All right, in Acts chapter 11,
I'm going to actually read verses 1 through 18 to saturate our
thoughts. And then upon that, we'll follow
our PowerPoint from last week as well as this week. And we'll
go back to our previous point. I carried it over. Point number
one, the sovereignty of the Spirit and the anointing. We'll deal
with that. But I do want to set a context. Verses 1 through 18
are quite insightful. In chapter 11, Peter is back
in Jerusalem. giving account for his outstanding
ministry that he engaged in as he made his way through Caesarea
as well as in Samaria. And it's very fascinating how
the Jewish brethren respond to the good news that the Gentiles
have received the gospel. And there's some lessons here
for us to gain as well. Verses 1 through 18. Acts chapter
11 and the Apostles and The brethren that were in
Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of
the Lord or the Word of God When Peter was come up to Jerusalem
They that were of the circumcision contended with him saying You
went into men uncircumcised and did eat with them but Peter rehearsed
the matter from the beginning and expounded it to by order
unto them saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in
a trance I saw a vision, and a certain vessel descended as
it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners,
and it came even to me, upon the which when I had fastened
my eyes, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth,
and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
And I heard a voice saying unto me, arise, Peter, slay, and eat. But I said, not so, Lord, for
nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
But the voice answered me again from the heaven, what God hath
cleansed, that call not thou common. And this was done three
times. And all were drawn up again into
heaven. And behold, immediately there were three men already
come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And
the Spirit bade me to go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover,
these six brethren accompanied me and were entered into the
man's house. And he showed us how he had seen
an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, send
men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall
tell thee words whereby you and all your house shall be saved. And as I began to speak, the
Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered
I the word of the Lord, how that he had said, John indeed baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
For as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did
unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I
that I could withstand God? When they heard these things,
they held their peace and glorified God saying, then God had also
to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. That's the reading
of God's word. Do you see attention in the context?
Do you see attention? Maybe you do, maybe you don't.
Maybe this seems like a nice little narrative where the apostle
Peter is rehearsing what he went through and the Jewish brethren
are sitting there drinking tea and casually receiving the testimony. And upon Peter's conclusion,
they simply say, amen, the Gentiles have received the spirit of God
too. If that's your conclusion, you
missed the tension. The tension is deeply intrinsic
in the narrative and it's important to see. So our new outline tonight
says old and new Jerusalem, which is part of our introductory study
we did several months ago, where we, um, outlined the fact that
the book of acts is a transition book. It's a transition from
the old Testament to the new and that transition periods are
always periods of difficulty. that very seldom do we transition
from one paradigm to another paradigm without major difficulties. It's really hard for us to change. It's really hard for us to change. And I emphasize that because
when we go back and deal with these texts more carefully, what
we are going to discover is that Peter's greatest challenge was
his own peers. the leaders of the Jerusalem
church and even the apostles that were with him. And verses
one through 18 for Peter is a trial. Peter is on trial for having
done something of which his Jewish brethren says in their own mind
was wrong. And Peter has to now explain
why he did what he did. And if we're careful through
our study, we will see the Lord God glorified and Peter will
have been sanctified one more time. So we're back at Acts chapter
10, the last three verses, because this is where. And we'll start
at verse 44. This is where Peter is now interrupted
in his mission by the ministry of the Spirit of God. Verse 44
tells us, now while Peter yet spake these words, he's in Cornelius'
house. You guys know that. It's a Gentile
home. This was something that was not
culture for Jews. So he is in a very odd predicament,
but he's there doing what he's called to do, as we'll see in
our subsequent outline. And while he is sharing the word
of God with them, verse 44 says, while Peter had spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on them, which heard the word. And they
had the circumcision, which believed were astonished. Now saints,
why were they astonished? It had already happened before
in Samaria, right up the road, the Gentiles had received the
Holy Ghost too. Why are the Jewish Christians astonished that God
has once again affirmed that he's saving Gentiles by the pouring
out of the Holy Ghost on them here in the territory of Caesarea? Why are they astonished? Because
They still do not believe that the Gentiles have right to the
kingdom of God, as do the Jews. That even though God might've
done a special thing with the Samaritans, the only reason God
poured out his spirit on the Samaritans was because they were
half Jewish. The word is astonished and we
talked about that word before. It's the word that you see through
the Gospels often when Jesus does a miracle and they are just
set back literally outside of themselves with absolute amazement
that a real miracle is taking place. They are beside themselves
that the Gentiles have received the same outpouring that the
Jews have. They are amazed that God has
so radically affirmed what Peter is doing. And I assert to you
that they are amazed because they did not expect this to happen. Something is going on here of
which we have to kind of unpack the text and deal with these
verses a little bit on an expository level so that you and I can see
why I title our first point, going back to our PowerPoint,
The sovereignty of the Spirit in anointing. The sovereignty
of the Spirit of God in anointing. Who knows what the word sovereignty
means? It means absolute rule. It means unequivocated rule. It means unchallenged, unrivaled
authority. To be sovereign means you do
what you want. Now you know how our children
are sovereign, the little ones? That's what it means to be sovereign
when you do what you want to without regard to anyone. So
I use that term because in our context, the spirit of God is
operating in a sovereign way because he's going to teach Peter
a lesson. He's going to teach the Jewish
brother a lesson. He's going to teach us a lesson.
And this is the lesson that God will have mercy upon whom he
will have mercy. That's the lesson. Now, watch
what takes place. There's an interruption in the
preaching of Peter, where the Spirit of God does a mighty manifestation
of approval in the life of the Gentiles. Point number one, while
he was what? While Peter was speaking, the
Spirit of God sovereignly determined to actually enter into that human
enterprise to affirm the salvation of the Gentiles. While Peter
is speaking. Mark this now, not when Peter finished speaking,
while Peter was speaking. So you notice in my outline,
I have no fixed mode, right? No fixed mode. Why do I say that?
Because when you go through the book of Acts, you do not have
a methodology or a mode of operation by which you can lock the Spirit
of God in and say, this is the only way the Spirit of God enters
into people's lives. In fact, the Spirit of God works
in the book of Acts in a sovereign way on purpose so that no denomination,
no church, no group of leaders can say, this is the surefire
method by which you get the Holy Ghost. No fixed mode. Peter is sharing the word, and
while he's sharing the word, the Holy Ghost comes on them,
right? So he didn't lay hands on them. He didn't cause them
to pray. He didn't tell them to do something.
In fact, Peter was not involved at all. He was doing his job. The Holy Ghost did his job. Are
you guys following what I'm saying? Now, if you go through the book
of Acts, you go back to Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit first
came on Pentecost, what were the disciples doing when the
Holy Spirit descended upon them? Who knows? What were they doing? They were just hanging out in
the upper room. If you say praying, you're assuming something that
the narrative does not actually affirm. When you go to Acts chapter
two, it just simply says, and they were in one place in one
accord. It didn't say they were praying,
didn't say they were speaking in tongues, didn't say they were
doing anything. Didn't say they were tearing. They were just
together. Powerful. Because they were together,
the Spirit of God poured down upon that nucleus of the New
Testament church because they were obedient to Jesus' command.
