the heart that the Holy Spirit's crying, "Abba Father."

And the Holy Spirit doesn't take up speaking American. The Holy Spirit is crying to the Father, and that's what this is. It's this glory that is gripping God, and this glorious takes place, and a person is worshiping God.

And arrogant, prideful people who've never experienced it want to shoot down what they've never experienced. That's the bottom line.

I knew I should have fasted this weekend, huh? God, my goodness, I'm so sick and tired of people putting down what's in the Bible because they've never experienced it. They want to avoid the Holy Spirit. "Don't talk about that stuff." Why? Because it gets us, doesn't it?

Comfortable Christianity is over when you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Comfortable Christianity is over. You're going to go disconnect Netflix, Facebook—bye-bye, YouTube—no more unless it's worship songs. All these friends who want to get drunk and get high—bye, see you later.

"Oh, I just want to turn off." Look at just how we spend our time. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, everything changes. Everything changes.

So we said, "Can anybody forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"

So if you've never been baptized, guess what? We're filling that up. I'm thinking of filling it up on Easter next weekend and just be baptized, honor God, and show others that you are serious about your conversion.

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.

So I'll leave with this closing thought: Has the Holy Spirit fallen on you? It might seem like, "Guy, we're talking about the Holy Spirit." I've had people leave this church in the past because I talked too much about the Holy Spirit.

Guess what? These people are not filled with the Holy Spirit. They're filled with sound doctrine, but they know nothing of the Spirit's power. I ask them, "What if you want a person to the Lord?" They can't even remember.

"No, don't you ever talk to me about the Holy Spirit if you're not witnessing on a weekly basis." I don't want to hear your input. Sorry. Maybe I should apologize later, but let me just internalize that, soften it up, right?

But you know what? That is meant to convict. I'm not concerned with people's opinions on the Holy Spirit unless I see the Holy Spirit operating in their life. Then they have a right to talk about certain things and not be offended.

I want to recommend another book for those who even thought about ministry, if you're considering it. It's called "Dangerous Calling," and the author, Paul Tripp, was a seminary professor. He said, "When the gospel of Jesus Christ gets reduced to theological ideas and concepts, you are in trouble."

That's the problem many times with modern-day seminaries. You come out with head knowledge but no heart experience. You come out knowing all about God to study and get your degree, but you don't know that God who you should be studying.

The hardest job a pastor will ever have is practicing what they preach. Practically, prayer: "Lord, make sure who I am in private is who I am in public. Make sure the same gospel I preach is the same gospel I'm repenting and embracing."

Then the thing about pastors that you have to remember is we are in the same boat. We are sinners saved by grace. I'm actually—I look to the same one. The same one I'm pointing you to, I have to look to. I have to seek repentance and renewal and restoration.

So that's the closing thought: Has the Holy Spirit fallen upon you? Do you have this relationship with God? This over—because I'm not real concerned with customer or consumer Christianity where we just go through the motions.

But do you truly know Him? Is He saturating every aspect of your life? Is that—can change this morning? How long, St. Hell? You say, "God, I need that. I don't know exactly what it is, but I need that. I need more of You. Show me, please, Lord."

We'll hear you. And if you don't have a relationship—many people could—there's a lot of visitors here all the time, and I want to encourage you: Jesus will forgive if you believe that He is who He said He is.

Everything takes a level of faith. Even atheism takes a great deal of faith. You've got to step out onto the rock of nothing and believe that nothing is there and nothing is coming and nothing is going to happen. You're banking eternity on that step of faith.

Christianity steps out under the faith of God's Word, who He is, His sovereignty, and that I'm not God. And I have—because without faith, you can't truly love.

I want to encourage you, though, to pray. Really pray. God’s convicting even this morning to really pray. I had just a quick list—10, 15 things, 15, 20 minutes, I'm done. It's like God said, "You haven't even begun."