Oh, great God, what a great truth that we are complete in Christ. For those you have adopted into your family, for those who have believed on Christ, we are complete in Him. We need nothing else. We will be standing among Thy chosen. And we are, we are justified. And we are, we are sanctified and being sanctified and we will be glorified. What else do we need, Father? Help us this morning as we hear your word preached to remember, to remember that we have everything. We have everything in Christ and those without Christ have nothing. They have nothing that will last. They need more. They need Christ. Father, may your word be preached with clarity and may it be listened to with an excitement to hear and to learn and to be different for the sake of Christ who died that we might live. Amen. Good morning, Grace Fellowship Church. It is really good to be here. It is a joyful thing for me to go to Kenya, and God ministers to me greatly in that. But if you want to appreciate you all, leave you all and go to Kenya for a couple of weeks. and not be around this local assembly. Each of you and then collectively and be in gatherings that are far different than this gathering and it really has grown in me a greater love and appreciation for God's grace and mercy that has me part of this local assembly. One of the things that happens when I travel to Kenya is I have a lot of time to think on planes or during layovers in the hotel room in the middle of the night when you're awake, when I'm awake. So I get thoughts and I jot them down and I wanna share them with you. So the thought that I had that I hope these thoughts as I share them with you, they would encourage you and spur you on and reproof you and do whatever God would do with them. And this is not something that's novel or new, and you've heard me talk about it before, but it was a thought I had and I just thought it would be useful for us to hear. And the thought has two parts. The first part to the thought I had was I was struck again with the reality that I can do nothing, nothing to gain love from God. I can do nothing to gain any of God's love. I can do nothing to gain additional love from Him. There's no way, nothing I can do to have Him love me any more than He already does. 31, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus, the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." What can separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus? Nothing. Nothing. Listen, Romans 5. Verse one, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. What can extract the love of God that's been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit? What can extract that from us? Nothing. There's nothing I can do to lose God's love or to gain more of God's love. He has loved me, he has loved us, brothers and sisters, perfectly and completely. I can do nothing to gain more love of God and I can do nothing to lose it. That's part one of this thought. The second thing is, I cannot increase or decrease God's love for me, but I can please God. Nothing can take away his love you cannot increase his love for you or decrease his love for you, but you can please God Hebrews 11 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him I For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." So, without faith one cannot please God, but this whole chapter 11, living by faith, we can please God. That doesn't mean He will love us more, or if we don't do something He will love us less, but we can please Him. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 1, Finally, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God just as you are doing that you do so more and more. So when I put those two things together, There's nothing I can do to gain more of God's love, and there's nothing I can do to lose God's love, and yet, I can please God, I have freedom to live a holy life. I have freedom, I have freedom, free from fear, that if I don't do it well enough, I'll somehow lose God's love. Or if I don't do it often enough, whatever it is, But what I can know is, I can know that the love of God has given me is permanent, complete, and cannot be taken. And inside of that, I have a desire then, and I can please Him. And I'm free to please Him, to live a life that He's called us to live, in a way that would please Him, without any fear of falling short. without any fear of missing that mark. I will, but in Christ I don't, and therefore my desire to please Him is not tied to a fear of failure. You see, when we live our lives trying to please God, fearing that if we don't do it well enough, we are failing or we somehow are gonna lose God's love, we are in bondage. We're in bondage to live a certain way. But when we can live our lives in a way to live a holy life, pleasing to God, inside of the reality, there's nothing we can do to have Him love us more or less. What a great free place to live lives to the glory of God. Too many of us desire to please God, afraid we won't. Afraid that somehow we'll even show ourselves to not be Christians. Some of us desire to please God and to gain more of His love. Yep, we're in, but we want to be more in. And so it's never enough. We've got to do more and more and more to gain more and more of God's love. We do nothing to gain God's love. It is complete. We are complete in Christ. We have been given all the love poured out into us. We are perfectly loved. Cannot lose that love. Nothing can separate us from that. And this God who has loved us in that way can be pleased by our lives being lived for his glory without fear of missing the mark. So be freed up, be freed up to please God with our lives