Remember what he said? Stay in Jerusalem. Do not leave
Jerusalem. I'm not telling you what day
I'm gonna pour out the Holy Ghost on you, but do not leave. And
because they were in the right place at the right time, they
then experienced the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. But even in
Acts 2, while in Acts 1, it says they came together daily to pray,
in Acts 2, it does not say they were praying. I use that argument
to assert this truth. that you can never get a sovereign
God to do what you want him to do by some method. Then again,
we saw the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts
chapter eight, where Peter and the apostles go down to Samaria
and after they laid hands on them, they received the Holy
Ghost, didn't they? Remember Simon, the sorcerer said, I want
that power that you have so that whomsoever I lay my hands on,
they can also receive those. He was ready to package that
thing and sell it. I told you he's like Americans, Westerners want
to package the gospel, make money off of it. And God showed him
his heart, didn't he? What do I mean then by the sovereignty
of the spirit of God and the anointing that you and I as human
beings can never dictate or demand to God how and when and where
and upon whom he will act. You have no control over that.
No fixed mode. Moreover, you know how some churches
emphasize that unless you're baptized, you're not saved. which
would imply that the Spirit of God only comes after baptism,
right? But you notice that these were
filled with the Spirit of God before baptism, right? This is
one of Peter's arguments after which he has now been convinced
that God is present in the work. Look at Acts 10, verse 47. And what I love about the Bible
is that while even in its narrative form, the storylines are so interesting,
so rich, with implications. They are also, um, structured
in a way that we can teach theology. Verse 47, can any man forbid
water that these should not be baptized, which have received
the Holy ghost as well as we see that. So now upon them being
baptized, they will have been baptized subsequent, subsequent
rather to the receiving of the spirit of God. Is that so? All
right, so some people receive the Spirit of God before baptism,
some receive the Spirit of God after baptism, some receive the
Spirit of God. While Peter's talking, you go
through the book of Acts, Spirit of God pours out whenever he
wants to. In Acts chapter 19, it's after
baptism. What's the point? God is what?
Sovereign. So going back to our PowerPoint,
no fixed mode, no fixed mode. And therefore, point number two,
before the water, And then point number three, here's the key
to this set of verses that we're going to deal with. So you got
to, you got to reign yourself in because if you have a certain
presupposition about the gifts of the spirit, this is going
to challenge you a little bit. Under our third point, the spirit
of God was poured out upon the Gentiles in the presence of the
Jews. Verse 45 of chapter 10. Why did
the spirit of God come upon the Gentiles Cornelius in his house
in a sovereign way, apart from Peter doing anything and in the
presence of his Jewish brethren. Again, verse 45. And they of
the circumcision, which believe were astonished as many as came
with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out
the gift of the Holy Ghost for they heard them speak with tongues
and magnify God. Verse 45 and 46 affirmed for
us that the Spirit of God does this
in the presence of, as we're gonna see in chapter 11, six
Jewish men who were fully committed to Judaism, although they call
themselves Christians, observing the outpouring of the Spirit
upon the Gentile brethren. Why was this given? Why is Luke
giving us this account? Because it's important for us
to know that the primary purpose in the book of Acts For the pouring
out of the spirit where the gift of tongues was manifested was
as a witness against the Jews. The primary purpose for the outpouring
of the gift of tongues in the book of Acts was for a witness
against the Jews. That will be one of the telltale
signs against them that the kingdom of God was leaving Judaism and
going to the Gentiles. Every time they saw a group of
Gentile believers receiving the spirit of God, Christ's words
in Matthew's 21 are coming to pass. The kingdom is being taken
from you and given to another bearing the fruits thereof. You
guys notice how in my opening narrative, what I said to you
was there's a real tension between old Jerusalem and new. that there's
a real tension between our Jewish brethren who feel as if somehow
they have more rights to Christ than our Gentile brethren. Can
you recognize that tension there? Well, that tension is what the
Spirit of God is gonna break down. He's got to demolish the
notion that the Jews have the keys to the kingdom because they're
Jewish. And this little micro text that
we're dealing with first demonstrates Number of truths one not only
are the Gentiles being brought in sovereignly by the Spirit
as our text is underscoring They're being brought in in a visible
manifestation of the the anointing of the Spirit through the gift
of tongues Because everywhere the Spirit worked he did not
give the gift of tongues But where you read in the book of
Acts the gift of tongues was given It was given in order to
let the Jews know the Gentiles have been brought into the kingdom
whether you like it or not and see the theology that underscores
this point that I'm setting up, which actually is found in our
fourth point. It was given in the presence
of the Jews as a witness against them who do not what? Right. So now in chapter 10, fortunately,
these six witnesses are going to serve to help Peter because
Peter is about to get in trouble as he goes back to Jerusalem.
Right. But he's going to have six witnesses with him to affirm
what he went through. However, if you're reading your
Bible, turning your Bibles with me briefly to 1 Corinthians chapter
14, I'll help you see what I mean when I underscore the fact that
in the book of Acts, wherever the Spirit of God was poured
out and there was a manifestation of the speaking in tongues, and
we believe heartily and we can prove it through a clear exposition
of the scriptures, that the speaking of tongues was not some gibberish
but rather it was the speaking of foreign languages. Languages
by which the Jews would be made aware that God has broken into
the different dialects and genres of the different ethnic groups
and have received them into the kingdom. First Corinthians chapter
14, I want to read verse 21 and 22. The apostle Paul explains
here the warning to the Jews about the gift of tongues. He
says in verse 20, and you guys know the church at Corinth, had
a really adolescent view of the gifts of the Spirit. And they
overemphasized the gift of tongues to a point of abuse. And Paul
is now doing what we call in 1 Corinthians 14, a corrective.
In verse 20, brethren, be not children in understanding, how
be it in malice be children, but in understanding be what? Men. And then he goes to his
pointer passage, which is in the book of Deuteronomy chapters
28 through 30. And then the book of Isaiah chapter
28 as well in the law, it is written with men of other tongues
and other lips. Will I speak unto this people?
Who is this people? The Jews, the, this people in
our text is the Jews. This is God warning his own people. because of their constant violation
of the covenant, he would take the covenant away from them and
give that covenant to people who will bear the fruit thereof.
