Peter Visits Cornelius

[00:00:00] All right, let's go back to Acts chapter number ten. Pick up where we left off in verse number nine here. This evening. We'll read verse nine through verse number 33. [00:00:12] And what I would like to do tonight is basically kind of do a slow kind of stroll through some of these details. These details s will be important later. Of course. They're all important. I'm not saying they're not all important, obviously, but they will be important later as we get into chapter eleven with a message I hope to bring to you that incorporates a lot of the details. [00:00:42] But right now I just want to kind of COVID some of these details and some of the things they teach us kind of on the way through the story of Peter and Cornelius. So we're going to be in acts ten, verse number nine through verse number 33. The Bible says this. So just as. Just a pause here. Now, we know we've already read verses one through eight this morning, and we kind of know the story of Cornelius as far as who he is. We know his person, we know kind of where he is in life. And the storyline, because we skipped, of course, to verse number 34 through the end of the chapter. So it's just this middle section we want to look at and kind of pick it up here. Verse nine. On the morrow, as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, this is the servants of Cornelius going to find Peter. Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the 6th hour. So it's about noon. All right, so the housetop is a flat. [00:01:47] The houses in Israel at this time were flat on the top, and it provided a place where you could go out and you could be alone. Verse ten. And he became very hungry and would have eaten. But while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of forfeited beasts of the earth, and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. [00:02:27] But Peter said, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, what God hath cleansed that call not thou common? This was done thrice, and the vessel was received up again into heaven. Now, while Peter doubted in himself what vision, what this vision which he had seen should mean. Behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate and called and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the spirit said unto him, behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius. Now remember, at this moment Peter has no idea who is at the gate. Right. So God tells him, before he ever knows who's there. No hint at all. God tells him, I have sent them. All right. [00:03:39] Verse 21. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius and said, behold, I am he whom ye seek. What is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius the Centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God and of good report among all the nations of the Jews was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house and to hear words of thee. Then called he them in and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them. And certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the morrow after, they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them and had gathered together his kinsmen and near friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, stand up. I myself also am a man. [00:04:33] And as he talked with him, he went in and found many that were come together. And he said unto them, ye know how that 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. Therefore came I unto you without gain, saying, as soon as I was sent for, I ask, therefore for what intent ye have sent for me. And Cornelius said, four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and at the 9th hour I prayed in mine in my house. And behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, just as a note. Angels are always in the Bible, always ten out of ten times, always represented as men in the Bible. Not long haired people with wings. It's just an interesting fact. [00:05:28] But Cornelius refers to him as a man stood before him in bright clothing. And verse number 31, and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. He is lodged in the house of one Simon, a tanner by the seaside, who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee immediately. Therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now, therefore, we are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. [00:06:05] Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity to once again meet together. I pray, please, Lord, please give your people the spiritual strength and meat and sustenance that they need to sustain them as we look in your word. I pray that, Lord, that our needs would be met and that our focus would be drawn to you and to what you are doing to your truth, to the Gospel. I pray that you would help us to glean and receive instruction, and we would be better honed in the doctrine of the Lord, even as we look at this story of Peter and Cornelius. Thank you for your church here, Lord, thank you for the peoples, people in whose hearts you work on a daily basis to keep them close to you, to help them to grow. Lord, please continue that work in your church here at choice hills and