Sinclair Ferguson (Acts 11:1-11)
Remember the previous chapter has told the
story of the experience of Cornelius in
Caesarea, and Peter going despite the
reservations which he had expressed to the
Lord, and how the Holy Spirit came down as
Peter was preaching the Gospel in Cornelius'
household.
Acts chapter 11 repeats the same story in
places almost word for word that Luke had
described in the previous chapter. Indeed,
when you take these two passages together,
by the end of Acts 11:18, Luke has now
recounted the story of Cornelius’ vision no
less than four times
What I'm telling you now is of absolutely
immense significance. If you want to
understand the meaning of the acts of the
Apostles, if you want to understand the story
of the early church, then here are two events
taking place after the day of Pentecost that
have the greatest conceivable significance.
Indeed, in a sense, it might be possible to
say that between the day of Pentecost and
the return of Jesus Christ, the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus and the events that took place
in the house of Cornelius may be the two
most important events in all church history
And so, this event is an event of major
proportions in the history of the church in
the purposes of God, because, of course, it
represents the third wave of Jesus' declared
purpose. We have seen this on more than
one occasion now in Acts 1:8. Jesus
programmed for the Apostles and for the
Christian church, the Gospel will be
preached in Jerusalem and Judea
And it is here, in Caesarea in the household
of Cornelius the Roman centurion, that the
power of the Gospel, having broken down
the resistance of Simon Peter, now breaks
through into the Gentile world. And from
that point onwards, there is simply no
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Derek Thomas (Acts 11:1-18)
In the previous chapter, the story was told of
the experience of Cornelius in Caesarea and
how Peter had gone to the Centurion’s
home… Despite Peter’s reservations
concerning the visit (p. 306)
… where the entire story of chapter 10 is
retold, as Peter related (in places, almost
word for word) what had seen and done. By
the end of this section (Acts 11:18), Luke
had told the story of Cornelius’ vision no
fewer than four times!
To understand the story of the early church
means understanding the conversion of these
two men: Saul and Cornelius. It would not
be an exaggeration to suggest that between
Pentecost and the return of Christ as the end
of the age, the conversions of these two men
form the key redemptive moments in the
story of the church (p. 307)
As we have seen, the events surround
Cornelius’ conversion form the third wave
in the redemptive purpose of the risen Jesus
In Caesarea, the power of the gospel, having
broken the resistance of Simon Peter, had
broken through the “middle wall of
partition” between Jew and Gentile, and
from now on there is now stopping the
advance.
stopping the advance of the Gospel. And
yet, as we have seen on every occasion
when the kingdom of God has grown, the
Gospel of Christ has advanced
There has always been a sinister resistance.
There has always been opposition, trials,
hindrances, to Jesus Christ building his
church
And that is just as Jesus' program begins to
be fulfilled, the opposition now focuses on
the man who, until this point, has been the
leader of the entire Christian church
A Spiritual lesson of great important and
enduring significance emerges at this point:
wherever great advances have been made in
gospel expansion, a measure of spiritual
resistance always accompanies it
In this instance, the opposition focuses on
the one individual, who until now, had been
the leader of the church: Peter

I want us to try this morning to notice that in … we will attempt to answer two basic
this passage, God seems to be working at questions: one concerns the large-scale
two different levels. Those of you who are scenario (or macro perspective): what was
in business these days are fed up hearing the God doing in church history? The other
terminology of macro-management and concerns a narrower perspective: what was
micromanagement. God doing on a more personal, individual
God, since the beginning of the church, has scale in the lives of certain people at this
been engaged in macro-management, time?
management on the large scale, fulfilling the
big vision, painting the big picture. And he
is also involved in micromanagement,
management on the small scale, working in
the lives of individuals. Because the God of
the Bible is never ever doing only one thing
at once
… Question number one, what was God
doing in church history? And answer
number two, to the question, what was God
doing in individual's personal history?

