It's a Sunday evening, February the 4th, 1973,
in Richmond, Virginia.
Ministry being given through Brother Stephen Tom.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thou art the Holy One.
No man can stand before thee, but we
praise and thank thee for the presence, Lord,
for this new and living way that thou
hast opened for us, that we may come,
even to thy very presence, to worship, to
commune, to wait upon thee, to hear thee.
O Lord, what grace, what grace
would amaze us all the time that man
can come to thy very presence.
O Lord, we pray that we may have
ear to hear.
What does the Spirit say to the church?
In thy precious name, amen.
Will you please turn to a very familiar
chapter.
The book of Acts, chapter 10.
We'll read from verse 1.
Acts, chapter 10, verse 1.
For a certain man in Caesarea, by name
Cornelius, a centurion of the band called Italic,
pious and searing God with all his heart,
both giving much alms to the people and
supplicating God continually, saw plainly in a vision
about the ninth hour of the day an
angel of God coming unto him and saying
to him, Cornelius, and he having fixed his
eyes upon him and become full of fear,
said, What is it, Lord?
And he said to him, Thy prayers and
thy alms have gone up for a memorial
before God.
And now sent man to Joppa and fetched
Simon, who is surname Peter.
He lodges with a certain Simon, Athena, whose
house is by the sea.
And when the angel who was speaking to
him had departed, having called two of his
household and a pious soldier of those who
were constantly with him and related all things
to them, he sent them to Joppa.
And on the morrow, as these were journeying
and drawing near to the city, Peter went
up on the house to pray about the
sixth hour.
And he became hungry and desired to eat.
But as he was making ready, they were
making ready, an ecstasy came upon him.
And he behold, the heaven opened, and a
certain vessel descending as a great sheet bound
by the four corners and let down to
the earth, in which were all the prophets
and creeping things of the earth and the
fowls of the heaven.
And there was a voice to him, Rise,
Peter, slay and eat.
And Peter said, Ignorize, Lord, for I have
never eaten anything common or unclean.
And there was a voice again the second
time to him, What God has claimed, do
not thou make common.
And this took place, and the vessel was
straightway taken up into heaven.
And as Peter doubted in himself what the
vision which he had seen might mean, behold
also the man who was sent by Cornelius,
having brought out the house of Simon, stood
at the gate.
And having called someone, they inquired if Simon,
who was serving Peter, was not there.
But as Peter continued pondering over the vision,
the spirit said to him, Behold, three men
sit thee, but rise up, go down, and
go with them.
Nothing doubted, because I have sent them.
And Peter, going down to the men, said,
Behold, I am he whom ye seek.
What is the cause for which ye come?
And they said, Cornelius Isanchurian, a righteous man,
and fearing God, and born witness to by
the whole nation of the Jews, has been
divinely instructed by a holy angel to send
for thee to his house, and hear words
from thee.
Having therefore invited them in, he lost them.
And on the morrow, rising up, he went
away with them, and certain of the brethren
from Joppa went with him.
And on the morrow, they came to Caesarea.
And Cornelius was looking for them, having called
together his kinsmen and his intimate friends.
And when Peter was coming in, Cornelius met
him, and falling down, bid him homage.
But Peter made him rise, saying, Rise up,
I myself also am a man.
And he went in, talking with him, and
found many gathered together.
And he said to them, Ye know how
it is unlawful for a Jew to be
joined or come to one of a strange
race.
And to me God has shown to call
no man common or unpleased.
Wherefore also having been sent for, I came
without saying anything against it.
I inquire therefore for what reason ye have
sent me.
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I had
been fasting until this hour.
And the night I was praying in my
house, and lo a man stood before me,
in bright clothing, and said, Cornelius, thy prayer
has been heard, and thine alms have come
in remembrance before God.
Send therefore to Joppa and thank Simon, who
is surnamed Peter.
He lodges in the house of Simon Athena
by the sea.
Who, when he is come, will speak to
thee?
