Let's open our Bibles together
to Acts chapter 11. Acts. Chapter 11. This past week. Florence recente
went home to be with the Lord. And she's been living with her
son up in Virginia for the last couple of years. So. I always so enjoyed being around
Florence. You know, she just always rejoiced
in the gospel and she was just an easy person to
be around for me. She was just so Unpretentious I guess I think
about what the Lord said that Nathaniel she was an Israelite
indeed with whom there was no guile She didn't try to pretend
anything. She just Was she was encouragement
to our church. We're very thankful I've titled this message clean
and Unclean clean and unclean, how absolutely
essential it is that we be able to discern the difference between
that which is clean and that which is unclean inside of God
and that we be in agreement with him as to what's clean and what's
unclean. We'll be looking at A few passages actually in chapter
10 and chapter 11 of Acts. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on his word and on our time together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we thank you for this day of rest that you've set aside for
us to gather together and worship. We thank you for the promise
of your presence We thank you, Lord, for the power of your spirit
and the purity of your word. Lord, we pray that you'd be pleased,
as we just sang, to enable us to know your presence. And Lord,
that you would speak to our hearts and that you would make it clear
to us how you differ between that which is clean and that
which is unclean, and that you would give us the heart of faith
to be in complete agreement with you about that which is clean
and that which is unclean. Lord, we thank you for Florence.
We thank you for the hope of eternal life that you've given
to your people. And Lord, we pray for Jim and
for for Rachel and Gigi and ask that you would comfort their
hearts and their loss and help us Lord to remember to care
and pray for one another as a body of Christ. We ask it in Christ's
name, amen. In Acts chapter 10, which we
looked at last week, At verse 15, well actually I think
I wrote the wrong verse down, I'm so sorry. No, it is at verse 15. Acts chapter
10 verse 15, and the boys spake unto him again the second time,
what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. What God has made clean, don't
call unclean. Now that same truth is repeated
in verse 28 of Acts chapter 10, when Peter said to Cornelius,
and he said unto them, you know how that it is unlawful It is
an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come
unto one of another nation, but God hath showed me that I should
not call any man common or unclean." And then after this encounter
with Cornelius, Peter goes back to Jerusalem and reports to the
other apostles and disciples in Jerusalem what the Lord had
done for this Gentile. And he says in chapter 11 at
verse 9, the voice answered me again from heaven, what God hath
cleansed thou that call not thou common or unclean. It is, as I said, it is essential
that we understand the difference between what God calls clean
and what God calls unclean. Peter was under the impression
that Cornelius, because he was a Gentile, was unclean and that
if he went into his house and and met with him and ate with
him that he would become unclean. And the Lord had to correct Peter
on that. And I hope that he will teach
us the same lesson this morning. Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter
22, Ezekiel chapter 22. And look with me, if you will,
at verse 26. Her priests have violated my
law and have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference
between the holy and the profane. Neither have they showed the
difference between the unclean and the clean. And have hid their
eyes from my Sabbaths and I am profaned among them." So the
Lord's calling out the false prophets that are in Israel and
he says they've not discerned the difference between that which
is clean and that which is unclean and they've led my people to
forsake my Sabbaths. And we know from Hebrews chapter
4 that even as we change the words, and I appreciate that,
Tom, in the hymn that we just sang, that Christ Jesus, the
Lord himself, is our Sabbath. He's our rest. But he's given
us a day that we can set apart and come together, and it's called
the Lord's Day in the New Testament. But when When the Lord is accusing
the false prophets of not discerning the difference between the clean
and the unclean, he's saying you've profaned Christ by doing
that. You've denied your only hope
of rest in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I don't want that to happen to us. And I certainly don't want
to be guilty of what these false prophets were guilty of. Turn
to me to Ezekiel chapter 44 Ezekiel chapter 44 Peter had to be corrected He thought that Cornelius and
all the Gentile nations were unclean and would make him unclean. He was under the false impression
that somehow his circumcision and his heritage as a Jew and
his commitment to the dietary laws of the Old Testament added
to his cleanness. And the Lord had to show him
that All of his cleanness is found in Christ, not what he
does. And so look at chapter 44 of
Ezekiel, and we'll read at verse 23. Now he's speaking of the
faithful. God called prophets and he says,
