Through The Bible - Acts 10 - Part 2

Brett Meador: I wonder how many times you and I have missed that Holy Spirit inkling, that Holy Spirit nudging you to go do something or go talk to someone or to share the gospel with that person at work, and you feel that stirring in your heart and your heart starts beating. How many times have we missed something huge that the Lord wanted us to do?
Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador, and not just hearing, but answering God's call.
Brett Meador: 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Quench not the Spirit.” And so Peter actually hears and does what the Spirit leads him to do.
Guest (Male): God orchestrated an extraordinary scenario in Acts chapter 10, leading to the salvation of Gentiles and their inclusion into the church. As Pastor Brett Meador helps to unfold the story in today's Word, we'll see how God combined vision and confirmation to accomplish His purpose and hear the message of salvation through Jesus Christ preached to the Gentiles in Caesarea.
Brett Meador: We begin right here in Acts chapter 10, verse 1. It says, “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band.” The word band in your King James Bible is in italics because it's not really there, but they're trying to help us with that. In the King James 1611, a band was a group of military soldiers. This guy Cornelius, who is this guy? Well, he's a Roman centurion. So he's a Gentile. That's something you should note, a major part of the story here. And the word centurion is an interesting one because it defines a rank of a Roman soldier, an officer. He would be in control of somewhere around 80 to 100 soldiers. That would be a centurion. But the band or the cohort would be made up of six cohorts. It would become the band, the cohort. That would be six centuriae or six groups of 80 to 100. Each one of those six groups led by one centurion. So six centurions, six groups of 80, minimally 480 total. So that's the deal. We've got a centurion named Cornelius, a Gentile. Verse 2: “A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.” So is this guy a Christian? Well, it's interesting. This is an interesting time in history because we know that when Jesus came and died on the cross, was buried and then rose from the grave, really that was the beginning of a new dispensation of time. It was a new time where you're saved by faith through Christ. There's no other name under heaven by which man can be saved than that of Jesus. In the Old Testament, how were you saved? Faith. You're saved by believing. Remember Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. But in the New Testament, because Jesus, all that was foreshadowed in the Old Testament about Jesus, the whole Old Testament points forward to Jesus in the New Testament. But what was required is faith. But once Jesus died, rose again, ascended into heaven, now there must be confession of faith. If you want to be saved, you've got to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart Jesus, that He died and that He rose again, and then it says you will be saved. So this guy's not a Christian yet, but he is that Old Testament version of a person of faith. That's what it's saying here. He was a devout man, one that feared God with all his house. That says a lot about this guy. He's seeking after what is true. This reminds me of Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13: “You shall seek me and find me, when you shall search for me with all of your heart.” This centurion was a seeker. And now because he's a seeker, God's going to say, “I'm going to show him Jesus and he's going to be a receiver of Christ.” So Cornelius the centurion, love this. One of the things that of the list, he's a man of great power, a man of faith, not saved yet, a man of generosity, giving alms, but notice he's a family man as well. It implies here in verse 2 that with all of his house, they were God-fearing people. Here's an interesting find from the Leadership Journal. When fathers come to Christ first in a family, 93 percent of the time the rest of the family will follow. When a mother comes to Christ first without the father, 17 percent of the family will follow. And if there's no faith in the father or mother, then 3.5 percent of the family might come to know Christ. But the odds of a family following Jesus if a dad comes to Christ first and then leads the charge, that's a high number—93 percent success rate of bringing the whole family along. That's an important thing to remember, dads, the responsibility you have, and grandfathers. That's something we should remember. This is the centurion. He's a tough soldier, smart, skilled, leader, but he's also a leader of his own home. So you've got to love this guy, the centurion here in Acts chapter 10. Well, it says there in verse 3, “He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he had looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.” “And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And 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 these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.” So Cornelius, powerful and in charge of soldiers and servants, and yet one thing I'd like to remind us though, that I love that he's still willing to take orders and instructions from God. He's a powerful man who when the Lord speaks to him, he still reverences the Lord enough to say, “Okay, I'm going to be obedient to God.” No matter how big you are, God is bigger, and it seems to me like Cornelius gets that. He receives this word from the Lord and so he does exactly what the Lord tells him to do. So we pick it up in verse 9. It says, “On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up onto the housetop to pray about the sixth hour,” noon. “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.” So of course we went over this and we talked about vision and focused on