Immediately therefore I sent to thee, and thou
hast well done in coming.
Now therefore we are all present before God
to hear all things that are commanded thee
of God.
And Peter opened his mouth, saying of the
truth, I perceive that God is no respecter
of persons.
But in every nation he that hears him
and works righteousness is acceptable to him.
The word which he sent to the sons
of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he
is Lord of all things.
I think probably for the sake of continuation,
I have to go back a little bit
and fill in a little bit.
So those who have been here before, I
hope you will bear with me.
I hope I will use just as short
a time as possible just to bring us
to this point.
Luke, the beloved physician, was used of the
Lord to give us two of the books
in the New Testament.
In his first discourse, the gospel according to
Luke, he told us what the Lord Jesus
began, and you underline that word began, began
to do and to teach.
Then in his second discourse, the book of
the Acts, he told us what the risen
Lord continued to do and to teach.
When our Lord Jesus began to do and
to teach on this earth, he did all
these in a body, which he took upon
himself as his incarnation.
He used that body for over 33 years.
But when he continued to do and to
teach after he was resurrected from the dead
and ascended up to heaven, he took upon
himself another body, the body of Christ.
That corporate body, the body of Christ.
And in that body he has continued to
do and to teach up to the present
moment.
It is a body that came into being
on the day of Pentecost.
Because on the day of Pentecost, 120 individual
believers, a congregation praying with one accord, and
the Holy Spirit came.
And they were baptized into one body.
That was the beginning of that body.
And from that day onward you'll find this
body gradually grows.
This body gradually takes up a form according
to the heavenly design.
And it is in this body that the
risen Lord is able to continue to do
and to teach in the growth
of the person.
We may say roughly there are three stages.
The first stage we call it the stage
of childhood.
And during the stage of childhood you'll find
as we look back, it is one of
the happiest moments of our life.
Why?
Because we are being cared for.
We have no concerns, no responsibilities, no problems.
And if any problems should arise, our parents
would take care of them.
We are just enjoying what our parents have
provided for us.
And then after that we grow into the
adolescent stage.
And this is the most difficult time.
It is not only difficult for the one
who is growing, but for all who are
around him or around her.
It is a period of conflict, of turmoil.
A period of doubting everything, questioning everything, throwing
off all traditions, trying new ideas, seeking for
a future.
But you know that is the most exciting
period.
Very thrilling.
Whether a person can come out to manhood
or womanhood, or whether that person will become
just a failure depends largely upon this period.
Because this is the formative period.
And after you come out of adolescence into
manhood or womanhood, then it is just a
matter of maturing.
That's what I feel about the Book of
Acts.
You know the body of Christ is organic.
And because it is organic, the way it
grows seems to me follow the same order
as the growth of a person.
I see Acts chapter 1 through chapter 5
as the childhood of the body of Christ.
The happiest moment of the Church.
Everybody who reads these chapters feel fine.
All those who believe, all how they are,
they were happy.
From 120 to 3,000 and then to
5,000, and then the Lord adds to
the Church daily.
Oh, the growth of a child is tremendous.
And all those who believe in the Lord,
how they persevere in the teaching and the
fellowship of the Apostles, in the breaking of
bread and in prayer, and how they were
one in spirit and in soul, and nobody
said anything belonged to Him, they hear everything
full of love.
Every happy time.
No problem.
Whenever a problem came in chapter 5, a
little problem did come, and you'll find the
Holy Spirit solve them right away.
You don't need to worry about that.
Your parents did.
Everything was provided.
Glory.
I believe when we read the Book of
Acts, we often wish that we can go
back to childhood.
Then you'll find from chapter 6 to chapter
15, an entirely different scene.
The Body of Christ entered into a period
of great conflict.
Tremendous problems.
And you really don't know how it will
turn out, whether it will be formed according
to the heavenly pattern, as the Body of
Christ, the vessel, fit for the Master's needs,
or whether it will be a wreck.
When you read these chapters, you know.