without fear of failure or without anticipation of success. We please him, we live by faith. When we can please God with our faithful obedience, not doing it to be loved or receiving favor, then there's only upside to living that way. There is no downside. There's no upset. Okay, turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. So far in the book of Acts, we have seen salvation come to, or the gospel message bringing salvation come to Jerusalem. and Judea and then even Samaria. We've seen Peter being involved in that. We've seen Peter being involved in the preaching of the gospel and doing healing and then preaching the gospel in Acts 2 and Acts 4. We see that he goes to Samaria when the gospel goes to Samaria with the spreading of the Hellenistic Jews when the persecution comes. And when it goes to Samaria, Peter then goes and brings the Holy Spirit, if you will, with him and affirms and confirms what's happened there. And so we've seen from Acts 1.8, we've seen that the gospel or salvation come to the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea. We've seen it now come to the Samaritans, the half breeds. And now the one more group that it needs to go to, which we are all direct benefactors of, is to the Gentiles. So what we're going to see today is God prepares Peter to proclaim Christ to polluted people. So please stand and we'll read verses nine through 23 together. I'll read. Acts chapter 10 verse nine. The next day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, by no means, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him again a second time, what God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them. And Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say. So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them. And some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. You may be seated. Remember, this is God's holy word that's given for our, for Christians, sanctification and edification. So that's what it's for, brothers and sisters, to edify us and to sanctify us and to inform us. And it's also the holy word of God given for you, your salvation, unbelievers. This is the holy word of God that's given for salvation for any unbeliever that would put their faith and trust in Christ. So again, we've seen salvation in Judea and Samaria, and then Peter has been used in that process. We try to put our minds in that, so when the Christians are in Jerusalem waiting for the Holy Spirit to come, and the Holy Spirit comes, and in Acts 1.8, after the Spirit comes, he says, you're gonna be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria and all ends of the earth. Well, in Jerusalem, in Judea, that's one thing. Yes, there were some Hellenistic Jews, we've learned, but Hellenistic Jews were Jews, purebred Jews by birth, by lineage, that were just scattered in other places to live. Had been influenced by the Greek culture, but they were Jews. So, not too hard of a task for a Jew to witness to other Jews. And then we saw that it went to Samaria. Now, remember, the Samaritans were half-breeds. Samaritans were those who Jews had been mixed with pagans, and so they were half-breed Jews. They worshiped the God of the Scriptures. They only used the first five books of the Old Testament, so their worship was different. But while they did not like Samaritans, there was animosity between Jews and Samaritans. For the gospel to go to Samaritans, to Samaria, to the Samaritans, would have been difficult for a Jew, and thus Peter went out to check out and make sure it was valid what was going on, and then lay hands on and give them the Holy Spirit. But for Jews to save a Gentile to think that a Gentile, Tyler touched on this last week, for a Jewish person to even think that a Gentile could be saved would have been no chance of that. They hated Gentiles. Gentiles were, that was out of the realm of possibility. But We're going to see that salvation is going to come to the Gentiles because that was God's plan. That was His decree. And we're going to see God's providence in bringing this plan to fruition. So what we know now that was vaguely spoken of in the Old Testament, that is clear now as we look back. But one of the things that we know that Peter would have known, but it was not clear, Peter and other Jews, was that salvation is and always has been for the Gentiles. In Hosea 2.23 it says, And I will sow her for Myself in the land, and I will have mercy on no mercy. And I shall say to not My people, You are My people. And he shall say, You are my God. In Isaiah 49, he says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. So it's not enough that you will be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and bring back the preserved of Israel. Messiah, I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. So we see this in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 56, verse six, and the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it and holds fast my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord God who gathers the outcast of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. So not just will I go and gather Israelites or the house of Israel, I will also gather others. So in the Old Testament, we see the Gentiles are part of God's plan of salvation, but it's very vague. It's not very often and most of the time it looks like not God's people, are enemies of God and the nation of Israel defeats them in war and such. So Peter, like all Jews, could have known that salvation was for the Gentiles from the Old Testament. Except for his hatred of Gentiles was way too intense to even consider that. Gentiles