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Please enjoy this message delivered by Pastor Mark Hudson.
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LearningTranscript
00:00So, when I went to Bible college years and years ago, years long, long time ago, I had
00:08such a zeal for the Lord.
00:09I just wanted to honor Him with everything.
00:12I mean, I finally understood and I really grasped what Jesus was trying to say, and
00:18I just wanted to make sure my life honored Him.
00:21And one of the areas that I was really concerned and very particular about was music.
00:25And I wanted to honor God with my music, not just my singing.
00:30And if you sat next to me while I'm singing, my voice certainly is not honoring to you.
00:34I know it's honoring to God, but okay, that's another story.
00:37So, I was very particular with kind of musical instrument I would use in worship.
00:41I was led to believe that only the piano and the organ were acceptable instruments for worship.
00:48I mean, I was fully convinced that that was the right thing.
00:52It was a cherished belief that I had.
00:55And if you got together with me, I would argue tooth and nail that only the piano and only
01:00the organ could be used in worship.
01:02Every other instrument is not acceptable in worship.
01:05And I would fight you, not physically, but I would fight you about that because I held
01:09this as a cherished belief.
01:12Well, God has a really good sense of humor.
01:15My very first roommate was a music major.
01:20Dan Dadablon from the Philippines.
01:22And so, Dan, I explained to him my point of view, my cherished belief that only pianos and
01:27organs are allowed in musical.
01:29Remember, my zeal is for God.
01:30I don't want to dishonor God.
01:32I wanted to make sure everything I did honored Him.
01:34And I really was convinced that only those two instruments could honor Him.
01:38So, Dan took time with me and I gave him my opinion.
01:44And you know what he did?
01:45He opened up the Bible and started sharing me what God said about musical instruments
01:50and worship.
01:51And he took me to Psalm 150 where there was a whole list of musical instruments used to
01:56praise the Lord.
01:57And guess what?
01:58None of them were organs or pianos.
02:03So, what Dan did is Dan challenged this cherished belief I had by giving me knowledge from the
02:09Word of God.
02:10And then I was left with a dilemma.
02:12Would I hold on to this cherished belief or would I conform to what God has clearly revealed
02:19in His Word to be the truth?
02:21Because obviously, I was not abiding by what was truly revealed.
02:25It was just simply an opinion about pianos and organs.
02:30So, confronted with that reality, this cherished belief that I had, would I change my point
02:35of view and bring it in a line with the Word of God or would I hold fast to that cherished
02:40belief?
02:41This is what I did.
02:44I prayed first, okay?
02:46Then I went to a Christian bookstore and I went and bought a cassette tape.
02:51Now, some of you will look at me like, what is a cassette tape?
02:53That was right before 8-tracks, before CDs, and then before digital.
02:57Anyway, so when I went up to buy that, it was Psalms Alive.
03:01So, it was a psalm.
03:02So, good.
03:02It was just God's Word.
03:03It was the psalms.
03:04But it had all kinds of musical instruments on it as well.
03:06So, I go up to the counter to buy it and I go up there and I set it down and I'm looking
03:10around, make sure no one was watching me.
03:13And I take it back to my dorm room and I went to my cassette player.
03:16That's another one of those things you probably don't know what it is, a cassette player.
03:19And I take this thing out of the wrapper and I place it in the cassette player.
03:24And, of course, I'm looking around and I push this door shut and then I push play and it starts
03:29playing music and I'm looking to see if the roof is going to cave in on me.
03:32And I found out God appreciates all different kinds of musical instruments in His worship.
03:38I had a zeal for God, but not knowledge.
03:42And once God gave me the knowledge, I was under the position, would I change my point
03:47of view, my cherished belief that I thought was true and bring it into conformity with
03:51the Word of God?
03:53What's going to happen today in the text is very similar to this.
03:57There is a difference and I'll explain the difference to you later.
04:00There is a difference coming that we'll see and I'll give you that difference in a moment.
04:04But it's very similar to what's happening today in the text.
04:08Next, Peter, God is giving Peter additional knowledge that he did not have and what God
04:16was doing in the world of Peter's day that Peter needed to deal with in his mind.
04:22Now, what I would like for you to do, most of you know this passage really well.
04:26Try to, as we go through, try to understand that the people involved in this don't know what's
04:33going to happen.
04:35We do.
04:35They don't know what's going to happen.
04:38It's unfolding for them as it's taking place.
04:41So try to keep that in mind because they don't know what's going to happen in the end.
04:45We have that information.
04:47But what we'll see in the first part of chapter 10 of Acts is this.