But these chapters are very clear.
And then from chapter 16 to 28, and
29 and 30, and 31, 32, and so
on and so forth.
Today, maybe tomorrow.
You know, the Book of Acts is never
finished.
It's still going on.
Not just chapter 26.
No chapters are edited.
It is just material.
Until it is fully grown.
And then the bridegroom will come and claim
it as his.
We mentioned last time that during the period
of formation, these formative years, these are most
important years.
Chapter 6 to chapter 15 are the most
important chapters in the Book of Acts.
Let me use another illustration.
The life of Christ is the new wine.
The new wine is poor.
But the new wine seeks for a new
winery.
But you cannot put the new wine in
the old wine steen.
The old wine steen has lost its elasticity.
It is rigid.
It is thick.
Little.
If you put the new wine into the
old wine steen, the new wine continues to
ferment and to expand, and the result is
it breaks through the old wine steen, and
the new wine is wasted.
The new wine must be put in the
new wine steen.
The life of the Lord Jesus is the
new wine.
Judaism is the old wine steen.
Any ism is an old wine steen.
If you try to put the life of
Christ into any ism, both suffer.
So the Lord is looking for a new
wine steen.
What is this new wine?
The Body of Christ.
That's it.
So you find in the formation of this
new wine steen, the Body of Christ.
It is born.
Now it goes through a period of formation
where it will be forced to be part
of the old wine steen, and thus loses
the freshness, the power, the life of the
new wine, or whether it can become a
new wine steen, completely new, to be filled
with a new wine.
This is the question here in these chapters,
from chapter 6 to chapter 15 of the
Book of Acts.
Thank God.
He raised up a few key persons.
And through these few key persons, he was
able to direct the Body of Christ, the
Church, in these days into that new wine
steen as he had.
And brothers and sisters, that's what we are
interested in at this moment.
Now last time when I was here, we
fellowshiped together on three of the key men.
We began with Stephen, continued with Philip, and
finally we have Paul.
Now of course we cannot go back again,
because if we go back again, we cannot
go ahead.
But anyway you'll find here God has raised
up first Stephen as the pioneer of the
heavenly wine, of the new wine.
The Church is not a part of Judaism.
It is a new creation, a new wine
steen, a new baptism.
And because he was pioneering this, he became
the target.
And this is furthered a little bit forward
by Philip in joining the Samaritans with the
Jews.
There was tremendous prejudice between these two.
But here you'll find the Samaritans were joined
to the Jews, and the Jews to the
Samaritans.
Then God raised up a most unusual man
in the person of Paul.
He was the very symbol of Judaism.
And God shattered his Judaism completely and used
him as a master builder of the body.
And this evening we would like to continue
with the fourth key man, and that is
Peter.
You know Peter came to the Lord through
his brother Angel.
We all know that.
Angel, his brother, was with John the Baptist.
And when our Lord Jesus passed by, John
the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God.
And the second time when John the Baptist
testified to this, Angel and his companions, they
left John the Baptist and followed the Lord.
They stayed with the Lord that night.
And the next morning Angel rang to find
his brother Simon and said, We have met
the Messiah.
So he brought Simon to the Lord.
And it was a love at first sight.
When the Lord saw Simon, and when Simon
saw the Lord, and you know, they didn't
just have a glance, because the word there
is they look over.
You know?
The Lord looked over Peter and Simon, and
Simon looked over the Lord, and it was
first light.
Immediately he got a revelation.
A revelation from the Heavenly Father.
Not by flesh and blood.
Because our Lord Jesus says, Simon, Barjona, you
are blessed.
Because this is not something instructed or taught
to you by the flesh and blood.
It is the Heavenly Father who has revealed
the Son to you.
Thank God for that revelation.
But you know, the revelation of the Father
concerning his Son is only the first part.
There is a second part.
Because immediately after Peter confessed the Lord Jesus
as the Christ, the Son of the Living
God, the Lord said, Simon, it is the
Father who has revealed this to you.