bless our time tonight. And, Lord, I pray this time would be edifying and profitable in Jesus name. Amen. [00:07:07] Now, what's interesting is about Cornelius, of course, as we learned this morning, he was a centurion. [00:07:13] And I thought about how many times in the Bible that someone in the military is mentioned. You ever thought about that? How many times someone that was in the military is mentioned? You have several instances in the life of Christ in which a centurion, which is a leader, that'd be equivalent to, like, a platoon leader, a platoon leader. In our current military, it's how many times the number of times a centurion is mentioned. And of course, there were Roman soldiers and a Centurion present at the cross. And then, of course, you have Peter and Cornelius. The Centurion is commended for his faith. And I thought, you know, what a connection our Lord has. And then, of course, Christianity then has with the military. Even the very Ephesians, Chapter six, with the whole armor of God, right? That is something Paul used, borrowed to describe the Christian and his warfare over and over and over. The Bible refers to the warfare of a Christian in that kind of terminology. And I thought how fitting it is with military ministries. On Wednesday, we read the letter from the. [00:08:25] It just flew out of my head. The ropers. Thank you. Who are in Sicily working with the US military, and there's a strong biblical connection between those in the military. [00:08:38] Our former pastor was saved in the military. He was a centurion. Well, we're not going to give him that honor. He was a soldier. And we'll just say he's a soldier? No, but he was saved in the military. And I thought that connection. That's just an interesting, I guess, trivia connection. But the connection between the military and Christianity is something that's. For a long time, did you know that Christians believed that it was actually morally wrong and against the scripture for them to be a part of the military, to join the military? They thought it was wrong. Now, don't get confused. I was in the military. A number of you were in the military. There's not some special, like, God doesn't think you're special because you serve your country in the military. It's not like you're somehow closer to God because of that, of course. [00:09:26] But as far as that goes, there's nowhere in the Scripture that forbids it. And in fact, rather, you see people who are in the military who God, the Lord works in their life and the Lord saves them, and he uses their military service. [00:09:41] So that's an interesting thing again, on our way as we go to verse number six. Look at verse number six, what you have in verse number six. Of course, this is when Cornelius is talking about what the angel said to him or what the Scripture says the angel said to him. He says, peter, he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Look at chapter ten, verse 22. This occurs three other times. In other words, the words of the angel telling Peter, I'm sorry, telling Cornelius what Peter is going to say to him. Verse number 22. And they said, cornelius, a centurion, a just man and one that feareth God and of good report among the Jews, nation of the Jews was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house and to hear words of thee. [00:10:33] Then you drop down to verse number 32. We read it. It says, send therefore to Joppa and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter. This is now Cornelius recounting what the angel had said to him to Peter. He is lodged in the house of one Simon, a tanner by the seaside, who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. And then verse eleven, chapter eleven. Rather, verse 14 says, this, peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. So in each case in which the angel's words were mentioned, in ten, it says, he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. It says, he shall speak words unto thee. [00:11:21] In verse 32, it says, he shall speak unto thee. And then in chapter eleven, verse 14, it says, he shall speak words whereby all thou and all thy house shall be saved. Now, this is what's interesting, is why didn't the angel just say the words? [00:11:41] Why go through the whole process of sending for Peter? Why was that necessary? [00:11:48] The angel could have just sat there and said, hey, Listen, I'm an angel. I came from God. This is what God says. Jesus has died for you. He's risen from the dead, and you need to trust in him. [00:12:02] That would have been a lot easier, right? I mean, the shortest thing between two points is a straight line. Right? The shortest distance. There we go. [00:12:13] But the Lord did not do that, because there is a principle in Scripture. There's a principle in Scripture. Here's almost always the way this works, if you follow it. The principle in Scripture is that God speaks to his people, and then he tells his people to speak to other people. [00:12:30] Those people to whom God speaks are the prophets, right? Those people are the Paul's, the Peters, the Isaiahs, the Jeremiah's, the Ezekiels, the Moses. God speaks to them directly, and that's where we have the Scripture, right? And so God