So we turn now in our Bibles to
Acts chapter 10.
In the first chapter of Acts, Jesus said
to his disciples, you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you
will be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem
and in Samaria, or both in Jerusalem and
Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
parts of the earth.
Jesus had commanded his disciples to go into
all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature, and he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved.
So the gospel of Jesus Christ is for
all men, regardless of nationality, ethnic background.
And we watch the movement in the book
of Acts as they began first in Jerusalem,
bearing witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
and multitudes being added to the church daily.
Then upon persecution, we saw where Stephen went
up into Samaria.
Other disciples were spread throughout Judea, and little
pockets of believers began to spring up in
the second part of that prophecy of Jesus
in Judea and in Samaria.
With the continued persecution of the church and
with the increased number of converts who traveled
freely in the Roman Empire, we saw how
that the gospel began to spread into all
the world.
It is interesting that Paul the Apostle, 30
years after the birth of the church, was
able to write to the church in Colossae
saying, and the gospel as it has come
to you as it is in all the
world.
So, the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus
as they had carried the gospel by 30
years into all the world.
But we see that the movement was gradual.
They began in Jerusalem, they spread to Judea,
then into Samaria.
Now, beginning in chapter 10, we get the
next movement of the spread of the gospel
as it is now being proclaimed to the
Gentiles.
And the gospel came to the Gentiles in
a very interesting way.
There was a certain man in Caesarea called
Cornelius, a centurion of the band that is
called the Italian band.
That doesn't mean that they had a mandolin
and a guitar and a soloist.
The Roman legions had approximately 6
,000 men.
And then they had their companies, which would
be equivalent to our battalions, which were about
600 men because there were 10 companies in
a legion.
And then the companies were divided down and
over a hundred men, there was a officer
equivalent to our master sergeant who was called
a centurion in as much as he was
over 100 men.
And there are some very interesting requirements that
have been found in the Roman records for
a centurion.
And one of them was a man of
great courage and bravery.
If he was outnumbered, he must stand with
his men and fight until he falls.
And he had to be a man of
that kind of courage.
He wasn't to go looking for trouble, but
he was always to meet trouble with resolute
courage.
It is interesting that in the Bible, we
are introduced to other centurions.
And in every case, in being introduced to
a centurion, they were all commendable men.
You remember that the centurion came to Jesus
and requested that Jesus would heal his servant
who was dying.
And Jesus said, I will come to your
house.
And he said, Oh, no, Lord, I'm not
worthy that you should come under my roof.
But I understand authority because I am a
man under authority and I have under me
men.
And I can say to this one guy,
go and he goes and I can say
to this one, come over here.
And he will come.
I understand what authority is about.
And I know that all you have to
do is say the word and my servant
will be healed.
And Jesus marveled at his faith.
And he said, I have not found this
much faith in all of Israel.
And he marveled at the faith of this
centurion.
Now we're introduced to another centurion, Cornelius.
He was over the Italian garrison there in
Caesarea, which was the Roman capital city of
that area.
And he was, according to the record here,
verse two, a very devout man and one
that feared or reverenced God.
Many of the Romans were tired of the
multiplicity of gods that were worshipped by the
Romans or by the Greeks.
You remember Paul the Apostle when he came
to Athens said, I can see that you
people are very religious.
For as I've been walking through your streets,
I have found altars inscribed to so many
different gods.
And it is true that the Greeks had
just such a multiplicity of gods.
In fact, they had a God for each
emotion, a God of love, a God of
hate, a God of jealousy, a God of
wrath and a God of peace, a God
of war and a God for everything.
And some Greek came up with the idea
that we may have missed one.
We surely don't want to slight him and
get him angry with us.
And so he built an altar and he
inscribed it to the unknown God.
Whoever you are, wherever you are, don't feel
slighted.
We want to recognize you too.
And so Paul said, I saw this one
altar to the unknown God.
And this is the God I would like
to declare unto you because he is the
one who created the heaven and the earth
and everything that is in them.
And so he declared unto them the true
and the living God.
Now, many of the Romans and Greeks did
not believe in the multiplicity of gods.
And many of them, after their experience in
Israel, became convinced of the one true and
living God.
Cornelius was such a man.
He feared God with all of his house.
And he gave much alms to the people.
And he was a man of prayer.
Now, here was a man who was walking
in the light that he had.
And it is so important that we walk
in the light that we possess.
Unto whom much is given, much is required.
Unto whom little is given, little is required.
Luke's gospel tells us in chapter 12 that
a man will be judged according to the
knowledge and the light that he has received.
For that servant that knew the will of
the father and did not accordingly will be
beaten with many stripes.
Yet he who did things worthy of many
stripes because he did not know the will
of the father will be beaten with few
stripes.
For unto whom much is given, much is
required.
Unto whom little is given, little is required.
But we are always required to walk in
the light that we have.
And if we will walk in the light
that we have, it always follows that God
will then give us more light and understanding.
And so it's important that we walk in
the light that we have.
Just how much light Cornelius had, we do
not know.
He did know of God.
He reverenced God.
He feared God and he prayed unto God
continually.
He gave alms to the needy, much alms
to the people.
Now he saw in a vision, evidently about
the ninth hour of the day, so he
was probably observing the three o'clock afternoon
prayer hour of the Jews.
He saw an angel of God coming into
him and saying unto him, Cornelius.
And when he looked at him, he was
afraid.
And he said, what is it, Lord?
And the angel said unto him, your prayers
and your alms are come up for a
memorial before God.
God is aware of your prayers.
God is aware of your giving.
They have come up before God.
Now send men to Joppa, which was one
of the ancient seaports along the Mediterranean.