the actual part of the vision, it was a vision and does God speak through vision, we covered that. But let's take a little closer look at what this vision really means and go a little deeper. The first thing that we want to note here is that God already spoke to Cornelius with an angel. Now we have Peter who's going to get a vision from God. And this typically is how God operates. He speaks to several people about a matter, not just one. One thing you should probably watch out for is a one-person kind of thing that comes out. Some of the worst cults that have ever been formed through history were one guy receiving a word from an angel. That's always a bad, bad thing. The confirmation needs to be provided, like the Bible talks about, out of two or three witnesses a word is established. And we already have that. We have Cornelius receiving a word from the Lord, Peter's receiving a word from the Lord, but they're going to come together. The Lord's going to clarify what it all means, and it's going to be more than two or three witnesses in this case. So that's the cool part here. Now, we didn't talk much about the sheet. It's always pictured as a bedsheet when I was a kid. I'm not sure about that. Most scholars believe it's really the word sail or like a canvas of a sail. They did have canvases for sailing vessels and what have you, and that's the idea. It was on a canvas or tarp that was sewn in the corners so it was as if it was let down with four corners of a rope and the sheet. And what was it letting down? Animals. What did this look like? I don't have the foggiest idea. Was it like a bunch of unclean animals being let down by these canvases? Was there an oxen or a camel that was in a sheet with four ropes and lowering the camel down? There's a guy in our church that told me that he got an elk out in the Tillamook Mountains and he was really bummed because it was way out in the middle of nowhere. And he was calling a bunch of friends because he was going to have to quarter it, cut it up, and haul it out, backpack it. It was miles and miles in the wilderness. One of his buddies said, “Well, give me the coordinates.” He said, “Well, I'm up in the off of this road.” He says, “Don't—what are your coordinates?” And gave him the coordinates. Well, that guy owned a helicopter and he flew his helicopter out, they hooked the elk to some rope, and then hauled it all the way to Newberg and put it on his front porch. That would be weird seeing a dead elk flying over Newberg. But was it like that? All these unclean animals coming down and Peter's looking at this? Don't really know what it looked like. Maybe it was a big canvas with giant ropes and all these unclean animals were on there. And what is that? Well, verse 12. It says, “Wherein were all manner of four-footed 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.” “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.” Was it a little vessel that came down with little miniature animals on it? Was it big animals and a giant sheet like out in a field coming down? I just don't know. But obviously we know that whatever Peter saw, he saw the animals that Jews would never eat because they were declared unclean or not kosher is a key word. When you go to the kosher aisle of the supermarket, that means food that Jews can eat according to the law. Leviticus chapter 11, Deuteronomy chapter 14 describes the kinds of animals that you can and can't eat. And it's very, very specific. For example, the law says you can only eat animals with cloven hooves if they chew and eat their cud. So does a cow have a cloven hoof? Yes, but do they chew their cud? Yes. Does a camel have a cloven hoof? No, but do they chew their cud? Yes. So no camel, yes on a cow. Ribeye steaks are good, camel meat is bad. Thank the Lord for that. But it was those kind of rules. It's really tedious. In fact, the Talmud, which I talked about the Mishnah, Mishnah's part of the Talmud, but the Talmud talks about three laws, not cooking meat and milk together. You never have cheese with meat. And the reason is the law said never cook the calf in the mother's milk. And that's the idea. Don't do that. That's Exodus 34:26, by the way: “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk,” is what it says there. But Peter is told here in verse 13 by the Lord, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” Peter responds, and I always like to laugh at poor Peter. Peter responds with an oxymoron. “Brett, you shouldn't call Peter a moron.” I didn't. No, that's not what I meant. An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which apparent contradiction terms seem to be in conjunction. What's an oxymoron? Jumbo shrimp, or pretty ugly, same difference, seriously funny. Those are oxymorons. But what does Peter say? “Not so, Lord.” Can you say those things together? No, Lord. If you're calling someone Lord, that means you're totally submitted to them and they're the Lord of your life. So then the Lord tells you to do something, then for you to say no, Lord, then He's not your Lord. Does that make sense? That's why I call that an oxymoron. Peter growing up a Jew had never eaten anything uncommon. This is the reason that Peter is saying, “No, not so, Lord. I would never do that.” It's almost—you almost wonder if Peter thought, “Is this a test? Rise, Peter, kill and eat. Oh, no. Come on, Lord, you know I would never do that.” “No, don't call that which I've made clean unclean,” the Lord says. Boy, I'm thankful that we are no longer under the Old Testament law. Some say as Christians we still need to eat certain meats or not or do the Old Testament laws and stuff, but no longer. Remember Jesus Christ, we talked about this when we're talking about the Passover, why we don't have to keep a Seder dinner or a Passover. It's a get-to if you want to, you can. But are we required as Christian church in America to do a Jewish Seder dinner or Passover? No. Because 1 Corinthians 5:7 declares Christ is our Passover. The Passover was a shadow pointing forward to what Jesus would be. Then Jesus came, so we have Jesus. We don't need the Passover because we have Jesus. We don't need the Old Testament law because we have Jesus. And that's a key part of this. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the law and Peter hasn't really got that yet. This is where the Lord is saying, “Okay, we've got some work to do on Peter. He needs to get this thing about the law. He's no longer under that law.” One of the things we have to remember, just as Jesus called food clean that was once unclean, He's about to call people clean that were previously considered unclean. And that's where the Gentile issue. Peter's seeing the thing about the food, not really because about the food. He's seeing it because the Lord's starting to say, “Peter, you're going to have to change your worldview.” And sometimes it's tough to change your worldview, and that's why the Lord gives Peter this great vision. I wonder if some of you hold an ideology that's contrary to God, a worldview that maybe you have and that you feel very strongly about, but it's just totally against the Word of God. Can I just caution you? I'm amazed really, and maybe you get mad, maybe you've seen Christians, “I can't believe that some Christians say that if somebody is pro-abortion that they're not really Christians.” Can I tell you why that becomes a contentious discussion? Because if you are even a nominal reader of the Bible, you realize that God says the unborn child is a creation of God, it's a person. The Bible talks about the person that's in the mother's womb. It's not just a blob of fetal tissue. In fact, there's even emotional responses talked about in the Bible from John the Baptist in his mother's womb. And so we can just go on and on. The Lord says you're perfectly and wonderfully made in the mother's womb and it should be the safest place. So as Christian Bible-reading people, you go, “Well, of course abortion is evil and wrong.” But it's funny how because of the ideology of the world, “My body, my choice, and I can do whatever I want with my body.” But see, we as Christians are like, “We're not talking about your body. We're talking about another body that God is forming in your womb.” And see, there's a worldview that's so contrary to the Bible. Now, am I saying that people that believe in abortion are—there's no way they can be saved? Well, good news. You and I all have bad worldviews. You may be against abortion, but can I just say you're wrong about something. I guarantee it. There's something that you are wrong about. When you get to heaven, God's going to go, “Oh, here's what you were wrong about.” And I'm pretty sure all of us are going to have to go, “Oh, I was a little wrong about that one.” Some of you are like, “I know everything.” Well, it's true, the Bible is the anchor. Everything in this is how we can know whether we're right or wrong. That's what I'm thankful for. But it's amazing to me. You know where it starts? The abortion question doesn't start with abortion, it starts with sex. Bible says that a man, if he wants to avoid fornication, which is sexual immorality, let every man have his own wife and every wife see that she have her own husband. Sex outside of marriage is called fornication, sexual immorality. So it starts there. Our world says our ideology is people are going to have sex so as long as it's safe sex, that's okay. No, your ideology—that's where you got off the rails long before we talked about abortion. One man, one woman, sex inside of marriage is wonderful and created by God. But the world says, “No, everybody's going to have sex, and just make sure you have safe sex.” And sadly, Christians have adopted that kind of a worldview. I have to admit I'm always a little surprised to see people that claim to be Christians, maybe they are, but man, somebody's not reading their Bible and their worldview is off. Now, I believe the true seeker of God, the person who's truly open and seeking, the Lord's going to show them what is true. That's the key. Make sure you have a heart of curiosity and say, “Lord, show me the truth. Search my heart. See if there be any wicked way in me.” And the reason I say that is that's what's going on. Peter's got a wrong worldview. Gentiles are fuel for the fire of hell. Whatever you do, don't talk to a Gentile. God's saying, “Oh man, we've got to fix Peter.” So what does He do? He gives him a vision, and then He's going to confirm that vision. So Peter's preparation to change his heart. Even though Peter's refusal was in the most polite terms, “No, Lord, I've never eaten anything that's unclean,” Dr. W. Graham Scroggie wrote this. He said, “You can say no and you can say Lord, but you cannot say no, Lord, if He's truly your Lord. Then we can only say yes to him and obey his commands.” That's a good word from old Dr. Scroggie. Well, verse 17 goes on here and it says, “Now while Peter doubted in himself 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 was lodged there.” Now, this is just a funny sideline. Mr. Righteous Peter not ever wanting to defile himself with unkosher food. There's a funny thing. A Jewish person might recognize this, but a lot of us Gentiles miss this question. Would a good Jewish guy go and stay at a tanner's house? You're like, “Well, what's a tanner? Did they have tanning beds and they came and rent?” No, no, no. Simon the tanner, he was a leather maker. He'd take animals and take their hides and prep them. Simon was in the business of treating animal hides to produce leather and what have you. It was a trade considered by the Jews to be unclean even to this day in Jerusalem. So here's Peter, Mr. Pious, “I would never have bacon,” but he's staying at a tanner's house. This just shows a little bit of a double standard if you want