04:51Believers must be willing to allow the Word of God to govern their lives and also be willing
04:56to change even a cherished belief when God's Word directs them to.
05:01That's a tough one, especially when I call them cherished beliefs that we think are biblical.
05:08We may come find out that they're not, in the case of organs and pianos, it was not a
05:12biblical point of view.
05:13But that was a cherished belief that I held.
05:15When we're confronted with this idea that the Word of God is to govern our lives and even
05:20change our cherished beliefs, when we see it, it's a tough thing to do.
05:25We like them.
05:26That's why they're called cherished beliefs.
05:29So the question is, how well do we know the Word of God that when we're confronted with
05:35this cherished belief, can we go back to the Word of God and find where that's rooted in?
05:39And if it's not rooted in anything, it's simply an opinion of somebody or some organization,
05:44then we ought to conform our lives to the Word and not what some organization or opinion
05:48is saying.
05:49We have to know the Bible well enough to do that.
05:52But this is a really important story, three times in the book of Acts it comes up here,
05:57chapter 11 and chapter 15, a very important story.
06:00And I think any of those of you who know it, know why it's so important.
06:03About 10 years after Pentecost, this takes place.
06:06So about 10 years since the coming of the Spirit.
06:09Look at me in chapter 1, so excuse me, chapter 10, verse 1.
06:12So Acts 10, open your Bible, turn on your biblical device, whichever the case may be.
06:17This is God's Word, we want to look at it together.
06:19So we're not going to handle the whole text, it's too much, so we'll break it up into two parts.
06:23You'll get that second half next week.
06:25So we'll look at the first part of this, the introduction, the preparation in Peter's heart.
06:30First one.
06:31At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort.
06:37A devout man, this is his character, a devout man who feared God with all of his household,
06:43gave alms generously to the people.
06:45We find out later that he's talking about the Jewish people in Caesarea, and prayed
06:49continually to God.
06:51About the ninth hour of the day, which is 3 p.m., ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly
06:56in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius.
07:01And of course, that really freaked him out.
07:03Look at verse 4.
07:04And he stared at him in terror and said, what is it, Lord?
07:08He's never seen an angel before.
07:10And he said to him, your prayers, Cornelius, your prayers and your alms have ascended as
07:16a memorial before God.
07:19And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who was called Peter.
07:24He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner.
07:27That kind of gives us a connection to the end of chapter 9.
07:30Whose house is by the sea.
07:32When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants, a devout soldier,
07:37probably a God-fearer as well, from among those who attended him.
07:42And having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
07:45So 3 o'clock in the afternoon, they're on their way to Joppa.
07:48They're taken off.
07:50So Luke mentions this guy by name, which is likely that because when he wrote it, remember
07:54he didn't write it as it's happening.
07:56He writes it years later.
07:57The Christian community knew who this Cornelius was.
07:59So he names him.
08:00Doesn't say just a certain centurion.
08:03He names him.
08:04They knew who he was.
08:05He commanded 100 soldiers.
08:07Typically, that's about the 100 soldiers.
08:08He was a non-commissioned officer.
08:10So be like a sergeant major over a company.
08:13I guess those in the military can correct me if I'm wrong.
08:16Something like a sergeant major over a company of about 100 people.
08:19A non-commissioned officer.
08:21Always in the New Testament, which is interesting.
08:23All the centurions in the New Testament were looked at favorably.
08:26Everyone we encounter in the Gospels have a favorable result.
08:29None of them are negative.
08:30It's interesting.
08:33So they went to Caesarea.
08:34Here's some pictures of Caesarea that Teresa and I took while we were there in Caesarea.
08:38The top one is called the Hippodrome.
08:40That's where they did chariot races.
08:42It's quite large.
08:42It's hard to see.
08:43But you can imagine running chariots around that circle right there, oblong circle.
08:47And down below is the seaport that Herod the Great built.
08:51Herod the Great was a wicked man.
08:53Yet at the same time, he brought prosperity to the nation because he opened up trade through
08:58this seaport right here.
08:59So a wicked man, yet he brought prosperity to the nation.
09:02This is the remains of the seaport that he opened up.
09:04So a very important city of that day, highly comprised of Gentiles, not Jews.
09:10There are some Jews there, but mostly Gentiles.
09:12It's the provincial headquarters of the Roman governor at that time.
09:18If Peter is going to learn to come to grips with his own prejudices, Caesarea was a good
09:23place for that to happen.
09:25He's surrounded by a bunch of Gentiles and they're going to play a role in this whole
09:29thing that's going to happen.
09:30Gentiles.
09:31Those people of the nations.