The Father reveals the Son to you.
Nobody knows the Son but the Father.
Nobody knows the Father but the Son.
And those whom the Father or the Son
is pleased to reveal.
And now the Father has revealed the Son
to Simon.
Oh, you are Christ.
And after he had received that revelation, the
Son began to reveal.
The Father revealed the Son.
And after the Son is revealed, the Son
continues to reveal.
What did the Son reveal to you?
You are Peter, a living Son.
I will build my church upon this rock.
And the gates of Hades shall not prevail
against me.
But how?
How will the foundation be laid?
How can the church be built on this
rock?
The Lord said, I must go.
I must suffer.
I must die.
But on the third day, I will be
raised.
Brothers and sisters, this is tremendous reality.
It is as tremendous as the first part
of the revelation.
The Father revealed the Son to Peter.
And the Son revealed his purpose of coming.
Why does he come to this world?
He comes to build.
But in order to build his church, he
has to go to the cross.
Because death and resurrection is the principle of
building.
Not only of laying the foundation, but of
building the house.
Did Peter understand?
Did Peter get it?
He got the first part.
But he missed the second part.
Why?
Because when our Lord Jesus said, I will
build my church upon this rock, it went
in this ear and went out that ear.
Do you know what remained in his mind?
All that remained in his mind was, it
was too cold.
You have to go to Jerusalem and die?
You don't need to do that.
So Peter hold on to the Lord and
said, now Lord, don't do that.
Be good to yourself.
Be kind to yourself.
He was not ready for the cross.
And because he was not ready for the
cross, he was not ready for the church.
We often say, if you preach the church,
you get the cross.
If you preach the cross, you get the
church.
Here you'll find the Lord Jesus told Peter
of the church.
That is this body of Christ.
This new wine thing he is going to
make.
But it has to come by the cross.
Peter rejected the cross.
And therefore the vision of the church evaporated.
He had to be tested beyond his measure.
In a sense, when the Lord was crucified
on the cross.
You may say that.
Peter really died.
Peter hit the bottom at that time.
When Christ was crucified on the cross, Peter
denied the Lord three times.
He hit the bottom.
He went into death.
He too, you know that, on the day
of Pentecost.
God was able to use him as a
spokesman.
Not only for the head, but also.
But Peter's works were mainly among the Jews.
He was an apostle to the Jews.
And he was very faithful.
He moved among the Jews.
And nobody else.
Well, at one time he was sent to
Samaria, that's true.
But Samaritans were partly Jews.
They were not completely Gentiles.
So you'll find that in the early days,
in the beginning, the church, the body of
Christ, were composed mostly of Jewish believers.
And even though some might not be Jews,
at least they were apostolate.
You know, they endorsed Judaism.
They declaimed.
They were Judaized.
In the case of a eunuch from Africa,
most likely he was apostolate.
He came to Jerusalem to worship.
So even though he was a Gentile, yet
he was apostolate.
In other words, he was connected with Judaism.
So you know, at that time, even the
apostles, they thought that Christianity, or the church,
or the body of Christ, was just part
of Judaism.
Maybe the reformed Judaism.
That's the reason why, you'll find, the concept
was very deep and strong.
If you want to be a believer, you
must become a Jew too.
You must be circumcised.
You must become a Jew.
Then you can become a believer, a Christian.
They cannot see that the body of Christ
is the new one thing.
It is different from any other.
They couldn't see that.
They thought that it was just composed of
the Jews.
But God, in his sovereignty, began to move.
You know, the movement of the Holy Spirit
is most fascinating.
If God should tell Peter in Jerusalem that
he is going to send him to the
house of Cornelius, probably Peter will go like
Jonah, trying to go the opposite direction.
But the Lord did not tell him anything.
It seemed as if he was moved by
circumstance, from one place to another, until finally
he was in Joppa.
He didn't know why he was in Joppa,
but he was there.
