Author Archives: Pastor Ricky Kurth

Grace Takes Over Where Mom Left Off – Titus 2:12

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“The grace of God… appeared… teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11,12).

When I was a boy, my mother taught me to be good.  I wasn’t under grace, I was under law—the law that Solomon called “the law of thy mother” (Pr. 1:8)!  When I was good, she’d reward me, but when I was bad, she’d punish me—just like Moses’ law did for the Jews (Lev. 26).  Her “rod of correction” (Pr. 22:15) was one of those long leather straps that barbers used years ago to sharpen their razors, and I can assure you it sharpened my behavior on many occasions!

But as every parent eventually learns, the day comes when a child is too old to take over your knee.  The Apostle Paul had that in mind when he wrote, “a child…is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father” (Gal. 4:1,2).  In those days, children had tutors who taught them and governors who punished them with a rod.  But that only went on until Dad realized his boy had become a young man.  After that, he’d correct his son with words, the way you parents of older children correct your adult sons.

In the rest of Galatians 4, Paul uses this as a simple illustration of the difference between law and grace.  Under the Law, God treated His people in Israel as children, rewarding them when they were good but spanking them when they were bad with the correcting rod of droughts, famines, pestilences, and—when all else failed—by allowing their enemies to take them captive.  But under grace, God treats us as adult sons, correcting us with words—the words of the Bible.  The apostle of grace wrote: “All Scripture…is profitable…for correction” (II Tim. 3:16).

See the difference?  Under the Law, God corrected the Jews with the rod of correction.  Under grace, He corrects us with words of correction—the words found in His rightly divided Word.  That means when you get some pestilent disease, or your community is going through a drought or famine, you don’t have to wonder if God is punishing you.  He’s not!

Now there’s no question that God’s people in Israel learned to be good under the law.  They often fell into idolatry (Lev. 26:30), but after God spanked them with 70 years of captivity in Babylon they never messed with idols again.  So the Law used to work well in making God’s people godly.  That’s probably why legalists insist that the law be taught today.  They just don’t seem to understand how grace can teach us to be godly.

If you’re not sure that you understand it, consider how Paul spoke to the Ephesians about “fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness” and “filthiness” (Eph. 5:3,4), and then added,

“…because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.  Be not YE therefore partakers with them” (v.6,7)

Paul is saying, “Someday God’s wrath will come on unsaved people in Hell because of their sins, so don’t you partake of sin just because you know His wrath won’t come on you.”  What kind of person would continue in sin just because he knows he won’t be punished for his sins?

There is an answer to that question.  In New York, diplomats from all over the world meet to represent their countries in the headquarters of the United Nations.  These ambassadors have what is called “diplomatic immunity.”  That means they can break the law without being prosecuted by the law.  Occasionally diplomats take advantage of this by flagrantly violating our laws.  We have words for people like that, and none of them are very pretty!  The word “ingrate” comes to mind, because you have to be pretty ungrateful to your host country to act like that.

But the same word applies to us when we choose to break God’s laws just because we are immune from His prosecution.  Grace should teach us to deny ungodliness out of gratitude to God for saving us.  If you’re not, why not begin to “live in denial”!   You’ll be eternally glad you did.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.

The Chattering of the Scattering – Acts 11:19-23

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

The “scattered” disciples chattered about Christ, of course (v. 19)—but only to Jews!  That shows that they knew when the Lord told them to “teach all nations” (Mt. 28:19) that they knew He meant “all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Lu. 24:47), and that they couldn’t teach all nations until the nation of Israel was saved, so God could use them to reach the Gentiles.  God might have just finished teaching Peter that Gentiles were no longer unclean in Acts 10, but that didn’t change what God told the Jews to do.

“Grecians” (v. 20) were Greek-speaking Jews.  But some new Bible versions mistranslate this as “Greeks,” the Bible word for Gentiles.  But we know that they were Jews because some Grecians tried to kill Saul for preaching that Jesus was their Christ (Acts 9:29), and only Jews were upset to hear that their Messiah was a poor carpenter from Nazareth.  Plus, these Grecians later sent Paul out to preach to the Gentiles and, when he returned, he reported that while he was out God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.  That means the door was not opened when these Jews preached to the Grecians.

Now if God didn’t approve of preaching to only Jews, He would have been against these Jews, but verse 21 says the hand of the Lord was “with” them.  How’d they know it was with them?  The hand of the Lord is associated with the Spirit (Mt. 12:28 cf. Lu. 11:20), so they knew God’s hand was with them when those Grecians cast out devils, etc., by the Spirit.

The leaders of the Jewish kingdom church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to minister to these new Grecian believers (v. 22) because he was “the son of consolation” (Acts 4:36).  That is, he had a consoling personality.  The word “sole” means single, as when we say someone was the sole survivor of a disaster, the lone survivor.  And “con” means against, like when you are trying to make a decision and you make a list of pros and cons.  So when you con-sole someone, it means you’re against them being alone—especially when they’re in distress and need consoling.  God was able to use Barnabas’ consoling personality when Saul got saved and tried to meet up with the 12 apostles and they were afraid of him (Acts 9:26).  It looked for a while as if Saul would have to remain alone, but the son of consolation consoled him.

And this explains why the 12 sent Barnabas to the new Grecian believers.  Grecians and Hebrews didn’t always get along, even when filled with the Spirit (Acts 6:1).  The 12 didn’t want those new Grecian believers to feel alone and unaccepted by the Jewish church, so sent Barnabas to console them.  The Greek word for “exhort” (v. 23) is similar to the one for “console.”

To do something with purpose of heart (v. 23) means with determination (Dan. 1:8).  So when Paul says we should give with purpose of heart (II Cor. 9:7), we should be as determined to give as Daniel was not to eat forbidden meat!

Of course, Barnabas told the Grecians to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart (v. 23).  The word “cleave” can mean to stick with (Gen. 2:24), or to divide (Zech. 14:4), but the Grecians were obviously being exhorted to do the former.