09:33So Luke says he's a generous man.
09:35He's a God-fearing man.
09:37He loves the Jewish people.
09:38He loves God.
09:39He's honored.
09:39So he worshiped God in the financially supported Jewish community.
09:44Some would say, oh, that's because of his piety that God is working.
09:47No, no.
09:48It's because God is working at him that we see any action in Cornelius.
09:52It's not the other way around.
09:53It's not, oh, look how good I am, God.
09:54Now choose me.
09:55No, it's God's looking and saying, I'm working in your life, Cornelius, drawing to me.
09:58And here are the results that we see of him working in Cornelius' life.
10:04Probably not a full proselyte to Judaism.
10:07The last thing that you would have to have is a circumcision.
10:09So he probably wasn't circumcised.
10:11He was what we know as a God-fearer.
10:13You would read it in the New Testament, God-fearer.
10:15So he was a God-fearer.
10:18It's interesting.
10:20It's interesting to note this religious man.
10:23It's interesting to note how religious a person can be and not be saved.
10:30You can have all kinds of religion.
10:31Even what we would say Christianity, you could go to any kind of church.
10:35You could be a very religious person and not saved.
10:39Warren Wiersbe has a good point.
10:40He said,
10:41The difference between Cornelius and many religious people today is this.
10:45He knew that his religious devotion was not sufficient to save him.
10:49Many religious people today are satisfied that their character and good works will get them to heaven.
10:54And they have no concept either of their own sin or of God's grace.
10:58So I'm hoping that's not you today.
11:00That you're a very religious person, but you're not saved.
11:03You've never repented of your sins and accepted Christ alone for salvation.
11:06I hope that you do if you have not yet.
11:09So he's praying at the 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
11:12God spoke to him through an angel.
11:15And my first question was, why didn't the angel preach the gospel to him?
11:18Why is he sending him to Peter?
11:19Why didn't the angel preach the gospel to him?
11:21He would have been certainly much more effective than us human beings.
11:26In fact, I would love if angels were responsible for preaching the gospel.
11:29But you know what?
11:31He didn't choose angels.
11:33He chose you and me to preach the gospel.
11:35He chose us to be the channel through whom the world is going to hear the gospel message.
11:39Not angels.
11:40It's going to be through us, his people, to give people the gospel message about his divine grace.
11:46The mission belongs to believers, not angels.
11:49So angel is not going to preach.
11:50He's just going to give him directions of where he can go and hear the gospel.
11:54I wonder why Philip, maybe Philip had an impact on his, Philip was already on Caesarea.
12:00Remember the evangelist Philip?
12:01He's already there.
12:02Maybe Cornelius has heard him preach.
12:05Not sure.
12:05But God didn't send Philip.
12:07You say, well, why didn't God send Philip?
12:09Philip's already there in Caesarea.
12:10Maybe because of this.
12:12Jesus had promised the keys of the kingdom to Peter in Matthew 16.
12:17Matthew 16, Jesus is speaking to Peter.
12:20I will give you, that's a singular you,
12:22the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
12:25And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
12:27Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
12:29God had given him the keys and he's going to open up the door to the Gentiles,
12:33which we're going to see next week.
12:35So probably that's why Philip is not involved in here.
12:38So he's praying at three o'clock.
12:39Three o'clock, the time of, actually three o'clock is the time Jesus died.
12:44At the ninth hour.
12:46Same time Jesus died.
12:48Mark 15 tells us, and at the ninth hour, the same time Jesus died,
12:51he's praying at the same time, three o'clock in the afternoon.
12:54Jesus cried with a loud voice,
12:55Eloi, Eloi, lama shabachthani,
12:58which means my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
13:00So the same time, the same time frame, three o'clock in the afternoon.
13:06Neither Cornelius nor later we're going to see Peter
13:09took the initiative in this whole thing.
13:12It wasn't that Cornelius said, hey, there's this guy named Peter, go get him.
13:14No, it's God that took the initiative.
13:16Did you notice?
13:17God sends an angel first to Cornelius,
13:19and later the Holy Spirit's going to speak to Peter.
13:21Neither one of them took the initiative.
13:23God took the initiative to get the gospel to Cornelius.
13:25He's the one that's working right here.
13:30The angel told Cornelius that God was aware of his devotion.
13:35Think about that.
13:37God sees our spiritual walk.
13:40He knows where we're at.
13:42He knows our heart's devotion to him.
13:44He's paying attention.
13:45He doesn't know what's going on.
13:49He knows what's going on in a walk.
13:50He knows where our devotion is at.
13:52He sees that.
13:54It's a reminder.