The area of Caesarea was also a seaport,
but it was built by Herod the Great.
It was not a natural seaport, but Herod
the Great built a breakwater there.
And it is still a beautiful little harbor
today.
And it's a great place for skin diving
because you can find Roman coins on the
sandy floor of the beach within the harbor
there at Caesarea.
But Joppa was south from Caesarea about 20
miles, which means a two-day journey in
those times because an average day's journey was
10 miles.
And so, he is told that there in
Joppa, he is to inquire for a man
by the name of Simon, whose surname is
Peter, and he will tell you what you
ought to do.
So, he is lodging with Simon, who is
a tanner, whose house is by the seaside,
and he will come and tell you what
to do.
Walls are tumbling.
The Jew had many walls built up, nationalistic
walls, inasmuch as a Jew would really have
no dealings with a Gentile in close contact.
They would not eat with Gentiles.
They would not invite a Gentile into their
home, nor would they go into the house
of a Gentile.
For the Gentiles were considered unclean.
And to touch a Gentile would make you
unclean.
And you'd have to go through quite a
ritual of cleansing before you could go back
into the temple if you touched a Gentile.
Now, the Pharisees were so particular about this
that when they walked down the street, they
would wrap their coats very tightly around them,
they'd wrap them very tight so that their
robes wouldn't swish, because they didn't want their
robes swishing and accidentally touching a Gentile.
For if they did, they would be unclean
and have to go through this cleansing rite
before they could worship God again.
And so you'd see the Pharisee, his robe
wrapped tight around him, small steps going down
the street, careful that his robe doesn't swish
out and careful that he doesn't come into
physical contact with a Gentile.
Now, another person who was an outcast was
a tanner.
For under the Mosaic law, anybody who touched
a dead body of an animal or of
a person was also unclean.
And so a tanner would be considered a
man who was constantly unclean and therefore, you
would also be careful not to touch a
tanner for that would constitute your becoming unclean.
So the very fact that Peter is in
the house of Simon the tanner indicates that
walls are already beginning to come down in
Peter's hearts.
As Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 4,
that Jesus Christ has broken down that middle
wall of partition that used to exist between
the Jew and the Gentile.
So that in Christ, there is neither Jew
nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bonder-free, but Christ
is all and in all.
He has broken down these racial barriers between
men.
So Peter was there at the house of
Simon the tanner.
Now, when the angel which spake to Cornelius
was departed, he called two of his household
servants and a devout soldier of them that
waited on him continually.
And when he had declared all of these
things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.
So he called his servants.
And you remember the one centurion said to
Jesus, I also am a man under authority.
I can say to one, go.
And he goes.
And so he is exercising his authority that
was given to him.
And he is commanding these fellows to go
to Joppa to bring back this man, Peter.
Now, God always works on both ends.
Know that.
My son, Chuck Jr., who used to be
on staff here years ago, and whom I
will readily admit is a very handsome young
man, had great difficulty while he was single
in the ministry.
For many, a beautiful young lady felt that
God had revealed to them by an angel
or dream or some other means that they
have been chosen by God to be his
helpmate.
And it actually got to the place where
it began to bug him after a while.
He became shy and asked the girls, please
don't let, you know, send any young girls
over for counseling.
But God works on both ends.
And they come in and tell how God
had revealed, you know, he was to marry
them and all.
And he'd always say, well, God hasn't revealed
that to me yet.
But God does work on both ends.
If God is guiding you to a particular
project, to go and to get someone to
come to help you do something, you can
be sure that God has already worked on
the other end and is also speaking to
them about going.
God always works on both ends.
And I would not venture out into any
venture for God until God had first spoken
to me.
If someone should come up and say, well,
God has revealed to me that you're to
resign Calvary and you're to move to Cucamonga
and start a fellowship out there or, you
know, buy a great vineyard.
I would say to them, well, I'll wait
upon the Lord to see if God speaks
to my heart upon this issue.
I would not go upon what God has
spoken to someone else.
I would wait for God to speak to
me.
And I encourage you to follow the same
example.
If someone comes up and they've had a
tremendous revelation, they saw colored lights in the
sky, they went into a trance and an
angel of the Lord appeared unto them and
told them that they were to come to
you and tell you that you're to sell
everything you have and move to Hawaii.
As much as that appeals to your flesh,
you have better wait upon God to speak
to your own heart about that or your
move to Hawaii could be disaster.
And you'd find yourself as Jonah probably intercepted
somewhere in between.
God works on both ends.
So, as God was speaking to Cornelius, he
also was speaking to Peter there in Joppa.
So, we see now the other side of
the coin and God working in Peter's heart.
Now, it was on the next day and
there's a day's difference here.
On the next day, as they were on
their journey and they were getting near to
the city of Joppa, Peter went up on
the housetop to pray about the six hours.
So, he was still following the Jewish pattern
of prayer, which they prayed at the third
hour, nine o'clock in the morning, the
sixth hour, noon, and the ninth hour, three
o'clock in the afternoon.
Were they Jewish hours of prayer?
And so, it was lunchtime, it was noon,
and Peter had gone up on the rooftop
to pray.
And that sounds strange to us.
But if you've ever been to Israel, that
kind of a mystery would soon disappear because
the rooftops there in Israel are part of
the living quarters of the family.
And usually, they have flat roofs and you'll
see little patios with gardens and potted plants
and you'll see them hanging their clothes out
there on the rooftops.
And it is just a standard part of
the house because of the limited space, they
don't have yards.
And so, their yards and play area are
oftentimes the roof of the house.
And so, you call your kids, come down
off the roof and eat your lunch, you
know.
And the kids jump off the roof or
come on down to eat their lunch.