That can be hard in the face of life’s many disappointments, but Barnabas knew a thing or two about disappointments.  “Joses… surnamed Barnabas” (Acts 4:36) was probably “Joseph called Barsabbas” (Acts 1:23).  If so, do you think maybe he was disappointed that God picked Matthias to be the 12th apostle and not him?  Acts 1:15-26 says Judas’ replacement had to have followed the Lord for all three years of His ministry, so Barnabas must have. He left everything behind to follow Him as Peter left his fishing boats and nets.  Then, even after he was passed over for apostleship, he sold all he had when God asked him to (Acts 4:36,37).  If anybody had a reason to not cleave to the Lord, it was Barnabas.  He had every reason to get bitter and walk away.  But he cleaved to the Lord instead.  Who better to tell these Grecians to?

You should cleave to the Lord too!  Under the law, God promised to reward Jews who cleaved to Him (Deut. 11:22, 23).  But we’re not under the law (Rom. 6:15).  God blesses us with all spiritual blessings in Christ (Eph. 1:3) and then asks us to walk worthy of Christ (Col. 1:10) by cleaving unto Him.  So if you’re thankful for your blessings, cleave to Him.

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Chattering of the Scattering – Acts 11:19-23

The Wrath of God That Bringeth Salvation – Titus 2:11a

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“…the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11).

Christians often wonder about the apostle Paul’s words here, for they know God’s saving grace hadn’t appeared to “all men” everywhere in the world in Paul’s day.  But what Paul was doing with those puzzling words was announcing a revolutionary dispensational change.

You see, before God raised up Paul, the grace of God that brought salvation couldn’t appear to “all men,” it could only appear to Jewish men, for under the law the Lord declared: “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).  But once the Lord’s death on the cross “abolished in His flesh the enmity” between Jews and Gentiles (Eph.2:15), He sent Paul to announce that He had “broken down the middle wall of partition” between them (v.14), and now “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him” (Rom. 10:12).

Of course, if you really know your Bible, you may be thinking that this wasn’t a revolutionary change, that the grace of God that brings salvation had appeared to the Gentiles long before Paul.  After all, didn’t David declare:

“The LORD hath made known His salvation… in the sight of the heathen… His mercy… toward… Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God” (Ps.98:1-3).

On the surface, David seems to be saying that God’s saving grace had appeared “in the sight of the heathen” Gentiles back then.  But this psalm isn’t saying that “the grace of God that bringeth salvation” had appeared to the heathen.  It’s talking about the wrath of God that brought physical salvation to Israel, when “His right hand…got…Him the victory” over Pharaoh (v.1).  The “new song” in this psalm (v.1) is the new song that Moses sang after God parted the Red Sea:

“Then sang Moses… the LORD… is become my salvation…  Pharaoh’s chariots… hath He cast into the sea… Thy right hand… hath dashed in pieces the enemy” (Ex.15:1-6).

The salvation God wrought for Israel at the Red Sea is the “salvation” Moses told the Jews to “stand still, and see” (Ex. 14:13) right before God drowned the Egyptians in His wrath (v.28). That’s the salvation David said the heathen had seen—the wrath of God on Pharaoh that brought “mercy” to Israel (Ps.98:3), not the grace of God that brought spiritual salvation to the Gentiles.

But the physical salvation wrought by God’s wrath for Israel did bring spiritual salvation to at least one Gentile, a woman named Rahab in Jericho.  When the inhabitants of her city heard about the Red Sea crossing it terrified them (Josh. 2:9-11), just as Moses said it would (Ex. 15:14-16).  But it prompted Rahab to believe on Israel’s God and turn from being a harlot to a seamstress who had “stalks of flax” on her roof (2:6) instead of men in her parlor.  When she then complied with the terms of salvation for Gentiles under the Law by blessing Israel (Gen. 12:2,3 cf. Josh. 2:12), the grace of God that brings salvation appeared to her in that way, and she received it!

But as you know, God is not parting the Red Sea for Israel these days, nor for anyone else.  So how are men supposed to see the grace of God that brings salvation today, in the dispensation of grace?  I mean, it’s offered to all men today, but what can they see with their eyes that will help them believe, as the physical salvation of the Red Sea deliverance prompted Rahab to believe?

The context of Titus 2:11 provides us with the answer.  If people are going to see the grace of God that bringeth salvation today, they are going to have to see it in the “aged men” (2:2) to whom the grace of God appears, as well as the “aged women” (2:3), the “young women” (v.4), the “young men” (v.6) and the “servants” (v. 9).  When all those different kinds of men “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things” (v.10) by doing what Paul tells them to do in this passage (2:1-10), the grace of God that brings salvation appears to all men in a very practical way.

May we ever be found faithful in this most holy of callings in all of our walks of life!

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.


The Rehearsal of the Reversal – Acts 11:1-18

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

The Jews had been receiving God’s word for 1500 years, but now the Gentiles had received it (v. 1).  You’d think the 12 apostles would have been happy about that, but they gave Peter grief about sharing the Word with Gentiles (v. 2,3).  They knew Gentiles weren’t supposed to receive the Word until “every one” of the Jews was turned from his iniquities (Acts 3:25,26).  They thought Peter had committed a serious sin, so they “contended” with him (Acts 11:3), a word that’s only used in serious matters (Nehemiah 13:11,17; 13:25).

But that was only because they didn’t know God had sent Peter to that Gentile.  They had no clue God was reversing His policy of not allowing His people in Israel to fraternize with Gentiles, but they found out from Peter’s rehearsal of it

“Rehearsal” (Acts 11:4) means to repeat (I Sam. 17:31). Peter is about to repeat everything God told him when He sent him to Cornelius.  Since Peter’s brethren asked him to explain himself, he “expounded” what happened (Acts 11:4), a word that means explained (cf. Mark 4:34).  “In order” (Acts 11:4) means he gave a step-by-step rehearsal of God’s reversal.