speaks to them. They have the word of God, and then he tells them to tell other people. It's almost like the principle is the Lord wants his word to pass through a human Intermediary to get to the final destination, and he chooses to do it like that because the Bible. Well, first of all, one Corinthians says that he has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Preaching is not done by angels. It's done by humans. Faulty, frail, broken humans. That's the way God has chosen to do it. That's his chosen method. And that preaching in one Corinthians chapter one is not what I'm doing here. That is a reference to the proclamation of the Gospel. In other words, the Lord has chosen to use broken people to tell broken people his message. [00:13:41] That is the only way it gets done. That's the only way it gets done. [00:13:46] We don't know the reasons exactly, but one of the reasons in one Corinthians is to humble the pride of man. [00:13:55] All these people nowadays, you see this pride because you see people who claim to have visions from God, direct messages from God that are extra scriptural, right? They have a special line. They have a red telephone, right, with God. [00:14:11] And you know what? They don't need to hear what anybody says that God says. They got it directly from God. And God says, no, you can't come to me like that. [00:14:20] I will send who I choose to send to you. And you're going to have to humble yourself to understand that the person that's bringing you is a sinner just like you. [00:14:28] And that's exactly. And the Lord does it over and over and over, even when there's a shorter distance to get the job done. He will not send the angels. He has chosen his people to bear that message. That is our duty. That is our duty. So let's look down at verse number. [00:14:52] Let's see verse four. [00:14:59] Before I do that, let me ask you a question. [00:15:04] Please don't raise your hand, but just kind of follow along. All right? [00:15:08] How many of you think that God does not hear the prayer of sinners? [00:15:15] How many of you think that God does hear the prayer of sinners? [00:15:21] How many of you think you don't know the answer to the question because you think it's a trick question? [00:15:27] Right? [00:15:28] Hold your place here. Look at John, chapter nine. [00:15:32] Look at John, chapter nine. [00:15:42] Make a few points on this. [00:15:46] Some people quibble and argue over something so silly like this. But verse 31. This is why you got to read your Bible. I say read it carefully, but you got to read the Bible in its context. And you have to follow and use your skill and your 8th grade English skills to make sure you understand the grammar and can follow the story. Reading comprehension, it's very important when you read the Scripture, verse 31. Let's just read it, all right? We're not looking at anything else. So I'm breaking my own law, okay? [00:16:20] Now, we know that God heareth not sinners. [00:16:24] All right? So let me ask you a question. Do you believe that God hears the prayers of sinners? Now, if you were to just look at that one verse that seems pretty obvious. It's very plain spoken, right? [00:16:37] All right. But it says, but if any man be a worshiper of God and doeth his will, him he heareth. [00:16:43] Now, there's a context to that, and this is in the story of the blind man that Jesus healed. And in verse number 27, the blind man is speaking. He said, I have told you alreAdy, and ye did not hear. Wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples? Verse 28. They reviled him. That's the Pharisees. [00:17:05] And said, thou art his disciple. But we are Moses disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses. As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. The man answered and said unto them, why, herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is. And yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now, we know that God heareth not sinners. But if any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will, him he heareth. [00:17:30] And then in verse 33, if this man were not of God, he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him, thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast them out. [00:17:40] So here's what you have in this. This is an often quoted verse to say that God doesn't hear the prayer of people that aren't believers, because it says, God heareth not sinners. Now, remember, when you look at the Bible, every statement. I'm going to say something is super radical, okay? Every statement of the Bible is not necessarily true, but every statement of the Bible accurately represents what it is stating. [00:18:09] The Bible does quote the devil even though he's lying, right? Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden? He said, ye shall not surely die. Now would they die? Yes. That statement is not true because the devil said it, obviously. But the Lord's account of that statement is. That's an important point, because this is why you can't just cherry pick Bible verses and say, well, see, the Bible says this. [00:18:39] This blind man is making a statement. But as to whether this statement is actually doctrinally correct is another question. This is just part of the narrative. Okay? He might be right and he might be wrong, especially when you look at the friends of Job. Job is a minefield. If you read the Book of Job, be very careful, because Job is a minefield. Because sometimes what his three friends say sounds right, and sometimes it is right, and sometimes it's right, but it's Misapplied. And so you read it, and it's an account of all the true sayings of his friends, but how they apply and when they're true and they're half truth and stuff like that. The Lord clarifies some of that at the end. But that's why you have to be careful about that. You read the Bible, the Scripture in the context. Now, about this matter of does God hear the prayer of unbelievers? We say sinners. [00:19:35] We say sinners. Right. [00:19:38] Now, the first thing I want you to see about this is that. And this is clear. Look at. Go back to acts, chapter ten. We're already there. Look at verse 31. [00:19:50] Now, we've already established Cornelius is not a believer. He hasn't even heard the Gospel at this point. Literally, he knows nothing of the Gospel at this moment. He is not a believer. [00:20:01] Yet, in verse 31, the Bible says very plainly, thy prayer is heard. [00:20:11] Does God hear the prayer of sinners? [00:20:17] I can't speak for every 7 billion sinners on the face of the earth. But he did it once, at least right here. So, yes, God does. At least in this example, he does hear the prayer of sinners. Here's the thing. Number two. If God did not hear the prayer of sinners, now we say sinners. We're referring to people that have sinned. All right? [00:20:38] There's another way you can view that. But if God did not hear the prayer of sinners, then how could a sinner cry out to God for salvation? [00:20:47] Because at the moment, he calls upon the name of the Lord. He's calling out for salvation as a sinner. So if God was like, I don't hear sinners. I mean, it'd be kind of hard for the Lord to hear him and respond. [00:20:59] So for that reason, we know that God does hear sinners, at least in that sense. [00:21:05] But here's the thing we also have to remember. [00:21:07] There are times in which God does not hear the prayer of a believer. Right? [00:21:14] The Bible says that. So it's not like God hears the prayer. God hears the prayers of believers, all prayers of believers, and God never hears the prayers of sinners. False. There are times when God refuses to hear the prayer of a believer. If I regard iniquity in my heart, 60 Psalm 60 618. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. That means to esteem or have regard for. To show consideration for iniquity in my heart. Lord says, God will not hear me, even though he's a believer. And the last thing is this. [00:21:50] There is another way we can view it. [00:21:53] Proverbs 28, verse nine. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law. We're not talking about sin or saint, just speaking generally. He that turneth away his ear from the hearing the law, even his prayer, shall be abomination. [00:22:10] That's pretty clear, right? [00:22:12] So what's the answer to this question? The answer is yes, inasmuch as God is omniscient and God sees all, knows all, and hears all, he hears the prayer of a sinner, and sometimes he even answers. [00:22:30] He did, Cornelius. He says, thy prayers are heard. And he responded, how many soldiers have been fighting in combat thinking they were about to imminently be blown to bits by some grenade or some artillery shell, crying out to God to save them, crying out to God to preserve their life? And sometimes God does. [00:22:57] So this idea, I think what this comes from, this idea that God doesn't hear sinners, God doesn't hear people that aren't believers. I think it's kind of us and them kind of mentality. Now, we know, as a believer in Christ, we know that we have special access by Christ. God is our Father. [00:23:14] But I mean, even if it wasn't your child, say you're in like, an amusement park and your children are safely by your side. But then you heard someone who wasn't your child cry out. Would you not respond much more, the Lord to his creation, who's crying out to him? Now, we know God desires. His ultimate goal is that they come to Christ. [00:23:39] But sometimes I've heard people say silly things like, God doesn't hear sinners, and he absolutely does. [00:23:45] That's the only kind there is, right? That's the only kind. Even we are sinners who are made saints by God's grace. Now, let's keep reading. Verse number. [00:23:58] Verse number nine. [00:24:00] Well, let's skip down just for time. Verse number twelve. Verse number eleven and Twelve. Describe this sheet, knit at the Four Corners. You think one author I read. So it was like a tarp, a tarpoline. Nobody ever says that, right, but it's like a sheet. So you have four grommets in each corner, right? Kind of like this banner back here? Yeah, it has grommets. And it was tied up in the Four Corners. So you can imagine it kind of coming down out of heaven. The strings are going up to heaven, I guess. And inside this sheet? [00:24:31] Inside this sheet, the Bible says there were all manner of forfeited beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the earth. So everything that humankind might eat. Okay, now, there's no distinction in this sheet between the clean animals and the unclean animals, the cloven hooves, the ones that you cut and all that. We all know those dietary laws in the Old Testament. No distinction at all. They were clean and unclean in this sheet. [00:24:59] But for the Lord to tell Peter to rise and eat, this is a direct contradiction to the Old Testament law. Listen, this is important. [00:25:10] These are Jews. [00:25:13] They are taught. They have been taught from the law of God that those things are not to be eaten ever, are not to be eaten ever. And for God to speak to Peter and say, eat without making any distinction between clean and unclean, it signifies that the Lord is doing something major to Peter. It sounds like he's contradicting himself. Now, listen, here's why this is important. Now, I know we're kind of getting into the weeds, but we got to have. Sometimes we get into the weeds, right? Right. Else we're not going to learn. How many of you know what a dispensation is? [00:25:53] Nobody dares raise. It's kind of meekly like he's probably going to ask me to define it if I raise my hand. [00:26:00] Dispensation, I think, is such a terrible word because the word doesn't mean anything to us. Dispensation is. It means to give something out, to dispense it. And what they mean by dispensation is a method or a way in which God dispensed with or gave out his grace. That's such a dumb way to put it. All right, this is my opinion, so take it or leave it. But what we mean by dispensation is simply this. God deals with people in different Ways at different times. Done. [00:26:39] And that is whether. And there are people that don't believe in dispensations, and there are people that do believe in dispensations and all that. But here's the thing. [00:26:48] What is absolutely undeniable is this. God does change the way he deals with people. [00:26:55] And this is an example here in the Old Testament, for at least a couple thousand years, at least about 1500 years, from the time of Moses to the time that we're reading here, it had been in the law of God, the law of Moses, that they were not to eat anything that was unclean. And here God himself, through the angel, is saying, eat it. [00:27:22] That means the Lord is changing something. Okay, that marks a dispensation. Does that make sense? [00:27:31] It's not complicated. Well, you read these books and you have these huge charts and all this stuff, the Clarence Larkin charts, y'all have seen that before. And all this stuff. Listen, I think it's a lot simpler than that. Another example, when Adam and Eve sinned, stuff changed, right? The way they lived and interacted with God was different before than it was after the fall. [00:27:57] Before the flood. And after the flood, stuff was different. We're just using a common parlance here. Stuff's different. Well, here, stuff's different. Here the Lord appears to be contradicting himself, but what he's actually doing is he's informing Peter that his way to deal with the GEntiles and the Jews is changing. Now, God's not changing his mind. From a doctrine perspective, all these changes were already coming. They were already on the way, and it has to do with the cross. And we'll see that in just a minute. But to Peter, this is like, whoa, I'm doing wrong. Seems like I'm doing wrong. This is what we mean by dismissation. Hold your place here. Look at Hebrews chapter eight. [00:28:47] Hebrews, chapter eight, verse 19. Verse. I'm sorry. Verse, chapter eight, verse eight. [00:29:01] Now, listen to these words. Don't get bogged down too much in the language because this can be a little bit confusing. HeBRews, eight. Eight. [00:29:11] For finding FaulT with them. That's Israel. He GOD, saIth. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the House of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. NOW, sTop. What covenant is he referring to? When he took Israel out of Egypt and led them by the HAND ouT? What covenant is that referring to? [00:29:42] Somebody help me. [00:29:46] What covenant? Huh? Nobody wants to answer, but everybody knows the answer. [00:29:53] No, this is after Abraham. [00:29:56] Where did they go when they left Egypt and they crossed the Red Sea? Where did they go before that? Who said it? [00:30:04] Sinai. [00:30:05] At Mount Sinai, God gave Moses the law, and in the giving of that law, he made a covenant. Remember, he sprinkled the people with the blood. [00:30:15] That was the inauguration of the Covenant. That was what? That was the Covenant. See, that's what he's talking about. [00:30:24] He took them, but I made with their fathers in today when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Okay, so that's talking about the first covenant of Mount Sinai with Moses, referring to the law, because they continued, not in my covenant, that means they did not obey the law. And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. This is an Old Testament quotation. I will put my laws in their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. So when the law was given by Moses. LIsten, YOU JUST EnJOY iT. WE'RE IN THE WEEDS