But it's a part of the living quarters
there.
And so, it is not at all unusual
that Peter would go up on the rooftop
to pray.
And because it was noon, he became very
hungry and he would have eaten.
But while they were preparing his lunch, he
fell into a trance.
Now, I really don't know much about trances.
I've never had one.
That is not to say that I am
opposed.
In fact, I would find going into a
trance probably a very interesting experience.
And if God wants to put me in
a trance to reveal something to me, that's
all right, I'll buy that.
You know, I'm open and I want to
be open to any way God wants to
communicate to me.
I would imagine that it would be sort
of in a dream state.
Now, I just about go into trances sometimes
as I'm sitting listening to people talk.
And I've been, you know, up half the
night.
And my eyes get glassy and I sort
of drift off, you know.
And then you sort of come to.
And I think that that sort of in
-between sleep and awake state is probably the
trance state.
And however it may be and whatever it
may be, in this trance, he saw the
heavens opened and a certain vessel descending unto
him.
It was like a great sheet.
And that word in the Greek is used
for sails.
Now, he's right there in the seashore.
So, he sees this great sheet or sail
that is knit at the four corners and
it is let down to the earth.
And on it were all manner of four
-footed beasts.
Now, according to the law, they could only
eat the animal that chewed the cud or
had a cloven hoof.
But on this sheet, there were all kinds
of animals.
Four-footed beasts.
And there were creeping things.
And there were fowls of the air.
And there came a voice to him and
it said, Rise, Peter, kill and eat.
But Peter said, Not so, Lord, for I
have never eaten anything that is common or
unclean.
I would like to draw your attention to
Peter's response as being a perfectly inconsistent statement,
but one that is very familiar to all
of us.
Not so, Lord, impossible.
That is total inconsistency.
How can you say, Not so, Lord?
If the Lord has asked you to do
something, the only possible response is, Yes, my
Lord.
If He is indeed your Lord, how can
you say, Not so?
So, Peter could have said, Not so, buddy.
Not so, friend.
But you can't say, Not so, Lord.
Completely inconsistent.
God, free us from that inconsistency.
God, free us from that inconsistency in our
own speech.
For so often, we find ourselves arguing with
God.
And God is challenging us to do something.
We say, Oh, Lord, I can't do that.
Oh, Lord, not me.
I don't want to do that, Lord.
And it puts me then in the driver's
seat.
You see, I'm putting myself in the position
of Lord.
So, Peter's inconsistency of speech, Not so, Lord.
I've never eaten anything that is not kosher.
I've never eaten anything that is common or
unclean.
Now, in the mind of the Jew, the
Gentile was both common and unclean.
And the voice spake unto him again the
second time, What God has cleansed, do not
call common.
Now, this was done three times.
And the vessel was received up again into
heaven.
So, this experience three times over.
And I suppose Peter was inconsistent three times
over.
And then the vessel was taken back up
into heaven.
But the Lord was preparing Peter's heart.
Now, while Peter was wondering in his mind
what this vision should mean.
What in the world is that all about?
Those pigs on there, kill them and eat
them.
What can that mean?
Behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius
had made inquiry for Simon's house.
And they were standing before the gate.
Now, that's all the further they could come.
According to the Jewish customs, they would not
dare to come in beyond the gate.
Because that would make the house of Simon
the Tanner more unclean than it was already.
Being a Tanner, it was unclean.
But he'd be doubly unclean at that point.
So, they stood at the gate.
And they called and asked.
They were calling in.
They wouldn't come in.
They just called in the gate and said,
Is there a Simon Peter around here?
And while Peter was wondering about this vision,
the Spirit said unto him, Behold, there are
three men who are seeking you.
Arise and get down and go with them,
doubting nothing.
For I have sent them.
And then Peter went down to the men
which were sent unto him from Cornelius.
And he said, Behold, I'm the man you're
looking for.
What is the cause for which you have
come?
And they said, Cornelius the centurion is a
just man.
And he's one who fears or reverences God.
He's of good report among all of the
nation of the Jews.
And he was worn from God by a
holy angel to send for you into his
house and to hear words from you.
Then Peter invited them in.
Walls are tumbling.
Peter's inviting these Gentiles to come on into
the house.
And on the next day, Peter went away
with them.
And certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.
Now, on the next day after they had
entered into Caesarea, the two day journey, and
Cornelius was waiting for them, he had called
together his family and his close 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,
for I myself also am a man.
Peter refused to receive the worship.
He didn't let him kiss his toe, but
ordered the man to stand up because I
also am a man.
It is interesting how that people seek to
elevate the servant of God many times to
a position of almost worship.
This was something the apostles had to guard
against.
Paul the Apostle with Barnabas when they were
in Lystra found the people coming down the
street with the priest of Jupiter who was
dragging an ox behind him.
And he was going to sacrifice unto Paul
because they were amazed of the healing of
the lame man.
Paul had to strip off his clothes and
say, Hey, I'm not a God, I'm a
man.
Don't do this.
Worship God.
And so Peter is refusing to receive worship
from this man.
Honor, glory.
All of the honor, all of the glory
belongs to Jesus Christ.
We make a mistake when we hold persons
up in high esteem.
And the Bible actually warns us about being
a respecter of men's persons.
If someone comes into the assembly, he's wearing
a Rolex watch and diamond rings and all.
You say, Oh, come on down here to
this nice seat, you know, soft cushion, comfortable
where you get a good view.
Where someone comes in and Levi's that are
dirty, bare feet.
You say, sit back there in the corner
and don't get the carpet dirty.
You know, after all, and James says, Look,
you are showing respect unto persons just because
of the way the fellow is dressed.