And the reason God included Peter’s repetition of what happened is that Acts 10 is so significant the Bible repeats it as it does with the story of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9:22,26.

The reason God told Peter that unclean animals were no longer unclean was to introduce Peter to the dispensational change He made when He cleansed the Gentiles and saved Paul and sent him to the Gentiles. Peter accepted this change, but when you try to introduce men to the Bible’s dispensational changes, they often say God never changes (Mal. 3:6).  Take believers like that here to Acts 10,11 to show them that God never changes, but His rules often change.

Not the rules based on the principles of morality and righteousness, like the laws against lying, stealing, etc.  But the sabbath law was changed because that was a temporary, artificial rule that God made to illustrate how someday believers could rest in Christ (Mt. 11:28).  But when you tell your 7th Day Adventist friends we are not under the law of the sabbath (Rom. 6:15), they often point out the sabbath preceded the law (Gen. 2:2,3).  But we know that no one before Moses was told to keep the sabbath because Nehemiah 9:13,14 says that God made known the sabbath to Moses when He gave him the law.

God told Peter three times that unclean animals were no longer unclean (Acts 11:10) to make sure he made the connection that Gentiles were no longer unclean when 3 Gen-tiles knocked on his door (v. 11).  But in case he missed it, the Spirit spoke up and told him to go with them (v. 12).

When the angel told Cornelius that Peter would tell him words to help him get saved (v. 13,14), that shows Cornelius was saved into the kingdom program, for the kingdom gospel of Acts 2:38 is the only gospel Peter knew.  But before he could talk about how men had to be baptized to be saved, the Spirit interrupted him (Acts 11:15).  We know that that’s what he was about to say for it says he was interrupted as he “began” to speak, but he’d already spoken 225 words!  It must mean he began to speak the gospel, but was interrupted.

All of that made Peter think of how the Lord said water baptism was just a means to receiving the Spirit (Acts 11:16).  How would that help him make sense of what was happening?  Well, when people were trying to figure out why Paul was going to the Gentiles before every one of the Jews was saved, he quoted verses that talked about how the Gentiles were supposed to be saved through the Jews that God sent Christ to (Rom.15:8-12).  That’s not how it was happening, it was happening through Paul instead.  But it was happen-ing, so who cares?  And when the Lord said men had to be baptized before being saved, that wasn’t how it happened with Cornelius, but it happened, so who cares?

Peter’s brethren rejoiced when they heard about this dispensational change (Acts 11:18), as believers always should. Later we’ll see that unsaved Jews didn’t receive this change, and tried to make the Gentiles be circumcised and keep the law. That means when believers today don’t rejoice when you show them dispensational changes, they’re acting like unbelievers.  But don’t be smug.  You do too when you sin!

Video of this message is available on YouTube: The Rehearsal of the Reversal – Acts 11:1-18

Were Women Baptized?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“If the purpose of water baptism was to make the Jews a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:6), did women have to be baptized?”

It’s true that Jewish men were baptized because priests had to be baptized (Ex. 29:4), and only men could be priests. But water baptism was also “for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38), so women needed to be baptized under God’s kingdom program for Israel for that reason. That’s why we read,

“But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God… they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:12).

Don’t forget, when the Bible says things like, “God… will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), the Greek word for “men” there is anthropos, from which we get our word anthropology, the study of mankind, both men and women. Be sure to keep that in mind when you read Paul say to “live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:18), “do good unto all men” (Gal. 6:10), “abound in love…toward all men” (1 Thes. 3:12), “be patient toward all men” (1 Thes. 5:14), and “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery” (Eph. 3:9).

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.


Cornelius Gets Some Respect! – Acts 10:34-48

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

God didn’t respect persons when it came to rich or poor (II Chron. 9:5-7), but He did respect the person of Jews over Gentiles—until He saved Paul and sent him to the Gentiles in Acts 9.  Of course, Peter didn’t find out about this revolutionary change until Acts 10 (Acts 10:34).

But Peter’s reference to working righteousness shows he may have understood that Gentiles were no longer unclean, but he didn’t understand Paul’s new message of grace.  Working righteousness is something the Jews had to do under the law (Ps. 15:1) by offering sacrifices of righteousness (Ps. 4:4,5) and keeping the rest of the law, but not us. And that message of the twelve never changed (I Jo. 2:29).

Christ was the prince of peace (Isa. 9:6) but only to the people of Israel (Acts 10:36-39) because He wanted them to get saved “first” (Acts 3:26) to use them to reach the Gentiles later.  But the words “ye know” (Acts 10:37) show that Gentiles like Cornelius had heard of the Lord’s ministry to the Jews, and how even John the Baptist only preached to Jews (Acts 13:23,24), despite how many Baptists believe the Body of Christ church of Jews and Gentiles began with John.

The Lord’s anointing by the Spirit (Acts 10:38) is what gave Him the “power” to do miracles (Jo. 14:10; Acts 2:22).

The 12 witnessed the Lord’s resurrection (Acts 1:21; 2:32; 3:12) but didn’t witness that His resurrection paid for their sins as Paul did (Rom. 4:24).  It is significant that this didn’t change after Pentecost (Acts 5:30), for many other Baptists believe the church of today began at Pentecost.

It’s tempting to think that if the Lord showed Himself to “all” the people (Acts 10:40,41) that they would have believed, but Luke 16:31 says otherwise. The Lord will show Himself to all Israel and the world (Rev. 1:7), but not to get them to believe.  It’ll be to get them to wish they’d believed.

The Lord ate with His witnesses to show He wasn’t a ghost, that He had risen bodily, a truth that is often challenged!

The Lord told the 12 to preach that He rose from the dead to be Israel’s Judge, not her Savior (Acts 10:42).  But it’s not like they didn’t have any good news for the Jews.  They told them that if they had “faith in His name” they could be saved (Acts 10:43), His name being “Christ” (John 20:31).  But that’s not enough to save you today!  Our apostle says you have to have “faith in His blood” to be saved (Rom. 3:25).  And to receive “the remission of sins” Peter offered the Jews (Acts 10:43) they also had to be baptized (Acts 2:38).  That was the only gospel he ever preached (I Pet. 3:21).