The Lord just moved him without his knowing
to Joppa, to open the
gospel.
The Jews had nothing to do with the
Gentiles.
The Jews were completely separated from the Gentiles.
They were not even entering into the home
of a Gentile.
They could not eat at the same table
with a Gentile.
According to Leviticus, chapter 11, God gave ordinances
to the Jews that there are certain things
they can eat.
Things that are clean they can eat.
You know, creatures with split hooves and chew
the cut at the same time.
These are clean animals that Jews can eat.
And if they do not chew the cut
or split the hoof, these are unclean, they
cannot eat.
And so on and so forth.
You read Leviticus 11 and you'll find what
are clean and what are not clean.
Now what is the reason for that?
In Leviticus 11, the reason given is because
God said, I am holy.
Therefore you must eat.
That's the reason why.
They can only eat the clean things and
they should not eat the unclean things.
You read the Old Testament.
You cannot find any commandment to the Jews
that they should not enter into the house
of a Gentile.
There is no such commandment.
It is largely because of Leviticus 11.
In this matter of food, they become separated
from the Gentiles.
It is because they cannot eat unclean food.
Just like today, if you are a kosher
Jew, an orthodox Jew, you cannot eat any
food that is not kosher.
And because you cannot eat any food that
is uncosher, you cannot go to any home
and eat.
Because their food is not kosher.
That's the same thing, you know.
So here you'll find it is mainly because
of this matter of eating, this habit of
eating, this law that governs eating, that gradually,
gradually, the Jews become completely separated from the
Gentiles.
They consider themselves as clean.
The Gentiles are unclean because they eat unclean.
So, no Jew will enter into the house.
They can do business, but they cannot go
there and be entertained and eat at the
same table.
This is the Levitical law of cleanness.
Now why did God give them such a
point?
Because God was preparing a people for the
coming of Christ.
And after Christ had come, then you'll find
all these things, especially the ceremonial law, when
the reality has come, the shadow.
Therefore you'll find in Colossians chapter 2, it
is said, verse 14, "...having his faith blotted
out, the handwriting in ordinances which stood out
against us, which was contrary to us, he
hath taken it also out of the way,
having nailed it to the cross."
Our Lord Jesus has blotted out the handwriting
in ordinances that stood out against us.
Some people tell us that the handwriting is
here.
As you'll find in the first note of
David.
Handwriting, obligation to which a man is subject
by his signature.
A bond.
You sign your name under it.
You say you're going to fulfill it.
When the law of God was given among
Sinai, the children of Israel signed their name
as it were.
All that God has said we will do.
And because they signed their name, they were
obligated to fulfill the law.
And if they do not fulfill the law,
they are condemned.
They are condemned.
But here you'll find when Christ died on
the cross, he has blotted out, he had
blotted out the handwriting in ordinances that has
stood against us.
And not only that, he has taken it
also out of the way, having nailed it.
Some people tell us that it is a
custom in the old days.
Suppose you sign an IOU.
And a person has that paper in his
hand.
Now you are obligated to pay it.
But one day after you have paid it,
you've got the IOU back.
And what do you do?
You just hang it to a nail on
the door to show everybody that it is
paid already.
So this is what has happened.
Taken out of the way, having nailed it.
This IOU is nailed on the cross.
It's taken away.
We are no longer under the law.
We are under.
So when Christ comes, he has fulfilled the
law.
He has taken that which opposes us out
of the way.
All the ceremonial laws, especially, have already found
their fulfillment.
From now on it is a miracle.
Because moral principles of brothers and sisters, it
is very difficult for a Jew to accept
that.
All his life Peter has kept the Levitical
law of cleanness.
And then one day the law said, you
can indeed do that.
Did God contradict himself?
Where was the law?
You say one thing at one time, and
now you are saying another thing.
You say that you should not touch any
unclean things.
Because you are holy.
And you want us to be holy.
But now you say lines of tyranny.
You are just contradicting yourself.
Do you find sometimes you are in the
same situation?