And he's speaking in the book of Isaiah as well as in the book
of Deuteronomy of Babylon coming down. Babylon would be a people
group whose tongue the Jews wouldn't understand. Stammering lips and
other tongues would got used to speak to Israel to show Israel
their rebellion against God. And they would be amazed at how
here these people who should be the head are now being made
the tail. being dominated by the Babylonians,
Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and others, and being taken from
their own land and brought into Babylon into captivity because
of their disobedience. And moreover, they're being ruled
by people whose tongue they don't understand. So God is using tongues. The term tongue is glossolalia. as a tool to help the Jews understand
that they did not have a carte blanche on the gospel and that
for them to believe that the Jews were superior simply because
they were Jewish was a fault both in the Old Testament and
the New. Now watch what he says. He says in verse 21, he says,
and with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto
this people and yet for all that they will not what? Sayeth the
Lord. We're gonna see that all the
way through the book of Acts, into the epistles, and even into
the book of Revelation. Wherefore, tongues are for a
what? Now watch this, they are for
a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that what? Believe
not. But prophesying serves not for
them that believe not, but for them which believe. If therefore
the whole church be come together into one place and all speak
with tongues, and here comes in those that are unlearned or
unbeliever, will they not say, you are what? So now he's correcting
them for thinking that somehow people are supposed to be impressed
with Babel that has no interpretive mode to it He's letting them
know you have a complete misunderstanding of the year I gave you verse
22 to underscore that the purpose of tongues was for a sign and
not a sign to them that believe But a sign to them that believe
not And contextually, it's assigned to the Jewish people who would
not believe that Christ is Lord and is bringing the Gentiles
into the kingdom of God. We'll see this as we go further
into the book of Acts as well. So under the first point, the
sovereignty of the spirit in the anointing, he drops, he comes
down, he manifests himself in the life of the disciples while
Peter is speaking. That's going to be important
when we get into Peter's defense He does it before water baptism.
So we can't make water, some kind of special element that's
necessary for salvation. He does it in the presence of
the Jews because the spirit of God is going to do in the life
of the apostles, what the spirit of God did in the life of Jesus.
You notice that the Jews were constantly denying the presence
and power of the spirit of God, even in Jesus ministry. They
even said that Jesus was operating under the power of what feels
above. So this trend is still here.
And this trend that we're dealing with is the trend of unbelief
that is a consequence of religious traditions under which people
are bound and hold to so tenaciously that they can't see the glory
of God. And so this is what we will be working through. Let's
take up our next point two, point number two under our outline.
Here's where I want us to go now. This is almost humorous. if it wasn't, again, a trend
that amounts to a real danger. So, when Peter says in verses
47 and 48, can any man forbid water that these should not be
baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Then he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.
Then pray they him to tarry certain days. Interesting, Peter, I don't
know, maybe by the unction of the spirit, he brought six men
with him. And those men would have facilitated Peter's command
to baptize all those people. Because there were a lot of people
being baptized that day. They believe the gospel, six ministers
are there, now everybody can be baptized, right? Because he
gave command to baptize. Like our Lord gave command to
the disciples to baptize, even though Christ didn't baptize
one person. And so here Peter is doing what our master is saying
to do. Point number two, Peter is being indicted for eating
with sinners. Do you see it? Chapter 11, verse
three, they said, you went into men that are uncircumcised and
did eat with them. Isn't that amazing how blinded
we can be by our systems and completely miss the majesty of
God's work in the life of the people of God. They weren't concerned
at all with the testimony of Peter initially about what happened. What they were upset with is
that Peter being a Jew goes into a Gentile's home and eats with
them. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I
don't know about you, but I'm like scratching my head and saying,
Lord, these guys don't get it. Now, why do I say that? Because
remember someone else of whom it was said he eats with sinners? What's his name? Jesus. This
is Luke's gospel chapter 15 verses one through three. Remember the
Pharisees constantly said, and this man is always eating with
sinners, always eating with sinners. Why? Because the Pharisees never
ever got caught eating with sinners. He knows how to use the phrase
got caught. They never ever got caught eating with sinners. These
are the superficial rules that we erect in order to appear superior
to others. But I mark the gospel of Luke
chapter 15 verses one through three, because it's just fascinating
how what the apostles are going through now that our Lord has
gone back to heaven is exactly what Jesus went through. They're
suffering the same opposition and antagonism and conflict that
Jesus did. I mean, think about it. You went
into men that were uncircumcised and did eat with them. Now help
me for a minute, saints. Okay, I did. So what? What you gonna do to me? I mean,
really? Okay, I did go in. They were
uncircumcised. We did eat. I did enjoy the barbecue. What you gonna do? I mean, really,
help me now. What are they going to do to
Peter? Stone him? The point is this. We can be
very irrational in religion and completely miss the common sense
of the Scriptures. They're apprehending Peter. And
actually, if you were to, so now we're running to Luke 15.
They drew nigh unto him, all the publicans and sinners to
hear him. And the explanation of the Jews
in the Luke text is that this man is always eating with sinners.
That's what they called him, a friend of sinners. A friend
of sinners. Like that's supposed to be a
derogatory thing. A friend of sinners. Jesus is
a friend of sinners. Now Peter is being called a friend
of sinners. What an honor, a friend of sinners.
Problem is, and this is what I want you guys to take away
from our text, is that it's one thing for you to have adversaries
of people that you don't know, don't have any real close relations
to, didn't grow up with, don't have any real history with. It's
another thing to take heat from people with whom you have grown
up with, lived, served, even your own family members. That's
another thing. So a lot of times when men and
women come to the gospel, and I'm talking about the gospel
of the grace of God, I'm talking about the truth of the gospel.
You guys know there's a lot of false religions out there and
false gospels and spurious gospels. Lord God in his sovereignty has
to pull you out of false religion and bring you into the gospel
of free and sovereign grace. Is that not right? And when once
he does, you come to understand the true and authentic liberty
of the gospel over against the facade of religious works and
religious legalism and all of that. But there is a price that
we pay when we do. Because if you grew up in church
with church folk who had all of the piccadillos and all of
the ifs ands and buts and all of the qualifier, now you're
going to a church where the gospel is freely preached and Christ
is exalted and him alone you obey and you're not under these
fastidious rules and regulations. Now you got to take heat from
your family members. Am I telling the truth? Yes, you do. Because
they think you're part of some cult. Simply because you've been liberated.
extricated, freed, emancipated from man-made rules and regulations
and bound to the word of God. Right. So Peter now is under
this second proposition. Eating with sinners is the argument
or the accusation raised against him. Peter's in court now. You
guys know that, right? He's in court in front of his
Jewish brother. He's in court and he's in court
suffering for Christ's sake. That's my first point. Now it's
not in your outline, but it's in mine. And I want you to go
to John's gospel chapter 15 verses 17 through 19 for me to affirm
this. I want you to see this. I was
thinking about this too, as I was getting ready for the class.