But don’t forget, in Acts 10, God is using Peter to introduce Paul’s new message about the dispensation of the mystery, a dispensation that interrupted God’s prophetic program for Israel.  And what better way than to interrupt Peter before he got a chance to talk about how baptism was required for the remission of sins—which is what God did in Acts 10:44.

That’s not how it was supposed to happen!  People were sup-posed to get the Spirit after they were baptized (Acts 2:38).  That’s one of the reasons Peter was “astonished” (Acts 10:45).  He was also astonished Gentiles got the Spirit at all—especially because he hadn’t been preaching to them!  He’d just been telling them what he preached to the Jews.  He did not expect God to save Gentiles before all Israel was saved.

How did Peter know they had the Spirit?  They spoke with tongues (Acts 10:46), as the 12 did (Acts 2:4).  By the way, the fact that they knew they magnified God when they spoke in tongues proved that tongues in the Bible wasn’t gibberish.

In Acts 10:47,48, Peter thought, “This wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did.  So can anyone think of a reason why we shouldn’t baptize them anyway?”  No one could, so they did!

But the Jews were given tongues to preach to Gentiles (Zech. 10:23). Why give tongues to Gentiles? It was a sign (I Cor. 14:22) to Jews (I Cor. 1:22) that God was judging them (I Cor. 14:21).  Isaiah said, “You didn’t listen when I spoke to you in Hebrew, so I’ll let the Gentiles conquer you and speak to you through them.”  When God gave the Jewish gift of tongues to Gentiles, it was a sign God was judging them.

Video of this message is available on YouTube: Cornelius Gets Some Respect! – Acts 10:34-48

If You Adore It, Adorn It! – Titus 2:10a

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

One morning as a boss finished parking his brand new Ferrari in the company parking lot, one of his employees pulled up and began staring at his new wheels in obvious envy.  Seeing this, the boss said, “You know, if you work overtime every week, skip coffee breaks, and even work weekends and holidays, by this time next year—I just might have another one of these babies!”

As you know, working hard for your boss doesn’t always pay off the way it should.  That’s why many Christian employees cringe when they hear their pastor do what Paul told Titus to do:

“Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things” (Titus 2:9).

Now to please a master well means to just delight him.  We know this because God predicted His Son would be a man “in whom My soul delighteth” (Isa. 42:1), but in quoting that verse Matthew translated “delighteth” as “well pleased” (Mt. 12:18).  So in saying that servants should please their masters well, Paul was saying they should go above and beyond the call of duty of just obeying them.  He was saying a servant should make himself an absolute delight to his master.

And while it’s true that Paul was telling slaves to obey their masters here, his words reflect the attitude that employees should have for their employers as well.  Of course, it’s hard to follow a Pauline admonition like this when you’re not getting paid what you’re worth!  Amen?

But slaves were paid nothing!  Knowing this, Paul went on to explain that the reason servants should obey masters was to “adorn the doctrine of God” (Titus 2:10).  To “adorn” means to beautify, as when we read of how the temple “was adorned with goodly stones” (Luke 21:5).  So when a servant obeyed his master and pleased him well, it made the doctrine of God look beautiful.

But God has many doctrines.  Which one did Paul have in mind?  Well, when he specified that servants could adorn “the doctrine of God our Saviour,” that suggests he was thinking of the doctrine of salvation, for that phrase is associated with that doctrine (ITim.2:3,4; Titus 3:3-5).  When Christian employees obey their bosses, it makes the doctrine of salvation look beautiful. 

If you’re not sure how, consider that if saved servants didn’t obey their masters back then, it made the doctrine of salvation look bad.  Throughout the Bible, God ordained respect for authority in all areas of life, knowing that without it the very fabric of society will begin to break down.  So when a saved servant disobeyed his master in those days, people would have naturally thought, “If that’s what getting saved does to a servant, then the God who saved him must be in favor of the breakdown of society.”  When servants obeyed instead, it adorned the doctrine of salvation.

And that’s why Paul told servants to obey their masters—not because they deserved it, for oftentimes they didn’t—but because it beautified God’s doctrine of salvation.  Seeing servants reverence their masters, people could say, “If Christianity can make even a slave want to be a sheer delight to his master, it must be the most powerful religion in the world, the true religion of God.”

Finally, Paul tells us why servants should make salvation look good when he added,

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11).

Paul says servants should adorn the doctrine of salvation “for” the grace that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men.  In the context, “all men” included “aged men” and “aged women,” “young women” and “young men” (v. 2-6)—the kind of men you work with!  God wants His grace to appear to all such men.  And since it cost Him the death of His Son to bring this grace to men, the last thing He needs is for employees who are saved by grace making salvation look bad.

You know what that means, don’t you?  It means no matter who you are or what you do for a living, you have the most important job in the world—that of making the doctrine of God our Savior look beautiful. If you adore your salvation, why not adorn it by being a delightful employee?

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.


From Faith to Faith

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“I’m looking for any insight you might have about the meaning of ‘from faith to faith’ in Romans 1.”

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16,17).

The reason Paul wasn’t ashamed of the gospel of salvation is that it reveals the righteousness of God. That is, the gospel of “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:1-4) reveals how God doesn’t unrighteously sweep our sins under the rug and sneak us in the back door of heaven when the devil isn’t looking. He can righteously save us because His Son died to pay for our sins.

Then when we believe the gospel of salvation, God faithfully saves “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord” (Rom. 10:13). If you’re wondering why He has to say that, and why He might be tempted to do otherwise, it is because of the kind of people who sometimes call upon Him! You or I might have second thoughts about saving the likes of men like Saul of Tarsus or Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer cannibal who is said to have believed the gospel before he died. But God faithfully saves all who put their faith in Christ.