Thank God he is the living God.
The law is given as an emergency measure.
It is temporary.
It is to set us up to Christ.
When Christ comes, these things are substituted or
replaced by Christ.
Not that God is contradicting himself.
God is now working according to his permanent
design.
To separate the Jews from the Gentiles is
God's temporary measure.
But now Christ has come.
God is going to bring us into his
permanent design.
And his permanent design is, in this seed
all the nations, in this seed of Abraham,
in singular letter, Christ.
All the nations shall be holy.
Now this is God's original design.
But how easy for us human minds to
hold on to the old.
Especially we say it comes from God.
It does.
But it is confused.
In any way, you find that Peter, he
went to Japan.
And he stayed with another man called Simon,
a tanner.
Because you know, a tanner, because he tanned
the skins, you know, that makes the wineskins.
And in tanning the skins for the wineskins,
you know, the odor is terrible.
Therefore they do not allow a tanner to
live in the city.
A tanner has to live outside the city.
He lived by the seashore.
There are lots of waters there.
So Simon went there and stayed with him.
As a matter of fact, when I was
in Joppa, I found that house.
I went there because I remember the Bible
said Joppa.
Now Joppa today is high tide.
So one day I went there.
But nobody seemed to know the place.
I went there and went there and I
saw a great cathedral somewhere.
But no, that wasn't it.
And nearby I went and then I saw
a house there with a sign on there.
Simon the tanner's house.
I don't know whether that is the original
house or whether it is not.
I don't know.
But anyway, it's all gone commercial now, you
know.
You knock the door and somebody comes in
and you have to pay something, give something,
you know.
And then you can go in and you
see all these dye urns there, you know.
And I go up from the stairs and
up to that roof, you know, and overlook
the scene where Peter prayed on that roof.
It's quite interesting.
But that's nothing.
But anyway, you find Peter.
He was there.
And it was at noontime.
He was hungry.
Do not feel bad if you get hungry.
That's natural.
Now Peter felt hungry and his host was
preparing the lunch, you know.
So he went up to the rooftop and
he started to pray.
Now I wonder when you're hungry, can you
pray?
The problem is when you pray, you think
of food.
And that's what Peter was doing.
You know, he was praying, but of course
naturally because he was hungry, when he was
praying he thought of food.
And the Lord gave him a vision.
Brothers and sisters, you know, sometimes when the
Lord begins to reveal things, it comes so
naturally.
You can hardly believe it.
You think that a revelation or a vision
has to be so spectacular and supernatural that
it just shocks you.
But very often you find it's just in
the common occurrence of things.
The vision comes.
Look at Moses.
He was in the desert and he saw
a burning bush.
Now that is the most common sight in
the desert.
It happens every day.
And yet something...
Now this was Peter.
So he was there praying and of course
he was thinking of food.
And as he was praying, he saw in
a vision a vessel.
He cannot describe it.
He said a vessel as of a sheet
coming down from heaven with four corners tied.
And it is lowered down to earth so
that he can see in that sheet.
It is filled with all kinds of quadrupeds,
creeping things, and fowls, both clean and unclean,
all mixed together.
And then he heard a voice.
Peter, rise up, kill, and eat.
And he said, No, Lord.
I have never touched any unclean thing.
And the voice said, What God has claimed.
Let no man make it.
And this happened three times.
And three times Peter said, No, Lord.
No, Lord.
And then, brothers and sisters, that is a
tremendous...
You know, Peter is a fisherman, was a
fisherman.
But he didn't see a net.
He didn't see the fishes.
God took him out of his own realm,
you know, to show him something new.
Why?
Because what God was teaching him is more
than preaching the gospel.
He was a fisherman, fisher of men.
He was preaching the gospel as if he
was drawing the net, drawing the fishes out
of the sea into the kingdom of God.
Now that seems to be the work of
Peter.
But here the Lord wanted to show Peter
something more.