13:55Think about that.
13:56God sees and knows the state of our hearts.
13:59So Cornelius' acts of devotion were like a memorial offering.
14:03The angel says, a memorial before God.
14:06A memorial offering was just a sweet-smelling savor to God
14:11that pleased him to remember things.
14:14Paul talked about this, the same idea as a sacrifice being a sweet-smelling,
14:17I can't even say it, sweet-smelling savor.
14:21Three S's right in a row.
14:22That's a tough one.
14:24Philippians 4.18.
14:26I have received full payment and more.
14:29I am well-supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent,
14:33a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
14:38A memorial offering.
14:39God remembers it.
14:40He sees it.
14:40He pays attention.
14:41He understands.
14:44At this point, Cornelius doesn't know what God has in store.
14:47He doesn't know why he's supposed to send for Peter.
14:49All he knows is, go get Peter.
14:51That's all the information he has.
14:53We know later what happens.
14:55He doesn't.
14:55He doesn't know what's going to happen at this point.
14:58So Cornelius chooses his trusted servant,
15:00probably one who's a God-fearer, his orderly,
15:02sends him off to Joppa.
15:04Now Joppa is about 30 miles south of Caesarea.
15:09This, they think, is actually the house of Simon the Tanner.
15:14Teresa and I took these pictures when we were there,
15:16and Joppa now today was Joppa.
15:18If that's truly the house, up above on the roof is where Peter's at,
15:22and we'll see in the next section.
15:23That's where he's praying, up on the roof.
15:25So this could be in Joppa, that very place, the house of Simon the Tanner.
15:29Okay, so now the story switches to Peter.
15:34Look at verse number 9.
15:37The next day, so his men took off, Cornelius' men took off right immediately after 3 o'clock.
15:42The next day, as they were on their journey,
15:45so they're getting close to Joppa, approaching the city,
15:48Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour, noon, to pray.
15:53So he's up in that, maybe up on that, if that's the same house,
15:55up on that housetop up there.
15:56And he became hungry and wanted something to eat.
16:00But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.
16:03So they're downstairs, busying themselves in the kitchen,
16:06getting everything ready to eat.
16:07He falls into a trance.
16:09And he saw the heavens open, and something like a great sheet,
16:14like the big sail of a ship,
16:16descending or being let down by its four corners upon the earth.
16:20And inside this sheet, this sail,
16:22were all kinds of animals, and reptiles, and birds of the air.
16:27So a representation of all of creation, basically.
16:30And there came a voice, while he's watching this scene descend down,
16:33it comes a voice to him that says,
16:35Rise, Peter, kill and eat.
16:38So he's looking up there inside this big sheet full of all kinds of animals
16:42that in the eyes of the Jews, some would be clean,
16:45and some would be unclean.
16:47Because all the representation of the animals on the earth,
16:49some would be clean, and some would be unclean.
16:51So he sees that.
16:52He sees that up there.
16:53And he says, Rise, Peter, kill and eat.
16:56And Peter's response is this.
16:58By no means.
17:00No means, Lord.
17:02For I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.
17:05I am zealous for you, God.
17:08I would never do anything that you ask me not to do.
17:11I love you so much.
17:12I am so zealous for you, God.
17:15And God's about ready to drop some information on Peter.
17:18Give him some knowledge that Peter does not know at this time.
17:23And the voice came to him again a second time.
17:26What God has made clean, do not call common.
17:30This happened three times.
17:32And the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
17:34So three times it comes down.
17:36Three times he apparently hears the voice.
17:38Rise, Peter, kill and eat.
17:39No way, God.
17:41I'm zealous for you.
17:42I would never eat anything unclean.
17:44Never.
17:44I would never do that.
17:45Verse 17.
17:48Now, while Peter was innerly perplexed.
17:50Remember, he doesn't know what's happening here.
17:53He doesn't know what's coming.
17:55He's innerly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean.
18:00What is this?
18:01I know there's clean.
18:02I know there's unclean.
18:03I know I'm not supposed to eat unclean animals.
18:05Why is God telling me to rise, kill and eat of things that were unclean?
18:11What might it mean?
18:12And behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood
18:17at the gate.
18:18So he's perplexed.
18:19He's pondering.
18:19He's puzzled.
18:20The men come and they're at the gate.
18:22They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was lodging there.
18:26And while Peter was pondering the vision, he's thinking, okay, three people at the door.
18:30I don't know who they are.
18:31They're coming to get me.
18:32Is it bad?
18:32Is it good?
18:33While he's pondering the vision, the spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for
18:39you, rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation.