were unclean dogs to Jews. Jews would have nothing to do with Gentiles. You couldn't even have a Gentile guest in your home, nor could you go to a Gentile's house. The scribal law said the dwelling places of Gentiles are unclean. The dirt, we've seen in the Bible where it says to knock the dirt off your feet. When you went into a home that wouldn't receive the gospel, you're to knock the dirt off your feet because what Jews believe is if you went into Gentile territory, outside of the land of Israel, when you returned before you came in, you had to knock the dust off of your shoes because that was defiled dirt. And if you came into Israel with that defiled dirt, that dirt would never blend in. It would always defile Israel. So the concept of shaking the dust off was because it was so unclean. It's like you don't come in your house with dog mess on your shoes. You wipe it off. You don't bring it into the house. And that's how the Jews thought about the Gentiles. If milk that was drawn by Gentile hands, Jews could not drink it. So they had to know where their milk supply came from. Bread and oil that had been prepared by a Gentile could not be eaten by a Jew. Gentile midwife was not to be employed because the baby would be poisoned. So a Gentile midwife could not touch a Jewish baby because the baby would be poisoned. The most famous anti-Gentile teacher, Simeon Bar Yochai, he said this, the best among the Gentiles, the best among the Gentiles deserves to be killed. There was a prayer that was recited by one rabbinical teacher, bless be you who has not made you a Gentile. Jews hated Gentiles and I don't think we have a national hatred but I tried to think I mean I can't even get there but when I was a kid you know I was taught to hate Russia. because the Cold War, right? And when my dad was a kid, he was taught to hate the Japanese. So there's a way that maybe we can identify with people groups that we just don't like or that we think less of. But whoever you have some prejudice against, I don't think we can even compare to what the Jews thought of the Gentiles. There's no way Peter or another Jew would even consider for a second that a Gentile could be one of God's people. Because it would be defiled, they were defiled, they were dirty. There'd be no way that could possibly happen. Now, Jesus, in the listening of Peter, had even talked about this as well. Not directly, but more directly. John 10, 14. I am the good shepherd, I know my own, and my own know me. Just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and I have no other sheep that are not of this, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. Jesus says, not just the Jews, but there's sheep of the other fold that I need to bring in and bring together. Peter had heard this directly. Peter knew the Old Testament, but it was too far, so far from a possibility that Peter wouldn't even listen to that. You wouldn't expect him to. Now, this decree of God that was going to happen, that we are going to see would be brought about, we see in Ephesians 2, 11, beginning in Ephesians 2, 11. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, both to the Gentiles and the Jews. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, How the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, and it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul's writing and explaining this mystery, this mystery that was not known before that now has come to fruition as he's writing this. The Jews and the Gentiles are together. There's one. There's no more separating wall. And the apostles and prophets that are spoken of in here, Peter was one of. But as we look at right now in this moment in time in the books of Acts, Peter's not there yet. Peter can't imagine a Gentile being brought into the kingdom of God. And so what we see is God's providence. We see a Jew, Peter, who is the leader of the early church. Again, he's preaching, he's the one going out and affirming the salvation that's happened, bringing the Holy Spirit. We just saw last week he's going about healing and preaching the gospel. And last week, Pastor Tyler discussed Cornelius. He was the Gentile. And we'll look a little bit later, but the Gentile that God used to step out and ask this Jew, Peter, to come and proclaim to him the gospel or hear what he had to say. So last week we saw the Gentile, we saw the Gentile listener, if you will, the one that was going to receive the message, being prepared by God, to hear the message being in God's providence having him readied, Cornelius readied this Gentile to hear the gospel. That's what you looked at last week. Cornelius was providentially, supernaturally, he heard from God and then he sent three other of his men to fetch Peter and bring him back to hear whatever it is that Peter was going to have to tell him. Now, the next day, as they, the three, were on their journey approaching the city. So as they were coming from Caesarea to Joppa, to where Peter was, they were traveling the 30 miles or so. As they're traveling, God now we're going to see providentially prepares Peter to proclaim Christ to these polluted people. This is the way the gospel would be given to the Gentiles initially. It's not through Paul. We're seeing the Gentiles receiving the message of salvation in this and next week we are going to see the start of salvation to the Gentiles. Remember, Paul's up in Tarsus. He's not even doing ministry in this moment. So this Gentile is providentially ready, Cornelius. To hear a message, and now we're going to see how Peter is prepared. Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. So Peter prays. At noon, the sixth hour, one of the three allotted times of prayer, Peter went up to pray. Just like we saw last week, Cornelius was praying. Which, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave all his generosity to the people and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. So what we see is both of these men hear from God as they prayed. This is something we can take away from this message specifically. Something we can apply to our own lives. We will hear from God when we pray. We will hear from God when we are meditating on His word in prayer. I know these are things we talk about, but so many of us, we have troubles in this life, we have things we're going through, we don't know what to do. And very few of us will take the hour or two hours or four hours to pray to God for answers. To wipe our minds clear of all other things. to go up on the rooftop and pray. And this is what Peter was doing. This is what Cornelius was doing. God speaks to us when we pray. Now, it's not the same. We're gonna look at some visions and some trances, and that's not how God speaks to us. God speaks to us by bringing back to mind the things that are in His Word, but that's going to come back to mind as we wipe away all these other things. I think you'll be amazed. I know I am at times. How much you know of God's Word when you will be still and pray, and the Spirit will bring to mind many answers to your queries. just because you're meditating on the Word of God in prayer. But too often, we don't pray. We go do. Okay, so, Peter went up to the housetop about the sixth hour to pray, and he became hungry, and wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, so he's hungry, it's noontime, he's praying, he's praying for whatever time frame, and he's hungry, they're still preparing the food, He fell into a trance. Ecstasies. That's where we get the word ecstasy from. He fell into a trance, a vision accompanied by an ecstatic psychological state. God caused Peter to go into a trance, like a hypnotized type state. And he gave him a vision, this trance. Peter talks about it in 11.5. I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. The Apostle Paul in Acts 22.17, when he's talking about his time in Jerusalem, he said, When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance. So you've got Peter praying. And he's praying and God has him go into some altered state of mind, if you will, where he's going to have an ecstatic vision. He's going to be spoken to by God. Not in ways we'll be spoken to. This is how we're spoken to, but that's how God spoke in times past. So, interesting. Peter's staying with Simon the Tanner. What did Simon the Tanner do? He was a taxidermist or something like that, right? He handled animals. A dirty job. A dirty job because these animals were dirty. So you have him staying with the tanner. You have him hungry. So he's staying with the guy who touches dirty animals and he's hungry. And he goes into this ecstatic state of mind and then we're going to see God speaks. We're gonna look in a minute how God speaks. And I just want to reiterate, I don't expect us to go pray, fall into a trance that God would speak to us. But I do want to clearly say that we need to get away from the things of the world that we can pray and meditate on the things of God, looking for direction. And God will give us that direction. Focus prayer. Not clear your mind of everything. No. Focus your mind on the things of God. Focus your mind on Christ. Focus your mind on the Word of God. Focus your mind on the glory and the sovereignty of our King. Meditate. Meditate, not mindlessly, mindfully. And see if God won't bring by the power of the Holy Spirit won't bring to mind answers to your queries, to your concerns. Through His revealed will, not through new revelation. Okay, here's what God revealed to Peter. This was Peter's vision. So he was hungry, wanted something to eat. While they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. So Peter sees this great sheet, this great linen that's being let down by the four corners, being let down by the four corners onto the four corners of the earth. covering, it's going to come down and come upon the earth. So he's hungry, he's staying at the tanner's place, he sees this, he sees this, this linen cloth being let down from heaven and in it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. In this sheet were all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, no fish because they probably couldn't swim in the linen. But he's showing him these birds, these animals, and these reptiles. That's what Peter's seeing on this big white linen that's being brought down from the heavens, brought down by God. And there came a voice to him, rise Peter, kill and eat. God spoke to Peter in this vision. He said, get up and go kill and eat all those animals, any of them. Rise, kill and eat all those animals. But Peter said, by no means, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him again a second time, what God has made clean, do not call common. Peter says, basically, look, I cannot touch or eat what's defiled, what's dirty, and God said, what I've made clean, don't call dirty, don't call defiled. This happened three times, and the thing was taken once up, up at once to heaven. Three times, why was Peter so against eating all kinds of animals? Why was he concerned about killing and eating all those animals? Because the law of God prohibited Jews from eating all kinds of animals. Moses' law that was given prohibited eating animals, reptiles and birds of the air, certain animals. Leviticus chapter 1, or chapter 11, I'm sorry, verse 1, And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, Speak to the people of Israel. saying, these are the living things you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven footed and chews the cud, ox, sheeps, goats, they have hooves that are parted into two parts. and choose the cud. An animal that chews the cud, they were double stomached. And so the first time they would eat something, it wouldn't get fully processed and it would go to the second stomach and it would get fully processed. So it was more clean. It would go through a animal that chews the cud. Among the animals you may eat. Like a dog or a cat, you couldn't eat a dog or a cat because their hooves are not cloven, they're multiple parts. Pad and not two parts. Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these, the camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you." So Moses' law made it clear not to eat certain kinds of animals. And this is what Peter is being told when he's getting this vision. All these animals are on this sheet and he hears from God, rise Peter, kill and eat. Leviticus 11, speaking of the birds, verse 13, And these you shall detest among the birds, they shall not be eaten. They are detestable, the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, the kite, the falcon of any kind, every raven of any kind, the ostrich, the nighthawk, the seagull, the hawk of any kind, the little owl, the cormorant, the short-eared owl, the barn owl, the tawny owl, the carrion vulture, the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. So these are mostly all birds of prey, many of them feeding at night on unclean things, therefore they're defiled. There's a summary in Leviticus 11.42, Whatever goes on in his belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable. You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them. For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law about the beast and the bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground. To make a distinction, between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten. So, Peter knows these laws. He knows not to eat certain kind of animals. In this vision, on this sheet coming down from heaven are all these kind of animals and Peter's being told rise, kill and eat. And mixed in all these animals would be unclean animals. Some clean, some unclean. And he knew the law. So what God's showing him is, no longer are certain animals unclean and other animals clean. No longer are there these prohibitions on which animals you can or cannot eat. This vision tells Peter, you don't have to stay away from certain foods anymore. Rise, kill, and eat them all. None of them are unclean. This is being told to Peter right here in this vision that no longer do the dietary laws matter. No longer is there a necessity. Now, first century Jewish Christians, many of them continued in these Old Testament laws. Many of them continued to only eat certain kinds of things and avoid other unclean things. To this day, for instance, you know, you want to offend a Jewish person, bake him a ham. They continued, the first century Jews, Christians, continued in these laws even though Christ had fulfilled all of them. These dietary laws were a big bone of contention in the early church between Jewish Christians and Gendile Christians because they had different backgrounds concerning food. So Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, He spoke of this often, Romans 14, In other words, these dietary laws are still being followed by some and not by others. You Jews ought not look on the Gentiles and say you're eating something unclean and you Gentiles ought not care if they say, look, I need to avoid those things. Again, Paul talks about this regularly. These dietary laws, they had a purpose before Christ came in the flesh. There was a reason the Jews were not to eat certain types of animals, reptiles, and birds. The law was intended to keep the Jews from being defiled like the Gentiles. To set them apart. God gave His law, including the dietary laws, to the Jews to set them apart from the Gentiles. So there were certain things they could not eat that the Gentiles ate. And the reason was just for their set-apartness. We see it clearly stated in Leviticus 20, verse 22, you shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, of which were the dietary laws, okay, this is what he's talking about, that the land where I'm bringing you to live out may not vomit you out, and you shall not walk in the customs of the nations that I'm driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. But I have said to you, you shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. you shall be holy to me for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples that you should be mine so you had two distinct groups of people God's people who couldn't eat certain things and then Gentiles who ate all things and the purpose of the law was to separate God's people from Gentiles not God's people and all the laws he gave including the dietary laws were the separating was one of the separating factors So now, when God's talking to Peter, there is no more separation from Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, male or female. In Christ Jesus, no more separation, no more need to follow these dietary laws. Now these are all things we see written later that Peter didn't have the benefit of, although Peter had heard Jesus' teaching. He did know his Old Testament, but his hatred for the Gentiles was so strong that God needed to prepare him. And how he's preparing him is he's showing him this vision of these