Do you know that the Lord Jesus Christ cares for his people? He cares for his sheep. You believe
that? And if you were to be careful in your studies, he really did
care about the disciples. There were a lot of things Jesus
said to the disciples that they wouldn't understand until after
he left. And when they would experience
what he told them they would experience, then the Spirit of
God would bring back to their mind what he had said. This indicates
great care. Now, what I'm about to read in
John's Gospel, chapter 15, Um, uh, John's gospel chapter
15 verse 17 through 19 is going to indicate the care that Christ
has for his sheep. Watch this. Let me start at verse
16, John 15, 16. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you. Do you guys see that now this
is part of a commission statement that he's given to his disciples
right before he's going to go and be accosted by the Sanhedrin
and then be killed. He's telling them and reminding
them, you didn't choose me. I chose you. Now those of us
who believe in the Bible doctrine of salvation underscore the essential
truth necessary to properly explain how you got saved that God chose
you. He called you and he quickens
you and that's how you become a believer in Christ that you're
not a believer in Christ because you chose God. You're only a
believer in Christ because God chose you. And it's important
for you to know that so that you don't twist your words and
tell people you did something by what you got saved. Now, what
God is doing, what Christ is doing with the apostles is important
to ward off the potential for the apostles to steal the glory
in their apostleship. So now watch this now. To be
an apostle in the New Testament is the highest order of authority
in the kingdom when it comes to offices. Wherever you read
in the New Testament, the office of apostle, office of prophet,
office of pastor, office of miracle workers, the line of gifts in
the New Testament always start with the apostles at the top.
Think about it for a moment. If God called you to be an apostle,
how proud you can be if he didn't tap you on your forehead and
say, now, remember, I chose you. You didn't choose me. I called
you. Before you even knew who I was,
you was out there fishing for a living. Working a nine to five,
a blue collar worker in the dark. And I came along and I called
you and I told you to follow me and I will make you fishers
of men. When you therefore enter into ministry and start seeing
the blessings of the gospel because of what I've done, do not steal
my glory by saying that somehow you're some great apostle, some
great bishop, some great prophet, some great this, that, or the
other. I chose you. You didn't choose me. Am I making
some sense? It was designed to humble the
apostles. because he knew what kind of men they were. He knew
they were human beings just like you and I. He knew they were
inclined to being puffed up, or lifted up, or exalted by men.
Now watch this, even if you have a natural temperament of being
humble, and most of us don't, but if you have a natural temperament
of being humble, you don't have to be the one exalting yourself. You can simply sit back and let
somebody else exalt you, and you'll still be wrong. Am I making
some sense? Because other people in the church
will do that. This is the thing that amazes me about church.
You go into churches and they seem to be just bent on exalting
people. They'll look at you and say,
oh, the Lord has a gift for you. The Lord wants to use you mightily.
You're going to be all over the world. You're going to be doing
this, that and the other thing. Hurry up and run from that place. Run. Run. Because flattery works ruin. It will destroy you, especially
in the name of prophesying run. That's how the devil works through
flattery. He says you have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you. I've ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit
and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever. You shall ask
of the father in my name. He will what? Now that last line,
that last clause is there connected to the previous lines. In other words, whatsoever you
ask in my father's name, I will give it to you and it will be
consistent with you bearing fruit because I've called you to preach
the gospel. In other words, you don't just
ask him for anything. What's happening is you are clear
on your commission. Your commission is functioning
and God's blessing your commission. And because you are satisfied
to be doing the will of God, guess what you're doing? You're
praying that God will continue to bless your commission. And
guess what? He continues to bless it. That's all that passage means.
The last clause that whatsoever you ask of my father in my name,
he will give it to you. It's not a that's not a credit
card to ask the Lord for anything. Please understand, don't ever
take the scriptures out of context. They must always be understood
in the context. What the Lord Jesus had promised the apostles
and us who believe the gospel is that the gospel will always
be successful where my people obey the gospel. And that where
your greatest joy is in doing the will of God, you can be sure
of this. Whenever you pray to the Father in Christ's name,
according to his will, he will always answer it. That's how
you understand that text. Now, notice what it says in verse
17. in verse 17, John 15, 17. These
things I command you that you what? I love it. See this is, now I want you to
see this saints. This is a shepherd preparing his sheep who are also
now going to become shepherds over other sheep. This is a chief
shepherd preparing his sheep who are about to become shepherds
over other sheep. And he's helping them understand
the critical gift and priority of love as a means of protecting
them from exalting themselves and entering into debates and
conflicts and divisions that will destroy their mission as
apostles. Did that make some sense? The
shepherd is saying to his sheep who are about to become shepherds,
don't you take this ministry up as a means to an end for yourself? Let your life be dominated by
the love of God so that the love of God can restrain you and protect
you and keep you from erring out of the way like so many people
do once they get into ministry. He was actually telling the apostles
that the greatest gift is love. And that's the thing that's going
to keep you on your course. Just one more thing before we
look at our next verse. That's true for you and me too.
The thing that sustains relationships everywhere is charity. The thing that sustains relationships
everywhere is charity. If you've been in church long
as I have, you understand something about what is called church wars. If you've been in church as long
as I have, you've understood something, what is called church
wars. The only reason that church wars
sustain is because love does not prevail. It's impossible
to have a healthy church where love does not prevail. And it's
impossible, it's impossible to sustain a healthy church where
love does not prevail. And where love does prevail,
we can overcome anything. This is true in a church. This
is true in a business. This is true in a marriage. Am
I making some sense, ladies and gentlemen? Watch this. He's telling
his disciples, if you're going to get this job done, you're
going to have to walk in the love of the Spirit because you're
going to have all kind of darts, all kind of arrows, all kind
of assaults coming against you and love is going to have to
reign because love is an ethic in itself. Love allows you to
slow down. Love allows you to have objectivity.