and they shall teach my people the difference between the holy
and the profane and cause them to discern between the unclean
and the clean. That's my hope right now, this
morning, is that the Lord will enable us to discern the difference
between that which he calls unclean and that which he calls clean
because The world can't discern that difference. They don't know
what the difference is. I'm so thankful that we have
a God who is faithful to teach us. They shall all be taught
of God. And what the Lord said at the
grave of of Zacchaeus when he said, father, I thank thee that thou
has hid these things from the wise and the prudent, but you've
revealed them unto babes. So our need is for the Lord to
reveal unto us as the children of God, what he says in his word
about the clean and the unclean. Peter had some grave clothes
to get rid of, to be loosed from. And I suppose to one degree or
the other, we carry our grave clothes with us all our lives. And through the preaching of
the gospel and by the by the ministry of the Spirit of God
and the Word of God, we are loosed of these grave clothes and enabled
to be set free. As I said, Some of the grave
clothes that Peter had here in Acts chapter 10, even as a believer
was that he put some weight or some value in his fleshly circumcision. That was the difference between
him and Cornelius. He said, it's not lawful that
I should go into a Gentile's house. And I fear that by doing
this, I'm going to become unclean. When the Lord lowered down that
sheet with the unclean animals in it. And the Lord said, take
and eat. And Peter said, oh no, Lord,
nothing unclean has ever passed these lips. I've never eaten
anything unclean before. And that's when the Lord said,
call not thou that unclean which I have made clean. And so he thought not only was
his circumcision of help to him being clean, but his faithfulness
to keep the dietary laws of the Old Testament were adding to
his cleanness. And certainly he thought that
his ancestry as a Jew was adding to his cleanness. Here's what
the Lord is saying to you and me and what the Lord was teaching
Peter in this very poignant moment of truth. Christ is our circumcision. He fulfilled all those dietary
laws. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone. You don't add to your righteousness
by abstaining from certain foods and eating other foods. And your
natural or physical heritage has nothing to do in adding to
your cleanness. If we're going to be made clean,
we're gonna have to be found in Christ. Let me show you what
Peter, turn back with me to Leviticus chapter 20. at verse 25, Leviticus 20, verse
25. Here's what Peter had been taught
from a child and what he believed and what he had practiced. And it was one of those things
he had to be taught of God to turn loose of and put all of
his hope and trust in the Lord Jesus. how oftentimes we have
to be taught of God to turn loose of something and put all of our
hope and all of our trust in the Lord Jesus. Verse 25 of Leviticus
chapter 20, you shall therefore put the difference between the
clean beast and the unclean, and between unclean fowls and
clean, and you shall not make your souls abominable by beast,
or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth
on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. Now those
are the creatures that were in that sheet. And in Acts chapter
10, The Lord tells us, the scripture tells us that that happened,
that that vision took place three times, three times. How slow
of heart we are to believe and how persistent our Lord is to
make sure that we learn what he has to teach us. Job chapter 25 at verse 4, how
then shall man be justified with God? And how can he be clean
that is born of a woman? How can it be? And the next verse
goes on to say the moon and the stars are not clean in his eyes. How is a sinner going to be found
clean in the sight of God? By nature, we're not clean. We
come into this world as sinners. Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
six, I am a man of unclean lips. And My eyes have seen the king and
I'm going to be annihilated. And what did the Lord say? He took the coal from off the
altar and he touched his lips. And he said to Isaiah, you've
been made clean. Now that's a picture of the fiery
wrath of God's justice that fell on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes,
by nature we are men and women of unclean lips and the Lord
has taken that coal from off the altar and he's purged our
sin. He's put them away. How are we
to become clean? We agree with God about what
we are, unclean by nature. Scripture says we are all as
an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. There's no exception to that.
By nature we're unclean. Job said, how can a man born
of a woman be made clean? How can it be? David said in Psalm 51, I was
shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. I've been a sinner since I was
in the womb of my mother. If I'm gonna be made clean, the
Lord's gonna have to make me clean. Won't you love 1 John
1, 9, if you confess, agree with God that you are a sinner. I'm not changing the meaning of that
verse, I'm trying to clarify the meaning of it. You confess
your sins, he is faithful and just to cleanse you of your sins
and of all of your unrighteousness. So how are we going to be cleansed?