And that’s how the gospel is the power of God unto salvation “from faith to faith.” The word “faith” can mean faithfulness, as it does in Romans 3:3. So Romans 1:17 is saying that salvation flows from God’s faithfulness to save anyone to any who put their faith in Christ—from His faith to our faith. That’s how a man’s “soul which… is not upright” or righteous (Hab. 2:4) can be made righteous (2 Cor. 5:21), and then “the just shall live” have eternal life—“by his faith.”

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.


Quit Being Such A Baby!

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

On the day that little Johnny’s mother brought his new baby brother home, the newborn was screaming up a storm. So Johnny asked, “Where’d he come from?” His mom answered, “He came down from heaven.” He replied, “Well, I can see why they threw him out!”

If you are wondering why I’m talking about babies, it’s because of what Paul said to the Corinthians in the first two verses of our text in 1 Corinthians 3:1-6:

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as  unto babes in Christ.

“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able” (1 Cor. 3:1,2).

Now you probably know what Paul meant when he called them “babes in Christ.” When you’re born into the world you’re given life, and you become a baby. When you get saved, you’re born again and given eternal life, and you become a spiritual baby—a
babe in Christ.1

But the Corinthians had been saved about five years by the time Paul wrote that, and he still had to refer to them as babes. They obviously hadn’t experienced any spiritual growth. So what do you say we take some time to learn why they failed to grow, so we don’t fall into the same spiritual trap.

Nourish the Newborn

As I’m sure you know, if you don’t feed a baby with nourishing food, he won’t grow. And if you don’t feed a babe in Christ the spiritual nourishment of the Word of God, he won’t grow spiritually.

But we know that’s not why the Corinthians failed to grow, for in speaking of how the church in Corinth got started, Luke wrote:

“…Paul… came to Corinth… and he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them” (Acts 18:1,11).

When Paul founded the church in Corinth, he stayed and fed them God’s Word for a year and a half! And as it says in our text, he began by feeding them the “milk” of God’s Word—the simpler things of the Scriptures. Everyone knows that babies need milk to grow, and spiritual babies need the milk of the Word to grow spiritually, as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:2:

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.”

But Paul had fed the Corinthians the milk of the Word for eighteen months! And we know that in the years that followed those months he continued to feed them with nourishing spiritual milk in his epistles.

And not just the two Corinthian epistles that appear in our Bibles. We know that Paul wrote at least one letter prior to 1 Corinthians, for in that first epistle he made reference to an earlier letter (1 Cor. 5:9). He probably wrote them more often than even that, for “the care of all the churches” was something that was sure to weigh heavily on his shoulders (2 Cor. 11:28), something that would have prompted him to keep in close touch with the churches he founded through a vigilant correspondence ministry.2

But even after all that spiritual nourishment, Paul heard through the grapevine—perhaps from the members of “the house of Chloe” that he mentioned earlier in this epistle (1:11)—that the Corinthians hadn’t grown in the Word. He probably also deduced this from epistles that the Corinthians wrote him (cf. 1 Cor. 7:1).

But no matter how he learned of their undeveloped spiritual growth, the bottom line is that he knew he couldn’t give them the meat of the Word—the deeper things of the Bible—that they should have been able to handle by that time. So the question remains: why had they failed to grow? I mean, if it wasn’t for a lack of spiritual nourishment, what else could have been the problem?

Stunted Growth Among the Hebrews

As we’ll see in a minute, their problem was a lot like the one we read about in Hebrews 5:11-14 where, speaking of a mysterious man named Melchisedeck (v. 10), it says:

“Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

The reason those Hebrews had failed to grow is that they hadn’t used what they had learned. You can tell by the way the writer reproaches them that they too had been saved for years. They had learned the difference between good and evil years earlier, but they hadn’t been using what they’d learned. They hadn’t been living like they knew the difference between good and evil. So even though they’d been saved for years, the writer calls them babes too!

Now is there anything you can learn from that? Studying the Bible is critically important, but just knowing the Bible doesn’t cause you to grow. You have to use the things you learn if you want to grow to become a mature, spiritual Christian.

We see that in something the psalmist prayed in Psalm 119:100:

“I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts.”

Here the psalmist says that he understood the Word of God better than the ancients because he obeyed the Word of God. That verse is probably the basis of the old saying that says that God won’t give you more understanding of His Word if you’re not living up to the understanding you already have. Why should He bother to do that if you’re not using the understanding you have?

A Common Problem

But this Hebrew problem of not growing because of not using what they learned is the same one the Corinthians had. We know that because after telling them they weren’t able to bear the meat of the Word at the end of verse 2, Paul went on to tell them why they weren’t able to bear it when he began verse 3 with the word “for”:

“For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1 Cor. 3:3).

The reason the Corinthians hadn’t grown to where they could bear the meat of the Word was that they were carnal. We know that word means sinful because after pronouncing them carnal, Paul added, “for… there is among you envying, and strife.” Envy and strife are sins! And if you think about it, they are really very babyish sins.

Have you ever watched babies play together? When one of them picks up a toy, suddenly that’s the toy that the other one wants! Well, we have a word for that. We call it envy! And what does the baby do about it? He will usually begin to strive with the one who has what he wants.

So when Paul says that the Corinthians were guilty of envy and strife, that means they hadn’t grown to become mature, spiritual, adult Christians. They were still living in infantile iniquity, walking “as men”—unsaved men.

By the way, the Corinthians spoke in tongues, and yet Paul calls them carnal. So don’t ever let anyone tell you that speaking in tongues is a sign of spirituality—and some Pentecostal believers will try to tell you that.

But now the question is this: what were the Corinthians envying? Whatever it was, it was causing strife. And strife, by the way, is the Bible word for an angry disagreement (Prov. 15:18; 29:22). And when the Corinthians strove with one another and experienced those angry disagreements, it was causing “divisions” among them. So what could they have been envying?

The Haves vs. the Have-nots

When we think of envying, we usually think of envying material possessions. Some people have a lot of them, and some don’t. We call them “the haves” and “the have-nots.” And as I don’t have to tell you, the “have-nots” tend to envy the “haves.” And that often causes angry disagreements when the have-nots lash out against the haves about being have-nots!