Love allows you to reason things through. Love keeps you from
jumping to conclusions. Love keeps you from being dominated
by your anger principle. Love will keep you from destroying
one another. You must have loved one for another
because the enemy is coming after you as he came after me. The
goal of the enemy is always division. I don't care where you are and
what circumstance you are, whether married or in the church, on
a job, everywhere you go, the devil is always seeking division. Am I telling the truth? That's
right. And so where love is not a dominant ethic, whatever that
institution is, it can be completely annihilated. Love is the fundamental
principle. So we read verse 18 now watch
what it says in verse 18 having given the ethic of love He says
it's in verse 18. Are you there if the world what? See how good a shepherd he is
See how good a shepherd he is. You know what he's saying? They're
gonna hate you see this this is not a the apostleship for
them was not about living large and Acquiring masses of wealth
and having everybody love them To be an apostle was to be hated
of all men for Christ's sake. To become an apostle was to set
yourself up as a bullseye by everyone who hates God. Are you
ladies and gentlemen hearing what I'm saying? So once he lays
down the ethic of love so that he can keep them walking in a
unity and harmony among the 12, he says, now watch this, if the
world hates you, and it will, that if there is not a hypothetical,
it's what we call a, it's an anticipatory clause, meaning
they will hate you. Now he's gonna explain when once
they start hating you, remember this, are you ready? They hated
me first. If the world hates you, know
that it hated me before it hated you. Now, there's another way to phrase
this, and it's this. The servant is not greater than
his master. If they hate the master, they're
going to hate the servant. Does that follow? So now watch
this. Watch this. If you're following
Jesus, and the world hates Jesus, can you rightly and logically
and consistently and rationally believe that the world's gonna
love you? Ooh, make it through. So if you have an agenda for
getting everybody in the world to love you, because you're a
Christian, you don't have Jesus Christianity. I don't know what
Christianity you got, but it's not Jesus Christianity. Because
Jesus Christianity is framed in such a way that it anticipates
the hatred and hostility of the world against it. And what we
have come to understand scripturally is this, that when you're doing
Christianity right, you're gonna be hated. There are multitudes of passages
in the Bible. Now watch this, I wanna say something
before I deal with that. You can be doing Christianity wrong
and still be hated. Now I need to say that because
here's the thing. In our world, people are, how can I put it? People are, they're mischievous. That's the best word I can put.
Mischievous, meaning people will use Christianity for all sorts
of reasons and drag his name through the mud and create all
kinds of conflict and blasphemy and negativity and call that
suffering for Christ's sake. And I would say, no, that's not
suffering for Christ's sake. That's suffering for your foolishness
sake in the name of Jesus. Let's remove Jesus' name and
just say you're suffering for foolishness sake. Am I making
some sense? So just because you're taking
hits by people that don't like you, it doesn't mean that you're
taking hits for Jesus. You better make sure you're taking
hits for Christ. Make sure your ethic is right,
your motive is right, your method is right, your message is right.
If that's so, then be ready to take hits for Christ. Conversely,
it's true too. This is what I know and I think
maybe you can affirm this. After 2,000 years now, I can
say this confidently. If you actually do the gospel
correctly, if your method is right, if your message is right,
if your motives are right and you're doing the gospel correctly,
a whole lot more people will love you than would be if you
were not a Christian. I'll say that again. I want you
to get this. If you do the gospel correctly, If your method is
right, if your motive is right, if your message is right, you
will be loved by more people than you can ever imagine because
you are a Christian than not. Is it true that when once we
become a Christian, God has added unto us brothers and sisters
and families from all over the world of which outside of the
kingdom we would never have? Let me say that again. See, if
you don't get it, you need to hold these intentions. Is it
true that when we become authentic believers and we're living for
the cause of Christ and there's a genuine conversion that has
taken place in the incorruptible seed of the gospel is in us and
it's manifested in the life of every true believer that God
in his mercy will show us family members all over the world. There
will be family members, true believers who may not have ever
seen you in the flesh, But know about you. And as soon as you
guys start the conversation, there's an affinity there. There's
a kinship there. There's a love there. There's
a unity there. Why? Because you have become part
of the family. Did you guys get that? So while, yes, you'll be
hated by the world, there is a whole kingdom of people who
will love you automatically when once they affirm that you're
a true believer in Christ and that's your inheritance in Christ.
What did Jesus say to the disciples? No man has left all for my sake. who has not also received both
in this life, families and homes and blessings and in the life
to come eternal life. And he was right about that.
I marked that to be the case in my own life. I have brothers
and sisters all over the world who love me for Christ's sake. People who pray for me all over
the world for Christ's sake. We have never met in the flesh.
But because we know of each other, we pray for each other, we care
for each other. That is the inheritance that
we have. Am I making some sense? And it's critical for you to
know that as well. Isn't it a joyful thing when you go on some short
or long excursion and you run across the Christian? And doesn't
it give flavor to the journey? Don't you thank God, man? Because
you know how we always think? We always think we're going to
be the only one in France, the only one in Germany, the only
one in Mexico. And God will inevitably run you
into another believer. And you get a little fellowship
for a minute. Why? Because he has his secret agents
everywhere. If the world hates you, you know
that it had hated me before it hated you. And listen to what
he says in verse 19. If you were of the world, the
world would love its own, but because you are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world. Therefore the world
hates you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
have persecuted me, they shall also what persecute you. If they
have kept my sayings, they will keep your sayings as well. Christ is being a great shepherd
and letting his disciples know some people are going to love
you and some people are going to what hate you. And that's
just the way it is. Saints roll with it. Don't try
to get everybody to love you. You don't need everyone to love
you. The only people you need to love you are the people of
God who are authentically God people. That's the only people
you need to love you. That's the only people you need.
You can do just fine with a few saints loving on you. But see
what's remarkable about our present exercise. What you and I are
thinking about right now, it bears on what we're dealing with
in the Luke account. Go back to Luke's Acts account. Luke is actually explaining to
us a tension that's taking place between brethren. These Jewish
brethren, to whom Peter is now dealing with in Acts chapter
11, are supposed to be believers. Look at verse 1. And the apostles
and brethren that were in Judea... Do you see that phraseology?
And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea, that's Jerusalem,
heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. They
didn't go down to find out. They heard, though. Then they
heard Peter went and then when Peter comes back, what do they
do? Rather than embrace him saying, man, we heard that the Lord was
getting down in Caesarea. We heard that the Lord was showing
out down there among the Gentiles. Is it true? Peter would say,
yeah, man, it's true. The Holy Spirit dropped on a
whole bunch of Gentiles and they should have went to shouting
and enjoying the Lord. Isn't that right? No, they want to
take Peter in the court. Do you know why? Because in John
15, the world that Jesus said would hate you. Contextually
is the world of religion, the world of the Jews who were hostile
to free grace. See, here's the thing that you
may not be sensitive to. 90% of the time when Jesus talked
about the world, he was not talking about the secular pagan world.
He was talking about the religious world that he was a part of.
Like he said in John chapter eight, you are of the world I'm
from above. See, you can be religious and
just as worldly as the lost sinner that's out there living in rank
paganism. Am I making some sense? See,
don't ever think that there's a clean cut and dry antithesis
between what it means to be in the world versus what it means
to be in the kingdom. The word world, cosmos, and there's
another word for it as well, needs to be translated or interpreted
in its context. always and in the gospels largely
when Jesus says the world will hate you because it hated me
well think about it contextually Jesus wasn't hated by the Gentiles
per se he was hated by the Jews and they were of the world They
were worldly in their mindset, worldly in their worldviews,
worldly in their carnality, worldly in their agenda. Why did Jesus
threaten Judaism? Because Judaism had fallen from
heaven to earth and was building an earthly worldly secular kingdom
and Christ threatened that kingdom. Am I making some sense? See,
so like if you are not heaven bound and if you're not committed
to spiritual things, the true gospel will actually threaten
you. because the true gospel says
love not the what neither the things that are in the world
for whosoever loves the world the love of the father is not
in them that's first john chapter 2 first john 2 first john 2 14
and 15 so there's a world that we are not to love and if the
love of the world is dominating your life then it's possible
that we are not in the kingdom of god does that make some sense
and actually what's again remarkable to me is the trial that peter
is under because he's facing the antithesis, the antipathy
of Jewish brethren who are showing implications of having a strong
carnal tendency to want to be in control. Let's work it through. Let's go back to our PowerPoint.