He said, that is not right.
You should not do that.
We are not to be respecters of men's
persons.
We are to give honor and glory unto
God and respect him.
And so Peter refused to receive the worship
of Cornelius, but he took him up and
he said, Stand up for I myself am
only a man.
And when he talked with him, he went
into the house.
Oh, walls are still crumbling.
Peter now goes into the house of a
Gentile.
He's had the Gentiles in the house there
and in Joppa.
Now he enters into the house of the
Gentile.
And he found many people that were come
together, hungry hearts there in Caesarea.
Now, here's an interesting thing.
And I don't have the answer for it.
I only have the puzzle.
How God works.
There was living in Caesarea at this time,
Philip the Evangelist.
Why didn't God send over to Philip's house,
who Caesarea isn't that big.
He couldn't have lived that far from Cornelius.
Why would God have him send all the
way down to Joppa to get Simon Peter?
Probably because Philip was not a leader in
the early church, but only a deacon.
And had Philip gone to the house of
Cornelius and God worked by his Holy Spirit
in the lives of the people, they would
have booted him out of the church immediately.
And he wouldn't have even had a hearing.
At least they were ready to give Peter
a hearing.
Because of his position in the church, they
were upset that Peter went to the when
they heard that Peter went into the house
of a Gentile.
They really got shook back in Jerusalem.
And when Peter got back, they called him
on the carpet, contended with him.
What are you doing?
You know, taking the gospel to the Gentiles.
Terrible.
So the Lord, no doubt, chose Peter because
of his position of authority, leadership in the
early church.
And at least he was able to have
a hearing before the brethren, before they kicked
him out.
And he said unto them, you know that
it is an unlawful thing for a man
that is a Jew to keep company or
to come unto one of another nation.
Now, you know that what I'm doing is
illegal.
According to the law of the Jews, you
know what I'm doing is illegal.
But God hath showed me that I should
not call any man common or unclean.
Therefore, I came to you without game saying,
without arguing as soon as I was sent
for.
Now I ask for what purpose did you
call me?
And Cornelius said four days ago, I was
fasting until this hour.
And at the ninth hour, I prayed in
my house and behold, a man stood before
me in bright clothing.
And he said, Cornelius, your prayer is heard
and your alms are being brought in remembrance
in the sight of God.
Send therefore to Joppa and call hither Simon,
whose surname is Peter, for he is lodged
in the house of one Simon, a tanner
by the seaside, who when he comes shall
speak unto thee.
And immediately, therefore, I was sent to thee
and you have done well in that you
have come.
Now, therefore, we are all here present before
God to hear all of the things that
have been commanded to you by God.
So Peter opened his mouth and said of
a truth.
I perceive that God is no respecter of
persons.
Man is, God isn't.
But in every nation, he that reverences God
and works righteousness is accepted with him.
That God does not limit his work to
any nationality.
What an eye opener this was for Peter.
What a difficult truth this was for the
rest of the church to receive.
That a man could be saved without becoming
a Jew.
They felt that a man had to become
a Jew before he could be saved.
And when there were many Gentiles who came
to the Lord in Antioch and word came
back to the church in Jerusalem concerning the
Gentiles being saved, there were certain of those
who came up from Jerusalem and they said
to them, look, you guys can't be saved
until you are circumcised and you keep the
law of Moses.
And they created quite a big stir there
in Antioch with this premise.
So Peter said, I realize that God is
no respecter of persons, but he will accept
any man, any nationality, who will fear him
or reverence him and do the works of
righteousness.
And the word which God sent unto the
children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ,
for he is the Lord of all.
Now, up until this point, the centurion probably
only knew of God through Judaism.
And now he's been being introduced to the
fuller revelation that God has fulfilled his promise
and sent the Messiah and he is preaching
peace unto all men through Jesus Christ, for
he is the Lord of all.
That word, I say, you know, which was
published throughout all of Judea and began from
Galilee after the baptism, which John preached.
Now you've heard of Jesus.
You've all heard of him.
You remember when Paul was later facing the
Herod in Caesarea, Herod Agrippa, he said, Hey,
Agrippa, you know all about this.
This thing wasn't done in a corner.
You know, you know about Jesus.
You've heard about him.
He didn't just go stand in a corner
someplace.
Everybody knows about him.
So Peter recognizes that you've heard of Jesus
Christ.
The works that he did beginning in Galilee,
who went about how God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power,
who went about doing good and healing all
that were oppressed of the devil for God
was with him.
So he is testifying now to the works
of Jesus Christ.
And we are witnesses of all these things,
which he did both in the land of
the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew
and hanged on a tree.
Now him God raised up the third day
and showed him openly.
So again, the testimony of the resurrection by
Peter, but he showed him not to all
the people, but unto witnesses who were chosen
before of God, even to us who did
eat and drink with him after he rose
from the dead.
So we remember that Jesus had the fish
prepared by the seaside and he said, come
and dine.
And he ate fish with them and he
drank with them.
And so after his resurrection, he was both
eating and drinking with them.
And he commanded us to preach unto the
people and to testify that it is he
which was ordained of God to be the
judge.
Both of those who are alive and are
dead.
Christ has been given by God that authority
of standing in judgment of men.
Now it is interesting that Jesus was judged
by men.
He was brought before pilot and he was
judged by pilot.
But there's a paradox here for pilot said,
what shall I do with this man?
Jesus, who was called Christ, the crowd said,
crucify him.
He said, why, what evil has he done?
But they cried all the louder, crucify him.
Shall I crucify the king of the Jews?
We have no king, but Caesar.
So pilot delivered him over into their hands
to do what they please.