Politicians all have ideas about how to fix this class variance, but if you’re a mature believer, avoiding the envy that naturally accompanies it is an easy fix. If you’re one of the have-nots, just don’t envy the haves!

Most of the men in the church that I pastor envy the beautiful Harley that one of our men rides to church—and some of our ladies envy it too! During the coronavirus lockdown the man helped me with some painting at church and helped me salve my envy a little by letting me sit on it. But I don’t have any angry disagreements with him just because he has a beautiful motorcycle and I don’t. And the others in our assembly who envy him don’t cause divisions by making him sit all by himself in church. We’ve learned to deal with our envy graciously!

But the Corinthians weren’t envying two-wheeled chariots made by Harley-Davidson. They were envying something that Paul had in mind when he warned Timothy about men who were always

“…doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings…” (1 Tim. 6:4).

We know that the Corinthians were envying someone’s words, for Paul went on in our text to say,

“For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” (1 Cor. 3:4).

This shows that the Corinthians were envying and striving about the words of the Apostle Paul and one of his coworkers, a man named Apollos. And if you don’t know how the words of preachers can cause envy and strife in a church, you haven’t hung around enough preachers or churches! Christians are always arguing about what preachers say.

But maybe you’re wondering, “Where’s the envy come in?” If so, look what happened to Moses in Numbers 11:27-29 when

“…there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua…answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets.…”

When some other men started prophesying like Moses, Joshua got envious for his sake! He evidently felt that Moses should be the only man prophesying in the camp.

But as you can see, Moses didn’t get envious that other men were prophesying. And as we read on in our text, we see that Paul didn’t get envious that Apollos was preaching:

“Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?” (1 Cor. 3:5).

Obviously, Paul didn’t envy Apollos, and he didn’t want the Corinthians envying Apollos for his sake. Both Moses and Paul knew that it is just as childish to envy the words of one spiritual leader over another as it is to envy the material possessions of another.

We Have It on Good Authority

But having said all that, there’s something I need to point out here. When Moses said that he didn’t want Joshua to envy those other men for his sake, that didn’t mean that Moses thought those other men had the same spiritual authority that he had. Moses knew that he was God’s man of the hour under the dispensation of the law. Look what he said about himself in Deuteronomy 4:1,2:

“Hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, for to do them… Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

As you can see, Moses pounded home the fact that he was the man that the people of Israel had to follow if they wanted to obey God. He was the man God had chosen to write the first five books of the Bible and give the Jews the law that contained the rules and guidelines for them during the dispensation of the law. He just didn’t let it go to his head, to where he thought he was the only one who could teach the things that God gave him. And he didn’t want Joshua thinking that either.

And Paul didn’t want the Corinthians to think that about him, even though he knew that he was God’s man of the hour for today. Let’s compare some things that Moses and Paul said about themselves, beginning with Moses, who wrote:

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me…” (Deut. 4:5).

Doesn’t that sound a lot like some things that Paul wrote to the Corinthians?

“…I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received…” (1 Cor. 15:3).

“…I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you…” (1 Cor. 11:23).

Do you see the comparison? Moses said that he gave Israel what God had given him, and Paul said that he gave the Corinthians what God had given him.

Do you know what that means? It means that if you wanted to follow God in time past you had to follow Moses as he followed God. And if you want to follow God today, you have to follow Him as Paul followed Him. Isn’t that what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1?

“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

So when Paul says something that sounds like Apollos was equal in authority with him, like when he said they were both “ministers,” we know that he didn’t mean to say that he wasn’t God’s man of the hour. He was just being like Moses in that he was glad there were other men preaching what he preached.

The Means By Which God Spilled the Beans

Something else that should be pointed out is that God didn’t give Eldad and Medad anything to prophesy that He hadn’t given Moses to prophesy first as God’s man of the hour. And another difference between Moses and those prophets was the manner in which God spoke to them, as we see when God told the people of Israel:

“…If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so… With him will I speak mouth to mouth… and not in dark speeches” (Num. 12:6-8).

And these same differences held true for Paul and Apollos. The difference between them was that the Lord spoke to Paul first as His man of the hour, and directly, as he himself explained to the Galatians when he talked about his message and added,

“…I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:12).

The Lord revealed the grace message to Paul directly. That’s what the word “revelation” means. It’s the noun form of the verb reveal. The Lord revealed grace truth to Paul face to face, just as He had given the law to Moses.

But that is not how men like Apollos learned the new message of grace. Look what Paul says about them in Ephesians 3:2-5:

“…the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward… is… revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit”

See the difference? The Lord revealed the grace message to Paul face to face, but He revealed it to men like Apollos by the Spirit.

So when Paul says that he and Apollos were both “ministers,” you have to keep in mind what he wrote to the Romans, that

“…grace… is given to me of God, That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles” (Rom. 15:15,16).

As the apostle himself says here, he was the minister of God’s new message of grace for the Gentiles. He was just thankful that he wasn’t the only minister of grace truth.

By the way, when Paul said that he and Apollos were both “ministers,” it shows that he wasn’t too proud to do what you might call the “grunt work” of the ministry. That is, he wasn’t just some highfalutin apostle sitting in an ivory tower somewhere mailing out epistles to what the world calls “the great unwashed.” He was working out in the mission field with men like Apollos, doing what he went on to describe in the next verse of our text:

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6).

When Paul says that he “planted,” that’s a reference to how he planted the seed of the gospel of salvation in Corinth (cf. 1 Pet. 1:23). But some of the Corinthians were like men today and didn’t immediately believe the gospel. And as they were mulling it over in their hearts, Apollos came along and watered the gospel seed by assuring them that Paul’s gospel was true.

So as you can see, Paul is comparing the ministry to farming—and there are a lot of comparisons. For instance, every farmer knows that you can plant a seed and you can water a seed, but only God can give the increase. That’s because only God can make a seed.