NOW. WE'RE In The WEEDS BIG TiME. WHeN The LAW WAS GIVEN TO MOSES, THE LAW WAS NOT IN ISRAEL'S HEARt. That's why they constantly went away from God all the time, he said, but in the new covenant, I'm going to put my laws in them. [00:31:20] AND BECAUSE THE LAW WILL BE In EAcH PErsoN, THEY WILL FOlLow my covenant. They will obey. That's what he's saying. [00:31:31] Verse eleven. [00:31:33] And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. That means the slave all the way up to the king, every individual would personally know God because the laws of God would be in his heart. You know what he's describing, right? This is describing New Testament Christianity, right? Every individual has God in them and his laws in them. And that's why. Listen, that's why the Church of God. The standards for the Church of God are so high. [00:32:11] Like, if a portion of our church went out and made a golden calf, we got some big problems, right? Like in Mount Sinai. But no, because we have the law of God in us. [00:32:23] All right, verse twelve. Going somewhere with this or just hang with me. For I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness, in their sins, and in their iniquities will I remember no more. There's forgiveness. [00:32:36] Now, here's the kicker. [00:32:39] In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Okay, stop. [00:32:47] Now, this is an Old Testament reference to the Prophets, in which the prophet promised a new covenant, as opposed to the one from outside, there would be a new one. But the moment you say something is new, like, I got a new car. Now, if I only like. Abigail just. I'm sorry. Abby just got a new car. New to her car, right? She bought herself a car. [00:33:11] So when you get a new car, if that's the only car you have, you can say it's new because you just got it. But if you had one car and then you bought a new one, you say, that's the new car. And then what is this one? [00:33:28] It's old. [00:33:30] And so when the prophet in the Old Testament said, I will make a new covenant, God says, I will make a new covenant. What he's saying is the old one's old, right? The old one is the Mount Sinai. Keep reading. Verse 13, in that he saith a new covenant. He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and Waxeth old is ready to vanish away. [00:33:56] That's referring to the law, Mount Sinai. [00:33:59] Why is it ready to vanish? [00:34:02] Because it's been fulfilled. [00:34:06] Jesus fulfilled it, and he is the only one that fulfilled it. Every jot, every tittle. [00:34:14] And so what the Lord is doing in here, Hebrews, is the kind of the commentary. What's doing in acts is he's informing Peter Little by little that all that stuff's going away. [00:34:26] All that stuff is going away. The dietary laws are going away. But there's a bigger thing than that. [00:34:33] The animals being in there. We know. [00:34:37] Look at verse number 28, if you would. What did Peter understand? The animals represented? Verse 28 says this. [00:34:46] Peter says, ye know how that 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. That's the language referring to the animals, right? [00:35:03] What? God hath cleansed that call not thou common right. Now. But he's not referring to the animals in verse 28. He's referring to the people, Gentiles, who were likened to the unclean animals. Jews. Likened to the clean animals. [00:35:19] And so what you have in this sheet are the Jews and the Gentiles. [00:35:27] Romans three, nine. Listen to this. [00:35:30] What then? [00:35:31] Are we better than they? Are the Jews better than the Gentiles? No. In no wise. For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. [00:35:46] All those animals were equal. [00:35:52] When God counts all men the same, he makes his mercy available to all equally. [00:36:01] That's exactly. See, the thing is, God had already done it. [00:36:05] On the cross, he had already done it. You know why? Because Christ died for tasted death for every man. [00:36:13] He made no distinction in the cross. He didn't just die for the Jew. He died for every man. And by that fact, they're equal. Now, that's already happened years ago. At this point, years have passed. At this point, the Lord's just catching Peter up with the doctrinal truth. It's already happened. It's already happened. But now he's telling Peter. All right, now, Peter, listen. I've already died for them. [00:36:41] They're not unclean. They're all under sin. [00:36:47] Now, look at Leviticus, if you would. I told you we're in the weeds, right? You know you're in the weeds when you start turning to Leviticus. [00:36:55] Say, men, right there, chapter 20. [00:37:03] Look at verse 23. [00:37:05] Leviticus 20, verse 23. [00:37:14] Look at verse 22 for context. [00:37:18] The Lord speaking in the law. Now to the Jews, listen what it says. Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments, and do them that the land whither I bring you to dwell therein, spew you not out, and ye shall not walk in the manners of the nations, the nation which I cast out before you. For they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. But I have said unto you, ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it. A land that floweth with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people. Now, stop. He's saying, listen, you're not like them. I'm throwing them out, and I'm putting you in their place, because you're different. I'm separating you, Israel, from the people of the land. In other words, you are not going to be counted the same people. I am dividing you. They're unclean, you are clean. I'm paraphrasing there. [00:38:21] Now, what was one way that the Lord separated? Verse 25. Ye shall therefore, because of that separation, put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between clean fowls, unclean fowls and clean. [00:38:40] And ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by foul, or by manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And ye shall be holy unto me. For I am the Lord, for I the Lord, for I, the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that you should be mine. So this separation, God intended that Israel would be separated from the people in the land of Canaan. And the way he did that, among other ways, was he altered their diet. [00:39:15] Those people could eat whatever and they would eat whatever. They would drink blood and eat fat. Some of you are like, man, I really like the fat on the ribeye. But luckily, thankFully, we're not under those laws. But anyway, so he said, you have all these dietary regulations and you can't eat this and this and this, and you can have this and only these things. And by doing that, their diet was different. And not only that, there was a lot of other differences. Their clothing, their way they did their farming, all kinds of stuff were different. The Sabbath day was a big difference. [00:39:50] See, the division between the clean animals and unclean animals was a token of the difference between Israel and the Gentiles. [00:40:00] Now, in acts ten, the Lord is using the picture of the animals and the division of the animals to show they're all the same. You see, he's reversing it. [00:40:13] He's reversing it. Now, there's one more thing I want to get to in verse number 26, verse 25. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. [00:40:41] But Peter took him up, saying, stand up. [00:40:45] I myself also am a man. [00:40:49] Peter absolutely refused worship. [00:40:54] You know what? Peter's not the only one that refused worship. Let's look at a couple other examples. Look at Acts 14. We're right there. We'll come back to acts ten in a minute. But acts 14, verse 13. Now, this is Paul and Barnabas. [00:41:16] Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people to Paul and Barnabas, which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes and ran in among the people crying out, saying, sirs, why do ye these things? We are men. Notice what he says. He says the same thing. Peter says, we also are men of like passion, like passions with you. Now stop there. Notice, he reminds these heathen that they are men. When Cornelius falls down to worship Peter, Peter reminds Cornelius he is but a man. Okay, look at Revelation, Chapter 19. [00:42:08] Peter says, get up. Paul and Barnabas basically shout down the idol worshippers and say, well, what are you doing? Don't do this. We're just men like you. [00:42:21] Revelation 19, verse number ten. [00:42:31] Here's John, Verse nine. This one who's talking to him, an angel, verse ten, says, and I fell at his feet to worship him. [00:42:42] And he said unto me, see, thou do it not. [00:42:45] And then what does he do? He identifies himself. I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God. [00:42:57] See that? Look at chapter 22, verse eight. [00:43:07] John again. [00:43:10] And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. [00:43:19] Then saith he unto me, see, thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant. He identifies himself and of thy brethren, the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, worship God. [00:43:34] All right, look at Matthew 28. [00:44:01] Matthew, chapter 28, verse nine. [00:44:06] And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, all hail. [00:44:12] And they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him. [00:44:21] Look at John, chapter number nine. [00:44:40] The blind man. We're just in this chapter a minute ago. Verse number, verse 36. The blind man, he answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? [00:44:54] And Jesus said unto him, thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. [00:45:02] What do you notice is different about Peter and the angels and Paul and Barnabas versus Jesus? When people fall down to worship, what's different? [00:45:15] Peter and Paul and Barnabas and the angel Eve, even the angel whose glory is just so magnificent, giant, it just overwhelms John. That so much he can't even know. Maybe this guy is God. I don't know, because he wouldn't have done it knowingly, I'm sure. [00:45:32] In every case, without exception, they fall down and worship. And they say, get up. Get up. [00:45:37] Stand up. [00:45:39] I'm just like you. I'm a man. [00:45:43] Except Jesus. [00:45:45] Jesus, they fall down worship him over and over and over and he doesn't say a word. [00:45:53] If anybody would protest, it