Watch this. So under point number two, he's with sinners. What
Peter is experiencing, I believe, and I think I affirmed that in
John chapter 15, verses 17 through 19, is what? That Peter was suffering
for Christ, right? the sufferings of Christ. Secondly,
what I see in verses one through three is the pride of losing
control. The pride of losing control.
Look again at verse three. And they said, you went in to
men that are uncircumcised and did eat with them. I just affirm
that was the claim that the Jews raised against Jesus, right?
Luke chapter 15. You know what they said in John's
gospel? I'm going to show you this in John's gospel chapter
12. Watch this. This is what they said when once
They had gotten to a point where with everything they tried to
do to make Jesus look bad, you know, they called him a devil.
They called him a wine bibber. They called him a fornicator.
They called him a bastard. He was possessed. They threw
the book at Jesus in order to poison the will and the minds
of men and women. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'll
just toss this out as a caveat. This is what we call practical
theology. Be smart enough to know who you are listening to.
When somebody tells you something negative about somebody else,
be smart enough to know that when you're listening to someone
telling you something negative about somebody else, look at
the corners of their forehead to see if they grind it down
the horns. And if their woman puts a makeup
on and if they do put a cap over it, Look to see if their horn's
there. Because frequently when people
are given over to slander and maligning people and talking
bad about them negatively, they're doing what we call colloquially
poisoning the well so that you won't drink from that well. This
is the old tactic in the days when people have wells and you
didn't want people to drink from that well, guess what you would
say? That well got poisoned in it. It got something bad in it.
And so no one would drink. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees
and the high priests and the Herodians were constantly slandering
Christ in order to get people not to listen to him. But it
did not work. Listen to John's gospel chapter
12 verse 19. I'm gonna start back at verse
17. John's gospel chapter 12 verse
17 through 19. The people therefore that was
with him when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him
from the dead bear record For this cause, the people also met
him, for they had heard that he had done this miracle. In
other words, in John's gospel, we are at the pinnacle of what
we call seven major miracles of Jesus's ministry. And the
pinnacle of miracles that Jesus did, the first miracle in the
gospel of John is what? Turning the water into wine.
that's a picturing type of the gospel of grace over against
the legalism that was represented by the water. The water jug,
six water jugs, six days shall a man labor to the seventh day
a man shall what? Christ turned the water into wine, teaching
that it was the gospel that would bring joy and happiness, not
the legalism of the Old Testament system. Are you following me?
That was the first miracle that he did. And then he did subsequent
miracles after that. Each miracle was much more powerful
of a miracle. Whether it was the healing of
the lame man, the opening the eyes of the blind. By the time
he gets to John 12, we are right up at the crucifixion. The greatest
miracle that Jesus did was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. That miracle caused everyone
to start being attracted towards Jesus. because Lazarus was walking
around telling everyone, yes, I'm the one, I was dead four
days and Jesus raised me from the dead. So this is the fame
that we're reading about, about all these people having heard
about that miracle. Now notice what it says in verse
17. The people therefore that was
with him, I'm sorry, verse 18, for this cause, the people also
met him for they had heard that he had done this miracle. Verse
19, Now watch this now, all of this noise, all of this commotion,
all of this fame being directed towards Christ because of Lazarus
rising from the dead should have excited the Pharisees if they
were stewards of the kingdom. But notice, the Pharisees therefore
said among themselves, do you perceive how we prevail nothing? Do you perceive how ye prevail
nothing? Behold, the world is gone after
him. You see that? Now, ladies and
gentlemen, this is what we would call hyperbole. The whole world
hadn't gone after Jesus, but a lot of people had gone after
him. And the Pharisees are saying, we've done everything we could
and have not prevailed. Everybody's still coming after
Jesus. Now, why are they saying that? Because they really want
no one to come after Jesus. They would love to hear that
Jesus' ministry is dwindled down to no one. But Jesus just does
his miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, and the whole
world is going after him. This is where we read in John's
Gospel, chapter 20. Well, let me start at verse 20.
Watch this. So John says this, and there were certain Greeks,
Gentiles, here we go. Among them that came up to worship
at the feast That means they were what they were uh proselytes
The same came therefore to philip which was a best theater of galilee
and desired him saying sir. We would what? Philip comes and
tells andrew and again andrew and philip came and told jesus
now watch this and jesus answered them saying what the hour has
come That the son of man should be what? What was he talking
about? The post-crucifixion effect of
Gentiles from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue coming to Christ
precursored by this handful of Greeks who are interested in
Jesus right now. Christ could see in that handful
of Gentiles that he was about to now enter into his glory and
masses of Gentiles from every nation would finally come to
him. And so he says in verse 24, verily, verily, I say unto
you, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and died,
it abides alone. But if it died, it does what? You understand his point? I'm
going to die. And when I rise again, people
from every nation are coming. Do you guys see the point? Jesus
knew that it was about to happen. He was on the brink of his glory. On the brink. Now watch verse
31. You've got heard me quote this many times, John 12, 31.
And then we'll go back to our text and work this through a
bit more. In John chapter 12, 31, notice what it says. Now
is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. Verse 32. Here it is. And if
I be lifted up from the earth, I will what? Draw all men unto
me. Do you see it? This is in the
same context. See now in Jesus' mind, he knows
he's going to the cross. The disciples are abuzz at all
these people who are interested in Jesus. The Gentiles are even
coming to Jesus during the feast. Jesus saying, yes, it's about
to happen. The Gentiles are about to come
to me, but it's only gonna happen after I'm lifted up. What is
he talking about? His cross, the death, burial and resurrection.
Ladies and gentlemen, this verse is being fulfilled in the book
of Acts right now. That's our account. Let's go back now. Let's
go back to our PowerPoint. Let's deal with point number
three. We might be able to get to it. We should get to a couple
more points for tonight. So the context is that the rulers
in Jerusalem, the brethren, they're calling them, the apostles and
brethren. And this, again, this is just fascinating to me. Because
these men should have understood what the master had told them
during his time there. But they are so locked in to
their Judaism that they can't quite give it up. So under the... He's with sinners. We've dealt
with the sufferings of Christ, the pride of losing control,
the pride of losing control. Now I call your attention to
the blindness to the superiority of the gospel. The blindness,
I say there are three things going on in Acts chapter 11.