to note that. Peter's already doing something, staying somewhere where a good Jew wouldn't really have normally stayed. The law said if you're a tanner, you needed to have your house outside of the city because it's an unclean—it's an unclean occupation. If you were engaged to a tanner but didn't know that and found out later, it would be grounds for divorce. Like, that's the way they viewed tanners. So kind of interesting. But the Lord is still saying, “I see a hypocrisy, but I'm going to change the heart of Peter slowly but surely.” He starts with a vision. While Peter thought on the vision, verse 19, “the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore and go down with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.” Notice, this is the Holy Spirit speaking to Peter, telling Peter about clean and unclean food and then talking to Cornelius and his people. The Lord is orchestrating a meeting and Peter's being led by the Spirit, literally here. The Holy Spirit, verse 19, tells him to do that. Now Peter could have said, “I must be really hungry. This vision, this whole thing about the Holy Spirit talking to me, I'm getting delirious. Somebody get me some food.” Like, that could have been what he did. But I love it. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Quench not the Spirit.” And so Peter actually hears and does what the Spirit leads him to do. I wonder how many times you and I have missed that Holy Spirit inkling, that Holy Spirit nudging you to go do something or go talk to someone or to share the gospel with that person at work, and you feel that stirring in your heart and your heart starts beating. But you're like, “Oh man, I must have high blood pressure. I've got to get out of here.” Like, how many times have we missed something huge that the Lord wanted us to do? I love how Peter does that. So you have confirmation here in verse 19 and all the way into 21 and 22. It says in 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?” Verse 22: “And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one that feareth God and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by a holy angel to send for thee into his house and to hear words of thee.” This is just King James saying Cornelius heard from the Lord, you're supposed to come to his house which is by the way up north in Caesarea Maritima and you're supposed to go and share a word from the Lord for him. And this is again confirmation. Before you go do what you think the Spirit's leading, there should be confirmation. So Peter is still clueless about what's happening. This is another one of those situations we've talked about previously that Peter's got to go without knowing, go without knowing. “What am I supposed to say?” Peter doesn't have that yet. But he just knows, “You're supposed to come,” and it says end of verse 22, “and he's going to hear words from you.” What words? Peter doesn't have that yet. But this is where the Spirit will tell Peter what to say when we get there.
Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador has been illustrating from today's Word God's use of divine vision in clarifying our view as we walk in obedience to the will of the Lord. And next time, Pastor Brett will bring us to the conclusion of this verse-by-verse look at Acts chapter 10, and I invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in just a moment. If you've missed any portion of our time today, you'll find all of his messages online at TodaysWordRadio.com. Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. In addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, we also have other locations in the Portland, Oregon area. For more information, go to TodaysWordRadio.com and click on the link Locations. Again, TodaysWordRadio.com and click the link Locations. All right, I have Pastor Brett with me, and with the culture wars going strong in America and really around the world, there are some who question that if God is a God of love, why He doesn't accept certain lifestyles. Brett, can you help answer that question for us?
Brett Meador: Sure, Kurt. One of the most important things to understand is that God's love and God's truth are never in conflict with each other. Today, love is often defined as affirming every behavior, every lifestyle choice. But biblically, real love actually also will tell the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:6, the love chapter, it says love rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in truth. So God does love every person deeply. John 3:16 makes that clear. But the fact is Jesus died for sinners, which includes all of us. But because God loves us, He doesn't simply leave us where we are. He calls us to repent and for transformation. He wants to change us, transform us. And honestly, Kurt, following Jesus means surrendering your own definitions of truth and allowing God to define what is right. So Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you keep my commandments.” So as Christians, we must still speak the truth with humility and compassion, for sure, not with self-righteousness. We're not better than anybody else, people who've made different lifestyle choices. We're all sinners. But the good news is that God doesn't just forgive people, He then changes us through the power of Jesus Christ. So that's really the truth of the matter. God loves us so much that He doesn't want us to stay right where we are.
Guest (Male): That is really such great advice to remember that God doesn't want any of us to remain where we're at, but He wants to transform us. Thank you, Pastor Brett. Well, I want to mention again that if you'd like more information about Pastor Brett Meador or today's Word, just go to TodaysWordRadio.com. Well, next time, Pastor Brett will reaffirm God's plan of salvation that truly extends to whosoever believes. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.