would be Jesus if he were not God. I mean, if Peter protested because of that, certainly Jesus would have if that were not the case. But what this Shows and demonstrates is that Jesus is God. [00:46:13] And Peter says, I myself also am a man in acts ten. You know what that does? [00:46:18] If I could say it like this, he is setting a qualifier for worship. [00:46:23] He says, I'm a man. You do not worship men. You worship God. See, these people that have a false view of who Jesus is, his identity, his deity, well, they say, well, he's kind of like he's not God, but he's the son of God. But when you really boil that down, you know what that means? He's a man. [00:46:41] When you really dig down deep to what the Jehovah's Witnesses say and the Mormons say and other groups like them, anybody who's in error concerning the identity of Jesus Christ, usually it boils down to this. He's just a man. He's an important man, basically, is what it comes down to. But if he's a man, he doesn't deserve and is not worthy of worship, that is idolatry. And in every case, servants of God who by chance are worshiped always say, get up. I am a man. If Jesus is a man, he does not deserve worship. But the fact that he is worshipped shows that he is God, nothing less. In no way, in no way lesser, in no way inferior to the Father, they are equal. That's what the Scripture teaches. Number two is this. I'm almost done. [00:47:35] Note that Peter refused the worship. Peter refused the worship. [00:47:44] There are people at this moment who worship Peter and other saints. Saints. Air quotes. You're a saint. If you're a child of God, you are a saint. Biblically, there are people that literally bow down and worship saints. Okay, well, they say, well, we're not worshiping. [00:48:05] Well, you're bowing down in prostration and praying to a statue that represents Peter and a saint. Okay? Now if bowing down and worshiping Peter, the man Peter, which is what we see here, is idolatrous and Peter absolutely refused it, then certainly bowing down to a statue that is supposed to represent Peter, it's called AIDS in worship. How many of y'all have ever heard that terminology, aids in worship? It's a representation. It is a way we can focus our worship. [00:48:49] With this statue, this icon, we can focus our worship. And so we bow down to a statue of Peter and the man himself in living color refused worship, much less a statue. Listen, it is all, absolutely all, a violation of the Second Commandment. It is all idolatry, all of it. [00:49:15] Any homage paid to anything, no matter if it's a statue, a living whoever, whatever, all of it is idolatry. All of it is an abomination to God. All of it is a violation of the Second Commandment. Here's the thing. [00:49:33] With your knowledge of that, something seems basic. It seems basic, right? That tells you that those who promote such a thing are so wildly outside of the Scripture, it's not even questionable, and that the faith that they promote is total error parading around as Christianity. [00:49:57] Now go back to acts ten. I said, we're done. I just want to read you this one last thing. In chapter ten, verse 33. [00:50:16] This is the last words of Cornelius. Before he gives Peter the floor. [00:50:22] He says, immediately, therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come now. Therefore, we are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. [00:50:34] I read one author and he said, this. This is the ideal congregation. [00:50:43] But I thought about something. [00:50:46] If you were getting ready to die and you knew you were going to die, and you knew you only had one opportunity to say something, what would you say if you were in a place where you were standing before someone and they say, listen, I'm here. [00:51:15] I want to hear the most important message. You have to tell. [00:51:21] What would you know? Think about what, Peter. The place Peter is in. God has not told him anything about the background of this event. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do. He literally doesn't. He's seen this vision. [00:51:40] He understands that God's not making a distinction between Jew and Gentile, but outside, that God hasn't told him to preach to them. [00:51:49] If you had that opportunity, what would your message be? If you had one chance to talk to somebody or say something to somebody, what would be your message? [00:51:57] I hope my message, and I hope your message would be one thing. If there was, above all else. If you had to just say one thing to somebody, boy, I sure hope it would be something about Jesus in the Gospel. [00:52:13] I sure hope that would be the last thing that would be on our lips, the most important thing that we could say. [00:52:22] Not about being a good person, not about being nice to your neighbor, none of that stuff. That the gospel would be the absolute, the very thing upon which we trust, the very core of our identity and who we are, right? Our very whole hope lies in this gospel for our eternal life. [00:52:46] I sure hope that if I was ever in that case, my message would be very, very simple. [00:52:52] It'd be just like Peter. [00:52:55] I have a message about Jesus. [00:53:00] Let's pray.