animals all coming down. He's telling him, it's okay, you can eat them all. Kill and eat them all. No longer are these dying, because there's no more separation between Jew and Gentile. That's not the separating factor. God's people aren't going to eat a certain way or not eat another way. No longer did what we eat mean anything. Now think, Peter had heard Jesus' teaching back in Mark 7. He called the people to him again and said to them, hear me all of you and understand, there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him. But the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he entered the house and left the people, his disciples, Peter included, asked him about the parable. And he said to them, Then are you also without understanding? Do you see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled? Thus he declared all foods clean. Jesus had already told Peter this. But Peter was hard-headed because of his background, his religion, his prejudices. And he said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. Jesus had already told him and now God is giving him a vision to remind him, you can eat all of this. None of this, nothing that goes into your mouth will make you unclean because it will go into your stomach and be expelled. It doesn't go into your heart. It doesn't go into the core of who you are. Peter, it doesn't matter. Eat all kinds of animals. Now remember Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, writing to Timothy. Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons. Through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. for everything be created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving eat whatever you want and Gentiles you you can eat whatever you want and you Jewish Christians you can eat whatever you want Gentiles don't judge them Jews don't judge them but everything is clean and this is the vision that Peter's been given There's no longer a differentiation based on what one puts in themselves as to whether they're God's person or not God's person. This is what Peter's vision from God was. No longer is one polluted by what he or she eats. No longer is there a distinction between Jew and Gentile. No longer are Gentiles polluted any way different than Jews. They're only polluted by what comes out of them, not by what goes into them. Now I want to go back and look at Peter's responses. Verse 12, in it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air, and there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, by no means, Lord, by no means, surely not, certainly not, not quite as strong as Meginomai, but he's basically saying, I can't do that. Certainly I won't do that, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean. Peter, who was in the habit of arguing with Jesus when Jesus was here, is now arguing with God in this vision and telling Him, no, I can't do that. I can't rise, kill, and eat. I can't eat these unclean animals. So, he was told a second time, and a third time, down to verse 17. Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed, so God's now told him three times what this vision means, that he's calling these things clean, quit calling them unclean. But Peter is absolutely perplexed, diaporeo, to be entirely at a loss. He's completely lost. This is making no sense to him as to what the vision, the haramah, so he's perplexed as to this vision he had received. This vision of these all kinds of animals, and him saying, rise, kill, and eat. An event, this vision, an event which something appears vividly and credibly to the mind, although not actually present, but implying the influence of some divine or supernatural power or agency. So, Peter has received this vision, this communication, directly from God. that the Gentiles were not polluted by food. And his response is, huh? That can't be true. I'm confused. This vision, this vision of eating everything, I can't do that, God, even though he's told him three times. Perplexed is the word we see in Acts 2.12 and 5.24, but just leave it that he is completely befuddled, totally confused, still doesn't get it. Again, I think in application, sometimes we are completely confused or befuddled by something we believe that God has for us. And we might read it one, two, three, four times. And God in His providence will continue to bring things that are alive, I would argue, like He does here for Peter. So Peter is completely befuddled. He's perplexed as to this vision. It still doesn't make sense to him. Verse 17, while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, So, in the middle of Peter's perplexedness, his befuddlement, his, I don't, I can't make any sense of this, as he's trying to think what God's trying to say to him, in that very moment, in God's providence, there's a knock at the door of these three men that were sent by Cornelius. the man who's going to receive this message. There's a knock at the door right in that moment. And again, I don't wanna be strange with you, but I want you to know, when we are not listening to God sometimes, there's a knock at the door right in a moment, where God is giving even more help to understand what it is he would have for you to do, or for me to do. And so these three men show up. Where's Peter staying? At Simon and Tanner's house, verse 19. And while Peter was pondering the vision, The Spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them. Peter was told to rise and go meet these three men. Similar to verse 13, where he was told, rise, Peter, kill and eat. Rise, Peter, immediately go down and meet these men, because I've sent them. Now, Peter rose. and went down