A Corny Story

There’s an old illustration of this that preachers used to tell years ago, and I know it because I’m an old preacher and I used to tell it! It’s about a scientist who invented a synthetic kernel of corn. It looked like real corn, and it had the same chemical makeup and composition as real corn. He was so proud of it, he offered a prize to anyone who could tell the difference between his fabrication and the real thing.

Hearing this, a farmer accepted his challenge, and won the prize by merely planting both seeds, and watering them. Eventually the natural kernel of corn sprouted and grew into a stalk of corn, while the scientist’s corn just dissolved into the soil. That’s because only corn that God makes has life.

That’s what Paul meant when he said that he planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. You can plant anything you want in the ground, and water it till the cows come home, but only God’s seeds will grow, for only God’s seeds have life. And while I doubt that story is true, I know that the moral of the story is true, spiritually speaking. There’s a lot of “holy books” in the world. They may look like the Bible, and even sound like the Bible. But plant them in the souls of men and nothing will come of it, for only the Word of God has eternal life.

And only God’s Word rightly divided! God told Abraham that if he got circumcised it would give him life, and those who remained uncircumcised would remain dead in the uncircumcision of their flesh (cf. Col. 2:13). Moses told the Jews that if they obeyed his law it would give them life (Lev. 18:5; Ezek.20:11,13,21; Luke 10:25,28; Rom. 10:5; Gal. 3:12). The Lord said that if men got baptized with water it would give them life (Mark 16:16). Paul is the only one who says that faith alone, without works like that, can give eternal life. That means if you plant any of those other seeds in the souls of men in this dispensation, even though they are seeds found in the Bible, they won’t give eternal life any more than the Book of Mormon, the Koran, or any other so-called holy book.

So if you believe that proclaiming God’s word rightly divided is worth giving your life to, say Amen! Then get busy planting and watering!

1. See page 36 of my book Rightly Divided Answers to Frequently Asked Questions if you’d like to consider evidence that members of the Body of Christ are indeed born again, despite what is often taught to the contrary.

2. Paul mentions another non-canonical epistle in Colossians 4:16.

You can receive More Minutes With the Bible every week in your email inbox. This list features longer articles, including both original content and articles that have appeared in the Berean Searchlight.


The Answer to Peter’s Prayer – Acts 10:9-16

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

Cornelius had been given a trance vision to tell him to send men to Peter (10:1-3), and Peter was given one (v. 9, 10) to prepare him to receive them.  Peter’s hunger (v. 10) was symbolic in the same way the Lord’s hunger was (Mark 11:11-14).  The fig tree was a symbol of Israel, and the Lord hungered for spiritual fruit in Israel, and  He was doubtless praying for it as well, since He was a man of prayer.

And Peter’s hunger was symbolic of his hunger for fruit in Israel, and for fruit among the Gentiles.  Remember, the Lord sent him to the Gentiles (Mt. 28:19) but told him Israel had to be reached first (Lu. 24:47) so God could use Peter and all saved Jews to reach the Gentiles (Isa. 49:6).  When Israel rejected Christ instead, Peter hungered for fruit among the Gentiles as well as the Jews.  After all, he was in Joppa “by the sea” (10:5-8), and the sea was symbolic of the Gentiles (Isa. 60:5).  And he was no doubt praying for it too.

Peter was probably thinking of how he got to Joppa in the first place.  He was called there to raise a Jewish damsel from the dead (9:36-38).  She deserved it because of her “good works,” making her a type of Jews who were saved by faith plus works.  God brought Peter to Joppa to assure him that despite Israel’s rejection of Christ the Gentiles will still be reached when saved Jews are raised from the dead and Gentiles come to them for salvation (Isa. 60:5).  Being in Joppa also reminded Peter of this, for that’s where a Gentile brought Solomon riches for the temple (I Chron. 2:1-16).  That’s what will also happen after saved Jews are raised (Isa. 60:5).

But God also brought Peter to Joppa to teach him how He planned to reach the Gentiles in the meantime.  You see, He just saved Saul in Acts 9, and sent him to the Gentiles (Acts 16:16, 17).  And here in Acts 10, God is preparing to introduce Peter to Paul’s new ministry among the Gentiles by sending him to a Gentile named Cornelius.

Of course, Peter didn’t want to go to a Gentile—and neither did Paul.  When he headed for the Jews in Jerusalem instead, God put him in a trance to straighten him out (Acts 22:17-21).  His hunger in Acts 9:9 was symbolic of his hunger for spiritual fruit in Israel (cf. Rom. 10:1). But he also didn’t want to go to the Gentiles because he knew God’s plan was to use saved Israel to reach them (Acts 13:47).  So he was standing on God’s Word in his refusal to go to the Gentiles—just like Jonah!  Jonah wanted God to punish the Ninevite Gentiles who had slaughtered Jews, not save them, according to God’s Word in Genesis 12:3.  That’s because if you messed with Israel you messed with God (Zech. 2:8 cf. Acts 9:4)

Peter is also going to stand on God’s Word in his refusal to go to the unclean Gentiles, as symbolized when he stood on it to refuse to eat unclean animals (Acts 10:11-14).  He was “very” hungry (v. 10) but he used God’s Word in Leviticus 11 to resist the temptation to eat unclean things.  When you’re tempted to be sinfully unclean, you should do the same.  God’s Word to you says that He sees you as a new man who cannot sin (Col. 3:9, 10).  Live like He sees you!

Since Peter knew that God told the Jews that certain meats were unclean to remind them that the Gentiles were unclean, he knew that this vision meant they were no longer unclean (Acts 10:27, 28).

The past tense word “hath” (Acts 10:15) means God cleansed meats and Gentiles back in Acts 9 when He saved Saul.  Peter was just learning about this in Acts 10.  But he’s a bit thick-headed, so God gave him the vision three times (10:16) just as the Lord had to call him three times to follow Him

But the main reason the vision was repeated three times was that Cornelius had sent Peter three Gentiles (10:7, 8), and the Lord wanted Peter to make the connection and get the message that Gentiles were no longer unclean.  The law required two or three witnesses to settle things (cf. Deut. 19:15), so the Lord witnessed the vision to him thrice.