18:43Key phrase, without hesitation.
18:46For I have sent them.
18:48And Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you are looking for.
18:52What is the reason for your coming?
18:54And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man who is well spoken
18:59of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to
19:04his house, a Gentile, and to hear what you have to say.
19:11So he invited them, the other Gentiles, and to be his guests.
19:18This is puzzling to Peter.
19:21He doesn't have the rest of the chapter.
19:23He doesn't know where it's leading to.
19:25We know where it's leading to.
19:26We understand it's leading to the idea that both Jews and Gentiles are going to comprise
19:31what we call the people of God, the church today.
19:34Not just the Jewish nation, but Jews and Gentiles together.
19:37He doesn't understand that.
19:38In a Jewish mind, the Gentiles are unclean.
19:41They're not fit to be around.
19:43We would never want them to be part of the people of God.
19:46So this whole thing is perplexing to him.
19:48He doesn't understand it.
19:50So he's up there, noontime, not a typical mealtime.
19:54You have a late morning and a late afternoon meal, noon, so he's hungry.
19:58He's a typical guy.
19:59He's hungry.
20:00He always wants something to eat.
20:01So he's waiting, but he falls into this trench, this vision.
20:04He sees it.
20:05He sees the sheet, all these animals, all these things.
20:09And even if there would have been clean animals in the sheet, so you got clean and unclean
20:13together in the sheet, the problem is this.
20:16If an unclean something touches a clean something, the clean something becomes unclean, therefore
20:21making all of the animals in that sheet unclean, even if there would have been clean ones in
20:25there.
20:25So he says, I would never eat anything unclean.
20:28My zeal for you, God, is so great, I would never, ever do that.
20:32Never.
20:33This is how the Jews felt about fellowshipping with Gentiles.
20:36Just the contact with unclean Gentiles would contaminate clean Jews.
20:41Jews, that's how they viewed the Gentiles.
20:43Most of us in here are Gentiles.
20:45That's how we would be viewed.
20:46We would be unclean in the eyes of a Jewish person.
20:48Why?
20:49Because we don't follow the ceremonial regulations or the dietary regulations.
20:52We're unclean.
20:56Those laws, those I just mentioned, ceremonial and dietary regulations, these laws concerning
21:02clean and unclean are linked to Israel's separation from the surrounding nations.
21:07These things mark them out as the people of God.
21:10Other nations had circumcision.
21:12So circumcision wasn't necessarily one thing that marked them out as the people of God.
21:16But their ceremonial regulations and their dietary regulations marked them out as the
21:20people of God.
21:21The surrounding nations would know you were a Jew by what you ate or did not eat.
21:26That marked them, distinguished them from the surrounding nations.
21:29That marked out the people of God.
21:32Leviticus 20.
21:33But I have to say to you, you shall inherit their land and I will give it to you to possess
21:40a land flowing with milk and honey.
21:42I am the Lord your God who has separated you from the peoples.
21:46I've distinguished you from among the peoples.
21:49You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean and the unclean bird from the
21:54clean.
21:54You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or anything with which the
22:00ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.
22:04You shall be holy to me for I, the Lord, am holy and have separated you from among the
22:08peoples that you should be mine.
22:10And Peter's going, yes, I understand that.
22:13I'm not supposed to eat unclean things.
22:15I get it.
22:15I would never.
22:16I would never.
22:17It was a cherished belief of Peter.
22:19I would never eat anything unclean.
22:21Never.
22:23This is what distinguished the people of God.
22:26Yet God is doing something new in those days.
22:30He's raising up another people, not the nation of Israel, but Jews and Gentiles together in
22:36one body we call the church.
22:38He's raising up the church as a new people of God.
22:40He's not done with Israel, but he's raising up something brand new.
22:44And Peter doesn't understand what's going on yet.
22:47He doesn't get it.
22:48So he goes, no, Lord, no, I will never do that.
22:53No.
22:53And no, Lord, do not go together in the same sentence.
22:56Think about it.
22:57If he's Lord, you don't tell him no.
23:00If he's not Lord, then you tell him no.
23:01They just don't go together in the same sentence.
23:03But think from his point of view.
23:05You're right.
23:06I would never eat anything unclean, God.
23:08I would never do that.
23:10No, Lord, I can't do that.
23:11My zeal for you is so great.
23:12I would never eat anything unclean.
23:14I love you and I want to honor you.
23:15You gave me commands not to eat anything unclean.
23:18I won't do it.
23:21And just like Peter denied Jesus three times, he refuses to obey three times.
23:26Peter and threes are often, right?
23:28See him often with threes.