immediately to these three men. Now remember who these three men were. These are the three men we saw last week in Acts 10.7. When the angel who spoke to him, Cornelius, had departed, he, Cornelius, called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him. Who were these three men? These three men were Gentiles. So while Peter's in the middle of not understanding this vision, perplexed by this vision he's been given about unclean animals and everything's clean and it can't be defiled and these things are rolling around his head, there's a knock at the door, he goes down and who's there? Three Gentile men. Dogs. Can't touch them, can't eat with them. Filthy. Defiled because of what they eat and how they live. hated by Peter and all Jews, and yet God's just revealed to Peter that He's removed their defilement, and they were as clean as any Jew. This made it perfectly clear to Peter, finally, how do I know Peter got this vision correct at this point? Verse 21, and Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say. So these three Gentile men, they tell Peter, we're here because Cornelius, a devout man, a God-fearing man, one well thought of. Yes, he's a Gentile because he's a Roman soldier. Yes, but he told us to come and retrieve you so he could give you something. He had something he wanted to say to you. So Peter slammed the door in their face and told these pigs to leave. No, because he finally understood. So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. He invited them in to do what? When he was upstairs praying and having this trance, what was happening down in the kitchen? They're preparing a meal that wasn't ready yet. What is he about to do when he invites these men in? He's about to eat with them. He's about to bring these Gentiles in. Do you see God providentially putting together this Gentile and this Jew supernaturally by speaking into both of their lives as they're praying and now He's bringing them together and when He opens the door, there's these Gentile men and He doesn't slam the door in their face because God has just said, I'm sending people to you. He brings these Gentile men and He eats with them and He stays in the same house as them. Jews don't stay in the same house with a Gentile. Jews certainly do not eat with a Gentile. They're dirty. But Peter understood, no more. Kill, eat, rise, kill, eat, rise, go down, meet these Gentile men, eat with them, show them hospitality. because God had taken this deep-seated, lifelong disdain of the Gentiles, and he had shown them how no longer ought he interact with them that way. Now I guess there's an encouragement here and a, I don't know, yeah, it's an encouragement because did Peter get this completely? He sure did in this moment, but what did he do a little while later? Galatians 2.11, Paul says, But when Cephas, that's Peter, came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For what? For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles, just like he had done here in Joppa. But when they came, he drew back. So when other Jews came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Kephas before them all, If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? In other words, Peter, in this moment, in Joppa, at Simon the Tanner's house, when God gives him a vision of the sheet with all the unclean animals, when He gives it perfect clarity, telling him, don't call what's unclean, or what's clean, unclean. And when these three Gentile men, He has them come in. And this is what has the gospel, as we'll see next week, go to the Gentiles. But I guess for us to understand that even with Peter, These things that we see clearly, we don't see perfectly. And our prejudices and our old ways of thinking can sneak back into how we live and act and think. And you know what? When they do, I sure hope one of you, when I do, come to me and exhort me to my face. And we ought to do the same for one another. But in this moment, Peter understood the truth. He ate with them, he stayed with them, and he left to go back to Cornelius with the Gentiles without any reservation. And I think for me, one of the biggest takeaways for me this week, besides just mostly it's God's providence in how he put all this together, But I see this other thing happening where God is preparing this Gentile to receive a word, the gospel, from this Jew, and He's preparing this Jew to know it's okay and that this Gentile too can be saved. And I think about our lives, and I think about your life, my life, who is it that just cannot be saved? What type of person won't you talk to? What person or what type of person will you just not talk to? Because you've decided they're beyond the gospel. There is no one as far beyond the gospel as a Gentile to a Jew. And we live like certain people, I don't know, fill in the blank, Muslims, prisoners, prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts, spouses, children, you fill in the blank. Who is it that God is clearly telling us to proclaim the gospel to all people and from our perspective anyone can be saved but we won't or don't because of our prejudices, our preconceived notions about that people group or that person? Who is beyond the arm of salvation? Who from our perspective is beyond salvation? Well, I'm beyond salvation from my perspective, but God saved me. My wife was beyond salvation from my perspective, but God saved her. From God's perspective, there's a limited number. From our perspective, it's anyone, and we ought not cast out certain people groups. Now a guy like Matt hears that and says, let me go right into the middle of Afghanistan, right into the middle of the