And you know when that happens, you

know how criticism works. Criticism is like
one spot of ink going into a bottle of pure
water. It makes it impossible for any part of
the bottled water to remain unaffected by it.
And the result, doubtless, was that while
these apparently dominant individuals of
what came to be known as the circumcision
party voiced their criticisms of Peter.
… but just as one drop of blue ink in a
container of water will turn the entire
volume of water blue, so the poison of the
few influenced the perspective of the whole
(p.308)

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Those of the circumcision party… would
have said, “Peter, we have a doctrinal
problem with what you have been doing. We
have a doctrinal problem. What you have
been doing offends our sense of orthodoxy.
Peter was able to show their doctrinal
problem was really a problem with their
own doctrine, because it wasn’t rooted in
Scripture. It was rooted in the traditions of
men and not in the teaching of God.
Circumcision had been given as a sign of the
covenant with Abraham. ‘Abraham, in your
seed, all the nations of the earth will be
blessed (Gen. 12)
He released people saying we’ve got to keep
by the old traditions. But the old traditions
weren’t biblical in the first place. The old
traditions were actually a hindrance to the
extension of the Gospel. And do, the old
traditions were actually instruments of
opposition to the purposes of Almighty God
… in the midst of this, Simon Peter gives us
one of the neatest explanations in all of the
bible, of what it actually means to become a
true Christian…
What does it mean to become a Christian?
Oh, you don't need to be circumcised in
order to become a Christian.
It means number one, recognizing Jesus for
who He is, God's promised Messiah and the
one who claims to be lord of your life.
It means, second, coming to trust in Jesus as
they did as their savior. It means doing that
within the context of turning away from
your old lifestyle in repentance
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The circumcision party had a doctrinal and a
social problem with what Peter had done.
His apparent embrace of Gentile customs
offended them greatly. Their views were not
governed by Scripture as much as by the
traditions of men. God had spoken to
Abraham and said that in his seed “all the
families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen.
12:3)
Peter had held to a traditional understanding
of things, one that developed from a
misunderstanding of Scripture… Peter had
been a loyal member of Jewish
traditionalism… yet he learned that the old
traditions had been hindrances to the
purposes of almighty God! (p. 309)
In the midst of Peter’s defence emerges one
of the clearest answers to the question: What
is a Christian? (p.310)
For Peter, becoming a Christian involved
three fundamental things:
(1) recognizing Jesus as God’s promised
Messiah and Lord of a person’s life;
(2) trusting in Jesus as Savior, in which
there is a turning away from an old lifestyle
in repentance; and
And [third] in that wonderful moment,
receiving the powerful gift of the Holy Spirit
who is enabling you to live for the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ
So that's what God was doing on the
macro-level. That's what he was doing as it
were for the whole of church history. He
was breaking through these barriers that had
been set-up in order to bring the Gospel to
the whole Gentile world, to bring the Gospel
to you and to me.
But then note just briefly that God was
doing something in personal history. He was
doing that in the life of Simon Peter…, a
classic description, of how God guides His
people… the circumstances differ. Peter had
an unusual revelation from God but the
principles remain the same
First of all, God reveals his word to him.
And it’s on the basis of what God says that
he finds his guidance.
Then, secondly… the providence of God
unfolds before him in a way that helps him
to apply the word that God has given with
the providences in which God has been
overruling
Thirdly… obedience
(3) receiving the power of the Holy Spirit,
enabling a person to live for the glory of
God (p.310)
On the macro level, God was signaling a
plan of what he intends to do for the rest of
history. He intends to bring men and
women, from every tribe, tongue, nation,
and people from the four corners of the
globe, to faith in Jesus Christ by the power
of the Holy Spirit (p.312)
On the micro level, God was working in the
heart and mind of the apostle Peter in such a
way that certain principles were enforced
that having abiding validity in our
contexts… In Peter’s life, we see the way
God revealed to him his will so that we may
discern some vitally important lessons about
how God guides his people on a personal
level (p.312)
First of all, God revealed his word to Peter.
Peter found his guidance for action in God’s
word.
Second, providence unfolded in such a way
that it helped Peter apply the Word that God
had given him.
Third, Peter was obedient