23:30So Peter had a zeal for the Lord.
23:32He would never violate God's commands.
23:35We have to stop and realize how serious this was for Peter.
23:39This was really serious.
23:40He would never.
23:41He loved God.
23:43He would never violate God's law.
23:45Never.
23:47He abhorred the thought of disobeying God's commands.
23:50He has a zeal for God, but without knowledge.
23:54God is trying to give him new knowledge.
23:56He doesn't know this information.
23:57Now he's going to have this cherished belief.
23:59He's going to have to look at the word of God and the knowledge given to him and say,
24:02do I hold my cherished belief or do I go along with what God is telling me to do,
24:06what he said?
24:07And it's not really bad for, not as bad for a Gentile to enter the house of a Jew and eat
24:14with them because you can control the food and make sure it's kosher.
24:19On the other hand, for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile and eat with them, this could
24:22cause ceremonial defilement.
24:25I would be unclean.
24:26That's how they thought.
24:28God broke through Peter's prejudice for he had a zeal without knowledge.
24:33Paul talks about the Jews in Romans 10, this exact same thing.
24:37He said this, for I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according
24:42to knowledge.
24:44That's why they think that to kill a Christian is honoring God because they don't have the
24:49knowledge that Jesus is the Messiah, the one promised by the prophets.
24:53They've disregarded that knowledge.
24:55They've not conformed to the knowledge that God has given them.
24:58They have a zeal, but no knowledge.
24:59So he was zealous under no circumstances would he violate God's command regarding dietary
25:05regulations.
25:06Now, here's where my opening illustration breaks down.
25:10There's nothing in the Bible that commands us only to use pianos and organs in worship.
25:16In this case, there was a direct command of God what a Jew should and should not eat.
25:21That's where my illustration breaks down from the beginning.
25:23In Peter's case, God had commanded him in the Old Testament what was acceptable dietary
25:30regulations for his people.
25:32He understood that.
25:33What he didn't understand is God is doing something new with Jews and Gentiles and bringing them
25:37together in one body.
25:38There's going to be a new distinguishing mark on them, and it's not going to be ceremonial
25:42or dietary regulations.
25:44It will be something different.
25:45He doesn't get that yet.
25:46In Mark chapter 7, Jesus is teaching about what is clean and what is unclean, and then
25:54immediately he ministers to a Gentile.
25:57And this is interesting because God has given him information about clean and unclean, and
26:01immediately Peter's going to go minister to a Gentile.
26:04It's very similar to this right here in Mark 7.
26:06Mark 7 says this,
26:07Now, Peter is the source of Mark's gospel.
26:30So when Mark writes it, Peter has got this point down.
26:33He gets it now.
26:35Right now, he's not getting it.
26:36He gets it later.
26:37Mark gets that information.
26:39So Jesus said all foods are clean, all clean, as long as we offer them with prayer and thanksgiving.
26:45And God says to him, listen, what I've made clean, don't call common.
26:49What I have made clean, what I, my actions have made a person clean.
26:53And the made clean simply means declared, ritually accepted, pronounced ceremonial clean.
26:59What I say is clean, is clean.
27:01Don't call it common.
27:02That verb actually, to make clean, made clean, is used in the Old Testament, the Greek translation
27:10of the Old Testament called the Septuagint.
27:12And it's used of a person who's cleansed from impurity and restored to a purified state.
27:17That's how it's used in the Old Testament, Leviticus 14.
27:19And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe
27:27himself in water and he shall be clean.
27:29That's the word.
27:31Restored.
27:32He was impure, now he's restored.
27:34And after that, he may come into the camp but live outside his tent seven days.
27:37So a restoration has taken place as something that was impure.
27:40That's how it's used in the Old Testament.
27:42So when God comes along and says, I have made this person ceremonial clean, in this case,
27:47by the blood of his son, Jesus Christ, born again into a living hope, don't you call common?
27:55Don't you regard it as something that's morally impure or ritually impure?
28:00I have made it clean.
28:02Don't call it common any longer.
28:06In other words, stop doing what you've already been doing.
28:09It's written in that tense.
28:10Do not call unclean.
28:12In other words, you're doing it right now.
28:13Stop it.
28:14What I make clean, don't call unclean.
28:17So Peter was zealous and under no circumstances would he violate God's commands regarding dietary
28:21regulations.
28:22Yet God is giving him more knowledge.
28:25And he has to take this cherished belief and say, okay, we're not talking about the nation
28:28of Israel, these laws given to them.
28:30We're talking about the church of God, that's Jews and Gentiles, completely different than the
28:33nation of Israel, two separate entities.