One is Peter is suffering like Christ did, and these disciples
should have known that. But secondly, the pride of losing
control. Let's deal with that for just
a brief moment. Anybody know what it's like to
be part of a council of authorities who have influence over other
people? And people in that council are so controlling that they
want to micromanage everybody's lives. Anybody know anything
about that? And you know that they are unreasonable. Often
they're suspicious. Often they're drawing conclusions
that are baseless. They have no grounds for their
suspicion. And you know, it's really rooted
in this. They want to control everything. Well, ladies and
gentlemen, what you're seeing in the book of Acts is an uncontrollable
act of God. Where the gospel starts in Jerusalem,
it goes to Judea, but it does not stay there. It spreads to
Samaria. Now it's going to the Gentiles.
You know what's making those Jewish leaders feel like? They're
out of control. Now, let me ask the question.
You know what people do when they're out of control? They
get desperate and they try to tighten the reins. They get desperate
and try to tighten the reins. Again, I ask the question, So
Peter ate with them. What are they going to do? There's
nothing they can do to him. There's no law really that you
couldn't eat with the Gentiles. What were they going to do? Kick
Peter out of the apostleship and show their true colors? Well,
ladies and gentlemen, we're going to be facing this again in four
chapters. Did you know that? In chapter 15, we're going to
face it again. Why? Because more Gentiles are coming
into the kingdom. More Gentiles are being saved.
More Gentiles are being anointed by the Spirit of God. And guess
what? These cats in Jerusalem don't have nothing to do with
it. Think about this now. Even the apostles. Because the
apostles are part of the antagonistic group here. I'm talking James. I'm talking John. I'm talking
Andrew. I'm talking Philip Bartholomew.
All of those guys are part of this group. This is what's amazing
to me. When you go to the book of Galatians
chapter 2, isn't that the context in which Paul and Barnabas has
to go up to Jerusalem and say, hey, fellas, knock it off. Knock
it off. See, this goes to show you, you
can be saved and be stupid too. I know you didn't believe that,
but you can be saved and be stupid too. Think this through with me. Right
at the present, the Jewish leaders are acting like apostates. They're
acting like adversaries of the gospel, are they not? Fundamentally,
they're saying, we don't want to receive the Gentiles that
easy. But that wall has to come down,
doesn't it? It just has to come down. So
I call this the blindness of the superiority of the blindness
to the superiority of the gospel Let's let's go to our next point
because Peter is getting ready to defend himself. I'm glad we
laid a foundation on this I can run through these pretty quick
Peter has to defend himself now verse 4 says but Peter rehearsed
the matter from the beginning and Expounded it by order unto
them you guys see that in your Bible, but Peter rehearsed the
matter that means he structured it and he laid it out in an in
an orderly fashion in such clarity that the end result was they
finally yielded to Peter. And I want you to see in really
simple terms how powerful the spirit of God was in defending
Peter. Cause this, this is one of those
things where here you are a Christian and God's working in your life, but you have to now give an account
for God working in your life. And the people to whom you have
to give an account for God working in your life are people that
matter to you. So now you have to give an account.
Don't you want to be able to speak in a fashion that accurately
represents what God has done for you? You have to give an
account, watch this now, to people that you care about, who ostensibly
supposed to care about you, but you know if you don't get this
thing right, the relationship is going to be broken. I need
to press it home to you just in case you don't get it. Peter
is not sitting here comfortable. He has to make sure he uses his
words just right or else his own Jewish brethren will condemn
him of violating the law. And if I have to let you know,
those guys were easily capable of committing murder in the name
of God. Are you hearing me? So I want
you to understand that Peter is under trial And he has to
now be clear and concise on how he explains to them What God
did give me 10 more minutes of your time just enough I'll get
us into it tonight and then we'll come back and close it out. Next
week I want you to see how important it is to be able to stand for
God In the face of hostile adversaries Whom you love and want to keep
This takes grace. This takes grace. If you had
to, you would have to read what happened in Acts 9, I mean Acts
10, and then read what happened in Acts 11 and see how what you
and I read in the narrative of Acts 10 corresponds with Peter's
recollection of it in chapter 11. Peter says things in chapter
11 that are not in chapter 10. Do you know why? because Peter
is standing before his hot-headed brethren and he has to use terminology
to try to win them. Watch the language. Peter rehearsing
the matter from the beginning expounded it by order unto them. Now you know Peter didn't have
the gift of exposition. So the Holy Ghost had to be working
here. Now watch what it says. He says, now I was in the city
of Joppa. You got that? Now that's a problem. Because
remember Joppa was on the coast. He was at the Tanner's house.
The Tanner was cleaning dead skins. Watch this. Peter conveniently
left that out. Smart. Smart. Because they could have got a
hold of that and said, well, what you doing at the Tanner
house? He's dealing with all kinds of dead animals. You know,
we don't touch dead animals. Are you hearing me? There's times
when you don't say certain things. Some of you will get it. Peter
says, I was down in Joppa. Now, I'm not going to go there,
but you know how people do. Oh, I'm just kicking it. Where
you been? I was up the street. You could be a little clearer.
I was in Joppa. But now because he's talking
to his Jewish brother, guess what he said? Praying. I love it. I was in the city
of Joppa praying. Why? Because these are religious
Jews. You pray three times a day in
the morning at noon and at three o'clock. So he's going to have
to give up where he was, but he's going to get him back on
the prayer thing. I'm still a Jew. I was praying. I'm showing you
how he fought his case. Here it is. I was in the city
of Joppa praying. Here it is now, and in a trance
I saw a vision. So now he couples his piety of
prayer with a visitation from God. It's true it happened, but
Peter presses it home because he needs an authority greater
than him to begin to affirm why he did what he did. Are you guys
hearing me? Was praying like a good Jew praise
brothers and God put me in a trance and gave me a vision Now all
of these Jews are wanting to know what that vision is Because
they believed in visions they believed in the law of God they
understood that what was taking place at present is what we call
a prophetic era and prophets received dreams and visions The
whole of the book of Acts is a prophetic era And prophets
received dreams and visions. Now, maybe these guys didn't,
but Peter did. And Peter being one of the main
pillars, they got to listen to him. Not only was I praying,
but God brought me into the trances. So now he's got them at the next
level, right? We've got to understand what the trance is. Here it is.
He says, I saw in the vision, a certain vessel descended. And
as it had been a great sheet, in my mind, I got a big old white
sheet. I don't know why it's white. But ever since I was 17
years old reading this portion of the scripture, I'm looking
at white sheets because I always grew up with white sheets. Now that
I'm grown, I know there's more colors than white sheets, but
when we're kids, basically white. So in my mind, I always saw a
big old white sheet and a bunch of animals inside the white sheet.