But he said to Jesus, don't you realize
I have power to release you, set you
free or to order you to the cross?
Jesus said, you don't have any power except
that which has been given to you by
my father, but don't worry about it.
Those that turn me over to you or
have a greater guilt than you have.
And pilot sought to release him.
Pilot was frightened at that statement.
But in reality, pilot was judging himself.
Now every man must face the same question
pilot face.
What am I going to do with Jesus
who is called Christ?
You must make a judgment of what you're
going to do with him.
But in reality, the one being judged is
you by the judgment that you make.
You see, if you reject him, then you
are declaring your own judgment.
You will be rejected of God.
If you deny him, then you're declaring your
own judgment because you will be denied by
God.
So every person really has to stand in
judgment of Jesus.
But the person who is affected by the
decision that they make is really themselves.
Everyone is determining their own destiny by how
they judge Jesus Christ.
God has made him to be the judge,
both of those who are alive and those
who are dead.
And we read of this judgment in.
Second Corinthians, chapter five, and in Revelation, chapter
20.
Now to him, give all the prophets witness
that through his name, whosoever believeth in him
shall receive the remission of sins.
He declares that this is something that the
prophets all spoke about.
That God would grant the remission of sins
through their believing in Jesus Christ.
And of course, we can go back in
the Old Testament and we can find.
These hundreds of prophecies that related to Jesus
Christ.
And the central message of the prophets is
that God would send.
His son for unto us, a child is
born unto us, a son is given.
But that his son would be despised and
rejected of men.
But all of our sins would be laid
upon him and those who believe in him
shall be saved.
So Peter refers to the prophecies.
Now, while Peter was saying these things, while
he was preaching his sermon, the Holy Spirit
interrupted him and he fell on all of
those who heard the word.
Now, Peter didn't coach them and say to
them, now say, Baba, Baba, Baba.
He didn't coach them how to speak in
tongues.
It just happened simultaneously to all of them
through the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit.
I am a little leery about these sessions
where a person is coached and taught how
to speak in an unknown tongue.
But I believe in that sovereign work of
God's Holy Spirit.
Some instruction is needed and necessary, but yet
the work that is to be wrought should
be wrought by the Spirit of God.
Now, you remember, some came down with Peter
from Joppa.
In fact, there were six who came with
Peter from Joppa.
Peter made the seventh.
And they that were of the circumcision.
Who believe that is the Jews that come
with Peter who were believers.
They were astonished.
All of those that had come with Peter,
because that on the Gentiles also was poured
out the gift of the Holy Spirit.
How can this be?
That God would put his Holy Spirit upon
an unclean Gentile.
And they were astonished at this sovereign work
of God.
That the Gentiles had received the gift of
the Holy Spirit.
How did they know?
Because they heard them speak with tongues and
magnify God.
Now, that's exactly what was happening back in
the second chapter of Acts when the Holy
Spirit fell upon the church.
In the beginning, they were speaking in these
other dialects, magnifying God, declaring the glorious works
of God.
Same thing is happening here.
The people are speaking in unknown tongues, magnifying
God.
Then answered Peter.
Can any man forbid water that these should
not be baptized, which have received the Holy
Spirit as well as we?
Now, up until this time, they would not
baptize any Gentile into the church.
But Peter says, hey, you know, what can
we do?
God's given the Holy Spirit.
We might as well go ahead and baptize
him.
And so he commanded them to be baptized
in the name of the Lord.
And then he prayed.
Then they prayed that he would tarry with
them for a few days.
Now, the apostles and the brethren that were
in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also
received the word of God.
And when Peter was come back to Jerusalem,
they that were of the circumcision had a
fight with him.
And they said, you went to men who
were uncircumcised and you ate with them.
But Peter just rehearsed the matter from the
beginning and he expounded it to them according
to how it happened in order.
And he said, I was in the city
of Joppa praying and in a trance, I
saw a vision and a certain vessel descend
as it had been a great sheet.
And he repeats this vision.
Now, it is interesting that Luke really is
limited by space at this time.
Of course, they did not publish books, but
they wrote everything on a scroll.
And there was a limit to what you
could write on a scroll.
And the longest scrolls were about 35 feet
long.
And they would write these epistles on these
scrolls.
And of course, they would roll it and
write as they were going, rolling and unrolling
and all the scroll.
And they became very bulky if they got
over 35 feet long.
Now, the Book of Acts, because of its
length, would have to be recorded in a
scroll of maximum limits, about 35 feet long.
The original copy that Luke wrote of the
Book of Acts was probably in a 35
foot scroll.
So that you would want to conserve the
space so you could tell as much of
the story as you could.
But for a definite reason, the Holy Spirit
had this account of Peter's being called the
Gentile recorded twice in the limited space of
the Book of Acts.
No doubt that God might bear witness to
all of the Jews and to all men
everywhere that the gospel of Jesus Christ is
the free gift of God to every man
regardless his color or his ethnic background.
So the gospel is open to all.
And so the Lord sees fit to record
this vision of Peter twice in the limited
area of the 35 feet of the scroll
of the Book of Acts.
And so he tells again of this vision
of the sheet with the four corners upon
which when I have fastened my eyes, I
saw the four-footed beast of the earth,
the wild beast, the creeping things, the fowls
of the air.
I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise,
Peter, kill and eat.
And I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing
common or unclean has at any time entered
into my mouth.
But the voice answered me again from heaven,
What God has cleansed, don't call common.
And this was done three times and all
were drawn up again into heaven.
And behold, immediately there were three men already
come to the house where it was who
were sent from Caesarea unto me, and the
Spirit bade me go with them.
So Peter is not taking the responsibility for
what happened.