28:36That's not given to the church.
28:38It's given to Israel but not the church.
28:39He doesn't get it yet.
28:41So he's given him knowledge to guide his zeal, to bring it into order, to govern it.
28:47Basically what God is trying to say to Peter was this, that the distinguishing marks of the
28:52people of the old covenant were your ceremonial laws and your dietary regulations.
28:57That marked you out as a distinguishing people of God from their surrounding nations.
29:03These marked out the people of God as belonging to Yahweh.
29:07James Dunn wrote, the specific disagreements actually in the church of Rome regarding diet
29:13and days were particular expressions of the larger issues of how Gentiles were to be regarded
29:18as heirs of the covenant and how this strange new hybrid community, that's Jews and Gentiles,
29:23was to understand and identify itself.
29:26How is the church going to identify itself?
29:28What's the distinguishing marks of the church?
29:30Israel had distinguishing marks.
29:31What are the distinguishing marks of the church?
29:34God is trying to get Peter to understand that he was forming a new people comprised of both
29:39Jews and Gentiles, the church who by faith have entered into the new covenant ratified by the
29:45blood of his son Jesus Christ.
29:46Something new, Peter, I'm doing here.
29:50And the distinguishing mark of this new people will not be ceremonial or dietary regulations.
29:56That is not our distinguishing mark.
29:59The distinguishing mark of the people of God, both Jews and Gentiles, the church, is the inward
30:04holiness produced by the presence of the Holy Spirit who has indwelt us, baptized us, and sealed
30:10us into their redemption.
30:12The promise of the new covenant was, I will put a new heart in them.
30:17I will write my laws on their heart.
30:20I will give them my spirit.
30:22That's the distinguishing mark of the people of God today.
30:25We, the church, Jews and Gentiles, that's the indwelling Holy Spirit that distinguishes us from the rest of
30:31humanity.
30:33This now marks out the people of God as the new covenant.
30:37God has not placed ceremonial or dietary regulations on the church with the exception there
30:42is an exception in Acts 15, two things, don't eat stuff that has blood in it, and anything that's
30:47strangled.
30:48So there are some, there are some things we need to pay attention to, but dietary regulations were not given
30:52to the church.
30:56It was a major problem for Jews in those days to sit at a table with a Gentile.
31:01We don't understand that because we have no concept of that, but for a Jew to sit with a Gentile
31:04is, it is unbelievable.
31:07It's a major problem in the early church.
31:09In fact, when we get to chapter 11 in a couple of weeks, we're going to see how people responded
31:14to Peter.
31:14Look, 11 verses 1 through 3.
31:17Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received
31:23the word of God.
31:24That's with Cornelius.
31:25That was 10.
31:26So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised party, in other words, Jewish people who are
31:31believers, criticized him saying, you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.
31:37Do you see the prejudice that's there?
31:41How dare you eat with a Gentile unclean?
31:43You're going to be ceremonial unclean.
31:45And Peter's going, listen, you don't understand.
31:48God is saving Gentiles just like he's saving us Jews by faith alone in the Messiah, Jesus
31:53Christ.
31:53Stop it with this stuff.
31:56What God has made clean, you stop calling uncommon or you stop calling common.
32:02Lawrence Richards gives us an idea.
32:04The idea that a Gentile could have a direct relationship to God without, in fact, first
32:10becoming a Jew was not only foreign in first century Judaism, but it was also repugnant.
32:17Oh yeah, they got to become a full Jew before God will accept them.
32:19And God's going, no, repentance and faith in my son, Jesus Christ, you're accepted in my
32:25sight.
32:26Not dietary restrictions, not ceremonial laws.
32:29No, by faith alone in the Messiah, you're welcome to my sight.
32:35Text says here, go with them.
32:37The Spirit says, without hesitation.
32:39I told you I would come back to that.
32:40Without hesitation.
32:42It simply means this.
32:43Without hesitation means making no distinction.
32:49I'm distinguishing people one from another.
32:51No, you go with them without making a distinction.
32:54Don't make it, don't say, oh, those Gentiles.
32:56No, don't make any distinction.
32:58You go with them, and that's the Spirit telling them that.
33:01In fact, it's mentioned again in chapter 11.
33:04Chapter 11 says, and the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction.
33:09They're Gentiles, but the Spirit's telling them to go with the Gentiles.
33:14These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.
33:19That's repugnant to a first century Jew.
33:20Even believers in the first century, how dare you go into the house of an uncircumcised person?
33:25No, God is calling out a people for himself.
33:29What he's made clean, don't call common.
33:31Don't call unclean.