To confess. So what does it mean to confess?
Does it mean that I've got to somehow identify all my sins
and bring them before God and feel a certain depth of sorrow
and sadness for my sin and separate myself from my sin in order to
meet the requirements of being cleansed? No, that word confess
means to speak the same thing. And so what the Lord's saying
is, You agree with me about the fact that you are by nature left
to yourself completely unclean and that all of your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And you confess that. You just,
faith is believing God. It's believing God. And faith
comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. And
so as the Lord speaks these truths to us, what do we say? We say with that Syrophoenician
woman, when the Lord called her a dog, truth, Lord, truth. That's
what I am. That's what faith always does.
Faith just agrees with God. Faith speaks the same thing.
So here's the... How can a man born of a woman
be made clean? Agree with God that left to yourself,
there's no cleanness in you. Left to yourself, you're completely
unclean in the sight of God. We are all as an unclean thing. We have all gone astray. And
all our righteousness are filthy rags. Job went on to ask this question,
he said, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? And then he answers that question,
he says, no one. No one. This is in Job chapter
14. It wasn't until many chapters
later that the Lord speaks to Job and Job confesses after hearing
from the Lord, behold, I see something now I've never seen
before. Behold, I am vile. I am unclean. There's nothing
good about me. There's nothing clean about me.
And I abhor myself, he went on to say, and I repent in dust
and ashes. But at this point, he says, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? And he answers this question,
he says, no one. No one can. He didn't know that there was
one. There was one who could bear away all the uncleanness
of his sin. and put it out of the sight of
God, separate them from God as far as the east is from the west,
so that God was able to say, I remember them no more. And leprosy is such a powerful and
clear example in the scriptures of uncleanness. It is a disease
of the blood. It's inherited and it's contagious
and it's fatal and it's incurable apart from a miracle of God.
You remember those lepers that came to the Lord? So Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. If you will, you can make
me clean. He believed in the ability of
God, and he was pleading for the willingness of God. Isn't
that just backwards from what we hear in the religious world
today? The religious world says God
wants to make everybody clean, but he lacks the power except
you agree with him and do your part. And when this man confessed,
Lord, I know that thou are able to make me clean, if you will
make me clean, what'd the Lord say? I will, be thou clean. And
immediately, immediately was made clean. He's the only one that can make
us clean. Who can bring that? Who can bring clean out of that
which is unclean? No one? Oh yes, no. There is
one and there's only one. There's only one that can do
it. You remember at the Last Supper when the Lord was washing
the feet of the disciples and Peter said, Lord, are you going
to wash my feet? And then he went on to say, Lord,
you're not going to Do that, wash my feet. And the Lord said,
if I wash not your feet, you have no part in me. And what
did Peter say? Well, if that'd be true, then don't just wash
my feet, wash my hands and my head as well. Wash me all over.
And what'd the Lord say? The Lord said, thou art clean. Thou art clean. He that is washed
needs not save wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and
you are clean. How are they clean? Well John
chapter 15 verse 3 says, you are clean through the word which
I have spoken unto you. You are clean through the word
which I have spoken unto you. So when God speaks, faith agrees
and believes God and trusts God, to be faithful and true to his
word, and the washing of the water of the word of God is what
makes us clean. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
5. The Lord uses the means of his word, the
message of the gospel, to apply the cleansing power of the blood
of Christ to our hearts. How can they call upon Him in
whom they've not believed and how can they believe on Him in
whom they've not heard and how can they hear without a preacher?
As I've already quoted, and you've probably quoted many times, faith
comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. Of
his own will begat he us with the word of truth. There's no
salvation apart from God's word, apart from his. And so he says,
you've been made clean through my word. And in John chapter
17, when the Lord's praying for his church, he says, Father,
I've sanctified them by thy word. I've given them your word and
they've been made clean. They've been set apart and sanctified. The Lord Jesus Christ, the only
one that can bring something clean out of that which is unclean.