Muslims because I want to preach the gospel. Maybe that's the case, but maybe that's wise, maybe it's not, but at least, at least he's not putting them past the arm of the Lord through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have some bad thinking, some lifelong, deep-seated thinking about evangelism and about other areas of our life that we want to revert back to, like Peter did. But we need to remember what God has said. And God is true. And whatever He has shown us through His Word, through His revealed will, that is true. And we ought to live out of that. And with this old way of thinking creased back, we need to understand that's not of the Lord. Closing thought, God's plan to include Gentiles into his kingdom was unthinkable to Peter. And yet God spoke to Peter to show him of his plan for the uncircumcised, the dogs, the Gentiles, to make them clean and bring them into his kingdom along with the Jews. We must remember that no one is beyond the reach of the Lord, no matter how much we think they are not worthy of salvation. No matter how much we think people are not worthy of salvation, no one is beyond the reach of the Lord. Do you have people groups you don't talk to? Do you have people you don't talk to? Are there people who you've talked to just enough times that you've decided they'll never believe? I'm gonna read chapter 10, verses one through 23. I want you to see, I want us to see again how God prepared this listener, this Gentile, this unsaved Gentile, Cornelius, and this messenger, Peter the Jew, the Christian Jew, so that salvation could go to all people, not just Jews and the half-breeds. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort. So this was a man who led 100 soldiers, Roman soldiers, living in Caesarea. A devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. I won't belabor all the things Tyler talked about last week, but here's a man who wasn't saved, and yet he prayed continually to God. Some of you in here that aren't yet saved, pray continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God came and said to him, Cornelius, and you might actually as you pray to God, unsaved person, God might actually bring to mind scripture that you've heard. He might actually speak to you. He might actually tell you of the salvation that can be found in Christ Jesus, that you can turn from your sin and be saved. About the ninth hour, he saw clearly a vision, an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And he stared at him in terror and said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him. And having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. So now you have Cornelius God speaks to him, readies his heart. There are people right now God is readying their heart to hear the gospel. Now it's our hearts that need to be ready to go speak it. God is preparing people's hearts as I speak to hear the gospel unto salvation. Because that's what God does. He draws men to himself. And the gospel is proclaimed the next day as they were on their journey. So now he needs to get the messenger ready. against his prejudices and preconceived notions about this type of a person. The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on that housetop about the sixth hour to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while preparing, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens open and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air, and there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. I would not eat something that is defiled, because God, you told us not to eat something that is defiled, because then we'd be just like the Gentiles. And the voice came to him a second time, What God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was lodging there. This might be your aunt that comes to you at a family gathering, who God's prepared her heart She's being drawn to and she comes to you to hear the truth. But your aunt's a drunk and a fornicator and she has no hope. Or your mom or your dad. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you. God made a way for these three men to show up at his doorstep right when he's wondering and pondering. And Peter went down to the man and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say. So he, Peter, invited them, these Gentiles, in to be his guests. Then the next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. There's the messenger that's being sent, and there's the receiver of the message. And God is working in the hearts of people who don't know him to hear the gospel. And God is working in the hearts of people that do know him to proclaim the gospel to those very people. Let's be faithful to rise, kill, and eat. Let's remember that everyone can be saved. There's no one outside of the reach of God's salvation. No one. No religion, no creed, no race, no sin habit. Father, you are such a good God in the way that you have providentially brought salvation to the Gentiles through preparing Peter to proclaim Christ to this, what he saw as a polluted person. Father, we are all polluted, not by our nationality or our ethnicity. Father, we are polluted by our sin, and no one is any different. And what we all need, Father, we all need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us to be those that are ready to, ready to go, ready to be hospitable, ready to be engaging, ready to have discussions with those Those who now appear to be forever damned Gentiles. Help us to believe, Father. Help us to believe and to trust You that no one is beyond Your reach. No one is beyond the blood of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.