Instead of a net casting into the sea
and gathering up these fishes, it was a
vessel as of a sheep, of a great
sheep, hanging on four corners and coming down
from heaven.
You invert it, and what do you see?
A tent.
A tabernacle.
It is originated in heaven.
It comes down to earth to gather up
all these clean and unclean things.
And it returns.
That is the vision of the church.
Brothers and sisters, the church is not something
earthly in origin.
Even towards the very end in Revelation, you'll
find John said, I saw the new Jerusalem
coming down.
The church is a heavenly body.
According to God's original design, it came from
heaven.
It is not something originated by man.
It is not something organized by man.
It is not a human ingenious invention.
The church comes down from heaven.
It comes from God.
But it touches the earth.
Why?
To gather.
To gather in that great suit all kinds
of possible creeping things and flowers, both clean
and unclean.
And it will go back to earth.
For the word of God says, rise up,
kill and eat.
What does that mean?
It means that have fellowship.
Eating is fellowship.
People have fellowship with that which is in
the sheet.
Make no distinction.
Jesus said no.
I cannot.
I'm a Jew.
I have to keep the Levitical law, the
ceremonial law of purity.
I have to do that, the law says.
For God has claimed that no man consider
God.
And you know, this refers not only to
what the Levitical law said, clean, unclean, but
also to what the Levitical law said, clean.
Those, the Jews and the Gentiles, are all
claimed by the blood of Christ.
Levitically speaking, according to ceremonial law, the Jews
are clean, the Gentiles are unclean.
But when you come to the presence of
the Lord, we are all unclean.
There is no difference.
The Jews must be cleansed by the Lord
just as the Gentiles.
And they are.
And that is the argument you'll find in
the letters to the Galatians.
Even we Jews are saved like the Gentiles.
Not by work, but by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
What God has claimed, let no man call
unclean.
God has taken away the wall of partition.
In Ephesians chapter 2, He has taken away
the wall of partition.
The only thing that comes through the law,
He has made us one.
He is our peace.
Brothers and sisters, this is the church.
What is the church?
The church is designed by God.
It has its origin, its root in heaven.
It includes all who are claimed by the
Lord, both the Jews and the Gentiles.
And the law says, have fellowship with all,
make no distinction.
Peter said, No.
I want to have fellowship only with the
Jews.
I want a Jewish church.
And let them have their Gentile church.
Gentile church.
The law said, No, I have only one
sheep, not two sheep.
I have mixed them up.
And you know, Peter was so bound by
the traditions, so bound by the law, so
bound by the past, he just couldn't, he
just couldn't.
Even though he knew it was the Lord
that was talking to him, he said, No,
Lord, no, Lord, no, Lord.
Do nothing is very easy to break away
from tradition.
Do nothing is easy to break away from
the past.
It's very difficult.
It's very difficult to let the old pass
and enter into the newness.
That is difficult.
God was leading Peter into the fullness and
he found himself unable.
Unable to.
Three times and the sheep went up to
heaven.
And at that very moment, the messengers from
Cornelius arrived at the door.
They knocked the door and said, We want
to find a man.
Simon, surnamed Peter, is he here?
And Peter was still pondering over the vision.
Now what does that mean?
And the Lord said, Go down.
Go with us.
I have sent them.
And down they went.
So Peter went.
And he said, You know it is not
lawful for a Jew to enter into the
house of a Gentile, but the Lord has
told me.
Do what the Lord has planned.
Let no man call it unclean.
That's why I'm here.
Thank God the gospel came to the Gentiles.
And the Holy Spirit sealed it with his
approval.
Brothers and sisters, the body of Christ is
the heavenly body.
That it touches the earth.
All the principles that govern the church is
heavenly.
But it is very practical.
In the church, in the body of Christ,
there is neither Jesus, neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision,
neither barbarian, nor schism, neither bondman, nor sinner.
Why?
It is Christ.
All and all.
If it is Christ, can you make any
distinction?
The distinction is gone.
All the natural distinctions are all in faith.