And he's not taking the blame.
The Spirit bade me to go.
I was being directed by the Spirit of
God, doubting nothing.
Moreover, I took these six brothers with me
and we entered into the man's house.
So Peter took the witnesses, probably because he
didn't know what was going to happen.
And he wanted witnesses when he got back
on the carpet in Jerusalem to verify that
the story he told was true, that it
wasn't really me.
It was God who did it.
I wasn't responsible so that he wouldn't get
kicked out of the early church.
And so he showed us how that he
had seen an angel in his house, which
stood and said unto him, send men to
Joppa, call for Simon, whose surname is Peter,
who will tell thee words whereby you and
all of your house shall be saved.
So the Spirit bade me to go and
bring them the gospel, the word of salvation.
God has ordained to save the Gentiles.
And as I began to speak, the Holy
Spirit fell on them as on us at
the beginning.
I didn't touch him.
I didn't do anything.
Then I remembered the word of the Lord,
how that he said, John, indeed baptized with
water, but you will be baptized with the
Holy Spirit for as much then as God
gave them.
I didn't do it.
Don't blame me.
As God gave to them the like gift,
as he did unto us who believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that
I could withstand God?
Good question, isn't it?
Who am I that I can withstand the
work of God?
Better that I not try to withstand the
work of God.
Unfortunately, there have been a lot of people
who've been in that position of trying to
withstand the work of God.
God begins to work and they try to
withstand that work.
They criticize or they find fault or, well,
it didn't happen according to our traditional standards.
I was given a letter recently which was
sent by a pastor of a church of
Christ to one of the ladies here at
Calvary who had moved to California and had
started attending church here and he wrote to
her rebuking her for attending the church here
because we could not be legitimate.
We are all of us going to hell
because we don't have the right name above
our door.
If we are not called the church of
Christ, then we are worshiping under false banners
and cannot be truly worshiping Jesus Christ.
And we're all wrong because we don't have
the right name.
Poor fellow, his heaven is going to be
a very lonely place.
It's like the fellow being ushered around heaven
by Peter and he saw all these different
groups of people worshiping the Lord and having
a great time.
And there were the Baptists over here and
the Presbyterians over here and the Methodists over
here and the Pentecostals over here.
They were just having a glorious time together
and as they went down the road a
bit, there was this high wall and the
fellow heard the noise of people singing behind
it and he said, who are they?
How come they're not out with the group?
He said, they're the church of Christ and
they think they're the only ones here.
Now, let me say, let me say that
this pastor is not representative of all of
the church of Christ pastors.
He is an individual.
He has his own individual convictions, which I
don't agree with.
They are, I believe, very narrow and I
really, well, I'm sure that the Lord will
give me grace to accept the brethren when
we get to heaven, but I have a
hard time with people that are that narrow
in their views.
I have excellent fellowship with many church of
Christ pastors and I respect the work that
they are doing for the Lord and this
man is not at all representative of the
church of Christ ministry.
He only represents a small segment of that
marvelous fellowship of churches and I'm thankful that
that he is not representative of all of
them, but there are church of Christ ministers
here in the area that I love and
highly respect and I thank God for the
ministry that they have and for the influence
that their churches have in their communities.
And so I don't want you to go
out and say, oh man, he really put
down the churches of Christ.
Not at all.
I don't intend to do that.
It was just a joke and it just
represents a small man with small concepts of
God's grace and God's work.
Unfortunately, there are people who are that small
and that narrow, but we pray that God
will broaden their horizons because it must be
terrible to live with all of that, you
know, pent up venom and all just eating
you up inside because how can you explain
the work of God?
You know, well, what they do is say,
well, it's really Satan working and it is
a tragic thing that people are that narrow.
But well, for instance, Thomas Overton in Huntington
Beach, what a beautiful brother and how I
love this man of God and I have
great fellowship.
I have had in the past great fellowship
with him.
I had seen Tom for quite a while,
but I would like to get together with
him again because we have had such great
fellowship in the past.
We've just, they're just good brothers and I
love them.
So, if any of you run down to
Tom Overton with the tape of this sermon,
Tom knows that I love him.
So, Peter is explaining, who was I that
I could withstand God?
And when they heard these things, they held
their peace and they glorified God saying, then
God also to the Gentiles has granted repentance
unto life.
And they accepted the work of God among
the Gentiles.
Now they weren't really ready to enter into
full fellowship with the Gentiles.
As we move along into the book of
Acts, we will find that Peter went down
to Antioch and he was eating with the
Gentiles until certain brethren from Jerusalem came down.
And then Peter separated himself because of the
feelings that they had still of eating with
Gentiles and it caused a division in the
church of Antioch for which Paul rebuked Paul
refers to that in the book of Galatians.
So, the walls are tumbling though.
They're not completely down, not by a long
shot.
And we'll come in the 13th chapter to
some issues that arose over this, actually in
the 15th chapter, issues that arose over this
very thing.
Now, they that were scattered abroad after the
persecution that arose about Stephen, they traveled as
far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch.
Now, Antioch was the third largest Roman city
after Rome and Alexandria was Antioch.
A very large metropolis where the Orentes River
comes into the Mediterranean Sea.
The basic or the chief god of Antioch
was Daphne.
And there was a huge temple to Daphne
in a laurel grove five miles from Antioch.
And according to the story, Apollo fell in
love with Daphne and was pursuing her.
But in order to save her from being
raped by Apollo, she turned into a laurel
tree.
And so, they built this temple to Daphne
there in the laurel tree grove.
And the priestesses in the worship of Daphne
were prostitutes.
And there in the laurel groves, they would
reenact in their worship, the seduction by Apollo
of Daphne.