Peter wasn’t being a Jewish racist, nor were the other Jews who preached only to Jews (Acts 11:19).  They rejoiced when they heard God sent Peter to Gentiles (11:18).  They just knew Israel was supposed to get saved first.

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Answer to Peter’s Prayer – Acts 10:9-16

Are All Our Sins Forgiven?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“Where does the Bible say that our sins are forgiven past, present and future?”

Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, Hebrews 9:25,26 says,

“Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;

“For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

If you are saved, your sins were forgiven by the sacrifice of Christ. If He only died for your past sins, He would have to die for every new sin that you sin. He would have had to begin with Adam’s sins at “the foundation of the world” and never stopped suffering for our sins. Instead, He “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (9:26), “for this He did once, when He offered up Himself” (7:27).

Of course, you “receive forgiveness of sins” (Acts 26:18) when you believe the gospel. But you don’t have to believe the gospel again every time you sin. If you are saved and forgiven of your sins, then no matter what sin you commit today, you can open your Bible tomorrow and Colossians 2:13 still says, “having forgiven you all trespasses,” past tense. The words on the page don’t change despite how often you grieve God’s Spirit with your sin. Forgiveness for the believer is always a done deal, a fait accompli.

But knowing that you “have…the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7) and are “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (v. 13), Paul says to “grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed” (4:30). And the thing that grieves a “holy” Spirit is sin. So if you “have…the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7), then don’t “continue in sin, that grace may abound” (Rom. 6:1).

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.


The Leader of the Italian Band – Acts 10:1-8

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

When it says that Cornelius “feared God” (10:1,2), that didn’t mean he was saved.  As a matter of fact, we know he wasn’t saved, for God is about to tell him how to be saved (11:13).  We know being “devout” (10:2) didn’t mean “saved” either, for Acts 17:2-4 describes some people who were devout before they got saved.  “Devout” just means devoted to, and Cornelius was obviously devoted to God.

That’s a good first step in getting saved (Heb. 11:6), but you also have to do what God says to do to be saved.  People often wonder how God can fairly judge people who never hear the gospel, but Cornelius illustrates the answer!  When he sought God, God showed him the gospel (cf. Ps. 25:8-14).

True, “there is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:11), in and of themselves.  But God does things to make men seek Him.  He speaks to them through the stars (Ps. 19:1-3) and He divided men up into different nations (Gen. 10,11) “that” they might seek Him (Acts 17:24-27), to name just a few.

But Cornelius had a problem.  He was a Gentile, and the God of Israel wasn’t receiving Gentiles under the new kingdom program (Mt. 15:23,24).  But a Gentile could be saved under the old program of the law that was still going on as the new program was being introduced.  But Gentiles needed Jews to tell them what the law said about how to be saved.  Luckily for Cornelius we know there were Jews in Caesarea, for there were Jews everywhere (cf. Acts 2:5).  We see evidence that his hometown Jews told him he could get saved by giving alms “to the people” of Israel (10:2).  That’s one thing Gentiles had to do to be saved (Gen. 12:1-3 cf. Luke 7:2-5).

But doing that hadn’t saved Cornelius because the new kingdom program that included water baptism for salvation had now been introduced.  So now Cornelius needed Jews who could tell him about that too!  We know that Philip knew the new program because he baptized the eunuch, and he was living in Caesarea (Acts 8:40 cf. 21:8).  And as an “evangelist” he would have made a lot of converts by that time.  So why hadn’t they told Cornelius how to be saved?

It was because they were still preaching to Jews only (Acts 11:19) until all Israel was saved.  But when unsaved Jews stoned Stephen and made it clear that wouldn’t happen, God saved Saul in Acts 9 and sent him to the Gentiles, changing the kingdom program to His even newer mystery program.

But God didn’t tell Philip about that, for the mystery was given to Paul, not Philip (Eph. 3:1-3).  But to introduce what Paul was starting to do among the Gentiles, God is about to give Cornelius a vision to tell him how to be saved.

We see more proof that Cornelius was obeying the law to be saved in that he was praying in “the ninth hour” (Acts 10:3 cf. 10:30), “the hour of prayer” (3:1).  Because of all that, his prayers came up to God “for a memorial” (10:4).  A memorial is something to help you remember something, as when Memorial Day helps us remember the men who died serving our country.  The Jews had sacrifices for a memorial (Lev. 6:15) to help them remember that the reason they had to keep offering them was that they kept sinning (Heb. 10:3).

Cornelius’ prayers were a memorial in place of offerings like that, just as David’s were when he was on the run from Saul (Ps. 141:2) and couldn’t offer sacrifices in the temple.  So in saying Cornelius’ prayers came to God as a memorial, that means they were as accepted of God as David’s prayers!

Don’t overlook the fact that the angel calls Peter by his original name (Acts 10:5,6).  His full name was “Simon Barjonah” (Mt. 16:17), which means son of Jonah (cf. Mark 10:46).  His father was obviously named after the prophet Jonah, who liked to argue with God (Jonah 4)—like Peter (Mt. 16:22; Acts 10:14).  We see more proof that Peter was a symbolic son of Jonah in that God is about to send him to the Gentiles like He sent Jonah, and both men had to be convinced to go!  Instead, Jonah went to Joppa (Jonah 1:3)—where Peter was (Acts 10:5).  See the parallels?

Peter was “by the sea side” (Acts 10:6), and the sea is a symbol of the Gentiles (Isa. 60:5; Rev. 13:1-4).  When the angel told Cornelius that Peter would tell him what he had to “do” (Acts 10:6), we know he meant do to be saved (Acts 11:13), so Cornelius obeyed without delay (Acts 10:7,8)!

Video of this sermon is available on YouTube: The Leader of the Italian Band – Acts 10:1-8