And he does that by taking away our sin and giving to us his
righteousness. And he accomplished that at Calvary's
cross. And he communicates that to us
by his gospel and by his word. And faith just says, truth, Lord,
I believe that's the only way I can be made clean. It doesn't
have anything to do with my circumcision. It doesn't have anything to do
with my heritage. It doesn't have anything to do
with my works. It's all dependent upon what
you've done for me. Lord, if you don't make me clean,
I won't be made clean. Lord, give me ears to hear. Look,
you have your Bibles open to Ephesians chapter five. We often
quote this passage in verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. May
God give us loving, caring marriages. where husbands provide and care
and tenderly love their wives and wives follow the leadership
of their husbands. That's our hope and that's our
desire. That's every believer's hope
for his home. But there's another picture here,
isn't there? Look at verse Look at verse 32
of this same passage. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and his church. Christ is the husband,
his church is the bride. No husband has cared for his
wife like the Lord Jesus cares for his. And what is the means
by which he cares for his wife? Well, he's exercising that right
now, right now. Look at verse 26. that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the
word. How are we going to be made clean?
By the washing of the water of his word, he cleanses his bride,
he makes her pure, and he gives her faith to believe what he
says. Look at verse 27, that he might
present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish,
without blemish. And when John was caught up into
heaven and was given the revelation of Christ, and he said, who are
these that are robed in white robes? White and clean. And the angel said, these are
they which have washed their robes and made them clean in
the blood of the lamb. That's how we're made clean.
It's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that makes us clean. and
it's only the blood of the Lord. What did Peter need to learn
from this experience with Cornelius? This is a turning point in the
early days of the church. These Jews were carrying this
baggage, these grave clothes from their understanding of the
law, and the Lord is showing them Your circumcision and your
heritage and your works and your commitment to diet and to other
ceremonial laws given in the Old Testament, those were types
and shadows and they've all been fulfilled in Christ. So that
now Christ is all and he is in all. And you are clean only in
him. Only in him. Peter, forget all
that other stuff. Forget all that other stuff. May the Lord give us the faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to rest all our hope
in him for all our cleansing. Let's close with Hebrews chapter
nine, if you'll turn with me there. Hebrews chapter nine. We begin reading in verse 18,
for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according
to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats and water
and scarlet and wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and
the people. Oh, that hyssop is what the priest
dipped into the basin of blood and sprinkled the people with.
And it reminds us that by his stripes, we are healed. All our sin is taken away by
the sacrifice that Christ made on Calvary's cross. It's his
blood. It's not the blood of bulls and
calves. that takes away sin is the blood of the lamb that was
without spot and without blemish. He's the only one that in and
of himself is clean. And we can only be made clean
in being found in him. Look at verse 20 saying, this
is the blood of the Testament, which God hath enjoined unto
you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood,
both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. and almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood
there is no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of the things in the heavens should be purified
with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these." Oh, we have a better sacrifice based
on better promises, a better covenant. This is what the book
of Hebrews is all about. Those things only served as shadows
and types and were only used to sanctify the things on the
earth. But the blood of Christ, look
what he goes on to say, verse 24. For Christ is not entered
into the holy place made with hands. When that veil was rent, In the temple, when the Lord
Jesus bowed his head and said, it is finished, and gave up the
ghost and said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,
his blood wasn't applied to that mercy seat over there in the
tabernacle, just a little ways from where he died. For Christ has not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true but into the heavens itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. How is one born of a woman gonna
be made clean? Who can make something clean
that is by nature unclean? When the Lord Jesus ascended
back into glory, he took with him all those for whom he lived
and died. and all the blessings of God
are in Christ, in the heavenlies right now. We stand accepted,
the scripture says, in the beloved, resting our hope in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who went into the heavens and went before his father,
not returning void, but accomplishing the purpose for which he was
sent. What was the purpose that the Lord Jesus was sent to do?
Save his people. That's why he was sent. Look at verse 25. Nor yet that
he should offer himself often as the high priest entered 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." He's put it away. Put it away. Buried it in the
depths of the sea, covered it by his precious blood. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Where's
the heart of the believer who's resting in Christ? He's looking
to Christ. He's setting his affections on
things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
He's looking to the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus made alone
to make him whole. Peter had a very valuable lesson
to learn. Peter, I've made it clean. It's clean. Don't try to mix your commitment
to dietary rules and laws and your circumcision and your heritage
as a Jew. Don't mix that with Christ. Christ is everything in salvation.
He's all we have. He's all we need. Those are the
ones who stand clean in the sight of God, those who are looking
to Christ only for their salvation. May God bless His word. Let's
take a break. Okay.