And so, their worship was very licentious.
And the city of Antioch became a synonym
for people who lived a very loose, licentious
life.
Gambling was rampant, as was all kinds of
vices, moral and all.
They were prevalent and rampant.
So, they said that the person lived like
a person of Antioch.
If a person was just living a very
lustful life of vice, they said, oh, he
lives like a person of Antioch.
It is interesting that it was in this
pagan city that the gospel of Christ gained
such a strong foothold.
And the church in Antioch became the center
for the missions to the Gentiles.
And it was from this church of Antioch
that the gospel really spread through the Gentile
world.
And the missionaries would come back and report
to the church in Antioch.
It became one of the centers of the
early church.
Especially that Gentile element of the early church.
Now, they had gone as far as Phoenicia
and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word, but
only to the Jews.
They weren't preaching to the Gentiles.
And some of them were men of Cyprus
and Cyrene, which when they were come to
Antioch, they spake to the Grecians, the Hellenists,
as they preached the lordship of Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with
them and a great number believed and turned
unto the Lord.
Then the tidings of these things came to
the ears of the church which was in
Jerusalem.
Then they sent forth Barnabas that he should
go as far as Antioch, who when he
came, he had seen the grace of God.
He was glad and exhorted all of them
that with purpose of heart, they should stick
or cleave unto the Lord.
Now, Barnabas was really the ideal man to
send because his ministry was that of reconciling
within the body of Christ.
He was the one who, when the church
in Jerusalem would have nothing to do with
Paul after his conversion, brought Paul to the
brothers and said, look, he is a brother.
Receive him now as a brother.
And he was the one that brought Paul
into fellowship there into the church in Jerusalem.
The son of consolation is what the name
Barnabas means.
And a man who reconciles opposing parties or
their differing parties.
And so he was an ideal one to
send to Antioch.
When this revival is broken out now among
the Gentiles, he is a man who has
great grace and understanding and was able to
accept the work that God was doing there
in Antioch.
Now he exhorted them that they should purpose
in their hearts to just continue in the
Lord or cleave to the Lord or abide
in the Lord.
Postman on can be translated any of those
ways.
And so he exhorted them that they should
purpose in their hearts, that is, make a
total commitment, not just deciding your mind.
Too many decisions are made in the mind.
The heart is the seat of a man's
will.
When you purpose in your heart, you are
setting the course for your life.
You're making the full commitment.
He's calling on them.
Make a full commitment of yourself to Jesus
Christ, because Barnabas knew that they were going
to be facing persecution.
They were going to be facing real problems
in the Gentile world, which was antagonistic to
Jesus, a Gentile world that especially there in
Antioch was given over to every vice and
sexual impurity.
And if you don't make a total commitment
to Jesus Christ, you're going to fall by
the wayside.
You'll be sucked back in to that whole
world system.
So he exhorted them purpose in your heart.
You're going to stick with the Lord.
Make that complete commitment purpose in your heart.
This is the way it's going to be.
Even as Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Michelle purposed
in their hearts not to defile themselves when
carried away to Babylon.
For he, Barnabas, was a good man and
full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.
And many, much people were added unto the
Lord.
Then he departed to Tarsus to look for
Saul.
Now, he recognized that here is a work
of the Holy Spirit being wrought in this
Roman culture, or a city that is steeped
in actually the Grecian culture, but it is
a major city of the ancient world.
And he realized that the ministry here would
take a long time.
And he realized that Saul was a very
special kind of a person.
One who had been liberalized by the Holy
Spirit.
One who understood the Grecian culture.
And yet one who was strong in the
word.
Now, Paul the Apostle, at this time he
was still called Saul.
When he left Jerusalem, went back home to
his home city of Tarsus.
Later, I am certain that those eight years
were spent by Paul making tents in Tarsus,
but also sharing his faith there in the
city of Tarsus.
As God was preparing him still for the
work that God wanted him to do.
We oftentimes make a great mistake in seeking
to jump immediately into the ministry the moment
we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord.
It is important that our lives be prepared
by the Spirit.
And that preparation is not an overnight preparation.
During the war, we had what were known
in the Air Force as the 90-day
wonders.
Through basic primary school and all in your
first lieutenant bars in 90 days.
As we were training men for the Air
Force.
But God has no 90-day wonders.
It's important that we be rooted and grounded
in the Word of God and in the
work of God.
And it is interesting to me that this
is some 11 years after Paul's conversion.
He spent the first three down in Arabia.
They're learning.
Now, eight more years of silence in Tarsus.
Before Barnabas seeing the work in Antioch, realizing
that Paul would be the ideal person for
this ministry, went to Tarsus to look for
Saul.
And when he had found him, he brought
him to Antioch.
And it came to pass that a whole
year they assembled themselves with the church and
they taught much people.
And the disciples were called Christians first at
Antioch.
The word Christians is actually Christ folks.
Now, during a period a few years ago,
there was a title placed upon a bunch
of the hippies that were accepting Jesus as
the Jesus people.
That's much like this title.
It was given in sort of a derisive
way to the church.
Oh, they're Christ folks.
They're Jesus people.
And it is much as the appellation Jesus
people was put upon those young people who
were committing their lives to Jesus Christ during
that period of time.
They're Christ folks.
It wasn't really a title of admiration, but
more or less of just sort of a
derision, as they called them, Christians or Christ
folks.
First, they're at Antioch.
Now, notice that in verse 19, they were
preaching the word to none but unto Jews
only.
And in verse 20, they came to Antioch
and they were preaching unto the Grecians, the
lordship of Jesus.
They were preaching.