Here's what he says. I saw a certain vessel descend
and as it had been a great sheet let down from heaven by four
corners. Now stop. This was a large vision. It encompassed the whole world. So Peter is saying, I was overwhelmed. I was impressed by a massive
gargantuan vision. Can you see the vision of a sheep?
Larger than your queen size bed, larger than the city of Hayward,
larger than the United States, Larger than the whole gold globe.
Can you see that watch this coming down to me? In other words this
vision had me as its objective not the world me Peter now is
the exclusive objective of this vision. They got that they got
this massive worldwide She coming down to one person and that person
is Peter. You know what Peter saying? I
am a a slave to the authority of this vision, fellows, because
it was to me. That's what he said. It was let
down from heaven by four corners and it came even to me. You know what Peter was saying? I was made completely subject
to it. I couldn't get away from it. Well, if the thing covered
the whole world and it came to me, I'm a slave of it, right?
I'm bound by everything that this vision now has. I am completely
susceptible to its implications. I couldn't get away from it.
It came to me. It wasn't like I was watching the vision go
to someone else. It came to me. Peter's pressing
home the point that he's not responsible for what happened.
He was made subject to it. This is important. He says in
verse six, and upon which when I had fastened my eyes and I
considered, see that phrase, fasten my eyes and consider.
Literally in the original language that's verse 7 if you guys gonna
follow me through we're literally in the original language What
Peter is saying is I locked in on it fastened my eyes and I
thought Deeply about what I saw That's what the literal word
means. I thought deeply about what I saw. I investigated it
carefully Somehow he had to climb up over the top of the sheet
Pull it down so he could look inside because that's what he
did I fastened my eyes on it and I considered, now watch it,
and I saw four-footed beast of the earth, wild beast, creeping
things and fowls of the earth. He saw every animal, are you
ready? That Gentiles would cook. That's right. You may not get
it, I got it. I got it. I saw oxtails, hog
moths, chitlins. Yes, I did. Pig feet. I don't
care. I don't care what you say. He saw all that stuff. He wouldn't
eat. He saw, he saw what God was saying
to him. You're going over to Italians
homes. You're going to Filipinos homes.
You're going to Latino homes. You're going to Asian homes.
And when you go to their homes, you're seeing all this kind of
food. You're going to Africans homes. You're going to see Persians
homes. You're going to see all this
kind of food, Peter. He understood the implications.
Did he not? He understood. He understood. Verse seven then.
Notice what it says. And I heard a voice saying unto
me, arise Peter, slay and eat. Now I love what Peter's doing.
In this account, he's being meticulous as to what the vision was in
chapter 11. Do you know why? Because he's
already asserted that he's a slave to the vision. He has no control. The vision came to me. It's worldwide. I couldn't run. I saw what I
saw. And now all of a sudden God's telling me, arise and slay
and eat. What he's saying is, I was made
subject to divine authority. This is interesting. And even
with that, I pushed against it. Watch what he says in the next
verse. Pull up verse eight. I'm trying to show you. But I
said, but I said, fellas, I actually told him, fellas, I don't do
that. Fellas, I told him, I don't do that. I don't, I don't, I
don't eat hamburgers. I always thought about it, but
I don't eat them. I don't eat barbecue, but it sure smell good. But I don't even in the vision.
I said, no, Lord, no, no. Give me some. Give me some. I
tried once. I said, no, not so, Lord, for
nothing common or unclean have at any time in my mouth. See,
I'm a Jew just like you, brethren. See what he's doing? He's arguing
both sides. He's saying to his Jewish brethren,
I have not abandoned my convictions. I'm just overwhelmed by the authority
of this vision. I cannot control what's happening.
This is important. This is how he's winning his
case. He's winning this case by saying things with emphasis
while leaving out conveniently other things. Verse nine. But the voice answered me again
from heaven. What God has cleansed, that call
thou not common. Do you see that? So that statement
right there overthrows all of the Jewish rules that comes out
of the Levitical code about distinctions of what you can and what you
can't eat. Are you hearing me? Heaven said, don't call it unclean. Now the Jews have to struggle
with divine authority because Peter has received a vision and
God spoke to him. When it says a voice answered
from heaven, you know what Peter was saying? God spoke. God spoke. Jews, however, would have never
used the word because for them the word is holy. They would
have never had said Jehovah or used a sacred name. And so he
says, and a voice answered from heaven, what God has cleansed
that called not thou common. Peter now is again, holding tension
between what he would not do and what he's being called to
do. And here is another nail in the coffin. of the end of
the old and the establishing of the new. Here's what he says
in verse 10. Are you there? And this was done three times. And this was done three times. What was done? The whole vision.
The whole dialogue. Peter said, I don't do that.
The vision said, you do do that. Peter said, I don't do that.
The vision said, you do do that. Peter said, I don't do that.
The vision said, you will do it. Why? Because in Jewish code, out of
the mouth of two or three witnesses, everything is established. See,
now the Jews sitting there have to go, not only is this dude
telling us that he loves Judaism, but he has now been dominated
by a universal vision. The vision hit him three times
upside the head. Peter could not win. He had to
yield to the witness. because God was forcing home
an inexorable truth, a truth that
could not be separated. And this is the truth. God is
gonna save people from every nation, kindred, tribe, whether
they liked it or not. Now watch what he does. Watch
what Peter does. This is interesting. This is
interesting. Just let me do this caveat and
we'll close. Listen to what the text says, verse 11. And behold,
immediately, there were three men already coming to the house
where I was, sent from Caesarea to me. Peter collapses the time
between the guys coming and the vision and said, man, when the
vision ended, I'm looking at all these Gentiles right in front
of my face. Now y'all don't believe in coincidence. You believe God's
sovereign and providential, don't you? You see how he's building
this argument? close the time gap between his vision, their
vision and their coming and shows a seamless unity between what
Peter experienced and God's providence to call Peter to the house of
Cornelius. Any Jew who is sensitive to the
word of God would have understood that what Peter was saying is
I'm being led by the spirit. Every Jew would have understood
that I'm being led by the spirit of God. There's no way I could
overcome this. I just fought with God in a vision. And three times he hit me upside
my head and told me, you're going to eat with Gentile. As soon
as I wake up out the vision, there go a bunch of Gentiles
in my face talking about it's time for us to go to Cornelius
house. Cause he saw in a vision, you see how Peter's arguing. He's arguing to his Jewish brethren
who don't quite get the superiority of the gospel. All right, we're
gonna close right here. We'll pick it up from next time.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for your time. Thank you for
the class. Give us all traveling mercies as we go our way. Prepare
us to worship you on Sunday, we pray, and then bring us back
together again to understand more, more, more about Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless
you guys.