Blotted out.
No more on the cross.
No more I O U.
We are free in Christ to have fellowship
with all our brothers and sisters.
It is a new creation.
All the old discriminations are on the cross.
And the Lord said, Rise up, heal, and
eat.
Have fellowship.
Do you know there is something most wonderful?
Cornelius.
He was a Gentile.
A Roman.
A sanctuary of the then called Italics.
It means that all his soldiers were Italian.
They came from Rome.
And they garrisoned that place in Caesarea.
But he was a pious man.
He was not a propellant to Judaism.
But somehow he admired the purity that he
found in Judaism.
So you find that he was practicing giving
alms and praying much.
And God knew the heart.
Whether you are Jew or Gentile, if you
are really seeking God's love.
But the strangest thing is this.
God sent an angel to Cornelius.
And yet when that angel came to Cornelius,
that angel did not preach the gospel to
Cornelius.
That he might be saved.
He said, that angel said, You send people
to Joppa and get Peter to come and
tell you how to be saved.
He said, that's very cumbersome.
God can do it very easily with you
if you send an angel.
Why not just let an angel give the
message?
No.
God never acts by exceeding.
He always acts according to preaching.
You know, if he should send an angel
to preach the gospel, he may preach a
perfect gospel.
But he has no experience of salvation.
So the result will be an orthodox church.
Very orthodox.
Got no life.
Another thing.
You know who was probably incestuous?
If you remember your Bible.
Just recall.
Who was probably incestuous?
That great evangelist.
Isn't it?
Right?
You don't believe me?
All right.
Let's look at the Bible.
Acts 8.
Verse 40.
And Philip was found as a voter.
And passing through, he announced the glad tidings
to all the cities till he came to
Caesarea.
This great evangelist Philip bought in Caesarea.
Now if God wanted Cornelius to hear the
gospel, Philip was there.
Next door.
Why not send Philip?
Why send people to take a day's journey
to go to Joppa and get Peter to
come and it took altogether four days?
Back and forth.
That again is a strange way of the
Holy Spirit, you know.
He never acts because it is convenient.
He always acts according to preaching.
Philip was an experienced, used, true evangelist.
And certainly if the Spirit of the Lord
told Philip, go next door to see Cornelius
and give the gospel to him, Philip would
be most happy to do that.
Get Peter.
Why?
To maintain the oneness of the body.
Why did God use Peter to open the
door to the Jews and the same person
to open the door to the Gentiles?
To keep the unity of the body of
Christ.
If it is Philip, probably you will have
a Gentile journey.
Brothers and sisters, you will find in the
foundation of the body of Christ how the
Lord stretches again and again this oneness of
the body of Christ.
In this body there can be neither Jew,
Christ, or any law.
Thank God.
Even though Peter was so prejudiced, so bound
by tradition, God somehow did break through somewhat.
He had his relapse, of course.
But God did break through at that juncture.
So the Gentiles and the Jews, they were
all baptized by one Spirit into one body
wherein there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
And we are all made to drink of
the same fruit.
That is the Church.
Shall we pray?
Our Heavenly Father, we do worship Thee because
Thy ways are always higher than our ways.
Thy minds are always higher than our minds.
How often we will act according to expedient
days, thinking that we are wise, but Lord,
Thou knowest better.
Shall we pray and thank Thee for preserving
the nature of the oneness of the body
of Christ?
Shall we pray and thank Thee because Thou
hast cleansed us in spite of what we
are and Thou hast made us one.
And Thou dost desire that we fellowship one
with another in the spirit of love.
O Lord, we do pray that this vision
may not be lost to Thy people today.
O that Thy body may be that vessel
specially designed and chosen to contain Thyself and
to express Thyself.
Lord, we do worship Thee.
Thou art great.
In the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
We give Thee all the praise, Lord, and
crown Thee with bachelors' chains with every wiling
joy and divine.
O make us one, Lord, in that one
true love.
O make us one true love.