33:34Yet, remember, he doesn't know what's going to happen here.
33:37He doesn't know yet.
33:38We know.
33:39He doesn't know.
33:41Peter is still puzzled at the thought of the nullification of the food laws for the church.
33:46So the Holy Spirit steps in to help him.
33:49He doesn't understand.
33:50He thinks that's been the distinguishing mark of the people of God in the past.
33:53That's no longer the distinguishing mark of the people of God now.
33:56It's different.
33:59Angels spoke to Cornelius.
34:01The Holy Spirit spoke to Peter.
34:03Now, you can remember the persecution under Saul.
34:06Three guys show up your door.
34:08We don't know what they want.
34:10I'm sure Peter was a little bit apprehensive.
34:12The Spirit says, go with them without making distinction.
34:14So he goes with them.
34:15Servants of Cornelius said, this is a guy who loves God.
34:21Has God led him here?
34:22Please respond.
34:25So Peter's understanding, okay, I've got to go talk to this Gentile.
34:28I've got to go witness to this guy.
34:29I know what people are going to say about me.
34:32My cherished belief was, yeah, you know, I would never go to another Gentile
34:35because he would make me unclean.
34:37And the evidence that Peter was beginning to understand what God was doing,
34:43he invited the Gentiles to come into Simon the Tanner's house and fellowship with them.
34:49That's unheard of for a Jew.
34:51He's beginning to understand that God is working.
34:53He's slowly changing Peter to understand what God has made clean.
34:58Don't call common.
34:59He was having fellowship with the Gentiles, whom he had formerly considered unclean.
35:09This cherished belief that was a true godly word to the Jews in the Old Testament,
35:14God is now saying, I'm doing something new.
35:17And here's some new knowledge, Peter.
35:18You're going to need to adjust your thinking to my word.
35:22Abide by my word.
35:24We're not putting these distinctions on the church.
35:26Those were distinctions for the Jews, for Israel, not for the church.
35:32So he's moving them slowly from Jewish legalism to understanding his marvelous grace.
35:38A couple of steps.
35:40Step one, he resided with the Tanner, who was an unclean person himself.
35:45He worked with urine.
35:46He worked with dead animals of dead, skins of dead animals.
35:49He was an unclean person himself.
35:51So Peter stays with him.
35:52That's the first step.
35:53Step two is he invites the Gentiles to come into his house and eat.
35:56That's step two.
35:57That's good.
35:58Step three, we're going to see next week, he actually goes inside a Gentile home himself.
36:04See what God's doing?
36:05He's taking this cherished belief that he had and he's giving him more knowledge so that
36:09his zeal can be according to knowledge and not just randomly burning itself up in a zeal.
36:18God has given us his word.
36:20He's giving us the knowledge we need to govern our desire to serve him with all of our heart.
36:28If we want to honor God with our life, to be fully committed to his will, we have to
36:33know what his word says.
36:36Also, and here's the hard part, we must be willing to take a cherished belief that we thought
36:42was right all along and when we come to the word of God, he shows us that it is not, we
36:47have to be willing to change the way we see that.
36:50That's hard.
36:52That's hard.
36:54It's hard for Peter.
36:55It's hard for us.
36:57So we need to conform our lives to the word, not some cherished belief that we pick up along
37:02the way that has nothing to do with the word of God.
37:05We must let this govern our lives.
37:08Let's pray.
37:08Father, thank you.
37:09Thank you for Peter and what he's going through.
37:12It is, I'm sure it's tearing him up.
37:14He does not understand what's happening here.
37:16All his life, he's felt the Gentiles were unclean, that he would never make himself unclean
37:21by going to a Gentile.
37:22It's just the concept is foreign to him.
37:24He doesn't get it.
37:26And I thank you that you gave him more knowledge, Father.
37:28You gave him more information so that he can take his zeal and work it with knowledge and
37:33then honor you with his life by doing what you want him to do.
37:37Not what he thought he was supposed to do, but what you want him to do.
37:40And I pray for us, Father, as well.
37:42I pray for us that there are times we have cherished beliefs that we pick up along the
37:46way somewhere.
37:47Somebody told us that we trusted, but then we come to your word and we find out that's
37:51not true.
37:52Give us the courage and the boldness to say, no, I'm going to pattern my life according
37:58to your word, Father, and not according to some cherished belief I picked up along the
38:03way.
38:03So help me, Father, please, to conform my life to your word.
38:08All of us feel that way.
38:09We want to do what you want us to do.
38:11We want zeal with knowledge.
38:13We thank you.
38:14We pray in Jesus' name.
38:15Amen.
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