Now, when Barnabas came and said he exhorted
them and when Paul came and said he
stayed there for the space of a year
and taught them.
And there is an important difference between preaching,
exhorting and teaching.
I believe that in the church today, there
is far too much preaching.
I think that we need more exhorting and
I believe that we need most of all
teaching.
You see, the most part was spent in
teaching for the space of a year.
They stayed and taught the people.
Preaching is to the unconverted.
It is proclaiming to them God's good news
that he has provided for man's salvation through
the death of his son, who was raised
again by the power of the spirit on
the third day.
And by believing in him, you can have
the remission of sins and you will receive
the gift of eternal life.
That's what preaching is all about.
Proclaiming God's good news to man.
Now, when a person believes the message, then
they need exhortation and Barnabas was exhorting them.
Now stick to the Lord purpose in your
heart.
You're going to stick with him.
But Paul came and he spent a year
teaching them, teaching them how to stick, teaching
them how to pray, teaching them how to
walk and teaching is a vital function in
the church.
And the church today in many places is
very weak, very anemic, very ineffective because the
people have not been taught in the word
of God.
So we have dedicated our ministry here at
Calvary to the teaching of the word of
God.
And then we have Romaine as the exhorter.
I'm telling you what you should do.
And he's there kicking you in the seat
of the pants, getting you to do it.
Exhorting us in how to, you know, into
what we should be doing for the Lord.
And it's a vital, important ministry.
And it balances here.
We have Randy on Saturday night preaching to
all of these young people that gather.
So there is a place for preaching.
There is a place for exhorting.
And there is the important place of teaching
within the church.
And if the church is going to ever
become strong and effective, it's got to be
taught.
So he stayed there for the space of
a year teaching the people.
And the disciples were called Christians, Christ folk
there at Antioch.
And in these days, there came prophets from
Jerusalem unto Antioch.
And there stood up one of them.
Now, these prophets were sort of roving men
in the early church.
They were sort of nomads.
They would roam from church to church.
Now, as the result, there were men who
took upon themselves the title of prophet and
they would roam and they would come into
a church and say, I'm a prophet of
God.
And so it was one of the problems
in the early church to tell whether or
not a man was really a prophet of
God or not.
So there were the writings of the apostles
called the Didache, which was sort of a
little rule book in the early church that
first began to be circulated about 100 AD.
And this Didache had rules for discerning who
was a true prophet and who was a
false prophet.
Now, if a man came in and declared
himself to be a prophet of God, you
were to listen for it to him for
one day.
If he stayed the second day without going
to work, then he was a false prophet.
He was just sponging off the churches.
If a man came in and declared himself
to be a prophet and he said, thus
saith the Lord, fix a large dinner, fried
chicken, rice, pilaf, mashed potatoes.
If he would eat of that dinner himself,
he was a false prophet.
So these were some of the rules by
which they were to discern the false prophets
in the early church written in the Didache.
An interesting little booklet of a guidebook for
the early church before they were all established
with elders, pastors and so forth.
Now, there was one prophet by the name
of Agabus, and we're going to be coming
across Agabus again later on, years later, and
we'll find him in Caesarea when Paul is
returning towards Jerusalem.
But this one prophet Agabus, he signified by
the spirit that there was going to be
a great drought throughout all the world, which
came to pass in the days of Claudius
Caesar.
So he was a true prophet.
This drought that he predicted did come to
pass.
Then the disciples, every man, according to his
ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren
which dwelt in Judea.
Now, the church in Jerusalem had gone through
heavy persecution and had been scattered.
They had also experimented with communal living and
found it disastrous financially.
And so when Agabus came and predicted this
great drought that was going to come, these
men decided to take up an offering to
send it back to the saints there in
Judea to help them out.
And so Christian love, stretching across national barriers,
stretching across state lines and stretching across the
confines of our church, were reaching out to
the body of Christ elsewhere to help others,
sharing that abundance which God has bestowed upon
us.
And here at Calvary Chapel, we have that
glorious privilege of reaching out because God has
given us an abundance.
God has given us a surplus.
We have the glorious privilege of reaching out
and sharing this surplus with churches in other
areas, with Christians in the body of Christ
throughout the United States and throughout the world.
And so here is where the practice really
began in the Church of Antioch, which became
a center, even as God has more or
less made this a center from which many
have gone out to establish churches, well over
200 churches now having come out of this
church being established around the United States.
And so God has made a sort of
a center from which the word of God
has spread.
And it's a blessed thing to be in
this position of being able to reach out
and help the brethren elsewhere.
Now, that's not what was happening here.
Actually, in a sense, the church began in
Jerusalem and they're sending the help back to
Jerusalem, but we don't need the help of
the churches and we are able to help
them.
And we thank God for that.
It is more blessed to give than to
receive.
So we're on the blessed side.
So they took up the offering for the
brethren in Judea, which they then sent to
the elders by the hands of Barnabas and
Saul.
So Saul is coming back now to Jerusalem,
this time with Barnabas bringing an offering from
those brothers in Antioch.
And the walls now of difference having broken
down, this beautiful generosity expressed now by the
Gentile believers towards the Jewish believers in Jerusalem.
So next week we move on into chapters
12 and 13.
So we pray.
Father, we thank you for thy word, a
light into our feet, a lamp into our
path.
What a blessing, Lord, to gather together, to
study, to show ourselves approved, approved unto God,
workmen who need not to be ashamed.
Lord, help us to rightly divide your word
of truth.
Lord, may each of us purpose in our
hearts that we're just going to continue in
the Lord.
We're going to walk with you, Lord, no
matter what.
Lord, bless your people, place your hand upon
each of our lives, anoint us for thy
service.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.